culture
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60 Years After Emmett Till, Families Still Fight for Justice
As long as there is breath in our bodies … I’m tired and I don’t want to write this, but unfortunately, the story of Emmett Till—a story of senseless brutality and murder, all for the sake of white supremacy—continues to need telling. On Aug. 24, 1955, J.W. Milam and Roy Bryant kidnapped and killed Emmett…
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In War Room, Prayer Is the Weapon
Prayer is a strategy. That is the message of a new faith-based movie from the Kendrick Brothers, who are two of Hollywood’s most successful directors and producers in the religion-faith genre. Their past movies include Fireproof, Facing the Giants and Courageous. The Root was on-site for the red-carpet premiere of their latest film, War Room, in Dallas…
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The Napa Valley Wine Train, the Jim Crow Car and Who Has the Right to Ride
In the context of the past year’s tensions over police violence, the story of the Sistahs on the Reading Edge book club—11 women, 10 of them African American and one white, ranging in age from 39 to 85—whose members were ejected from the Napa Valley Wine Train for being “too loud,” may not evoke the same…
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‘Like Another Katrina’: The Charter School Debate Fractures New Orleans Along Lines of Race and Class
Katrina. The mere mention of the Category 5 monster of a hurricane that barreled down the Gulf Coast and made landfall in the early-morning hours of Aug. 29, 2005, as a Category 3 is enough to retraumatize New Orleans natives who were forced to flee their homes in search of shelter. “The Storm,” as it’s…
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What Makes Black Men Run From the Police?
It’s never much of a surprise when I hear it, but it stings all the same. Freddie Gray would be alive today if only he hadn’t inexplicably sprinted down his West Baltimore street. As would Walter Scott, the African-American man who was shot in the back in South Carolina fleeing a white police officer who…
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My Jewish Boyfriend Claims He Loves Me, but He’s Keeping Our Relationship a Secret From His Family
Dear Demetria: I’ve been with my guy for almost a year. I am completely in love. We talk every day; he tells me he loves me almost every day. I’m black. He’s white and Jewish. He always talks about “If we’re married … ” and about being together in the future. But our relationship is…
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Black Don’t Crack: 12 Stars Who Played High Schoolers in Their 20s and 30s
Pull out your pom-poms. This week marks the 15th anniversary of cheerleading flick Bring It On. Gabrielle Union portrays Isis, a hard-ass cheerleading captain of the East Compton Clovers. In 2000, when the film was released, Union was 27, 10 years older than a typical high school senior. Here’s a look at 12 black actors and…
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Remembering Hurricane Katrina: We’ve Come This Far by Faith
There is no peace inside a hurricane. The wind sounds like a howling dog. The shutters on the windows of your old house rattle as if a sci-fi predator were trying to break in. Your family sits in a circle with their faces tight, occasionally gasping when a tree cracks in two, a tin garbage…
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The 10 Things Black People Can’t Do
When I was 21, a police officer at the scene of a fire cursed me out. It didn’t matter that I was there with a camera crew and working for a TV station in St. Louis. It didn’t matter that I was absolutely nowhere near the fire (I was standing across the street). He thought…