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David Swerdlick: Fly Schtick
David Swerdlick is an associate editor at The Root. Follow him on Twitter.
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Stealing Obama's Candy
On summer afternoons in the Dexter-Davison neighborhood of Detroit where I grew up, my brothers and I would return from the party store around the corner from our house with snacks of sugar-filled goodies. My older brother Che favored “Now and Laters,” while I preferred Faygo Red Pop (65 cents a bottle) and Jay’s Red…
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Keys to Obama's Keystone Loss
As most experts predicted, Hillary Clinton defeated Barack Obama in Tuesday’s Pennsylvania Democratic primary. Given his recent resurgence in momentum, however, many believed that Obama could close the gap to a respectable 5 or 6 percent. Instead, Clinton garnered a commanding 9.2 percent victory that will justify her extended stay in the increasingly volatile primary…
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Less like Jigga, More Like Mike
That’s the message Barack Obama should glean from the trouncing he received last night in Pennsylvania. If he wants to be President, he first has to defeat Hillary Clinton in both North Carolina and, more important, in Indiana two weeks from now. To do that, he is going to have to behave less like Jay-Z,…
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We Voted Today, Finally. Guess for Whom?
It’s been a long six weeks since Clinton and Obama set their sights on Pennsylvania and finally, today is the day we can put all the speculation to rest and cast our votes. My husband and I, along with our two young children, Yannick and Olivia, arrived at the polls at 8:00 am this morning.…
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Chelsea Breaks The News: ‘Mom, It’s Over.’
I had a dream recently that involved two people who, ordinarily, are never in my dreams: Hillary Rodham Clinton and her daughter Chelsea. It was set in the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia where Hillary and her rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Barack Obama had just finished their “debate.” Although maintaining her toothy smile…
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Winning Over Hillary
My first brush with Obama’s Pennsylvania problem came during a visit to the dentist. As a light-skinned black man, I sometimes pass undetected “behind enemy lines.” Such was the case at the dentist’s office last fall when the oral hygienist—a young, white gal from small-town Western Pennsylvania with the ironic first name of Hillary—stated firmly…
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A Peace of Gold
A lot of things recently turned 50. You might recall them. Madonna – yawn. The Dodgers – thank God they haven’t abandoned Los Angeles like another professional team, which shall remain nameless. The Grammy Awards – the crystal ball simply didn’t see rap and hip-hop coming and staying. Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat…
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How the Bronx Turned Green
It’s not surprising that many African Americans give Earth Day a pass. When you live poorer and die younger in the land of plenty, it can be hard to get excited about protecting the planet at large. The oppression of black people covers centuries of troubled terrain from forced agricultural labor, to contemporary land loss,…
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Good Luck Finding The Reality in Black Reality TV
The latest entry in the celebrity-driven, black family, reality TV phenomenon is Deion & Pilar: Prime Time Love, which debuted last week, oddly enough, on Oxygen, a channel better-known for Bad Girls Club. For those who don’t follow professional sports the celebrity in this series is Deion Sanders, who was a bona fide superstar in…

