The Root

If I could sum up the last year and a half in one sentence, it would probably have to be: “expect the unexpected.” (To be fair, “I hate it here” and “truth is ,I’m tired” would also work but for the sake of this piece, the former fits way better. )Read more...

Currently, I serve as Assistant Professor of Homiletics at Virginia Theological Seminary. Our theological institution turns 200 in 2023. To celebrate and commemorate the occasion, our Seminary president presented me with the unique challenge to preach 200 sermons by VTs’ bicentennial. I gladly accepted.Read more...

Chloe Bailey’s recent tribute to Nina Simone caused quite a bit of conversation, when she performed the iconic late singer’s hit, “Feeling Good” as part of ABC’s Together We Triumph—A Soul of a Nation Special celebrating Juneteenth.Read more...

Despite the various sacrifices he made while serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, Osceola “Ozzie” Fletcher was never awarded the Purple Heart after being wounded in battle due to racism and segregation within the military.

Police in Montreal are investigating after video captured two white officers kneeling on the neck and lower back of a Black teen during a June 10 incident.

If you solely look at Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson’s tweets about his appearances at local Juneteenth events, you’d probably get the impression that he showed up and just had a good ol’ time mixing, mingling and celebrating the newly-minted national holiday with his constituents.

I found my father on Facebook on September 15, 2009. He responded to a private message I sent asking if he had a relationship with my mother during his time in the Army back in 1979. He responded that he had and immediately accepted me as his son. On June 4, 2021, just one month after I learned that he was suffering…Read more...

Another day, another politician gets busted for wearing Blackface in their past.Read more...

Like the Fast & Furious franchise, it seems like the saga of voter suppression in Georgia won’t end any time soon.

Happy Juneteenth, y’all. While 49 states and–as of Thursday–the federal government now recognize today as an annual holiday or day of observance in an official capacity, there’s still one holdout in that regard: South Dakota.

I turned 16 years old during the summer of 1987. It was the summer Stephanie Mills released the classic album If You Were My Woman. I know this because my mama bought the album on vinyl and played it for days on end. She seemed to gain power from it, and to be honest, me and my cousins learned and loved all the songs…Read more...

No matter what you think of George Floyd, there is no denying the impact his story has had on the culture, the movement and America as a whole—and that is a massive impact that deserves to be commemorated. On Wednesday, Newark, N.J., Mayor Ras J. Baraka unveiled his city’s gift to Floyd in the form of a 700-pound…Read more...

This year for Father’s Day, Very Smart Brothas is doing a series titled “A Song For My Father” where we asked a few writers we know to write pieces about songs they’d dedicate to their dads.

Anybody who knows me knows I have no respect for Black conservatives—which is really to say that I hold them generally in the same regard that I hold white conservatives or right-wingers of any race—but Candace Owens is not like the others. None of the other Black lapdogs for white nationalism—not Ben Carson, not…Read more...

Tennis phenom Naomi Osaka is still putting her personal wellbeing before the game. As The Root previously reported, Osaka dropped out of the French Open last month amid controversy over her decision not to participate in press conferences after her matches because she has “often felt that people have no regard for…Read more...

What does it mean to be a Black father?Read more...

I took my first vacation over 30 years ago to the Bahamas. And I wouldn’t have taken it had my sister not told me to. “You work all the time,” Karen said to me. “You really need to rest.” And she was right. Establishing myself as a leading human resources executive meant long nights and weekends that bled right into…Read more...

Although it’s great to see Juneteenth recognized as a federal holiday, it needs to be more than just a paid day off. It is a day to recognize the manifestation of history’s destruction into our present and act towards a more progressive and inclusive future. Another three-day weekend does little to address the decades…Read more...

Books that depict the struggle and obstacles overcome by Black people over centuries have my constant attention and always will. One of the country’s greatest authors, Ralph Ellison, wrote a novel titled Juneteenth that is now available as an audiobook through the publisher. It’s genuinely easier to take in the story…Read more...

As is typically the case with Father’s Day, there’s usually some conversations somewhere online about the great Black TV dads. Even one young Jermaine Cole, aka J. Cole, aka, Light-skinned Jermaine, immortalized James Avery’s Uncle Phil (of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air fame) in verse when he said, “first things first, rest…Read more...

Hold up, white people.

In today’s episode of DIS NIGGA HERE!, Enrique Tarrio, a man who surprisingly is still a leader of the infamous conserva-Nazi fanboy club the Proud Boys, said that he has had to resort to selling Black Lives Matter and anti-Trump T-shirts in order to make money because his organization of bumbling idiots in visor…Read more...

The best—and worst—thing about Blue Ivy’s internet is that it’s forever.

For the last decade, killing Obamacare has essentially been the GOP’s version of trying to make fetch happen. The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in favor of protecting the law on Thursday, once more proving that fetch is never going to happen.

