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  • The Natural-Hair Movement Should Extend to Men’s Hairlines

    Black women’s overall progress is reflected in their heightened investment in natural hair. The current natural-hair movement is more a consequence of black women’s empowerment than it is a cause. Nevertheless, by claiming natural hair as the standard of beauty, black men can also encourage grooming practices that increase personal, political and economic self-awareness—and in…

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    Andre Perry

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  • How Can We Raise Future Black Female Mathematicians? Start by Asking Them

    Editor’s note: Once a month, this column will tackle broader questions about what the country should do to increase educational opportunities for black youths. Studying the successes of black female mathematicians opens a window into how we can produce more black STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) grads. It also exposes the bigotry that prevents us…

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    Andre Perry

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  • Fences Reminds Me That Loving My Son Means Rejecting Fatherhood

    “Your firstborn son gots to be a junior,” my barber ordered. In the weeks before my son’s birth, the person who regularly gave me a razor lining insisted that I bestow my full name on my child. Nodding men in the shop unanimously agreed. “Man, you’ve got a great name,” he added, meaning that I…

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    Andre Perry

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  • We Need More Black People Rooting for Tech Entrepreneurs, Not Just Football Players

    Editor’s note: Once a month, this column will tackle broader questions about what the country should do to increase educational opportunities for black youths. At the Bayou Classic, the annual football game between the Grambling State University Tigers and Southern University Jaguars, the stakes of the competition off the gridiron have the potential to be much…

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    Andre Perry

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  • Make Tenure Great Again: Saving Academic Freedom From Trump’s ‘Post-Truth’ Nation

    From refusing climate change to exaggerating voter fraud to promoting Birtherism, Donald Trump didn’t just put American electoral politics in peril by denying truth; he puts truth itself at greater risk as his power grows. And in this anti-intellectual and media-illiterate zeitgeist, when denying reality can get you elected president of the United States of America, maintaining the integrity…

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    Andre Perry

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  • Black Professors Speak Out After Trump Victory About the Routine Racism of Academia

    Editor’s note: Once a month, this column will tackle broader questions about what the country should do to increase educational opportunities for black youths. “You don’t pray for an easy road; you pray for a strong back.” This is how one professor responded to the question, “What has it been like to be a black…

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    Andre Perry

    Published

  • My Son’s Only President: Obama Let Black Children See Their Own Possibilities

    This past Halloween, my son Robeson met President Barack Obama face-to-face at Trick or Treat at the White House. Ditching the mask of his Transformers costume, Roby approached Obama with waves and a wide, gapped-tooth smile that exposed his glee inside. While handing presidential candy to Roby, President Obama asked, “Where’s your teeth?” Roby continued…

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    Andre Perry

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  • Miseducation System: Why Black Teachers and Leaders Need to Be Heard

    The nonprofit advocacy and research group Education Trust released the report “Through Our Eyes: Perspectives and Reflection From Black Teachers,” which chronicles and narrates the nuance of the black teaching experience in ways numbers can’t. This qualitative study addresses teacher-retention issues in a progressive fashion and positions black voices directly in the ears of white institutions for…

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    Andre Perry

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  • Black Children Deserve the Stability That Neighborhood Schools Offer

    School closure is a tactic we don’t have to take. Under the new national education law, the Every Student Succeeds Act, states have been freed to employ strategies they deem fit just as long as they act on the bottom 5 percent. When we’re talking about improving urban districts, though, we always seem to land…

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    Andre Perry

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  • Black Folk Hate White Tears and Blatant Racism More Than Charter Schools

    To the chagrin of charter advocates, on Friday the national board of the NAACP ratified an earlier resolution (pdf) that called for a moratorium on charter schools. Given the ample sources of opposition to charter schools, as well as mixed results, we should only be surprised that it’s taken this long for a major black civil…

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    Andre Perry

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