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“This year marks the 30th anniversary of HIV/AIDS. Since [it was discovered], HIV/AIDS has become a global pandemic. HIV/AIDS doesn’t discriminate based on race, class, gender, religious or sexual orientation. It affects us all. That is why I get tested every six months and I have a partnership with the CDC for HIV/AIDS awareness. National…

Of the many covers of this timeless classic, Mike’s version is my favorite. I like to open or end my sets with this one. People don’t so much dance to it as they just bask in awe of the emotional intensity of such a young child (he was 14 in 1972). On the dance floor,…

While soul singer Blacc is hardly under the radar, his smooth style, reminiscent of Al Green’s, deserves extra attention. The 31-year-old crooner began his music career as part of the Los Angeles rap duo Emanon. Blacc found success in Europe with his second album, Good Things, and its inaugural single, “I Need a Dollar.” Blacc…

Every year, BET brings an excited fan on stage to present the viewer’s choice award. At the 2011 awards, Tiffany Green’s dream turned into a nightmare when she announced Chris Brown’s name, then quickly backtracked and gave the award to Rihanna. As it turned out, Brown was the actual winner. Oops! It was exciting enough…

R&B crooner Shanice may have had only one hit, but “I Love Your Smile” is arguably one of the catchiest — and most memorable — R&B tunes of the ’90s. Really, who could forget a song whose chorus is “Do do do do do/do do do”? Complete with a brilliant saxophone solo by Branford Marsalis,…

The Somali supermodel and businesswoman was set up with British rock royalty David Bowie by their shared hairdresser. “It was nerve-racking at the beginning, the first five minutes, but we got along very famously, and we have been together since then,” she said in an interview. The power couple walked down the aisle in 1992…

From 1838 to near the end of the 19th century, the African-American community of Weeksville thrived in the Brooklyn neighborhood that is now Bedford-Stuyvesant. Captions by Linda Villarosa Read on, then check out our “Not Your Typical Guide to Black New York.” The community of about 500 residents at its height had its own baseball…

Submitted by Carolyn Gray: Her dad, Leonard Gray, she writes, “was not overly concerned about dress. He had the Obama conservative cool style.” The father of 13, grandfather of 25 and great-grandfather of 26 was a deacon and a Sunday-school teacher, but Carolyn tells us that before he got saved, he was a “pretty good…

Esquivel’s artistic strategy is to delegitimize power. Unafraid to provoke, he explores racial themes through the rebellious “logic of the escaped slave.” Captions adapted by Brandee Sanders from the book Queloides: Race and Racism in Cuban Contemporary Art. Learn more about “Queloides” on The Root. Esquivel uses painting, installation, performance and video art to examine…

Aug. 7, 1930Marion, Ind.Inscribed in pencil on the inner, gray matte: “Bo pointn to his niga.” On the yellowed outer matte: “klan 4th Joplin, Mo. 33.” Flattened between the glass and double mattes are locks of the victims’ hair. “Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America” was organized by the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in…