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Dissing Pulpit Politics
Two days before President Barack Obama’s inauguration, the Rev. Walter E. Fauntroy retired as pastor of New Bethel Baptist Church in Washington D.C., and in a strange way those two seemingly unrelated events may serve to chronicle a momentous shift that has taken place in black American politics. Black Democrats—the majority of black voters—have moved…
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Joaquin Phoenix Rap Career Rumored to be Bull
Joaquin has always ranked high among my favorite American actors. From John Ridley’s U-Turn to Signs to Walk the Line, Phoenix brings a courageous exploration of humanity in most of his roles and that’s important to me. So the flags went up several weeks ago when he announced he was leaving film acting to pursue…
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The Obama Inaugural Hangover
Subject: post inaugural state of mind You have explained the way I feel as if you are walking in my shoes. I believe those of us who witnessed this event will never be the same. It is difficult to find words to describe the experience. I flew home to the Dallas/Fort Worth airport through the…
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Reach Out And Touch….Or Not
Okay, just a quick refresher about communications devices. Beepers are so…early 90s. But some days, cellies don’t seem like such a huge improvement. At least with beepers, the doctor/drug dealer/whoever had to step out of the room, find a phone and return the call. Think about it: how many times have you been somewhere where…
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The Root Day of Service
Natalie Hopkinson is a Washington, D.C.-based author whose current projects deal with the arts, gender and public life. She is the author of Go-Go Live: The Musical Life and Death of a Chocolate City. Follow her on Twitter. PHOTOS BY AARON ROBERTS A detail from a painting of Marvin Gaye taken from inside the Riverside Center in Northeast…
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Michelle, Our Belle
It’s difficult to avoid being completely fascinated with our new First Lady, Michelle Obama. She’s an Ivy League black woman who’s as tall and fashionable as a supermodel. She’s the mother of 10-year-old twist sporting Malia and sassy Sasha. And President Obama glows every time she’s by his side. But The Buzz is not alone…
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He's not that into you, Sista
Racialicious’ Latoya Peterson goes to the movies—not—as she talks about her impressions of the trailer for the new movie, based on the book He’s Just Not that Into You. She makes a well-observed point about the role that black women take in mainstream romantic comedies: either the Magic Negress who has all the answers or…
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Jindal All the Way?
Rush Limbaugh referred to him as “the next Ronald Reagan.” Newt Gingrich called him “far and away” the best possible running mate for John McCain. And Michelle Malkin has gone so far as to label him the “future of the GOP.” Republicans are now desperately seeking their own Barack Obama—someone bold and transformative to re-energize…
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Grand White Party
The GOP has a problem. Well, two. One of them has just been inaugurated with an approval rating near 70 percent—but the other is going to be just as hard to fight. You see, as former Bush speechwriter David Frum put it on NPR, the Republican Party is the “party of white America.” And in…
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Brand Nubian Hope
The harsh sun was setting on the city of Aswan, an ancient trading hub in southern Egypt last week, but the city’s bazaar along the Nile still bustled with life. My wife and I strolled past old Nubian men sipping mint tea in brightly painted cafés. European tourists haggled over prices for straw baskets and…