culture

Jeff Stratton started out working behind a McDonald’s counter in Detroit nearly 40 years ago. Now he’s president of McDonald’s U.S.A. Not bad. With such roots, it would seem that he would have strong relationships with workers, from those in corporate suites to the line cooks. Perhaps he does, but that certainly did not appear…

(The Root) — In just the first four minutes of last week’s season premiere of Scandal, giddy gladiators finally got a glimpse of what life must have been like in the Pope residence. And, for anyone who grew up under the thumb of an exacting parent, that scene looked all too familiar. As it turns…

(The Root) — “The love of my life played my ‘Big’ for five years. He wined and dined, bought gifts, we went on trips, etc. He is in a relationship. I am recently single. He wants to do dinner so we can have a serious talk. ‘No B.S.,’ is what he said. What is there…

Wendy Jane Grossman delivers a humorous piece at her blog, Wendy Jane’s Soul Shake, about a white woman who explores black Twitter. “I started feeling like a lurker, who was just trying to be cool by being a part of something I can’t really be on the inside of because … I’m not black. But,…

Roxanne Jones, a founding editor of ESPN, writes at CNN that she is pleased that President Barack Obama has weighed in on the controversy surrounding the name of the Washington Redskins. His recent suggestion that the owner consider changing the team’s name could help end a long and divisive debate that has raised concerns about…

In the aftermath of the shooting death of unarmed Miriam Carey by police, The Nation‘s Mychal Denzel Smith writes about how America routinely condones unchecked violence against black women. The US House of Representatives applauded the death of Miriam Carey before they knew who she was. They didn’t know about her postpartum depression, or that she talked…

(The Root) — Editor’s note: We were reminded again yesterday that in America, color may still matter as much as character when you’re black and male and you have an encounter with police. And we ask this question: When is coincidence more than coincidence? As The Root reported on Tuesday, Jack Lamar Roberson of Waycross,…

Updated Oct. 9, 2:15 p.m. EDT: Jack Lamar Roberson’s family has taken the first step toward legal action in the fatal shooting of the allegedly suicidal man and have been in contact with an attorney, although no formal arrangements have been made, The Root has learned.  It may be a long battle, with both sides…

When Ellen Pompeo, the lead actress on Grey’s Anatomy, was offered the role of Dr. Meredith Grey, she had no idea it would become the role of a lifetime, but she was certain she did not want the role to be anything like her real life. As Grey’s Anatomy celebrates its 200-episode milestone, Pompeo reveals…

Trayvon Martin Day at a Pittsburgh high school was meant to bring students together and raise social awareness while commemorating the life of the unarmed African-American teen who was shot and killed last year by George Zimmerman, the Daily News reports. Instead it resulted in a loud public outcry from parents, who called it divisive.…