The Root

As awards season moves full steam ahead, we’re getting a very clear picture of who the real contenders are. Now, the Academy has added to the debate with the release of its Oscar shortlists.

A Black man was charged with killing a White Milwaukee lawyer in 2020 while on his bicycle. Now, Theodore Edgecomb is claiming that he acted in self-defense, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He is also using the same expert who testified for Kyle Rittenhouse, the young White man who was found not guilty…Read more...

A Georgia city task force voted to demolish a World War II-era restaurant that’s theme honored the pre-Civil War South. For decades, Aunt Fanny’s Cabin attracted regular and famous diners in Smyrna, Georgia with its southern recipes and “family-like” atmosphere until it closed in 1992.Read more...

Since the death of Breonna Taylor, there has been some progress moving search warrant reform along. Kentucky enacted a law restricting usage of “no-knock” warrants in April, and the Justice Department moved to limit them in September. The firings of two former Kentucky officers, Joshua Jaynes and Myles Cosgrove, have…Read more...

The traditionally lily-white hills of Beverly are about to get a little more colorful. Sheree Zampino, ex-wife of Hollywood megastar Will Smith (with whom she shares 29-year-old son Trey) has a signed on for a recurring role on Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Zampino, 54, and Diana Jenkins, 48 (ex-wife…Read more...

The 2022 Black Music and Entertainment Walk of Fame has announced its inductees and this year’s list couldn’t be more iconic.Read more...

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We are now a mere three days from Christmas; have you completed (or even started) your holiday shopping yet? If not, you’d better think fast—specifically, what can you pick up or get shipped fast? (Spoiler alert: Books.) On the other hand, if you’re all set and ready to settle in for the holiday break, what better way…Read more...

Tacoma officers Armando Farinas and Masiyh Ford have been exonerated in the death of Manuel Ellis, a Black man who uttered “I can’t breathe” during his fatal arrest in March 2020. The Tacoma Police Department announced, according to NBC News, that the two officers will return to work after an investigation found the…Read more...

So, you’re home with your family, opened up all your gifts on Christmas Day, maybe played a couple of rounds of UNO, and getting ready to watch a full day of NBA basketball. You got Trey Young coming back to the Garden, two of the top teams in the league with the Warriors and Suns in the middle of the day, and the…Read more...

A couple of days ago, I wrote about Stacey Abrams, and upon her second try for the governorship of Georgia, she’s making a national call for voting rights reform. 19 states have already passed 34 laws this year alone to make some restrictions, 13 bills have been pre-filed for 2022, and 88 of them will carry over into…Read more...

It feels like we just wrapped up the emotional Season 4 finale of Snowfall, but that’s only because time has no meaning anymore. Now, 2022 is ready to kick off with the premiere of Season 5.

OK, I know I promised y’all a list, but did y’all really think Jay-Z was ACTUALLY going to give us a list of people who could murk him in a hypothetical Verzuz battle?Read more...

The mostly white jury in the trial for former Minnesota officer Kim Potter have not come to a verdict after nearly a week and a half of testimony and evidence. At the end of over nine hours of deliberations on Tuesday, the jury asked the court what would happen if they could not reach a consensus.Read more...

Like this Black woman in New Jersey, it looks like Black people all over the country are looking for a Black representation of Santa. In Appleton, Wisconsin, a Black couple has found it.Read more...

On Halloween night in Woodsboro, Texas, two teenagers, one white and one Hispanic, both 17-years-old, dressed in Klan outfits, harassed and tased their 16-year-old Black classmate while a White teenage girl recorded the incident on her cellphone, according to Texas Monthly.

Mrs. Tina Knowles-Lawson, undoubtedly one of Hollywood’s most iconic moms, is bringing her famous Instagram Live talk series to Facebook Watch.

Since his playing days ended back in 2008, there have been plenty of times I’ve worried about the health and wellbeing of former NBA star Steve Francis.Read more...

It can’t be easy growing up in the public eye, but for the better part of the last decade Chloe Bailey, now just Chlöe, has been doing exactly that. Since she and sister Halle first enchanted listeners with their ethereal harmonies as tweens, the duo has garnered a development deal (and mentorship) from Beyoncé,…Read more...

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A Boston suburb has decided that the best way to deal with an epidemic of racist and homophobic incidents is by sweeping it under the rug.Read more...

The queen of Christmas can place another jewel in her crown this holiday; Mariah Carey’s modern classic “All I Want for Christmas Is You” has returned to the top of the Billboard Hot 100. It’s the single’s third time in the No. 1 spot since its 1994 release, and as Billboard explained, it sets a chart new record.Read more...

At AmericaFest, a four-day festival hosted by Turning Point USA in Phoenix, recently acquitted Kyle Rittenhouse was greeted with a hero’s welcome— complete with streamers, music, and a standing ovation from the convention crowd as if he were a wrestling champion. After he spoke on a panel, he was then asked by …Read more...

