culture
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Should a Black Writer Write White Characters?
Dear Race Manners: I’m a young black woman, a recent college graduate and aspiring writer, but I’m paralyzed by concerns about race that are keeping me from beginning my book: Is it wrong that I see the main character as white? Is that OK? If I make the character white, am I pioneering a new avenue for…
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Protect Our Communities From Predatory Payday Lenders
For millions of Americans, the financial crisis that robbed them of their homes, retirement savings and jobs is still in full swing. The urgent need to build and rebuild lost wealth is daunting, especially because predatory payday lenders have made it their mission to supercharge debt for the already downtrodden. They do this by trapping…
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Man Who Hates Wife’s Natural Hair: Cut Him Some Slack
Love him or deride him, comedian, relationship expert and talk show host Steve Harvey nailed his advice to a newlywed black couple who recently appeared on his show for the segment “I Love My Man, But …” The wife, whose name is Love, recently decided to change her hair from the long, straight weave she’d…
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Young Ballerinas Awarded Scholarships
Canadian twins Nia and Imani Lindsay will join one of the world’s leading ballet training programs this summer. The sisters, 10, were awarded scholarships to attend the American Ballet Theatre’s “Young Dancer Summer Workshop” in New York. The twins, who began walking at just 8 months old, are also skilled in acrobatics, tap, jazz, hip-hop…
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Oakland Teen Wows With 5.0 GPA and 2100 SAT Score
Akintunde Ahmad just sees himself as a regular 17-year-old, but the Oakland, Calif., teen has stunned everyone with his 5.0 GPA and 2100 SAT score, which have led to his acceptance at some of the country’s most prestigious universities. “Like, my whole life, people have been telling me to stay on this path and everything…
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Detroit Woman Who Killed Daughter Gets 23-Year Sentence
A Detroit woman who fatally stabbed her 8-year-old daughter more than a year ago was sentenced Monday to at least 23 years in prison, the Associated Press reports. The 27-year-old apologized for killing Tameria Greene, calling the death an “accidental mistake.” “I miss my daughter,” she said, according to AP. Greene pleaded guilty in March…
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Innocent Brooklyn Man to Walk Free After Almost Completing 25-Year Sentence
He is soon to be free, but for 51-year-old Jonathan Fleming, freedom may be bittersweet. Fleming had already served 24 years of a 25-to-life sentence for a murder he did not commit. He was accused of gunning down Darryl Rush, 22, outside an apartment in his hometown of Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1989, the New York Post…
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Learning to Love Tax Season: Watch The Root Live Today at 11am
In many African-American families, when we have an important issue to discuss, we gather in the kitchen and bring it to the table. That’s especially true of financial discussions, whether about how to pay the bills, how to send Junior to college or where to start looking for a new job. For the next two…
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Sharpton Was FBI Mob Informant, Report Says
Al Sharpton has been called many names. Add CI-7 to that list. According to a lengthy report published by the Smoking Gun news website, Sharpton was a confidential FBI informant—code named CI-7—for several years in the mid-1980s. On Monday, the Smoking Gun published documents that purport to show that the current host of PoliticsNation on…
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Rap Goes to Court: When Lyrics Become Evidence In a Trial
This week the Supreme Court of New Jersey is scheduled to hear final arguments in State v. Skinner, a case that could have a far-reaching impact on the criminal justice system. The case reflects an alarming new trend in which lyrics by amateur rappers are used against them as evidence in criminal prosecutions. Vonte Skinner, an…