The Root

Walking or driving while Black wasn’t enough of a risk it seems. A Black London man has been stopped twice now by police for simply wearing a coat in warm weather, reported The Independent. Both times he was stopped, officers searched him for drugs.

You don’t need to tell Black Star Trek fans what a certifiable badass Uhura is. Even on The Original Series when all she did was work the ship’s comms, we knew she was so much more than they were letting her be. Now, the latest entry into the Star Trek universe, Strange New Worlds, is introducing us to Celia Rose…Read more...

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More than two centuries into the American experiment, lynching is finally, officially a federal hate crime. President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed the Emmett Till Antilynching Act into law in a ceremony at the White House, assigning enhanced penalties for a heinous act that defined the height of racialized violence in…Read more...

A DonorsChoose survey found that Black male educators take on a disproportionate amount of work to support their students inside and outside the classroom. This is the largest-ever survey examining the Black male educator experience from their decision to teach to the impact they make in communities.

ESPN is going all out to honor the 75th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the MLB color barrier. Per a press release provided to The Root, the sports network will launch Jackie 75, a season-long project that will “honor Robinson’s lasting legacy, as well as showcase the continued work of Robinson’s wife Rachel…Read more...

The Piano Lesson, the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by August Wilson, will be making its grand return to the Broadway stage after over 30 years.Read more...

Who, exactly, was Donald Trump talking to while the U.S. Capitol was under attack by his supporters on Jan. 6? Did he call Ginni Thomas on a burner phone in the West Wing or Steve Bannon on a secure line in the residence?Read more...

“Global Black Coalition,” an Ottawa-led coalition, has been able to help hundreds of Black people and international students escape Ukraine since Russia invaded the neighboring country one month ago, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.Read more...

Data from Florida’s Department of Education found that Black Florida students fall lower in reading levels compared to white students, reported News4Jax. The data shows a gap of 29 percent between the two groups statewide, however, the gap is even larger in local districts.

Just as Women’s History Month (aka Black HERstory Month) comes to a close, film producer and director Tammy Williams has just cemented her own unique place in the history books.Read more...

In an interview with the New York Times on Friday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams had announced a city-wide initiative to get rid of homeless encampments from streets and parks. This is in addition to his “subway safety” plan announced last month, saying that people are not allowed to sleep on subway cars. More than…Read more...

Verzuz is getting fans ready for spring and summer by revealing dates and some of the artists for upcoming battles. According to Complex, the next batch of battles kicks off April 17 on Easter Sunday with a gospel supercard featuring Mary Mary vs. BeBe and CeCe Winans. We don’t get a lot of gospel battles, so this…Read more...

Looks like another COVID-19 booster is coming down the pike as the Food and Drug Administration has authorized another COVID-19 booster for people 50-years-old and older, according to the Associated Press.Read more...

A conservative group found teachers in anti critical race theory states have been working around the laws by renaming their curriculum, reported Newsweek. Per an investigation by Accuracy in Media (AIM), school administrators from Idaho and Tennessee admitted to “rebranding” the lessons so they could teach the same …Read more...

Despite immense pushback from high school students, LGBTQ+ parents, advocates, and celebrities from Gabrielle Union and Raven Symone, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed HB 1557, titled the “Parental Rights in Education” bill, into law. This is also in conjunction with his “opposition” to Critical Race Theory in…Read more...

I’ve written about the ineffectiveness of the NFL’s Rooney Rule for so long that many of the older pieces have disappeared from digital archives. That’s a shame, because like all writers, I love to point out when I was right, years in advance.

The confirmation hearings for Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Supreme Court nominations are done, and the Senate Judiciary Committee is looking to move the process along. Yahoo News reports the committee has announced the following steps: the panel will reconvene on April 4 at 10 a.m. ET for a vote that will advance Jackson’s…Read more...

After 22 years of marriage, Black-ish star Anthony Anderson’s wife Alvina Stewart has filed for divorce a second time. According to People, the papers were filed Friday, March 25, citing irreconcilable differences as the reason. The pair are college sweethearts who have been married since 1999 and have two adult…Read more...

Updated as of 3/29/2022 at 12 p.m. ET: Jada Pinkett-Smith has issued a statement of sorts following the slap incident at the Oscars. On Tuesday morning, the Gotham star seemingly responded to the ordeal in a post on Instagram which read: “This is a season of healing and I’m here for it.”Read more...

A 120-year-old historically Black Catholic school in Mobile, AL, was on the verge of closing its doors for good until an online fundraiser and a pledge of support from the school community made it possible for the school to stay open.Read more...

Grammy-winning artist John Legend is set to be awarded a special honor soon.

A new study has revealed that rates of prediabetes among children have more than doubled over the past 20 years. The study, published March 28 in JAMA Pediatrics, looked at children between the ages of 12 and 19 from 1999 to 2018. During that time, the rate of prediabetes among the teens in the group went from 11.6 to…Read more...

