culture

(The Root) — Since Mad Men premiered in 2007, the show’s diversity (or lack thereof) has been an ongoing, real-life subplot to the series’ success. For a show set against the racially charged backdrop of the 1960s, critics say, the absence of significant black characters isn’t just an oversight; it’s inaccurate. But last week —…

Hip-hop stars’ hard-knock roots can make it difficult for them to relate to their sheltered children, writes Ebony‘s Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond. … Psychologist Dr. Richard Orbe-Austin says the disconnect between a parent who came out of a tough background and their child can trigger a unique set of problems. “In the worst case scenarios, extreme…

Clutch magazine‘s Britni Danielle explains why “I don’t have any female friends” is a giant red flag. Here’s the thing: I used to be one of those girls. When I was growing up I was a bit of a tomboy and hung out with boys. While I always had a small circle of female friends,…

(The Root) — Muslim-American commentators saturated the airwaves and social-media forums this past week, breaking down how the Boston explosions will affect Islam and its American following. Heads of organizations, political pundits and lay citizens voiced their viewpoints on every channel of the American-media gamut after the two suspected culprits, Dhzokar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, were…

The man who popularized the phrase “The rent is too damn high” during his 2010 campaign for New York governor has officially tapped into his inner emcee, the Daily Beast reports. Jimmy McMillan’s anthem on housing costs — whose title is also the name of his political party — has been memorialized in rap form.…

Read the entire quote here. Henry Louis Gates Jr. is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and the director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African-American Research at Harvard University. He is also the editor-in-chief of The Root. Follow him on Twitter. Like The Root on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.