culture
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Dear Rachel: Here’s What I Wrote After I Got Mad Watching Your Interview
It’s really not that “complicated,” #RachelDolezal. Because, no, you didn’t “go there with the experience”; no, you’re not a black hairdresser; no, you didn’t have to play black to be your black children’s mom; and no, this discussion about race and what it means to be black—while rich and important and long overdue—hasn’t occurred “at…
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Can a Commercial Solve Racism? These 7 Tried
A good commercial can make you laugh, cry, call your mom or even occasionally buy something you hadn’t intended. But a new ad by Pedigree dog food asks another question: Can a commercial make you get over racism? Pedigree recently launched an ad campaign that ostensibly is about walking your dog, but is actually promoting a…
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Let’s Not Question Blackness Because a White Woman Says So
I’ve spent much of the last few days crying real tears over black Twitter’s brilliant and hilarious responses to Rachel Dolezal’s shenanigans. Seriously, search #AskRachel and #RachelDolezal if you need a pick-me-up. Then the conversations turned serious. I saw how much pain she was causing sisters like me who have been demeaned for the very…
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This Father’s Day, Let’s Shatter the Myth About the Absent Black Father
Black men are present and engaged fathers who love their children. Black men are present and engaged fathers who love their children. I needed to write that twice, in hopes that it cuts through the racist and patently false narrative amplified by mainstream media that the majority of black fathers are scurrilous beings who are…
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How Michael Cole Went From a Jail Cell to Selling Ice Cream With Hip-Hop-Inspired Flavors
The East Village neighborhood in New York City is chock-full of small bars and nightclubs that are destinations for people from far and wide, so it’s never a surprise to see a crowd spilling onto the sidewalk. Yet, the crowd at Mikey Likes It isn’t there for alcoholic beverages or the scene. They’re there for ice…
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The Germans Used to Pour One Out for the Black St. Maurice With This Drinking Horn
This image is part of a weekly series that The Root is presenting in conjunction with the Image of the Black Archive & Library at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. The carefully rendered appearance of this magnificently crafted drinking horn comes from a hand-illustrated inventory of the vast collection of…
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Get Sweaty but Be Beautiful With These Fitness-Fashion Tips
Gone are the days of throwing on your old college T-shirt and oversized sweatpants to hit the gym. Fitness clubs are the new golf course, Match.com and runway ready. So if you’re single, looking to make a new business connection or just want to join the rapidly growing fitness-fashion trend (known as athleisure) then learn…
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Rachel Dolezal’s Imitation Game: Why Couldn’t She Struggle and Be White?
Conventional wisdom on the peculiar and seemingly otherworldly case of Spokane, Wash., NAACP President Rachel Dolezal might offer us the old maxim, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” Others might hope that we wake up tomorrow and discover that Dolezal was indeed the long-lost stepchild of Black Like Me white journalist John Howard Griffin.…
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It’s Time Again for ‘the Blackest White People We Know’
A few years ago, we did a few roundups of a bunch of white people who, well, exhibited traits, dispositions and interests more consistent with the black experience. Rachel Dolezal, the president of a local NAACP chapter in Washington state, has practically emerged as the mascot for this group. The prima donna of “the Blackest White People We Know.” Reports…