In 2019 the state of Texas saw two mass shootings in El Paso and Midland-Odessa that left a total 30 people dead. It was reported that the two shootings marked the sixth and seventh mass shootings that occurred in Texas over that year and the nine years prior. That year, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott—the Donald Trump of…Read more...

President Joe Biden signed a bill on Thursday that officially established Juneteenth as the first new federal holiday in nearly four decades.

I’m a simple man; I tend to believe what I see with my own eyes. It’s a crazy concept, I know, but it’s gotten me through the last 29 years just fine. Apparently, the lunatic fringe currently known as the Republican party doesn’t share that same tendency, as they have now latched on to a conspiracy theory that the…Read more...

This week, Black folks all around the country are gearing up to observe and honor Juneteenth. Marking the holiday’s 156th anniversary, June 19—or “Jubilee Day” or “Freedom Day”—commemorates the day that the last enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas were finally notified of their freedom (even though they had …Read more...

On Thursday, BET announced its star-studded musical lineup for the 2021 BET Awards.Read more...

Advocate and health educator Tremaine Jones is acutely aware of why he does the work that he does. Prior to serving as the project director for the LGBTQ Freedom Fund’s bail out and HIV programs, Jones worked primarily in public health.Read more...

When you hear the name Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, not only is his status as an NBA legend cemented until the end of time, but his activism off the court is arguably just as profound. And as that passion for social justice has manifested in a multitude of ways throughout the course of his career, his latest endeavor seeks to…Read more...

Today is “National State the Obvious Day,” a holiday I may or may not have just made up and one I’m going to celebrate either way with a statement to commemorate the no-shit-Sherlock festivities in hopes that I don’t end up on Captain Obvious’ naughty list:Read more...

June 19, 1865.

The history of rock music is rife with rock gods, but fewer rock goddesses get their laurels—and far fewer Black rock goddesses. And yet, rock has always taken major cues from Black women, from Sister Rosetta Tharpe to Betty Davis to Brittany Howard. It’s partly from this legacy that Dawnie Walton’s debut novel, The…Read more...

This year for Father’s Day, Very Smart Brothas is doing a series titled “A Song For My Father” where we asked a few writers we know to write pieces about songs they’d dedicate to their dads.

Nick Cannon is a smart guy.

As difficult as it is to fuck off an 18-point lead, it’s even more difficult to fuck off a 26-point lead.Read more...

If you are one of the holdouts wondering why Juneteenth is a day worth celebrating, let entrepreneur, philanthropist, mother-to-the-stars and native Texan Tina Knowles-Lawson, also known as “Ms. Tina,” educate you on the holiday that originated in her home state.Read more...

Well, that escalated quickly.Read more...

Warning: This story contains the graphic deaths of two professors who were ambushed by a violent gang of facts.Read more...

“See, you CAN teach this old dog new tricks,” says Rita Moreno, after becoming a trending topic throughout Wednesday for comments made during a Tuesday night appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Now she’s apparently rethinking her stance, and acknowledging that her words were “dismissive.”Read more...

You ever see or read something so head-ass that the only thing you can say in response is “nigga?” That was me when learning that a plantation-turned-museum in North Carolina had plans to ring in Juneteenth with an event that would’ve featured a reenactment of a white slave owner being chased by Union soldiers.

On Monday, a cashier working at a Decatur, Ga., supermarket was shot dead by a customer who she had asked to wear his face mask properly while he was in the store. On Tuesday, DeKalb County police identified that cashier as 41-year-old Laquitta Willis.Read more...

This is a Josh O’Connor appreciation post.Read more...

Jamal Sutherland died earlier this year in a South Carolina jail cell after officers pepper sprayed and tased him. While the cause of death was initially ruled as undetermined, a coroner has amended Sutherland’s death certificate to indicate that his death was a homicide.

Seems like that Blue Lives Matter bullshit only applies when it comes to killing unarmed Black folks, as one congressman has gone so far as to claim that Ashli Babbitt—the woman who was shot and killed during the insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6—had been “executed” by Capitol Police.

This time last week, The Root’s Felice Léon was issuing a pointed reminder to the cast and crew of In the Heights that darker-skinned Latinx people not only exist, but should be more than background players. It’s a conversation that has spurred both heated debate and some thoughtful reflection in the days since,…Read more...

Whether via written or spoken word, there is no shortage of evidence of James Baldwin’s brilliance. The novelist, playwright, poet, essayist and civil rights activist was not only prolific during his 63 years of life, but an unabashed truth-teller when it came to discussions of Blackness and queerness in America,…Read more...

At this point, I’m ashamed to say that I used to really like Bill Maher. Maybe I was drawn to him because I went through a militant atheist phase in my 20s. Maybe it’s because I just really love panel discussions so much that, for years, I always tuned into HBO’s Real Time With Bill Maher.Read more...

In recent years, Ebony Magazine has had more than its fair share of turmoil.Read more...