culture
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Building Community Through Music, 1 Note at a Time
It’s a sweltering Washington, D.C., summer day, but inside Deal Middle School’s auditorium, it is just starting to warm up. Samantha Rios is belting out, in her strong and beautiful voice, the lead of “Indescribable (You Are Amazing, God).” The choir seated informally before Rios, some 64-children strong, chimes in at the chorus, softly at…
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Between the World and Me … and Twitter
Ta-Nehisi Coates’ writing is post-bop Miles. Not liking Ta-Nehisi Coates’ work is Ed Hardy T-shirts. If you are wearing one, you don’t need to say anything else, because I know everything I need to know about you. Thus, critiquing Coates or his work makes you prime for Twitter darts thrown mercilessly by his minions. He has…
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An Open Letter to the Church: Homosexuality Isn’t a Sin, but Homophobia Is
The shooting of nine black parishioners at Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., has prompted righteous outrage and incomparable grief. Black people were targeted and slain after extending grace and hospitality to a heartless white supremacist who allegedly killed them in one of the nation’s most storied black institutions. Weeks later, our hearts are…
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Ex-Baltimore Police Officer on Abusive Cops: ‘So Many of Them Are Punks’
In late June, a little more than a month after the uprisings involving the death of Freddie Gray, a series of tweets appeared from retired Baltimore police officer and former Sgt. Michael A. Wood Jr., who worked on the force 2003-2014, that started with: “I’m going to start Tweeting the things I’ve seen & participated…
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Afro, Oh My! What Does Your Hair Say About the Kind of Guy You Attract?
When one thinks of summer, one might think about barbecues, beach time and beverages spiked with alcohol. But let’s face it: What seems to matter the most during this season is single people getting a Ned Stark-like warning of “Winter is coming,” also known as seeing all their friends’ Facebook statuses changing to “in a…
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Do You Really Want to Date a Guy Who Abandoned His Pregnant Ex?
I’m talking to this guy. His recent ex is actually pregnant by him. He explained to me that he strongly felt like she tried to trap him because he told her before she got pregnant that he wasn’t ready to start a family. When she got pregnant, he told her the best thing would be…
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Bernie Mac: A King of Comedy Who Wasn’t Afraid to Stay Unapologetically Black, Even if It Cost Him
“Bernie Mac is the guy you don’t wanna follow. Ever,” Chris Rock says at the beginning of a new episode of Unsung Hollywood featuring comedian Bernie Mac. The TV One series kicks off its second season Wednesday. A titan among his peers, the Chicago comedian—born Bernard Jeffrey McCullough Oct. 5, 1957—is best-known today for his hit…
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Black Women, This Is What Self-Care Looks Like
In A Burst of Light, her aptly titled collection of essays, Audre Lorde famously wrote, “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” Almost 30 years after she put that oft-quoted, oft-referenced and oft-memed thought to paper, black women are still trying to figure out what…
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Invest in Art for Your Soul, Not Your Bank Account
Harriette Cole is the author of the book of meditations 108 Stitches: Words We Live By and a contributing editor at The Root. Follow her on Twitter.
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MTV’s White People Takes White Privilege Out of Comfort Zone
When a South Carolina judge appealed for compassion for a suspected mass murderer’s white parents—people who likely reminded him of himself—instead of focusing on the nine black lives violently snuffed out and their loved ones left behind, it was a stark reminder that some can connect only with those who look like them. In fact,…