culture
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12 Years a Slave to Be Part of Public High School Curriculum
Call it another win for 12 Years a Slave. The award-winning film will soon serve as another avenue for public high school students to learn about the harsh lessons of race in America, according to a news release. The National School Boards Association is partnering with New Regency, Penguin Books and the filmmakers to distribute copies of…
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To Grow Our Future in Technology, Look to the Past
History doesn’t just happen. History starts with a vision. In the early 1980s, Rep. George T. “Mickey” Leland, who was then chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, envisioned a more inclusive telecommunications and media world. A decade later, the late Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown recognized that the power of the Internet could unlock a brighter…
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45th Annual NAACP Image Awards Pregame
Editor’s note: In a separate ceremony Friday night, The African-Americans: Many Rivers to Cross won its category as outstanding news and information series. In 1967 the NAACP took its mission of fighting for justice and equality to Hollywood by establishing the NAACP Image Awards to honor those people of color whose work in film, music,…
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Oscar Hopes Aside, We Must Celebrate Our Own Achievements
The disappointing results of last month’s Golden Globes, with so few honors going to black actors and filmmakers—with the notable exception of 12 Years a Slave for best dramatic picture—begs a perennial question. How much should blacks expect of mainstream America to validate their arts, letters, films and other creative works? This is an old…
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High School Wrestlers Suspended for Lynching Photo
Eight New Jersey high school wrestlers have been kept out of a state tournament after a photo surfaced showing the team members simulating lynching of a black wrestling dummy in a rival team’s shirt, the Associated Press reports. On Thursday, Scott Wilhelm, an attorney for the wrestlers, read a prepared statement claiming that the Phillipsburg…
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Former NFL Star Darren Sharper Pleads Not Guilty
Former football star Darren Sharper entered a not-guilty plea on Thursday during his arraignment on allegations that he drugged and raped two women in Los Angeles in a string of crimes spanning four other states, Reuters reports. Sharper, who became an on-air commentator for the NFL Network after hanging up his jersey, was suspended…
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Jordan Davis’ Parents Slam Juror No. 8: She Wasn’t Genuine
The parents of Jordan Davis slammed juror No. 8 in the Michael Dunn trial for her take in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper Thursday night, saying that she was neither genuine nor paying attention to the trial. When asked by Cooper what they thought of Creshuna Miles’ comments, the parents pulled no punches. “I…
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Why Joy Reid Will Be Real About Race and Politics
As she takes her seat on a television-show set that’s right at the center of any given day’s most contentious political and cultural debates, the vitriolic attacks against Joy Reid from faceless Twitter followers are guaranteed to increase. And it’s safe to say that critics on the right would cheer if her commentary were to…
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Reacting to the Trauma in 2013’s Black Films
Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal interviews Stephane Dunn and Esther Iverem about black filmmaking and the 2014 awards season. Dunn is an assistant professor of English and co-director of cinema, television and emerging media studies at Morehouse College. Iverem is the founder and editor of SeeingBlack.com. Watch: Like The Root on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.
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Do White Folks Fear Violence When Black Folks Are Just Being Blunt?
In the aftermath of the Michael Dunn verdict, we’re talking again about how Americans process black boys as inherently violent. And they do. Yet in an honest, and perhaps more productive, discussion of this topic, we have to allow something uncomfortable—the possibility that language plays a part in the stereotype. To whites, I highly suspect…