Uncategorized
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Faith-Based Politics, The Obama Way
Nov. 17, 2008—People think of George Bush as being the first evangelical president. But Barack Obama may bring his own evangelical flair to Washington. For all the significant changes Obama is expected to usher in, religion may be one that some people didn’t see coming. If the past eight years have been dominated by prominent…
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All Aboard the 'Love Train'
Nov. 17, 2008—A grimy, crime-ridden, early 1970s-era Philadelphia, governed by the bullish Frank Rizzo, a former police commissioner turned mayor was the gritty backdrop for what later became a genre of music known as “Philadelphia soul.” When Philadelphia International Records (PIR) emerged in 1971, it was a pivotal moment in America, as the aftermath of…
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No Justice, No Peace in Sudan
For a split second, a recent essay on The Root called “Sudan on the Rebound?” allowed me to feel a bit hopeful. The images of commerce, opportunity and multiculturalism in a bustling East African town—in Sudan, no less—conjured fond memories of my own travels. Those memories abruptly faded with Zachariah Mampilly’s suggestion that seeking justice…
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How the Mighty Have Fallen—Behind
Nov. 14, 2008—The rapidly changing fates of the NFL have diminished the sizzle of the great rivalries. But this weekend—when the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers resume hostilities in Wisconsin and the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins maul each another in D.C.—there will be more at stake than mere bragging rights. The Packers and…
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Obamas: Don't Let Your Kids Go On Hannah Montana!
Everyone’s wondering how the new presidential children, Sasha and Malia, will survive the cloistered, scrutinized life of the White House. In fact, in a Daily Beast interview today, FDR’s grandson Curtis Roosevelt—who spent a dozen of his childhood years living there—said, “I hope the Obama children are sufficiently prepared to have some grounding and some…
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Rockin' 'Science'
It’s encouraging that the multiracial rock band TV on the Radio has stormed the New York rock scene without anybody making much of the group’s demographic novelty. Their latest recording, Dear Science, (Interscope) is so engrossing and powerful that the band members could be from Mars, Venus and Saturn and that little detail might escape…
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The Obamas' Class Struggle
For months before my family left upstate New York for Houston, I lay awake at night worrying about where our oldest child would attend school. Then I’d wake up from my scanty slumber to begin the daily Internet quest for the “perfect” school: one we could afford (tuition-free) that scored well on statewide tests, had…
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Magical Negro in Chief
By now we’ve become familiar with the Negro Spirit Guide in pop culture. Think Whoopi Goldberg in Ghost, Sister Act and The Long Walk Home. Laurence Fishburne in Searching for Bobby Fischer and The Matrix. The Matrix was a twofer: Fishburne leads Keanu Reeves’ character to another black guide, Gloria Foster. Sidney Poitier made a…
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The Prop 8 Blame Game
Somebody forgot to tell gay people that race wars are no longer in vogue. While the rest of the country has spent the last week reveling in the afterglow of Grant Park, gay America has devolved into a Sarah Palin rally. The issue is a particularly nasty California ballot initiative, Proposition 8, which passed last…
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Goodbye to 'Mama Africa'
Going on stage to sing is like stepping into a perfect world. The past means nothing. Worries about the future do not exist. All that matters is the music. I live for this…. My voice is heard by the people when I speak about the evils that are strangling South Africa. Every day there is…