The Root

Though legendary actor and icon Sidney Poitier undoubtedly received his flowers on this side of heaven before his passing on Jan. 7, it appears his legacy will continue to be peppered with petals thanks to a new documentary from Apple and Oprah Winfrey.

I wanna be Dwyane Wade when I grow up.

During his “For What It’s Worth” stand-up, Dave Chappelle once said that American money “looks like baseball cards with slave owners on them.” In 2016, the Obama administration first announced a proposal to replace former President Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill with abolitionist Harriet Tubman by 2020. Like with most…Read more...

Rachael Rollins, the former Suffolk County district attorney, was sworn in as the next United States Attorney for Massachusetts, becoming the first Black woman to be the top federal prosecutor in the state, according to WCVB.Read more...

The CW has enlisted Ava DuVernay to bring its newest superhero Naomi to life. Unlike the network’s other heroes, Naomi is a comic book loving teenage Black girl who discovers a mysterious history to her hometown.

What we’ve learned about Wisconsin since 2020 is that up is down, right is left and justice, apparently, isn’t. How else to describe a place where a jury finds no criminal liability for Kyle Rittenhouse, the governor pardons folk who walk out of their houses pointing guns at people who are literally just walking by…Read more...

The plot thickens! Or at the very least, it will be explored in the upcoming drama series from Disney’s Onyx Collective and Endeavor Content.Read more...

It seems congratulations are in order for Harriet and Genius: Aretha star Cynthia Erivo.Read more...

I’m selfish.Read more...

Well, at least there’s a U.S. state that is making an impact on voting rights in a positive way. N.Y. Mayor Eric Adams has allowed voting legislation to become law on Sunday, letting 800,000 New York noncitizens who work and live in the city to vote in local elections. New York City would be the largest jurisdiction…Read more...

As the Omicron surge continues in the U.S., so does the debate between in-person and remote learning. The Chicago Teachers Union and Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration continued a standoff as negotiations roll into week two.Read more...

If you’ve ever wondered about the inception and evolution of Kanye West’s musical genius, then boy have I got good news for you!

MSNBC is beefing up its political ranks ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. Symone Sanders is joining the news network as a weekend host, as well as Peacock’s The Choice from MSNBC.

If you’re a Denver Broncos fan—this would be the part where I reluctantly raise my hand—there wasn’t much to look forward to on Sunday other than when I hurled confetti at the announcement that head coach Vic “I Don’t See Racism at All in the NFL” Fangio, trash-ass offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur, and alleged…Read more...

The office for New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced Sunday that the Congresswoman tested positive for COVID-19 and is experiencing symptoms. The announcement came alongside positive results for three other members of Congress as Omicron overwhelms the U.S. and sweeps through Congress.Read more...

We’re finally getting our first look at Peacock’s reimagined Bel-Air. The streamer has released the trailer for the drama starring Jabari Banks as Will.

Protestors in Fayetteville, North Carolina gathered at the police station to publicly denounce the fatal shooting of a Black man killed by an off-duty sheriff’s deputy, according to the Herald Sun.Read more...

ABC is taking a hard look at the real life pain and impact of Emmett TIll’s murder and his mother Mamie Till-Mobley’s fight for justice.

If you didn’t know the 79th Annual Golden Globe Awards were taking place Sunday, we can’t fault you, as the Hollywood Foreign Press Association didn’t exactly make it easy to find out what was going on.

For fans of the Golden State Warriors, June 13, 2019, is a day that will live on in infamy. Because on that fateful day, not only did Golden State lose to the Toronto Raptors in the 2019 NBA Finals, but the franchise lost a key component of its very own championship DNA to a gruesome knee injury.Read more...

The Root sends condolences to the victims of Sunday’s horrific fire in the Bronx in which 19 people, including nine children, lost their lives.Read more...

Heading into the 2022 midterms, the Democratic party holds a slim majority in the House and an even smaller 50-50 one in the Senate (depending on how Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema feel that day). With the Senate yet to take action on the Freedom to Vote Act and John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, much of…Read more...

What we won’t be doing in 2022? Allowing toxic work environments to dig early graves for Black women. As of late last year, the Baltimore Police Department is short four fewer Black female officers. The women include Danika Yampierre, Sgts. Jasmin Rowlett and Welai Grant and former Sgt. Tashawna Gaines. The collective…Read more...

On January 6, 2022, NBC news addressed the recurring and controversial conversation about books by Black authors being banned in schools all around the U.S. Ironically, this story resurfaced on the anniversary of the coup that transpired a year prior. The most obvious connection between the insurrection and banned…Read more...

After twelve years as the host of radio news show, ‘All Things Considered’, Audie Cornish is giving her notice. This past Tuesday, Cornish took to Twitter to announce her departure from the station.Read more...

HBCU students, faculty, and alumni are more than aware of the impact that studying while surrounded by those with cultural similarities can have on Black students as they advance their collegiate careers. With a new program aimed at increasing the number of Black, male teachers, North Carolina Central University is…Read more...

