The Root

ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith is notorious for his boisterous thoughts and opinions. And after a scary battle with the coronavirus, in which the popular talking head suffered from chills and a 103-degree fever, the First Take host is being equally as loud about the importance of COVID-19 vaccines.Read more...

One of basketball’s unheralded heroines, Lucia “Lucy” Harris, who became the first and only woman to be drafted into the NBA in 1977, died on Tuesday, per Yahoo Sports and ESPN. She was 66.Read more...

The Root is sad to report that legendary fashion figure and former Vogue creative director André Leon Talley has died at 73.

A preface before you continue:

On MLK Day, the slain civil rights leader’s kin called out the senate to pass voting rights legislation.Read more...

Across the nation, Black churches have shut their doors because of the challenges brought upon from the COVID-19 pandemic. Will these churches reopen? Probably not without help.Read more...

CNBC reported 29-year-old Iris Nevins and her team have launched a new NFT brand (non-fungible token or digital item that can be sold and bought online). The brand is focused on Black art and elevating Black creatives in the NFT space. Nevins told CNBC she found NFT’s to be a more effective way to promote artists…Read more...

The woman in charge of America’s money said on Monday that the U.S. economy “has never worked fairly for Black Americans.”

Since 2016, the song is still a familiar tune. A Trump rally and big lies go together like mac and cheese or better yet, in the case of Trump, potato salad with raisins. Saturday night in Arizona began with election security expert and My Pillow owner Mike Lindell proclaiming the 2020 election will be overturned,…Read more...

Despite what some factions of this country may believe, there’s absolutely no denying this country’s history and legacy of slavery. Its roots are so deep and so intertwined in our nation’s past, present and future that it’s full implications can sometimes be hard to fully explore in just one history class, one book,…Read more...

Sometimes batshit crazy is just batshit crazy. There’s no saving batshit crazy from itself, so all that remains is to distance yourself from the crazy of others before it consumes you.

As much as I love to watch the Los Angeles Lakers meander their way to a 22-22 record, and suffer a fate worse than death by getting blown out by 37 points to the Denver Nuggets this weekend—cue obligatory confetti toss—apparently, the rest of Laker Nation feels otherwise.Read more...

Warning. This is nasty.Read more...

Apparently the NFL has no fear of Covid-19.

The 2014 killing of Laquan McDonald, a 17-year-old Black teenager, by a Chicago police officer and the eventual release of the video that showed the fatal shooting led to protests across Chicago. People were angry and frustrated with not only his killing, put CPD’s handling of the case and how long it took for the…Read more...

The 53rd annual NAACP Image Awards announced its nominees for this year’s ceremony.

For those of us who could give less than a shit about Novak Djokovic’s refusal to get vaccinated, and subsequent expulsion from the land of koalas and kangaroos, there are far more important things to discuss—like Naomi Osaka kicking ass and taking names at the Australian Open on Monday.Read more...

After six years of evaluations and assessments, Prince’s estate has been valued at $156.4 million, per Variety.

We’re only one month into the new year, and we’ve already seen some daunting cases of wrongful convictions being vacated after exonerees have already spent decades in prison.Read more...

While the Republican Party rolls on with its obstructionist mentality and still believes that losing the presidency in 2020 was a figment of our imagination, I ask that we take a closer look at Virginia. Former Carlyle Group Inc. executive and now newly elected governor of Virginia, Glenn Youngkin, presented himself…Read more...

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Events may be postponed and schedules reshuffled, but awards are still being handed out. Variety reports, the African American Film Critics Association announced its best films and performances of the year, and while there were a couple of surprises, we got a lot of familiar names.Read more...

While Joe Biden was continuing the annual tradition of white politicians embarrassing themselves on MLK Day—“Even Dr. King’s assassination did not have the worldwide impact that George Floyd’s death did,” were his goofy-ass words, not mine—the Los Angeles Rams were doing the Kid ‘n Play Kick-Step all over the Arizona…Read more...

Tuskegee Airman Charles McGee has died at age 102 on Sunday, according to AP News. McGee was a decorated veteran who helped shine light on the racism Black pilots were facing at home while trying to fight for that same home in battle.Read more...

Martin Luther King III responded to the announcement Senator Kyrtsen Sinema will not support a change to the filibuster, reported The Hill. King III respectfully sat her down.Read more...

Trymaine Lee is a Pulitzer Prize and Emmy Award-winning journalist who is a correspondent for MSNBC and host of the podcast, Into America. On the podcast, he covers social justice issues and the role of race, violence, politics and law enforcement in America.Read more...

