culture
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How Keeping Our Sons Safe Makes It OK for Whites to Be Racists
The slaying of 17-year-old Jordan Davis by a white man who didn’t appreciate his taste in music had some black people scrambling to give black boys “the talk” about how not to scare white people into shooting them. The Rev. John Guns, pastor of St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fla., was one of…
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Louisiana Elementary School Principal Was Once the Janitor
Gabe Sonnier isn’t your ordinary elementary school principal. Still new to his job, although he has been at the same school for more than 30 years, Sonnier had a very unusual start to his career. His office was once the mop room in a hall because he used to be the Port Barre Elementary school’s janitor, CBS…
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Speed Skater Shani Davis Fails to Medal in the 1,000-Meter Race
Shani Davis’ storybook career may have come to a sad end Wednesday, as he finished eighth in the men’s 1,000-meter speed-skating event, coming up short of being the first speed skater to win the same event at three consecutive games. The heavily favored Davis, one the greatest winter Olympians of all time and the face…
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Muhammad Ali Boxing Gloves for Auction
A pair of Muhammad Ali boxing gloves is once again up for auction, ESPN reports. The pair, worn during his first heavyweight championship fight on Feb. 25, 1964, in a fight against Sonny Liston, was originally bought at an auction in December 2012 from an estate sale of Ali’s former trainer, Angelo Dundee, the sports…
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Michael Sam Sr. Is Struggling With His Son Coming Out
Earlier this week, Michael Sam came out publicly with the news that he is gay. When asked about his parents’ reaction to the news during an interview with ESPN, Sam said, “I told my mom and dad last week, and they just pretty much said, ‘We knew and we love you and support you,’ ”…
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Justice Clarence Thomas: Americans Are Too Sensitive About Race
Speaking at Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, Fla., Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas told a gathering of college students that Americans today are too sensitive about race, Yahoo News reports. “My sadness is that we are probably today more race- and difference-conscious than I was in the 1960s when I went to…
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Zimmerman Fight Is Off, Again
The bare-knuckle brawl that was to feature George Zimmerman and an unnamed opponent has been canceled again, after Trayvon Martin’s family refused to accept any money from the fight’s promoter, TMZ reports. The fight, which was originally scheduled as a “celebrity boxing match” to feature Zimmerman and rapper DMX, was called off after an online…
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Figuring Out the Right Time to Introduce Him or Her to the Kids
Navigating the dating world can be challenging when you’re a single parent. I remember speaking with a guy friend who’s raising three children on his own, and he found it interesting that some of the women he dated were immediately inquiring about meeting his children. He told me that one woman in particular felt offended…
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Neither Etiquette nor Black Culture Requires Eating Unhealthy Food
“I’m Filipina, black, native Hawaiian, white and some other pieces I probably don’t know of, and my hubby is African American. I haven’t had the closest relationship with his mother, but it’s been civil, and any distance I chalked up to the idea that no woman will ever be good enough for his son. I’ve…
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The Root Live: Bring It to the Table Premieres at 11 A.M.
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 10…