The Root

Ariel—also known as The Little Mermaid—once asked, “What’s a fire and why does it—what’s the word—burn?” I don’t know the answer to that question but what I do know is that there is a fire burning inside of the actress who will be portraying Ariel in the upcoming live-action film—Halle Bailey.Read more...

With training camp set to begin, Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson would love nothing more than to return to the field as he prepares for the upcoming NFL season. But with the disturbing number of sexual assault accusations that were levied against him in March still unresolved, not only is his season in…Read more...

After a profound surge in both natural hairstyles and hair culture over the last decade—not to mention the introduction of the CROWN Act as slowly but steadily growing legislation across the United States—it may surprise some that there is still vigorous debate between self-avowed “naturalistas” and those who choose…Read more...

In May, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advised that people who are fully vaccinated no longer need to wear masks or maintain social distancing practices in most settings—just as Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, had predicted days prior. But now, amid rising…Read more...

On Tuesday, four police officers who were on the scene during the mayonnaise-scented insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6 delivered emotional testimony about the physical and verbal abuse they endured from the MAGA mob who couldn’t accept that the grand wizard of white supremacy had lost the presidential election.

When Lil Nas X dropped the line “you was never really rooting for me anyway” in his latest single, “Industry Baby,” I felt that.

Everybody loves a good footrace. The 2020-but-in-2021 Olympics are currently underway, and I’d wager a sizable number of people will tune in once the track-and-field events start in the second week. There’s something exciting about the notion of super-human abilities; who wouldn’t want to be known as the “fastest…Read more...

Listen, Lori Lightfoot is a lot of things. She is the first openly gay, African-American woman to serve as Chicago’s 56th mayor. She is the first mayor to show up to a press conference dressed as “Rona Destroyer.” And she was the first political official to tell kids to stay their ass in the house because their jump…Read more...

An aspect of racial profiling that probably doesn’t get talked about enough is banking while Black. It happens when a bank employee sees a Black customer looking to cash, deposit or withdraw a relatively large sum of money and believes, due to their implicit bias, that something isn’t right, so they refuse service to…Read more...

Much has been said about the International Olympic Committee’s decision to ban athletes from kneeling or protesting during the Tokyo Olympics. But despite Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter explicitly stating that “no kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites,…Read more...

Black Sci-fi hive, assemble! We have yet another confirmation of an adaptation based on the late, great Octavia Butler’s work.Read more...

Some white men dress up to reenact wars; others dress in camouflage to hunt unsuspecting animals in their homes; the rest join the police force but some way, white men are always ready for war.

For those of us watching from the comfort of our homes, it’s nearly impossible to imagine what type of pressure Olympic athletes are forced to perform under. And while we’d love nothing more than for Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka, two of the best in their respective sports, to be rewarded for their hard work and…Read more...

Ah, yes, summer. A time we all once raced to get to—only to become a hot, sticky, annoying yet joyous blur of day-drinking and outdoor brunches.

COVID-19 relief money was meant to aid workers, small business owners and people who had lost their jobs or lost wages during the pandemic. It was meant for people who are financially struggling due to something they had no control over. Of course, if you happen to be a Republican government official in Shiawassee…Read more...

Content warning: The following article contains allegations involving the sexual abuse of a minor.Read more...

The day has finally come, dear reader!Read more...

It may not come with all the perks, but quitting your jobs in the British royal family still pays, especially when you drive as hard a bargain as the Duke and Duchess of Success Sussex apparently have.Read more...

White conservatives have made it abundantly clear they have no interest in students learning the true history of America. They have also made it abundantly clear they need to learn this shit more than anyone else.Read more...

When you’re the greatest athlete your sport has ever seen, and you possess the mutant ability to casually defy the laws of physics, it’s easy to assume that success comes easy. But as Simone Biles and the rest of the U.S. women’s gymnastics team proved during Sunday’s preliminary round of the Tokyo Olympics, even the…Read more...

Anything you can do, George Clinton can do funkier. Even if that means he has to come out of retirement to do so.Read more...

If there was ever a time that I wish I didn’t have complimentary courtside seats to white male privilege, it was on Saturday when Buzzfeed introduced me to a guy named Alen Hadzic.

White people have always followed a very basic playbook when it comes to ducking discussions and accountability for racism. It’s simple: They deny racism is happening, claim adamantly that they were raised not to see color and characterize any undeniable instances of racism as isolated incidents. Now, the gods of…Read more...

“[In] Mississippi, Bob Moses was the equivalent of Martin Luther King,” Taylor Branch, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-1963, told The New York Times in 1993.Read more...

Kevin Hart and Nick Cannon are currently starring in a real life buddy comedy.Read more...

Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), the whitest man with the blackest name, the phony physician who used to claim that President Trump was the most fit president in the history of America, believes that President Biden is suffering from limited cognitive abilities and will resign.

When last we left France, they were best known for collecting reparations from Haiti that they don’t deserve and poisoning tourists with their eclectic offerings of snails with mayonnaise. But as of July 25, their Wikipedia page will require an additional update after their men’s basketball team put Team USA in a…Read more...

As previously reported by The Root, the Miami-based, three-day hip-hop festival Rolling Loud was back on the good foot this year, following a nearly two-year drought due to various factors and the pandemic.Read more...

Issa Rae is by all appearances a new bride—and there was nothing Awkward or Insecure about her incredible wedding photos! The super-producer, writer and star posted a stunning series of photographs by acclaimed wedding photographer Lauren Fair to her Instagram on Monday morning, opening with the actress in a custom…Read more...

There are several topics that the former president of the United States should never discuss: race relations, weight loss, golf, and transgender anything.

Kanye West named one of his albums The Life of Pablo, but perhaps someone can explain The Life of Kanye right now?! You know what, that’s likely an impossible task. Nevermind.Read more...

Even though she hasn’t played tennis in about two months, Naomi Osaka hasn’t missed a beat.

Someone buy Dan Bailey a drink. Or send him an Edible Arrangement. Maybe even a gift card or two. Anything to show appreciation for giving Tucker Carlson the smoke right to his smug face.

Trinity Bethune would like everyone to know that her name is, in fact, Trinity Bethune.

You’d be hard pressed to find a group of people more excited to incriminate themselves everyone that ran up into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

Federal prosecutors in New York have asked a judge for permission to add additional allegations to their case against R. Kelly, including claims that members of his entourage bribed a Cook County clerk in 2019 for information on his legal issues and also paid for a fake ID for the late Aaliyah back in 1994.

Brian Chaney, a Black man from Michigan, is suing a suburban police department on allegations that one of its officers wrongfully detained and racially profiled him while he was out on an early morning walk.

We’re back with another riveting roundup of entertainment news! We’re still on a will-they-or-won’t-they rollercoaster when it comes to the Tokyo Olympics—especially since the head of the organization didn’t rule out a possible cancellation amid the rising COVID-19 variant cases—but we do have room to go up for Black…Read more...

Games have always been a little bit more than a hobby for me. They’re my escape, one of the ways I try to decompress when life becomes overwhelming. To say life became overwhelming last year would be an understatement. Like many of you, I’ve struggled immensely throughout the pandemic. What started off as fear in the…Read more...

Of all of the groundbreaking skits that marked the too-brief run of Chappelle’s Show, undoubtedly in everyone’s Top 5 is the “Charlie Murphy True Hollywood Story” (RIP, King) in which the late comedian recalls a basketball face-off with Prince and his entourage at Paisley Park. Memorably, the Purple One hooped circles…Read more...

On Jan. 6—the same day as the whiny wypipo rebellion at the U.S. Capitol—Black woman Keren Prescott was leading a Black Lives Matter protest outside the Connecticut Capitol building when she told an “all lives matter”-spewing white woman, Yuliya Gilshteyn, to “back up,” because she wasn’t wearing a face mask.…Read more...

Lift Every White Voice: The National Clapback AnthemRead more...

Know how I know America is cool with racism? Politicians in Tennessee thought that putting a bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest, the first grand wizard of the KKK, in the state Capitol was a good idea in 1978. It only took them over 40 years to finally realize that having a monument to a leader of the KKK in the state…Read more...

I am a proud member of Generation X.Read more...

Boooooy, when I tell you being Black in America means never knowing which mundane and routine thing you are doing will cause you to look suspicious to someone.Read more...

Well, this is a new page from the “Mediocre White Male Entitlement Playbook.” Meghan Markle’s estranged (and just plain strange) father Thomas Markle—who has basically been a terror since the eve of her marriage to Prince Harry—has now come up with a new way to impose himself upon his daughter’s life: through her two…Read more...

White people can’t seem to do anything these days without getting in their feelings about how the world is changing. For some reason, a race announcer in Iowa decided to go on a racist rant against Black people and NFL players who kneel before a race last week.

Congratulations to Lil Nas X on the birth of his “Industry Baby.”Read more...

White rage continues to boil over with bigoted energy putting Black people who are trying their damndest to mind their own business in contentious and often dangerous positions. In the Near West Side neighborhood of Chicago, a white man has been charged with a hate crime and battery after he was alleged to have…Read more...

I think it’s a pretty safe bet that if you bring up Black television theme songs, the theme from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air comes up immediately. If it’s not your favorite, it’s at least on the Mt. Rushmore of Black television theme songs. But what would fill out the other three? I think that’s a much more difficult…Read more...