With Martin Luther King Jr. Day just around the corner, Comcast NBCUniversal has just unveiled a new documentary centered around the revolutionary Civil Rights pioneer’s vision and legacy.

There has always been some kind of disparity for Black women in this country. We recently saw the U.S. employment rate drop for all workers except Black women. It’s well documented that violence against Black women has been undercovered by mainstream media forever. So it’s no surprise that Black women face a wealth…Read more...

My first memory of time spent at The Roll Up CLT shakes out to become clearer like a polaroid capture. Through the haze of late summer on southern porches, I recall a curated kinship, community, and a shared love of Black art in close space. In the passing of wine poured into red solo cups, I was introduced to the…Read more...

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On January 14, 2021, Joel Coen’s new film, “The Tragedy of Macbeth, was released on Apple TV+ after being screened in selected theaters since December 25, 2021. Although there have been many adaptations of the Shakespearean play, Coen’s film stars actor Denzel Washington as Macbeth.Read more...

Somebody check on our good friend, Ye. It looks like he’s had one hell of a weekend. Just a week after debuting his new girlfriend, Julia Fox, it might be fair to say that he hasn’t moved on from his life with estranged wife Kim Kardashian just yet. On Saturday, Compton rapper, The Game was resurrected and brought…Read more...

Orange is the New Black Actress Danielle Brooks married her boo Dennis Gelin and dressed DOWN at her wedding. People reported Christian Siriano was behind the designs of her stunning looks for the day.Read more...

A historically Black church is fighting to maintain its ground in California. The First Baptist Church of Venice was once the sole place of worship for Black residents of the old Oakwood neighborhood, one of the only beachside residential areas that Black people were allowed to occupy in the early 1900s.Read more...

Documentaries are all about the subject. Without an interesting subject, it’s hard to sit through 90 minutes of interviews and archival footage. This is not a problem for Maurice Hines.

As we all patiently wait to see if the Biden administration will make good on its campaign promise to cancel up to $10,000 of student loan debt, there was some other major news regarding one of the biggest loan companies. Thirty-nine state attorney generals announced on Thursday that Navient agreed to cancel $1.7…Read more...

It just got colder in the crib! Congratulations are in order for “The Real” co-host Jeannie Mai and rapper Jeezy, aka Jeezy The Snowman who welcomed their first bundle of joy together this past week. On Tuesday, the tv personality and stylist, Mai Jenkins, posted a pic to Instagram of a bassinet and blanket with a…Read more...

If you got burnout from circulating the same book list on how to be an antiracist to your white colleagues and friends, here’s a story that might just restore your hope in the definition and practice of true allyship. In the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, and the remarkably written “The Case for Reparations”…Read more...

Mortgage denial rate for Black applicants is 84 percent higher than for white applicants, according to data from Zillow in 2020, the most year the data was available. This is an increase from 2019 when the denial rate was 74 percent higher.Read more...

If you’ve been keeping up with the trials of Bumpy Johnson on the critically acclaimed EPIX hit Godfather of Harlem, then we have good news for you. The series has been renewed for Season 3 by the cable channel.

It seems The CW isn’t done expanding the Arrowverse. David Ramsey’s John Diggle will return to the franchise full-time for Justice U, which is currently in development at the network, per TVLine.

If you’ve waiting with bated breath for a new project from Kendrick Lamar, then I have good-ish news for you.

The Urban Daily reported Henderson police pulled over 23-year-old Shane Lee Brown on a weapons charge associated with a felon who was initially charged in 1994. This previous felon, who also shared the name Shane Brown, was not only convicted three years before Shane was born but was also an entire white man.

It’s been a bit of a bumpy ride for the Los Angeles Clippers.Read more...

On the latest episode of... “Will We Get Voting Rights Legislation Passed?” Democrats tried a new approach on Thursday. They combined parts of the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and Freedom to Vote Act into one single bill. On Thursday, it passed along party lines in a 220-203 vote, according to the New York Times.Read more...

The story of Wall Street’s first Black Millionaire will be coming to a small screen near us soon.Read more...

One of Marvel Studios’ most highly anticipated films, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, is back to filming with star Letitia Wright.

I think it’s safe to assume that Kyrie Irving missed playing basketball.Read more...

Congresswoman Sewell assured CBS News that having grown up in one of the most significant locations of Black history, she knows very well how much voting rights need to be adjusted. Sewell said she wished President Biden’s speech came sooner in his presidency given legislators are actively placing new restrictions on…Read more...

When I was a kid, I remember the first time I learned about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr–you know, the Disneyland version. There were slight mentions of protests and arrests–however, my teachers gave the most significant amount of time to King’s “I Have A Dream,” the speech he gave in 1963 at Washington D.C. and his…Read more...