Trigger warning: this story is one of the saddest depictions of a Black man in mental health crisis dying at the hands of law enforcement in recent memory.

The life and times of legendary music producer Suge Knight will be getting the biopic treatment soon.

Old National Bank, based in Indiana, will direct more housing loan opportunities to the Black residents in order to settle a federal racial discrimination lawsuit filed back in October. The Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana (FHCCI) accused the bank of discriminating against Black people with their mortgage…Read more...

Texas governor Greg Abbott attended George Floyd’s memorial service last year in Houston. He also stated that he was prepared to work with his family to pass the “George Floyd Act” through the Texas legislature. That has not happened at all. Instead, Abbott has passed measures to hurt cities that reduce police budgets…Read more...

A group of advocates, including a local NAACP chapter, are looking to clear the names of 110 Black World War I soldiers found guilty of the deadly Camp Logan riot in the summer of 1917. Some of the men were given life sentences and others were executed in what would go down as the largest murder trial in United…Read more...

A White man by the name of Steven Vogel was sentenced to life for the murder of Michael Williams in Grinnel, Iowa, whose Black body was found burning in a ditch one year ago according to the Des Moines Register.Read more...

What would you do with superpowers for 24 hours?

Confession time!Read more...

Comedian and author W. Kamau Bell is ready to talk about Bill Cosby.

The dog whistle that Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene carries is quite literally a foghorn.Read more...

In Clearwater, Florida, hundreds of abandoned African American graves were found just outside of a downtown office building, according to NPR.

I don’t know if you had former President Trump getting booed by a conservative crowd on your 2021 Bingo card–but it happened. It sure did– at the final stop of “The History Tour” with former Fox host Bill O’Reilly in Dallas. As soon as the topic of vaccination came up, that was the breaking point.

After expanding the empire into various competitions around the world, RuPaul’s Drag Race is now pitting those queens against one another in the first international all stars outing.

As a surge in Covid-19 cases hits New York City, a still recovering Broadway is once again plagued by cancellations and closures.

To say that Georgia’s role in shaping the 2020 election and the overall makeup of Congress itself would be an understatement. Georgia organizations like Stacey Abrams’ Fair Fight, The New Georgia Project, and Georgia Fund help push the state blue. The state also won two Senate seats for Reps. Rev. Raphael Warnock and…Read more...

Crystal Kittles received her first Black Santa as a housewarming gift from her husband. Little did she know, two decades later she’d still be collecting Black Santas, according to WPVI.Read more...

“Carrying a badge and a gun is not a license to kill,” Prosecutor Erin Eldridge said during closing arguments on Monday.Read more...

One of television’s funniest men has “suffered a loss of enjoyment for life,” following a a surgery performed in November 2020. As reported by Page Six, a new lawsuit filed by The Daily Show host Trevor Noah against the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York and orthopedic surgeon Dr. Riley J. Williams III, , Noah…Read more...

Your mom called; she wants to know if you’ve been vaccinated or boosted yet. Okay, so maybe not your mom, but the moms of several celebrities—including Zendaya, John David Washington, Alicia Keys, Chris Paul and little-known up-and-comers Malia and Sasha Obama—are urging Americans everywhere to consider not only their…Read more...

Since tragedy struck at the Astroworld festival last month, more and more details have emerged in the aftermath.Read more...

While the rest of us law-abiding citizens were out scouring the mall for last-minute Christmas gifts, the Ohio Department of Education spent its weekend doing the Lord’s work and determined that Bishop Sycamore High School—the undisputed Rachel Dolezal of amateur sports—was, in fact, a whole-ass scam.Read more...

There aren’t many times in life where you’re offered a second chance to correct a previous mistake; be it the long-lost love that got away, or the audition you bombed that could’ve completely changed your life. But after embarrassing our ancestors by losing a boxing match to serial idiot Jake Paul back in August,…Read more...

Ex-cop turned security guard Gregory Livingston has been indicted with first- degree murder in the fatal shooting of Alvin Motley at a Kroger gas station in Memphis, Tennessee. Originally charged with second-degree murder, the grand jury decided to indict Livingston on this new charge after viewing surveillance footageRead more...

Morehouse med students are getting an early Christmas gift.Read more...

It’s a day that ends in y, so that means Sen. Joe Manchin from West Virginia impedes some legislation. This time, his gaze is turned towards the Build Back Better Act–the “will they or won’t they” reconciliation bill that the White House hoped to get passed before the holiday recess. President Joe Biden recently…Read more...

Well, hello there.Read more...

Regina King is set to play a legend, as she brings Shirley to Netflix. The Oscar winner stars as Shirley Chisholm, and produces through her Royal Ties Productions.