Black Excellence
Black Excellence
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Give Me Civic Duty, but Make It Sexy: These Voters Are Thirst Trappin’ on Instagram
If you’re like me then your blood pressure is probably going through the roof waiting for the results of this Tuesday night election. But never fear, the lovely people who populate Instagram have some optical distractions for your viewing pleasure. The men of IG have chosen to use the ancient art of “thirst trapping” to…
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If We’ve Ever Needed the LDF Before, We Sure Do Need Them Now
To attend the LDF’s 32nd annual National Equal Justice Awards Dinner themed: “Justice. Equality. Democracy,” is to swell with a sense of pride in the organized, brilliant pushback of our people in courts all over the land; it’s to know that two black women (Sherrilyn Ifill and Janai Nelson) are at the helm of this…
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Yes, Sir! People Magazine Names Idris Elba Sexiest Man Alive (and Water Is Wet)
Every year, People magazine designates its “Sexiest Man Alive.”And every few years, we agree with them; the last time being in 2016, when the magazine rightly honored Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. This year, we’re saying a collective “yasssss!” at the sight of perpetual thirst trap Idris Elba flashing his incredible grin from the coveted annual cover…
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My Self-Care Sunday Story: I Called The Cops On A White Guy
Like most black people with a modicum of sense and a willingness to continue their streak of consecutive years lived, I regard the police with a feeling that exists at the intersection of skepticism, annoyance and trepidation. Basically, I see them the same way I see ricotta cheese—good in lasagna but might kill me if…
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The Best Part of Halloween? Stealing Candy From Your Kids and Using It to Extort Them
I have never been a big Halloween person. As a kid, I went trick-or-treating because that what everyone else and also because that’s where all the candy was. And while I’ve attended—and even thrown—Halloween parties as an adult, I always partied with a purpose. (When single, my purpose was “this is where all the women…
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British Vogue’s Edward Enninful Threw Spike Lee a Blacktastic Party, and Our Invite Got Lost in the Mail
Clearly, we need to remind Edward Enninful of our address. On Saturday, Oct. 20, the editor-in-chief of British Vogue hosted a dinner for filmmaker Spike Lee in London, in honor of the BlacKkKlansman director “who has given so much to the creative industry over the three-and-a-half decades he has been working within it,” as written…
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Sculptor Simone Leigh Becomes 12th Artist to Win Guggenheim’s Hugo Boss Prize
Black excellence has been awarded again. On Thursday, the Guggenheim Museum awarded its coveted Hugo Boss Prize to Brooklyn, N.Y.-based artist Simone Leigh. The Hugo Boss Prize recognizes achievement in contemporary art. Leigh, a Chicago native of Jamaican descent, works in various media but was recognized for her work in ceramics, which incorporates traditional African…
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Turkey Renames Road to U.S. Embassy for Malcolm X, Nixes Trump’s Name From Another Street
The country of Turkey is unexpectedly running in tandem with many majority black communities in the U.S. by naming a street after our gone-too-soon shining black prince, Malcolm X. On Sunday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin made the announcement that the street leading to the U.S. embassy in Turkey will be named “Malcolm…
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Black Girl Magic Meets Marvel: Nnedi Okorafor Unveils New Shuri Comic
We don’t need another hero, but here’s one we’ve been waiting for anyway: Wakandan princess and genius little sister Shuri has finally broken out of her supporting role in the Black Panther franchise into her own series, courtesy of acclaimed fantasy writer Nnedi Okorafor. Okorafor, whose novel, Who Fears Death, is being developed by HBO…
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Today Is National Black Poetry Day. Here’s a Totally Biased List of 10 Black Poems You Should Hear
Today is national black poetry day and I am, among many things, a black poet. I could link to Maya Angelou’s “Phenomenal Woman” or some other literary poets, but there are these things called books that you should totally check out. And because The Root’s Social Media Editor Corey Townsend hates spoken word poetry, I…