On Monday, both the Academy and the 2022 Oscars producer Will Packer responded to the slapping incident involving Will Smith and Chris Rock during Sunday’s award show.

Makenzie Thompson, a Georgia high school senior, has been accepted to attend 49 colleges and has received more than $1.3 million in scholarship offers. But she did not originally plan to apply to over 50 universities, according to CNN.Read more...

If there is any group of people who understand the challenges Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson faced upon her nomination, it is Black people in law. In solidarity to support Jackson, every single Black law school Dean in the U.S. signed a letter to the U.S. Senate to see to her confirmation.

“Manhood,” a friend texted me after Will Smith’s Chris Rock slap at the Oscars, “often comes down to weighing the moment against the future.”

For the first time since 2018, the Academy Awards had hosts–and boy did they pick the right year to return.Read more...

The expanded child tax credit reached 61 million children by the end of 2021 and cut child poverty by 30% ended in January. Since that expiration, Columbia University’s Center on Poverty and Social Policy reported almost four million children have fallen into some food insecurity. The child poverty rate rose from 12.1…Read more...

After being forced to pause their performances due to the COVID pandemic, the dancers of Ailey II are taking the stage once again with a new artistic director in a highly-anticipated season of performances. Ailey II returns to The Ailey Citigroup Theater for a special two-week season featuring ten performances from …Read more...

Now, this is a story all about how, part of Oscar’s night got flipped, turned upside down; and I’d like to take a minute, just sit right there, I’ll tell how Will Smith and Chris Rock became the talk of the town everywhere.

A jury found that Denver police violated constitutional rights and used excessive force against protesters during the demonstrations over the killing of George Floyd in 2020. The city will now pay $14 million in damages to the 12 people who sued, according to the Associated Press.Read more...

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By now, you’ve heard all about the slap heard around the world at last night’s Oscar ceremony. This year’s Best Actor winner, Will Smith, was not acting when he rushed the stage to take a jab at comedian Chris Rock for making a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. Rock’s joke, “Jada, I love ya. G.I. Jane 2, can’t…Read more...

The “Defund the Police” movement has been a hotly contested topic ever since its inception after the murder of George Floyd in 2020. The slogan points to taking money out of exorbitant police budgets and military equipment and investing in more community-based social services. The Biden administration tried a…Read more...

Before we get to the reason you’re here, and the moment you really want to read about, let’s recap the highlights of the 94th Academy Awards.Read more...

Rachel O’Leary Carmona, the executive director of the Women’s March, is the latest public figure to call for the impeachment of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, according to a statement.Read more...

The Black Lives Matter protest following the police shooting and killing of Alton Sterling in 2016 led to violence causing the injury of a Louisiana police officer. Louisiana’s Supreme Court has decided the officer has grounds to file a lawsuit against protest organizer DeRay Mckesson, reported the Associated Press.

The fallout over Ginni Thomas’s text messages to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows calling to overturn the 2020 Presidental election continues, as questions circle around her husband, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Justice Thomas was the only no-vote and dissenting opinion in an 8-1 ruling…Read more...

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As if there haven’t been enough incidents to go down at Cracker Barrel. A TikTok user made a video revealing the workers at a Cracker Barrel in Arizona used a code word to refer to Black customers, reported Newsweek. A Cracker Barrel spokesperson responded condemning the actions of the employees responsible.Read more...

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Megan Thee Stallion is wearing this dress, okay?Read more...

The University of North Texas library has received a grant totaling $126,989 from the National Historic Publications and Records Commission to fund its digital archive. The Black Academy of Arts and Letters archive is home to over 1,800 archival materials spanning over 40 years of Black cultural expression, and soon,…Read more...

Move over Motor City frat boys, the beer game is introducing new players, and they’re coming to dominate the board. Four years ago, Tracy Evans filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against Founders Brewing Company, Michigan’s largest craft brewery. At the time of the initial case filing, the aftermath proved to be a…Read more...

New York City has a new cultural czar as of last week when Mayor Eric Adams assigned Laurie Cumbo the title. But despite her mile long CV qualifying her for the role, many are opposing the appointment. As The New York Times reports, Cumbo has ruffled a few feathers in the past with her comments. In the wake of attacks…Read more...

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Oscar night is upon us and well, we all know the drill. Scour the red carpet for the most jaw-dropping lewks—as well as those who didn’t seem to understand the assignment. We’ll let you be the judge.Read more...

While most late millennials had high hopes of moving on up as they approached their late twenties and thirties, turns out, many of them are moving back in–with their families that is. And according to NBC News, your chances of a sojourn back home is higher if you’re Asian, Latino, or Black. A report published on…Read more...

In the Indianapolis downtown, Central Library, the Center for Black Literature and Culture is getting a high tech upgrade. The best part? You don’t even have to live in the state of Indiana to access it. This past Tuesday, the CBLC debuted new interactive kiosks that allows users to to watch videos, view 3-D images,…Read more...