culture
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Banning Weaves Won't Lead to Self-Esteem
(The Root) — A Waco, Texas, pastor made headlines yesterday when AmericanPreachers.com published a story about the minister banning weaves among the female leaders in his church. “Our black women are getting weaves trying to be something and someone they are not,” the Rev. A.J. Aamir told American Preachers. “Be real with yourself is all…
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Reception of Blacks in Classical Greece
(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 W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research. The durable medium of pottery preserves one of the most-intact surviving impressions of ancient Greek civilization. In addition to…
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Pastor Tells Women No Weaves in His Church
Although many say the Bible’s message is “come as you are,” one pastor in Texas is taking the adage to a whole new level. A.J. Aamir, of Resurrecting Faith in Waco, recently told the women on the church’s leadership staff not to wear weaves, reports Clutch magazine. His reason? He believes that women who wear…
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Whites More Likely to Use the Internet Than Blacks
Although nearly 98 percent of U.S. homes now have access to some kind of broadband service, about 20 percent of the population doesn’t use the Internet at home, work or school or on a mobile device. And the disparity is still greater within the black community than the white community, according to a New York…
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Dante de Blasio's Famous Afro
Amid the multilple stories to be told about the candidates in this year’s New York City mayoral race, the one about New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and his family are some of the more interesting. De Blasio, who is of partly Italian descent (his surname comes from his mother), is married to…
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Is There Room for a Race Man Today?
(The Root) — August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial with activist and entertainer Harry Belafonte not far away. It was one of the many moments in which Belafonte, throughout his career as an actor and singer, used his star…
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5th Football Player Added to Vanderbilt Rape Case
A grand jury has indicted a fifth Vanderbilt University football player, Chris Boyd, for his alleged role in the rape of an unconscious student on campus in June, CBS News reports. Metro Nashville Police say the 21-year-old reported to police headquarters Saturday morning after being indicted on Friday and turned himself in. Vanderbilt released a…
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'Be What You Were Meant to Be': Why Oprah's Right
Blogging at Essence, Janelle Harris writes that she believes as Oprah Winfrey does, that “you can only be what you were meant to be.” You just have to work hard to determine what that is. Not everything we’re doing right now is what we’d prefer to be doing. I’d venture most of us—including me with…
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Why Celebrity Apologies Are Meaningless
Roxane Gay at Salon dismisses Russell Simmons’ apology tour in the aftermath of the “Harriet Tubman Sex Tape” scandal, calling it pro forma. The media and fans need to demand more of celebrities, including Tyler Perry and Quentin Tarantino, whose denigrating depictions of African Americans, especially women, have reaped them millions. I initially thought I was…
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A White Mother Shapes a Black Man
“White mothers of black boys are confronted by the same realities as black mothers,” Albert L. Butler writes at MSNBC in a poignant piece about his white mother. He says it’s an important yet often overlooked fact. I am an avid watcher of Melissa Harris-Perry, so I was not at all surprised–and was quite pleased–when host…