The Root

A former Louisiana State Police trooper facing a federal charge in the 2019 beating of a Black motorist with a flashlight—which was captured on police body cameras—pleaded not guilty on Wednesday.

A Black cement mason and father of five in California is recovering after being shot seven times in what police say may be a possible hate crime.

When the National Women’s Soccer League finally returned to play last summer in the aftermath of the officer-related murder of George Floyd, dozens of players used the league’s Challenge Cup tournament as a platform to express their frustrations with the racial climate in this country. By kneeling in protest during…Read more...

Timuel Black, an educator, political adviser, historian and activist has died at age 102, taking with him a wealth of wisdom and leaving behind a legacy of change.Read more...

The Rolling Stones are temporarily removing one of their most popular songs from their current tour setlist.Read more...

Baltimore County has agreed to pay yet another settlement in case of unwarranted police brutality. The county will be paying $6.5 million to Eric Sopp’s family, according to the their attorneys on Tuesday. Sopp was shot and killed by Baltimore County Police Officer Gregory Page in 2019 while he was experiencing a…Read more...

Meek Mill’s fifth studio album, Expensive Pain, is available to stream everywhere now.Read more...

Black in the Day is an ongoing series about Black nostalgia that covers very specific topics. This week it’s all about hairstyles and the products that shaped our manes from the ’80s to the early 2000s.Read more...

The family of Christina Nance, whose body was found last week in an unused police van in a Huntsville, Ala., police parking lot, say they aren’t accepting a recent autopsy report that said there was no foul play in her death. They plan to have a private autopsy performed on her, according to Fox 54.Read more...

For most of us, it didn’t take an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol to know we were living in a deeply divided America—one-half of which had been literally rallied into a frenzy by Donald J. Trump. For political commentator and New York Times bestselling author Keith Boykin, a veteran of the Clinton administration who…Read more...

On Tuesday, The Root reported that a trans employee and a handful of others who were suspended after trying to attend a director-level meeting that they weren’t invited to. The trans employee in particular, Terra Field, had previously spoken out against Netflix’s decision to house Dave Chappelle’s latest comedy…Read more...

I don’t know what kind of tour this is that Katie Couric is on, but she might want to look at drinking a tall glass of STFU.

Oh, boy.Read more...

Howard University students are protesting on campus over poor housing conditions, student safety and a lack of representation on the school’s board of trustees.

A study from the University of Virginia published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week found that counties in ex-Confederate states with more Confederate memorials had more lynchings.Read more...

Black people may have been undercounted in the 2020 census at a significantly higher rate than usual, according to two new analyses, reports the Washington Post. Undercounting is significant because it could affect representation in Washington, D.C., and funding in Black communities over the next 10 years.Read more...

UnitedMasters launched a new strategic partnership with the cryptocurrency platform Coinbase. The deal gives independent artists the option to be paid through Coinbase’s payroll product.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo born-artist Sandra Mujinga won this year’s Preis der Nationalgalerie in Germany. Her work consists of photography, video, and sculptures that represent her definition of Blackness.

Jay-Z’s Roc Nation is continuing to make moves when it comes to criminal justice reform in Kansas City.Read more...

A new 11-foot statue honoring civil rights giant Mary McLeod Bethune—made using marble from the same quarry Michelangelo used to build the infamous David sculpture—was unveiled Tuesday in Florida. Artist Nilda Comas spent four years chiseling away at the marble in her Italian studio, before the statue made its way to…Read more...

If you are keeping up with the latest in the culture wars, then you know that schools across the country are caught in the middle. However, the only casualties have been the students sitting in the classrooms. Black Georgia high school students planned a protest against racism in their school but got suspended for…Read more...

For the first time in 50 years, three brothers finally came together at Fort Knox, Ky., this weekend.

It’s always satisfying when a violent officer faces consequences for being unnecessarily brutal during arrests. That’s especially true when a police chief publicly chastises the officer and shows body camera footage to the public, as in the case of Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Sgt. Eric Huxley.Read more...

Readers, I’m conflicted.Read more...

