culture
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Black Cubans: Restoring US Ties Is Cool, but America, Keep Your Hang-Ups About Race at Bay
It doesn’t matter how much Cuba’s culture changes now that the U.S. has restored diplomatic relations; if you’re waiting for black Cubans to set off some sort of racial revolution, don’t hold your breath. That’s according to some black Cubans who shared their thoughts on race with The Root in the edited Q&A below. Omar Diaz is a 28-year-old…
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Brooklyn Man Who Was Choked During His Arrest Wins Lawsuit Against NYC
Kevin Dennis-Palmer, a 28-year-old father from Brooklyn, N.Y., settled a lawsuit against New York City for $75,000 for a 2013 incident that Dennis-Palmer alleges involved police brutality. He says that officers from the New York City Police Department used excessive force on him during a routine stop, including putting him in a choke hold, the…
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It’s Hard Out Here for a ‘Redbone’: What Light Girls Gets Wrong … and Right
Listening to light-skinned black women talk about colorism is, for some people, comparable to listening to white people talk about racism: like nails on a chalkboard, or Charlie Brown’s teacher. Unfortunately, some aspects of Light Girls—the problematic Bill Duke-produced documentary that premiered Monday night on OWN—probably did nothing to disabuse them of that notion. Without…
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Dove Hair Wants You to Embrace Your Curls
Dove Hair has launched a new campaign and film, hoping to encourage young girls of all backgrounds to embrace and love their curly hair. The campaign was brought on by a recently commissioned global study by the beauty company, which discovered that only 10 percent of women in the U.S. who have curls are proud…
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Vacuum Salesman Surprises Autistic Teen With Birthday Gift
Dylan Johnson of Chesterfield, Va., was never the type of kid to be amused by the average toy. Ever since he was 2, his mom says, he has just simply loved vacuum cleaners. So Dylan’s mother, Jodie Greene, got the novel idea of inviting a vacuum salesman from his favorite brand, Kirby, to give a…
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Roxbury Artist Shines in Google Doodle for MLK Day
Ekua Holmes is a painter and collagist who mixes brilliant and vibrant color sense with a keen observation of personal interactions and urban life. And today the Roxbury, Mass., artist is having a day like no other: She was selected to create the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Google Doodle, which greets millions of Web…
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The Very Human MLK Portrayed by David Oyelowo Is the King We Should All Remember
There was a moment, as I watched Selma, when I became transfixed. I was fully immersed in the commanding yet nuanced performance of David Oyelowo as Martin Luther King Jr. It wasn’t because the actor looked just like MLK—he doesn’t—or because he perfectly mimicked the cadences of King’s distinctive speaking style. He didn’t seem to attempt…
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50 Years After the Voting Rights Act, Equal Access to the Ballot Box Is Still in Peril
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Voting Rights Act. The anniversary follows the release of Ava DuVernay’s film Selma, which documents the movement that gave birth to the VRA. In scene after scene, the film reminds us just how vehemently whites openly opposed equal voting rights for all. Today, however, thanks…
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#ReclaimMLK Seeks to Combat the Sanitizing of Martin Luther King Jr.’s Legacy
Martin Luther King Jr. had more than “a dream,” but you might not notice that on Monday during observances for his birthday. Somewhere between his assassination and today began an MLK-neutering campaign meant to turn the famed agitator’s holiday into a national Day of Service, a generic mishmash of good feelings that contorts King’s social-justice legacy…
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CBS Suspends Sports Analyst Greg Anthony After Arrest
Updated Sunday, Jan. 18, 9:16 a.m. EST: CBS has suspended sports basketball analyst Greg Anthony indefinitely, a representative said Saturday, a day after he was arrested in Washington, D.C., on a charge of soliciting prostitution, according to Reuters. “Greg Anthony will not be working again for CBS this season,” the rep said in an email.…