culture
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Bessie Review: A Brilliantly Told Tale About the Empress of the Blues
HBO’s Bessie is a gem. In a film that was 22 years in the making, Dana “Queen Latifah” Owens delivers a powerhouse performance as Bessie Smith, the Empress of the Blues (1894-1937). Writer-director Dee Rees (Pariah) continues her game-changing trajectory of making films that are beautifully human and complicated—films that tell stories about the complexity…
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Bad Credit? Hope Is Not Lost
While the foreclosure crisis continues to fade from the headlines, many families are still dealing with the lingering effects. The foreclosure crisis set off a tidal wave, contributing to the recession of 2008. This caused the unemployment rate to skyrocket and left families struggling to make ends meet. Because of the financial hardships stemming from…
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Looking for a Voice for Baltimore’s Voiceless
North Charles Street in Baltimore has the names of the dead upon it, written in chalk, going on for several blocks. The names are starting to fade, under wear and rain, but death is permanent, and the permanence of those dead men, women and children, printed in yellows, pinks and blues, is on the minds…
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I Got My Girl Pregnant and Now She Wants Me to Tell Her Dad
You told us to cool out before things went too far. They did, and now we’re in trouble. I got her pregnant. Now she wants me to tell her dad by myself. I’m not talking to bruh by myself. He’s a big dude, like black man from The Green Mile big. He might break my…
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Watch: Family Begging You for Money? Here’s How to Say No
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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Pleasantville: A Mystery Thriller That Pays Attention to Missing Black Girls
In Pleasantville we revisit Attica Locke’s activist lawyer, Jay Porter, first seen in her novel Black Water Rising. Now, 15 years later, Jay is no longer down and out—he has moved from his strip mall office into better digs and made a successful career out of defending the little guy against fraudulent oil and chemical…
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He Murdered a Police Car and Sits in Jail—While Cops Walk on Bail
To fully understand the racist, socioeconomic politics alive and thriving in Baltimore, look no further than Allen Bullock. The 18-year-old was arrested after he and several other teens brutally beat a Baltimore police car with an orange traffic cone. In the end, the vehicle looked like it went toe to toe for 12 rounds with…
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For Officers Charged in Freddie Gray’s Death, Protesters Say ‘Orange Is the New Black’
Stop the protests? Unlikely. That was the sentiment at a gathering hosted by local ministers in Baltimore Sunday after six officers were charged in the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray. “We will continue protesting until these officers trade their blue uniforms for an orange one,” the Rev. Jamal Bryant told the multiethnic, multiracial crowd of…
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When Will We Demand Justice for Natasha McKenna?
There have been no marches for her. Natasha McKenna’s name eased in and out of America’s collective consciousness before it could make an imprint, just like those of Aura Rosser, Tanisha Anderson and so many other African-American women killed by police before her. But the information that we do know is heartbreaking. McKenna, who was…
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Hey, Floyd, I Want My Money Back! Mayweather vs. Pacquiao Was 12 Rounds of Bore
Where was Public Enemy when we needed them? In the heavily promoted run-up to a bout that was five years in the making and 10 years late, we would have been better served if Chuck D, Flavor Flav and Terminator X had formed a reunion tour to sound the alarm and warn the masses about…