culture
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Black Identity and Racism Collide in Brazil
Before teams representing their countries from around the world arrived in Brazil, the country’s president, Dilma Rousseff, took the opportunity to label 2014 the “anti-racism World Cup.” The declaration came after a wave of racist incidents in soccer around the world targeting black players, many of whom are Brazilian. While it’s a well-intentioned gesture and…
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Lina Viktor: Who Spins Art Out of Gold
The artist Lina Viktor is every inch a living, breathing piece of art, from her gold-draped fingers, brown skin and blond hair to her skintight catsuit and platform sneakers. Some have called her the art world’s cross between M.I.A. and Nicki Minaj, but she begs to disagree, and so does The Root. Viktor is her…
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Black Parents, Gay Sons and Redefining Masculinity
“As a gay black man, I find myself at the top of the list of people to hate,” wrote Michael Arceneaux for The Root five years ago. “That’s a hard fact to contend with at 25, let alone at 11. The accepted notions of how a black man should look and act are confining and…
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Malia Obama Heads to Hollywood
Usually a teenager’s first summer job entails flipping burgers at a fast-food joint or folding clothes at H&M, but for soon-to-be-16 Malia Obama, it’s off to Hollywood, according to a report by TheWrap. Malia, an aspiring filmmaker and a fan of HBO’s Girls, was spotted last week working as a production assistant for a day…
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Writer-Director John Singleton: ‘Negritude’ Sells
John Singleton, who received two Oscar nominations for Boyz N the Hood and is currently working on a Tupac Shakur biopic, spoke at the Los Angeles Film Festival on Saturday about diversity. “Don’t be afraid to be black,” he told a predominantly black, packed audience at a session moderated by film critic Elvis Mitchell at…
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Turkish Man Accused of Being Illegal Cab Driver While Dropping Off White Friends
Turkish immigrant Melih Kalyoncu was just doing his two good friends a solid, dropping them off at Kennedy Airport for their flight to San Francisco, DNAinfo New York reports. His good deed, however, definitely did not go unpunished: He was accused by Taxi & Limousine Commission agents of operating an illegal cab and was slapped…
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Black Women Run Hollywood?
Turns out that all those years that black women were left on the sidelines in Hollywood were not because of discrimination but because of a secret organization of black women—including actresses such as Alfre Woodard, Tracee Ellis Ross and Meagan Good—who deliberately set it up that way so they could rule in secret. At least,…
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‘Mr. Padre’ Tony Gwynn Dies of Cancer at Age 54
Tony Gwynn, the Hall of Fame slugger whose career netted a lifetime batting average of .338 and some 3,141 hits over 20 seasons with the San Diego Padres, lost his fight with cancer on Monday, ESPN reports. According to ESPN, Gwynn 54—who won eight National League batting titles and played in both of the Padres’…
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NY Parks Department Worker Who Saved 4 in Brooklyn Fire Dies
James Frye, who courageously saved four people from a Brooklyn, N.Y., apartment fire earlier this month, has succumbed to injuries he suffered while attempting to rescue a fifth, New York’s Daily News reports. The 47-year-old Parks Department worker, who was staying with a friend, Adrienne Mitchell, while his own apartment was being renovated, sprung into action…
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Starbucks to Offer Some Workers Free College Tuition
As the debate over minimum wage rages on, Starbucks has upped the ante, announcing a program that will help baristas earn online college degrees. According to the Associated Press, the Seattle-based coffee company will partner with Arizona State University in making the program available to 135,000 U.S. workers who work at least 20 hours a…