Uncategorized
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Ready to Serve
I am ready! When asked, I will not blink! Ladies and gentlemen, I humbly submit to you the next vice president of these United States, moi. Hey, a week ago, that would have been ludicrous and laughable. But in the wake of Gov. Sarah Palin’s titanic interview on ABC last week, this doesn’t seem that…
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Mixed Income, Mixed Results
A few weeks after I moved into my condo in the historic Bronzeville neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side, I saw a group of black men—ages from 20s to 50s—standing in front of my building. As I unloaded my groceries, I introduced myself as the new gal on the block. They seemed genuinely shocked at the neighborly…
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Jim Crow — The Remix
The Republican Party has finally found the outer edge of political cynicism; it’s located in Macomb County, Mich. Operatives there have figured out an upside to the foreclosure crisis roiling black neighborhoods: It enables mass voter-registration challenges and thereby offers a powerful opportunity to suppress the vote in Democrat-leaning districts. An enterprising journalist for the…
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House of Race Cards
I don’t know why anyone—myself included—ever let themselves think that a black man could run for president of the United States without igniting the sort of racial backlash we’re witnessing in the current campaign. I don’t know why anyone—myself included—ever believed that the Republican Party would forego its time-tested, coded appeals to prejudice and character assassination…
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God Don't Like Ugly
I can’t wait for Nov. 4. It’s not just because I’ll finally be casting a ballot in my first presidential election (though, don’t get me wrong, I’m pretty friggin’ stoked about it). But really, I’m in tip-toe anticipation of that first Tuesday in November, because I’m hoping, hoping hard, that on Election Day, all the…
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The R in Revelation
You can learn a lot when you spend seven years under indictment for child-molestation charges, and then get acquitted at trial. Just ask R. Kelly, who sat down with BET on Tuesday night for his first television interview since he was acquitted of all the charges against him in June. Touré, BET’s lollipop-froed correspondent, gently…
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The World in His Hands
Now that we’re in the home stretch of an unexpectedly competitive presidential race, it’s easy to get caught in the weeds of poll numbers and day-to-day horserace analysis. Who’s ahead today? Was that an exploitable gaffe? Was that advertisement a lie? These are the questions dominating news rooms, chat rooms and many living rooms across…
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No Boys Allowed
These are interesting times for women of a certain age.Not only has much of the presidential campaign season centered on the concerns of women voters, but Hollywood appears to have discovered us, too. Since last spring, feature film versions of Sex in the City and Mamma Mia! have scored millions at the box office, a development…
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Changing Beauty
Isis strikes a pose. Couture, not commercial. Her face alone is vogue—café au lait, high cheek bones that say high-fashion. Her pouty lips prove to be the perfect accessory to her doe-eyed smile, catching the light at every turn and tilt of the head. Her long legs slice through the air with precision. She is…
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On Thin Ice, Together
Unless you’ve been under a rock (or a hurricane) the last three days, you know about Wall Street’s meltdown. What many people don’t get is exactly what impact it might have on their personal finances. That’s understandable since it’s easier to believe that what happens to rich investment bankers is unrelated to our own efforts…