culture
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Where Chris Rock Went Wrong in His Oscars Monologue
In Monday’s Washington Post, Daniel Drezner praises Chris Rock’s opening monologue at Sunday’s Academy Awards ceremony as “genius.” In particular, he admires the way Rock made fun of and tamed the #OscarsSoWhite elephant in the room. But where Drezner sees the structure of Rock’s routine as a model for how politicians can criticize their own…
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Why People Are Upset That Zoe Saldana Is Playing Nina Simone, Explained
Who is Zoe Saldana? Zoe Saldana is a star actress who’s been in numerous science fiction and fantasy blockbusters, most notably Avatar, Star Trek, The Guardians of the Galaxy and Drumline. Wait, Drumline was fantasy? Of course! In it, she was the baddest senior on campus and she fell in love with a freshman. A…
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The People v. O.J. Simpson Recap: Johnnie Cochran Gets Inside Christopher Darden’s Head
Johnnie Cochran is driving his daughters to dinner when he’s pulled over by a motorcycle cop for failure to signal while changing lanes, aka driving a Benz while black. Cochran says it’s the third time this week he’s been pulled over and suggests that the officer call in his license before things escalate. Because of his…
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After More Than a Century, Madam C.J. Walker’s Hair Products Are Back
Madam C.J. Walker would be smiling if she were alive today. The nation’s first female, self-made millionaire made her fortune selling beauty and hair products she’d developed to African-American women, beginning in the early 1900s. Now a new line of products—Madam C.J. Walker Beauty Culture—is bringing her legacy to a new generation. “I’m very excited,”…
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Nina, Starring Zoe Saldana, Finally Has a Release Date, and Folks Are None Too Happy
After lots of hemming and hawing, fits and starts, it looks as if that Nina Simone biopic starring Zoe Saldana is coming out, and black Twitter is not having it. On Tuesday the movie poster was released, and tweets ranged from some that just said “no” repeatedly to others that consisted of virtual head shaking…
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Darrell Wallace Jr. Continues to Pave New Roads in NASCAR
For many, NASCAR is not a sport “for us.” But that stigma is slowly changing, especially with Darrell Wallace Jr. in the game. Wallace, affectionately known as “Bubba” to family and friends, made history in 2013 when he became the second African American in history to win a NASCAR national series (the first was Wendell…
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How Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Tristan Walker Turned a Close Shave Into a Booming Business
Tristan Walker grew up on the hardscrabble streets of the Queens, N.Y., neighborhoods of Jamaica and Flushing, but he’s found a home in Palo Alto, Calif. He loves his native Gotham, but he’s now a Palo Alto man for one very compelling reason. “No one here underestimates you,” he said during a late-afternoon phone conversation…
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‘It’s About Revolution’: Underground Gets Real About Escaping Slavery
Why another slavery narrative? One TV show cast is asking, “Why not?” That was the sentiment of the stars, writers and producers of the new slavery-based TV show Underground, premiering March 9 on WGN. The cast and crew, who were in Washington, D.C., last week to promote the series, spoke with The Root about the need…
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Trump Watch: CBS CEO Thinks Bigot Is Good for Ratings and Ad Money
Updated Tuesday, March 1, 11:45 a.m. EST: Here is what makes Donald Trump’s candidacy more dangerous than the man himself: The news media still see him as a novelty and not a serious contender for the presidency, so his Islamophobia, misogyny and racism go largely unchecked. CBS CEO and Executive Chairman Leslie Moonves admitted that he…
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The Sad State of Black Cinema
I’ve long been of two minds about Kevin Hart. On the one hand, I appreciate that he’s a seemingly bonhomous young brother who’s built an empire for himself by selling out shows and racking up receipts at the box office. There’s little more gratifying than a black man starting from the bottom (the actual…