culture
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My Son Has Autism, and He’s Perfect the Way He Is
I watched her closely as she watched my 3-year-old son, who hadn’t looked her in the eye one time in the past hour. I saw when her brow furrowed, when she looked pensively at her notes and back up. I urgently pointed out when he did something that I wanted her, needed her to be…
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In Gratitude for Maurice White, the Spirit Leader of Earth, Wind & Fire
Born of the Earth are Nature’s children Fed by the wind, the breath of life Judged by the fiery hands of God —Earth, Wind & Fire from the 1976 song “Spirit” The white album that I grew up with did not belong to the Beatles. As a child in the 1970s, fiddling around in the…
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How to Protect Yourself From the Flood of White Tears That’ll Come if the Panthers Win the Super Bowl
In the book of Genesis, God—apparently fed up with humans for acting like … humans—decided to start humanity from scratch by flooding the entire earth. Which proves, again, that God is truly the alpha and the omega of everything. Including being petty. Humanity eventually recovered from this flood—thanks in large part to Noah, who was…
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We Dated for 2 Years and He Still Wouldn’t Claim Me as His Girlfriend
I was dating this guy for about two years and I wanted to become his girlfriend, but he kept telling me that he wanted to wait until he got a full-time job because he wanted to take care of me, but we were doing boyfriend-girlfriend stuff anyway. I didn’t understand, so I told him I…
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Is My Mom Passing on Straight-Hair Ideals to My Daughter?
Aliya’s turn: Recently, my mom and I wrote about spanking and the choices she made regarding punishments when I was younger. It led to a broader discussion on how we can grow up and bring parenting into the modern era while respecting our parents and the choices they made. Dealing with hair care for a…
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How Spike Lee Inspired This Filmmaker to Do His Own Thing
Editor’s note: This short-film series is a collaboration between The Root and El Rey Network to support, elevate and promote African-American filmmakers throughout Black History Month via on-air, digital and editorial platforms. Filmmakers were contacted and recruited through film festivals and industry partnerships in December, with finalists selected by both El Rey Network and The Root…
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Everything You Need to Know About the Zika Virus
When Gabrielle Fouché Williams left Brazil in January to return to the United States, she was four months pregnant with her first child. Williams had been living in Salvador, Brazil, for the last three years. The first few months of her pregnancy were difficult. Her doctor even put her on bed rest. But she expected…
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Black Feminists Don’t Owe Hillary Clinton Their Support
Over the course of the last few days, I have been accused of both protecting and vilifying Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. The reason for this is as simple as it is complex: People of color, especially black women, have to hold so many things in tension regarding race, gender and class that depending on…
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The 5 Best Black History Travel Destinations
We can’t forget our history. It reminds us of our trials as well as our triumphs. And travel gives us the opportunity to experience, firsthand, the black-history moments we’ve only read about and seen on TV and in movies. “You have to explore African-American historical travel for yourself. Seeing the images, museums and landmarks in the media…