culture
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World Champion Gymnast Focuses on Talent, Not Racism
For world champion gymnast Simone Biles, her talent has become her job. “When I’m healthy, I go to the gym from 9 to 6:30 p.m. and train twice, from 9 to 12 and 2:30 to 6:30, so seven hours a day,” Simone tells The Root in an airy, petite voice from Spring, Texas. “I do…
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When Big Men Refuse to Fight
This week’s dustup between former teammates Jonathan Martin and Richie Incognito and the Miami Dolphins organization has been woven into a web of controversy. Incognito, the white veteran leader on the Dolphins, was put in charge of toughening up Martin, a black second-year guard out of Stanford who played tackle to Incognito’s guard on the…
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Hall of Famer Tony Dorsett Shows Signs of Brain Disorder
Former Dallas Cowboy running back Tony Dorsett has been diagnosed with exhibiting signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative condition many scientists have attributed to head trauma and believe is linked to dementia and depression, doctors told ESPN’s “Outside the Lines.” The Hall of Fame running back, who amassed more than 12,000 yards with the…
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Census: 1 in 6 Americans Live in Poverty
There are more poor people living in the United States than the official numbers detail, a revised census measure shows, according to the Associated Press. According to the new measure, which attempts to provide a fuller picture of poverty, there are 3 million more poor people in the U.S. than the official figures show, making…
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African-American Super Soaker Creator Awarded $72.9 Million From Hasbro
Lonnie Johnson, founder of the Atlanta-based company Johnson Research and Development Co., has been awarded almost $73 million in royalties from Hasbro, Inc., the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports, settling a long royalties dispute with toy-making giant. “In the arbitration we got everything we asked for,” attorney Leigh Baier told the Journal-Constitution. “The arbitrator ruled totally in…
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Hollywood Elite: Be More Consistent With Black Films!
It seems as if this year the big screen cannot get enough of black narratives. But Oprah Winfrey and other Hollywood heavyweights are not impressed. According to the Huffington Post, it’s a pattern they are all too familiar with. Every once in a while black-themed, often black-produced films make waves in award ceremonies and movie…
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Teen Looks for Help, Is Shot on Porch Instead
Renisha McBride was involved in a car accident around 2:30 last Sunday morning. She sought help once she realized her cellphone battery had died. The 19-year-old would later be found dead on the porch of the Dearborn Heights, Mich., home where she went to seek assistance, the Detroit News reports. McBride was driving her 2001 white…
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Sebelius: Felons Can Work on Obamacare
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius dropped a bombshell during a Senate hearing Wednesday. According to the New York Post, Sebelius admitted that “navigators” who help folks enroll in Obamacare could in fact be felons. “A convicted felon could be a navigator and could acquire sensitive personal information from an individual unbeknownst to them?” asked…
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De Blasio's Son Votes to Stay in Brooklyn
The 16-year-old son of New York’s newly crowned mayor-elect, Bill de Blasio, isn’t ready for a change of address just yet, the New York Daily News reports. Becoming mayor means the family moves to Gracie Mansion in the Upper East Side, which is awesome—unless you go to high school way over in Brooklyn. “I’m still…
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Quote of the Day: President Barack Obama on 2008 Election
Read a transcript of the president’s speech in its entirety here. Henry Louis Gates Jr. is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and founding director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. He is also the editor-in-chief of The Root. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. Like The Root on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.