The Root

The president of people who wear pajama pants with provocative statements across the ass just couldn’t be nice, even while supposedly giving condolences.

“Why does Thomas Markle just not shut up?” It’s a question we and countless other have asked countless times since Meghan Markle became Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. It’s also the question that opened her estranged father’s latest interview with the British media, as he appeared on Good Morning Britain Tuesday to once…Read more...

I hate to break it to you, but I’m not calling him Ye.

South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley is really, really, really good at her job. And with most employers, when you’re good at your job, they lavish you with gratitude, promotions, raises, and the like to keep your morale high so you can continue to perform your job at the best of your ability.

Anti-vaxxers have literally begun hijacking the death of former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell from complications of COVID-19 as proof that the vaccine doesn’t work. They conveniently don’t mention that Powell was severely autoimmune compromised with multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that attacks the immune…Read more...

With the coronavirus hell-bent on keeping the entire world in a figure-four leglock, once you step outside of your crib, there aren’t a whole lot of places you can go where you’re not required to show proof of your COVID-19 vaccination.Read more...

Beyoncé once said: “You know you that bitch when you cause all this conversation.”Read more...

In its efforts to recognize the hustle of the aspiring entrepreneurs and go-getters sprinkled throughout historically Black colleges and universities throughout the country, Now and Later has launched its #RecognizetheCHEW Class in Session Series to showcase the impact of the HBCU experience.Read more...

If you’ve never quite gotten over the loss of spending weekend mornings with Melissa Harris-Perry’s late, great, eponymous show on MSNBC, you are in luck. On Monday, WNYC Studios and PRX announced that Harris-Perry, who has been serving as interim host of nationally-syndicated public radio news show The Takeaway…Read more...

On Sunday, the team at Verzuz debuted a battle that showcased the culture that birthed the careers of Timbaland and Swizz Beatz, the Verzuz Founding Fathers.Read more...

All his life he had to fight. No, really—as Pose star Billy Porter recently told the U.K.’s Sunday Times, the extravagant, gender-fluid looks he’s become known for wearing on the red carpet are the result of tremendous emotional labor and personal and professional jeopardy over his now decades-long career. Since…Read more...

Though it feels like it’s been fourscore and 75 years ago since the world first became embroiled in the curious case of Empire star Jussie Smollett, it appears there’s yet another update.Read more...

Former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, who made a name for himself after releasing the “Steele Dossier” which claimed that Trump was in Russia’s pocket, defended his work in his first on-camera interview since 2017.

On Sunday, with the Chicago Sky trailing by nine points in the fourth quarter of Game 4 of the WNBA Finals, did anybody really think Candace Parker would fall short in her quest to bring her hometown its first-ever WNBA championship against the Phoenix Mercury?Read more...

Dorothy Steel demonstrated that it’s never too late to follow a dream. Born in 1926, she was 88 years old when she landed her first acting role, launching a career that would soon lead to her feature film debut as an elder of the Merchant Tribe in 2018's Black Panther.Read more...

Ahmaud Arbery committed the crime of jogging in a neighborhood where three white men decided he didn’t belong. The three men reportedly chased him down and killed him. Now those men, who decided Arbery’s fate on Feb. 23, 2020, are set to face trial.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let’s get to this football.

It looks like Bow Wow, real name Boward Woward Shad Moss, is ready to get the Millennium Tour “outta his system.”Read more...

Colin Powell, the retired four-star general who was the first African American to serve as Secretary of State, died from COVID-related complications on Monday. He was 84 years old.

A sheriff’s deputy in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana was caught on video as he held a Black woman by her hair and slammed her to the ground multiple times.

In a first-of-its-kind move for a major U.S. city, Philadelphia has banned its police force from pulling over motorists for minor offenses, including broken taillights or improperly displayed registration.

Suni Reid, a Black transgender cast member of the touring production of “Hamilton,” has filed a discrimination suit against the show’s producers with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Los Angeles.

Well, this isn’t funny: Nashville-based comedian Joshua Black said a woman falsely accused him of breaking into cars at the apartment complex they both live at. She said he fit the description of the suspect. It turns out that he didn’t.

A Louisiana state trooper who has publicly criticized his department for the violent arrest and death of Ronald Greene is at risk of losing his job. He says that his potential termination is an act of retaliation by the state police.

Days before a planned walkout of trans employees and allies at Netflix in protest of Dave Chappelle’s latest “comedy” special The Closer, the streaming giant confirmed that it has fired one of the staffers leading the charge.

Former president of America and current president of white people who dress in bedsheets claimed his followers can’t be counted on in future elections until the Republican Party addresses his baseless and senseless claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him.

Hold onto your raspberry berets and get ready to clutch your imaginary purple pearls!Read more...

After their contentious split from The Joe Budden Podcast in May, many assumed co-hosts Rory Farrell and Jamil “Mal” Clay would either dissolve into thin air or return to whatever nebulous outside endeavors occupied their time. But because God is great all the time—except for when he took an extended vacation during…Read more...

Former Cosby Show actress and artist Lili Bernard filed a suit on Thursday against Bill Cosby, citing a 1990 hotel incident in which she claims Cosby drugged and raped her in Atlantic City, N.J., when she was 26 years old.Read more...

Because there wasn’t much controversy in the news this week, I assumed this week’s Mailbag would be light on content. So instead of discussing the emails, DMs and tweets from aggrieved white people, I wanted to focus on something entirely different:Read more...

On Friday, the day that Chicago employees must report their coronavirus vaccination status, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the union representing Chicago police officers are still at odds.

Today, October 15, is the birthday of one Toriano Adaryll Jackson. If you are Black, or have spent any amount of time around Black people or are not Black but maybe came into adulthood in the 70s and 80s, then you know Toriano by his more common moniker, Tito. Yes, October 15th is Tito Jackson’s birthday. We should…Read more...

In Shona, a Bantu language spoken by a large percentage of the Zimbabwe population, the name Takunda means “we have overcome, conquered.” And true to that definition, 19-year-old Takunda Rusike is creating a lane for Black women to play a sport that historically has catered to the opposite end of the color spectrum.

There are times when hearing the other side can be helpful, and then there are times when no one gives a shit about the other side.

Four security guards were charged with involuntary manslaughter nearly eight years after the death of a Black man who was pinned to the floor at Northland Center Mall in Southfield, Mich., Attorney General Dana Nessel said on Wednesday.

In this multipart series, HBCU alums share their favorite moments from their alma mater as a testament to what these institutions have meant to them.Read more...

Real Hot Chicken Shit!Read more...

Above all else, Kevin Durant wants to win.Read more...

Hidden in the stories surrounding the racist and homophobic emails between now former Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden was an interesting tidbit about ESPN Insider Adam Schefter’s communication with Gruden and Bruce Allen, the then-president of the Washington Football Team.Read more...

Looking to follow in his father’s NBA footsteps, Zaire Wade, son of three-time NBA champion Dwayne Wade, is taking his talents to the pros.

Henrietta Lacks died of cervical cancer on Oct. 4, 1951, but her legacy and tumor cells still live on 70 years later.Read more...

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...