video
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Videos of Racists Being Racist Go Viral, and Then What?
Roses are red, violets are blue, America is full of racists, what else is new? That was my initial feeling when recently greeted by two videos floating around Al Gore’s Internet featuring two separate instances of overt racism. The other was curiosity over how that loudmouthed woman in Walmart or that wheelchair-bound man who reminded…
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Tupac’s Godfather, Jamal Joseph, on His Journey From Panther to Political Prisoner to Film Director
Writer, director and activist Jamal Joseph was a member of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army. At 16 years old, he was arrested in the Panther 21 case along with Afeni Shakur, the mother of rapper Tupac Shakur. The Panther 21 case was designed to wipe out the New York Black Panther…
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Does Charlamagne tha God Hate Black Women?
Tomi Lahren is a certified troll. Our friend Damon Young of Very Smart Brothas stuck “Darth” in front of her name to truly capture the essence of her evil. She’s like Donald Trump in Becky’s clothing. So when radio personality, author and all-around professional under-your-skin dweller Charlamagne tha God was not only spotted with Lahren…
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Watch: Remembering Black Radical Women Who Used Art to Start a Revolution
“We think of artists usually in history as European, as male, as being trained in a certain way,” said Rujeko Hockley, co-curator of “We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965-85,” an exhibition currently on display at the Brooklyn Museum. “We don’t necessarily think of black women making quilts as artists in the South in…
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Watch: The Root’s Young, Fabulous and Female and manCODE Chicago Completely Redefined Success
Big house + big job = great life? Maybe, but maybe not. Maybe it’s time to take a different look at what success really means for us, personally and professionally. In our joint Young, Fabulous and Female and manCODEevents Tuesday, May 16, in Chicago’s Zhou B Art Center, we did just that. The Root and…
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Watch: The Notorious B.I.G. Quiz: How Well Does Brooklyn, NY, Know Biggie’s Music?
Things done changed in Bed-Stuy. It’s now one of the most gentrified areas in Brooklyn, N.Y., affecting everything from voting to schooling. Fancy coffee, avocado toast and almond croissants are on every corner. It’s an everyday struggle for longtime residents to pay the unbelievable rents. The Root hit the streets of Bedford-Stuyvesant without warning to…
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Watch: I Made It to 21. Mike Brown Didn’t
Mike Brown was 18. Jordan Edwards was 15. Tamir Rice was 12. Aiyana Stanley-Jones was 7. Too many black children have not lived to celebrate the tender age of 21. Instead, their families are forced to live with memories of what was and dreams of what could have been. How many more black children have…
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Watch: Complex Premieres Documentary Before the Hashtag: Sean Bell
He was only 23 years old, and on the day of his wedding in 2006, Sean Bell was shot and killed by five undercover officers. The shooting took place shortly after a bachelor party in Queens, N.Y. According to the New York City police commissioner at the time, Raymond Kelly, a fight broke out outside…
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Watch: Our World in Malcolm X’s Words
Very seldom does one encounter a leader as valiant, sharp and fearless as Malcolm X (aka el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz), born May 19, 1925, in Omaha, Neb., as Malcolm Little. He and his family were terrorized by white supremacists (who would eventually kill his father). During time in jail, Malcolm joined the Nation of Islam and…
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How Stalking Sheryl Lee Ralph on Social Media Got These Men 2 Musicals
Who knew that stalking Sheryl Lee Ralph on social media would spawn two much-needed musicals: Mighty Real: A Fabulous Sylvester Musical and An Evening With Phyllis Hyman? The shows’ creators, Kendrell Bowman and Anthony Wayne, sure didn’t! But when they thought of the concepts behind the stage shows, they knew they had something special, and…