culture
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Being Single Isn't a Social Crime
(The Root) — You can read this essay in its entirety — plus the thoughts of 40 other prominent African Americans from the worlds of the arts, medicine, religion and academia — in the anthology Where Did Our Love Go: Love and Relationships in the African American Community, available online and wherever books are sold.…
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About This Nation of 'Mutts'
Author Stacy Parker Le Melle takes New York Times columnist David Brooks to task in a piece at the Huffington Post for using the term “mutts” in a recent op-ed. She argues that Brooks does not understand how hurtful the term is to multiracial people and encourages him to pay homage to the myriad cultures…
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Single Parents Aren't the Problem
(The Root) — Do black children have natural disadvantages in school because most are from single-parent homes? Recently, comedian Bill Cosby chided the “apathy” he observed among black parents. He, like many others, believes that the fading presence of the black nuclear family places black children at a social disadvantage and creates a burden on…
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BET Apologizes Not Really to B. Scott
We wouldn’t quite call it an apology, but two days after the BET Awards aired, the network has responded to fashion blogger B. Scott, who said the network made him tone down his feminine look before he made his appearance on the pre-awards show. A BET representative called the incident (in which Scott, who is…
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'Reading Rainbow' Host's New Lesson: How to Avoid Being Shot by Police
Depressing (but not surprising) statement of the week: LeVar Burton told CNN on Monday that he has a whole routine every time he’s stopped by police, designed to avoid the potentially deadly confrontation that could result from racial profiling. He removes his hat and sunglasses, rolls down his window and puts out his hands to…
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Zimmerman Tapes: Facts Don't Add Up
(The Root) — For the first time in the second-degree-murder trial of George Zimmerman, jurors Monday heard a gripping narrative in the defendant’s own words about his fatal shooting of unarmed teen Trayvon Martin. But much of what was presented in audio and video recordings of his statements to police investigators didn’t quite add up.…
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Some People Will Never Forgive R. Kelly
(The Root) — R. Kelly performed at the BET Awards on Sunday, offering viewers a nostalgic medley of his greatest hits. The audience in the Staples Center in Los Angeles practically swooned as he sang verses from his impressive catalog of hits, including “I Wish,” “Ignition” and “Seems Like You’re Ready.” At times, Kellz held…
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Texas Lawmakers Reconvene for Round 2 on Abortion Fight
Contending that too many voters stand against a GOP measure that would ban most abortion clinics in Texas, Cecile Richards, Planned Parenthood’s president, writes at the Huffington Post that Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s last-ditch effort to revive the measure in special session will not work, especially after state Sen. Wendy Davis’ famous filibuster. The Texas…
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Portraying Difference in 18th-Century Brazil
(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. Depicted approximately life-size, a nearly naked young black man stands before a curving dirt…
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Should Blacks Celebrate Independence Day?
Arguing that he is “one generation removed from the ugliness of legal oppression in America,” Maryland pastor William H. Lamar IV writes at the Huffington Post that African Americans should not celebrate the Fourth of July, which was adopted when our ancestors were still enslaved. The government and the corporate media celebrate as patriots those…