culture
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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…
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Who Runs Baltimore? Black Women … and Their Hair?
It’s hard to find hope in a tragedy. And Freddie Gray’s death and the subsequent unrest are incredible tragedies. But out of that tough narrative, something else interesting has emerged. Black women (and their fierce hair) are running things. Never before with any news story in recent memory have I seen so many black women…
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Abuse and Torment: When Reality Television Finally Gets Real
This season of The Real Housewives of Atlanta is the realest season of the franchise. The storyline involving the disintegration of the marriage of celebrated entertainment attorney Phaedra Parks and her husband, Apollo Nida, has taken center stage, dwarfing the contrived confrontations and all-out mean-girl sessions that previously defined the show and the genre. Parks’…
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‘It’s an Amazing Time in American History’: Councilman and Others Talk Charges for 6 Officers
She said, “Accountability, you’re getting it today,” and the celebration followed. That was the reaction after Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby said those words Friday morning during a press conference announcing that six officers would be arrested and charged in the suspicious death of Freddie Gray. Mosby, who spoke to the crowd of…