culture
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10 New Foods We Loved in 2013
Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s choice to go vegan may spark the next culinary trend, but for black America, 2013 was already an interesting food year. Here are some nontraditional foods that sashayed their way into the African-American diet, because who says black people can’t be foodies? 1. The Cronut Questlove was so excited about this croissant-doughnut…
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Man Set Free After 30 Years in Prison
A man who spent 30 years behind bars walked out of prison a free man and into the arms of his two daughters, lawyers and friends earlier today, the Associated Press reports. Fifty-nine-year-old Stanley Wrice has maintained his innocence since he was arrested in 1982. Wrice was accused of rape, yet he claimed he had…
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Jon Stewart Pokes Fun at McCain’s Obama-Hitler Comparison
Comedian Jon Stewart had a field day Tuesday, poking fun at the American media and others for blowing the handshake between President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raúl Castro out of proportion. “Barack Obama [was] at a memorial celebrating the life of Nelson Mandela, a man whose legacy is that he forgave and embraced his…
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NAACP Petitions Department of Justice to Investigate Alleged Miami Gardens Police Abuse
The Florida State Conference of the NAACP and the Miami-Dade County branch formally issued a letter on Tuesday requesting that Attorney General Eric Holder push the Justice Department to investigate allegations of police abuse in the city of Miami Gardens. Miami Gardens in particular has been plagued with accounts of police allegedly abusing their authority…
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‘Fake’ Sign Language Interpreter at Mandela Memorial Causes Outrage
An imposter interpreter has sparked outrage, especially in the deaf community, for fake-signing at South African icon Nelson Mandela’s memorial service. According to Yahoo, an Australian website obtained confirmation of the deception from the World Federation of the Deaf Youth Section board member Braam Jordaan. The interpreter was faking it. “The structure of his hand,…
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Photographer: Obama Selfie Not What It Seems
A picture may be worth a thousand words, but in the case of the “selfie seen round the world”—which showed President Obama taking a cellphone photo with British Prime Minister David Cameron and Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning Schmidt, while the first lady looks away in apparent disgust— it wasn’t so. “Photos can lie,” wrote…
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Texas Woman Pleads Guilty to Sending Ricin to President Obama
A Texas woman pleaded guilty to sending letters containing ricin to President Barack Obama and New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg on Tuesday. According to Shannon Richardson’s attorney, the deal means she could receive a maximum 18-year prison sentence, the Associated Press reports. According to court documents, one letter to the president reads: “What’s in this…
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Racism Linked to Infant Mortality and Learning Disabilities
On the long list of health disparities that vex and disproportionately affect the lives of African Americans—diabetes, cancer and obesity among them—one of the earliest and, it turns out, most significant, may be just when a black child is born. A pair of Emory University studies released this year have connected the large share of…
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Small Biz Lady Brings Business Expertise to The Root
Editor’s note: How many times in your life have you heard some version of the words “go get a job” from well-meaning parents, teachers, friends or spouses? But has anyone ever told you to “go start your own company”? Does that seem too scary, too tough or impractical? Yes, it can be hard. And yes,…
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Malcolm-Jamal Warner Tackles a Classic Sidney Poitier Role
There’s a moment (or 10) in Todd Kreidler’s adaptation of Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner when Malcolm-Jamal Warner forces you to forget all about Sidney Poitier. The thought is blasphemous, of course—heretical, even—but true nonetheless. Warner takes Dr. John Prentice, the character originated by Poitier, and makes him his own. “I definitely watched the film…