culture
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Once on Food Stamps, Now He's a 'Genius'
(The Root) — The other day during a recent business trip to Los Angeles, Kyle Abraham’s rental car got a flat tire. For most people, this inconvenience would spin their day out of control, but not Abraham. The dancer-choreographer was still floating on air after being named a MacArthur fellow. The 2013 fellowship from the…
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Connected by the Power of Music
(The Root) — 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 Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. A rustic barn provides the setting for a masterful study of the contrasting terms of village…
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Michigan Affirmative Action Case Before Supreme Court
(The Root) — Despite the ongoing government shutdown and employee furloughs, the Supreme Court opened its doors Monday to begin a new term. Many issues of national interest are expected to come up for discussion, including another case on affirmative action. Next Tuesday, the court will hear arguments in the case of Schuette v. Coalition…
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Fatal Soldier-on-Soldier Attack
Updated Oct. 6, 2:45 p.m. EDT: Police have now backed off allegations that the attack on a soldier over the weekend was a hate crime, according to the Daily News. The main suspect has been identified as another soldier, Jeremiah Hill. Earlier: Police in Lakewood, Wash., are investigating the fatal attack early Saturday morning on a…
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What If Miriam Carey Had Been White?
Writing at Ebony magazine, Tanya Steele wonders if Miriam Carey, the woman who tried to drive through a barrier near the White House last week, would have been fatally shot if she had been white. Steele says the incident sheds light on how African-American women with mental illness are perceived in America. So, I know how Miriam Carey…
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Lauryn Hill: On Her Own Terms
Everyone should cut Lauryn Hill some slack, Alexandra Phanor-Faury writes at Ebony magazine. The singer is making culturally relevant music and working at a comfortable, healthy pace. While she may be free from captivity today, Hill was always free-minded. Carving out her own path sans regard to public opinion was her constant modus operandi. While many…
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The New Ku Klux Klan in Photos
No group brings to mind images of hatred, violence and sheer ugliness more than the Ku Klux Klan. But is it possible that today’s iteration of the KKK looks remarkably different from the iconic images of white men in white robes and white hoods, burning crosses and terrorizing black people (and those who were allies of…
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A Jazz Man Considers 'Musical Genocide'
(The Root) — When was the last time the culture produced a great black male jazz singer? To be sure, there is no shortage of contemporary black female jazz vocalists — Dianne Reeves, Cassandra Wilson and Lizz Wright, to name just a few — all at the peak (or close to, in Wright’s case) of…
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Scholars of Color Working in Isolation
(The Root) — Remember the name Maurice Green — not the Olympic sprinter, but the energetic young scholar who founded the International Black Doctoral Network Association Inc. The newly minted group just completed its first convention in Philadelphia, drawing 400 black Ph.D.s and doctoral candidates from a wide variety of disciplines to network, present papers…
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Gun Violence's No. 1 Target: Black Children
(The Root) — In the weeks since the Washington Navy Yard shooting, the city of New Orleans reached a tragic milestone. All told, 108 people have been murdered in the Crescent City so far this year. In September two black girls, one 11 years old and the other age 2, were shot and killed. And…