Rapper Tyga turned himself in early Tuesday to the Los Angeles Police Department following a domestic violence allegation brought forth from his ex-girlfriend Camaryn Swanson.Read more...

“Every time I try to leave, something keeps pullin’ me back, me back…”

U.S Army 2nd Lt. Deja Harrison is suing a New Orleans casino after she was denied entry by employees who thought her military ID was fake.Read more...

Lt. Colonel Kristal Turner-Childs became the first Black woman in the history of the Pennsylvania State Police to be named deputy commissioner of staff, when Gov. Tom Wolf confirmed her appointment on Tuesday. .Read more...

It wouldn’t be a proper J.R. Smith story if it didn’t include a bizarre plot twist, and in his efforts to keep that streak alive, the former NBA star personally ensured that his first collegiate golf tournament stayed on brand.Read more...

There is no way to know if Jon Gruden is racist, homophobic, sexist or prejudiced in any way.Read more...

In Minnesota, a group of Black parents are suing the city’s school system, claiming that their children experienced unfair treatment, racial insensitivity and bullying from classmates and faculty.

Fans of Wendy Williams and her eponymous talk show will have to continue waiting for the popular host’s return.

A Black couple will receive $75,000 from the city of Louisville after they claimed cops pulled them over in 2018 and searched them because they were Black and driving a nice car. The catch is that they can’t say a word about it.Read more...

A Des Moines protester was found guilty of first-degree theft for stealing a flyer from a Minneapolis police officer’s back pocket last summer.

If you live or drove through Simsbury, Conn., you may have passed the 288-acre former tobacco farm known to locals as “Meadowood.” That sprawling area will now be preserved for future generations because it’s where civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. toiled the fields as a college student.Read more...

Trump supporters are the worst.

The circumstances surrounding Winston Boogie Smith Jr.’s death in June are still fuzzy, but that doesn’t matter to the Crow Wing County Attorney’s Office, which announced that the officers involved wouldn’t be charged on Monday.Read more...

Forget Dr. Fauci. It looks like Blac Chyna is doing what needs to be done when it comes to encouraging others to get the vaccine.Read more...

At this point, I’m ready for Texas and Florida to Thelma and Louise themselves off a cliff and end this slow and painstaking process of hearing how both states are trying to bring back scurvy.

In today’s installment of “well, that escalated quickly,” we have mercurial NBA superstar Kyrie Irving, who went from having Brooklyn Nets head coach Steve Nash awkwardly attempt to explain the seven-time All-Star’s absence on Sunday...

It’s been a minute since we got an update on Tiger Woods, but I’m happy to deliver some good news.Read more...

A trans employee at Netflix who spoke out against Dave Chappelle’s latest comedy special, The Closer, in a Twitter thread has been suspended.

The state of Michigan has told a majority-Black city not to use tap water for drinking, bathing, or cooking “out of an abundance of caution” because of lead contamination. Residents of Benton Harbor, three hours west of Detroit, have been dealing with poisoned water for at least three years, and experts say that state…Read more...

Typically, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, but unfortunately for current former Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden, he hit send on that racist email everyone is talking about well before Raiders owner Mark Davis and his tenacious bowl cut came galloping along with a $100 million contract.Read more...

A Black paraplegic man who was pulled out of his car by a Dayton police officer during a traffic stop plans to sue the police department. Clifford Owensby’s lawyer, James Willis, said that it will take some time to investigate the case, but that he plans on filing a civil suit next month, according to CNN

Homeownership is when someone owns a home.Read more...

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted preexisting issues like health disparities and job insecurity in America, but the government’s response to the nationwide housing crisis was glaringly obvious from the very first shutdown.Read more...

While school officials are arguing in board meetings about teaching critical race theory and the truth about American history, Gov. Gavin Newsom just passed a law making ethnic studies a high school graduation requirement in California.Read more...

What you doing? Getting hype about Silk Sonic’s new album dropping soon.Read more...

The Weeknd may be a self-proclaimed “Starboy,” but according to the United Nations, it seems he’s a philanthropic one too.Read more...