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Ashes To Ashes
Been to any good funerals or memorial services lately? Seems as if the best ones give comfort to the living by doing a good job of remembering the dearly departed. The worst ones? Where the people speaking clearly did not know the person about whom they were speaking very well. (Or at all.) So if…
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Steele Tries Real Talk on Race and the GOP
The election of Michael Steele as the first black head of the RNC set the political world on its head last week, as the party whose membership claims it wants to be “more like Sarah Palin” finds itself looking more like Barack Obama. Steele’s “first” has been characterized as a case of GOP falling for…
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Black and Right
Saaret Yoseph is a writer and Assistant Editor at TheRoot.com. She manages and blogs for \”Their Eyes Were Watching …\” The newly elected chairman of the Republican National Committee, Michael Steele. Ward Connerly — founder and chairman of the American Civil Liberties Institute and crusader against affirmative action. Former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell conceding to Ted…
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J. Hud's Back With a Shining Glory
OK, so whether you watched the Super Bowl or not, you’ve probably seen Jennifer Hudson’s performance of the “Star Spangled Banner.” MTV News reports that she lip-synched the performance, but who cares? It’s the friggin’ Super Bowl! All the noise, technical glitches that could have went crazy! Pre-recorded track just seems logical. The Chicago Sun-Times says that her…
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Medicine for Melancholy: Blacks in the Indie Scene
A friend of mine posted a Facebook video blog claiming Barry Jenkins’ debut film Medicine for Melancholy was the best film he’d seen in years. And since I’m a sucker for anything that’s smart, meaningful, witty and, in this case, revolves around an indie black couplet… well I ran to the theater. Medicine for Melancholy…
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Civil Servant Chic
Two years ago, I sat with college sophomores at Princeton University to discuss their professional futures. My pitch was for public service, federal government service to be exact. I was leading the university’s Scholars in the Nation’s Service Initiative, and I faced a youthful, academically accomplished group with hearts that embraced the ideals of service…
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GOP Steels Itself for the Future
Read the washingtonpost.com Live Online discussion on MICHAEL STEELE AND THE GOP’s FUTURE with The Root’s deputy editor Terence Samuel. ***** Oh, what a difference a black president can make. If there was any doubt that President Barack Obama’s victory last November had completely transformed American politics, affirmation came Friday when Republicans—for the first time—elected…
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A Meaningful Obama Book
We are now two weeks into the presidency of Barack Obama, and for many of us, the new reality is still what one blogger described as a “fragmentation bomb,” which keeps exploding in unexpected moments. It’s Obama’s smiling face being printed everywhere like currency. Malia’s twists. Visions of Grandma Robinson getting pampered by White House…
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And the Super Bowl Champions Have Black Coach, Too.
Mike Tomlin, the youngest to ever reach the NFL championship game, led the Pittsburgh Steelers to a record sixth championship win Sunday, making him the second black coach to win the Superbowl. The New Times reports that there are not many football franchises that have so many great alumni who manage to show up on…
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Ms. Jackson Will Be There
Earlier this week, Lisa P. Jackson, the former Chief of Staff for New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine, was sworn in as the first African-American to become head of the Environmental Protection Agency. The Buzz is excited about Obama’s pick for a number of reasons. She’s a Princeton University graduate, like our other favorite African-American…