It looks like Kanye is throwing his hat back into the romance ring only months after a very public plea to God that He restore his marriage. After meeting on New Year’s Eve, (that’s a little over a week for anyone who’s counting), actress Julia Fox, 31, and Divorceye West, 44, are now an…item? Well, if a first person…Read more...

The world is mourning the loss of a true civil rights icon. For decades, Black Jewish Caribbean American legal scholar, Lani Guinier, challenged lawmakers to rethink the weight and distribution of voting rights among minorities. This past week, she lost her fight with Alzheimer’s disease, and died in an assisted…Read more...

New York’s ex-cop mayor wants to flood the city’s subway system with more cops, despite the fact that overall serious crime on the subway is at its lowest point in years.

On New Year’s Day in Canton, Ohio, a Black man was firing a gun into the air minutes after the start of 2022. Seconds later, body-camera footage shows that a police officer fired through a wooden fence, killing the man, according to the New York Times.Read more...

A Kentucky teacher, who can be seen on video pinning a student to the ground, pulling his hair and provoking the student, was fired after a probe by Jefferson County Public Schools found that the teacher “escalated the situation” and made “inappropriate comments,” according to the Insider.Read more...

The men convicted of killing 25 year-old Black jogger Ahmaud Arbery in 2020 were sentenced Friday. Father and son Gregory and Travis McMichael along with their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan, were convicted on multiple murder counts in November after failing to convince a mostly white jury that they were performing a…Read more...

This St. Louis Couple just won’t go away. Remember the one I’m talking about? One day they’re waving guns at Black Lives Matters protesters, the next they are traveling to Kenosha, Wisconsin to support the little boy who killed two people.Read more...

Most of the attention yesterday went to President Joe Biden’s speech attacking Donald Trump for sending his goons to derail democracy, but we also learned an extremely important detail about Vice President Kamala Harris: she was inside the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters when a live bomb was found.

While many people were reflecting on the first anniversary of the Jan. 6th in a way, two far-right Republican BFFs went another way with it. Reps. Matt Gaetz of Florida (R-Fla.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) began what they called a Republican “response” to all the proceedings and statements that took place…Read more...

The passing of legendary actor Sidney Poitier has resonated throughout Hollywood. The Bahamian Minister of Foreign Affairs announced his death at the age of 94.

Despite the fact that in recent years, we’ve seen more and more top recruits opt to attend HBCUs in favor of big-name college programs, former NFL player Channing Crowder wasn’t drinking the Kool-Aid when he broached the subject in May with Jackson State head coach Deion Sanders.Read more...

The mayor of Baltimore is considering creating a regional ‘vaccine passport’ that would require people to show proof they’d been inoculated against COVID-19 in order to enter places like gyms or arenas. But his proposal–which he pitched to leaders of seven other counties that make up the heavily populated area between…Read more...

Contrary to the countless chairs I’ve hurled throughout the years while watching my beloved Denver Broncos trot out sorry-ass quarterback after sorry-ass quarterback, I’m not a violent person. But if I actually had a dad—I regret to inform you all that I don’t—and some dickhead announcer used his death to get some…Read more...

The word legend gets thrown around now, but if there’s someone who personifies legendary, it’s Sidney Poitier.

Vanessa Bryant’s lawsuit against Los Angeles County first responders for allegedly taking photos of the crash site where her husband, daughter, and seven others passed away in a tragic helicopter accident will be going to trial.Read more...

Following her legal victory over The Mail on Sunday, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex was awarded £1 aka $1.35 for privacy invasion.

Let’s keep it real–the testing situation in the U.S. has been a mess for a minute. The Biden administration just announced their plan for 500 million at-home test kits would begin in mid-January, but that isn’t putting a dent into long testing lines and prices for tests starting to climb.Read more...

2020 inspired many symbolic changes around the country, including changing the names of schools honoring slaveholders and oppressors. Seven schools in a Cleveland, Ohio school district have made the final list for a “New Year, New Me” treatment ahead of the upcoming 2022-2023 school year.Read more...

Well, hello there.Read more...

Denzel Washington is the best actor working today. It’s not up for debate. Therefore, if he’s directing you, and wants you to play a scene a certain way, you should probably just listen to his advice.

In 2020, an HBO documentary revisited the terrifying story of 30 Black kids who either vanished or were slaughtered in Atlanta in the late 70s and early 80s. A Black man, Wayne Williams, was ultimately convicted of some of the crimes, known as the Atlanta Child Murders, but former ATL Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms…Read more...

Political challengers rarely get a jump on incumbent, who start most races with the competitive advantage of name recognition, fundraising and ready-made campaign infrastructures.

Manhattan’s first Black district attorney Alvin Bragg released a memo announcing changes to the borough’s historically tough criminal justice system, just days after being sworn in. Bragg’s policy reforms include not seeking jail time for certain misdemeanor offenses and investing in alternatives to incarceration and…Read more...

It was a moment I waited a lifetime for. Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair stood across the ring from each other in the main event of WrestleMania 37 Night 1. Two amazing, athletic, talented, beautiful Black women were in the main event of wrestling’s biggest show.