culture
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The Root 100 Season 2 Premieres on Aspire TV
Want to know why Jamal Simmons calls writer-director Issa Rae “hilarious”? You’ll find out when you tune in Wednesday, Nov. 27, at 8 p.m. ET to the season 2 premiere of Aspire TV’s The Root 100. The series, co-hosted by Suzanne Malveaux, features Simmons’ up-close interviews with some of the most influential African-American leaders and innovators…
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Black Los Angeles Judge Sues UCLA Police for Excessive Force During Stop
Los Angeles County Judge David Cunningham III, who is also a former Los Angeles Police Commission president, is suing UCLA police for using excessive force during a seatbelt stop. According to Cunningham, he was stopped over the weekend because, as the police put it, he only began to buckle his seat belt when he saw…
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Why It Matters That Angelina Jolie’s White Child Plays With Black Dolls
Angelina Jolie is known for her unconventional family, which includes three biological children with longtime partner Brad Pitt and adopted children from Cambodia, Ethiopia and Vietnam. Her multiracial and multicultural family has generated headlines, most notably when critics have felt the need to weigh in on her Ethiopian daughter Zahara’s hair. Some challenged Jolie’s ability…
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French Elle Beauty Editor Wears Blackface, Complete With Afro
Fashion has been used many a time before as an excuse to wear racist costumes, like blackface, beyond Halloween. It looks as if the fashion industry—well, some of those associated with it, anyway—is at it again. Elle France Beauty Editor Jeanne Deroo posted a picture on Instagram in which she is in full-on blackface, complete…
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Horror of Slavery Turns Art Into Protest
This image is part of a weekly series that The Root is presenting in conjunction with the Image of the Black in Western Art Archive at Harvard University’s W.E.B. Du Bois Research Institute, part of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. This scene of heart-wrenching separation occurs on a narrow beach along…
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Black Shoppers Say Buy Buy Baby Wouldn't Take Their Cash
Earlier this year, two cousins, David and Damon Harvey, wanted to make a splash at a baby shower for another family member. They went to the Buy Buy Baby store in Long Island, N.Y., and picked out a car seat, a stroller and a crib. Their total was $1,173 for the three big-ticket items. They…
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Black Firefighter Awarded $1,100,000 in Racial-Discrimination Case
A black firefighter who endured countless racial jokes and racist slurs over his nearly 30-year career with the Los Angeles Fire Department was awarded $1.1 million by a jury on Monday, the Los Angeles Times reports. It took the jury 16 days to decide in favor of Jabari S. Jumaane, who had filed charges against…
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When the President Leaves Office, Who Gets the Library?
From now until the end of the president’s term, the race to see who gets the rights to build the presidential library and museum on a college campus is going to be intense, even if that day is still more than three years away. Early money has the University of Chicago leading the pack, since…
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Chicago Cop Charged in Death of Unarmed Rekia Boyd
A Chicago police officer has been indicted for the shooting death of Rekia Boyd, an unarmed 22-year-old woman who was shot in 2012 while she and her friends were leaving a party, DNAinfo Chicago reports. Officer Dante Servin, 45, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter, reckless discharge of a firearm and reckless conduct. Servin was…
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Search in Zimmerman Case Turns Up Weapons, Ammunition
A search of George Zimmerman’s girlfriend’s home turned up multiple weapons and more than 100 rounds of ammunition, according to court documents filed Monday, CNN reports. Zimmerman was arrested last week at the home after a domestic dispute in which it was alleged that he pointed a shotgun at his girlfriend, Samantha Scheibe. He was…