The Root

Listen: It is well known that white women suffer from Black woman envy. In Kim Kardashian’s America and on Bhad Bhabie’s internet, there is no doubt about this. But that white woman melanin-vy doesn’t always manifest itself in appropriation and Black-fishing—sometimes it’s just a white woman who decides to sit down…Read more...

In recent years, we’ve seen NBA superstar Chris Paul do plenty to put on for HBCUs. He regularly pays tribute with his attire, led an early voting march and unveiled an “HBCU Sneaker Tour” in October, and currently attends Winston-Salem State to complete his bachelor’s degree in communications. And in keeping that…Read more...

White folks and hoteps listen up: You aren’t courageous or a patriot or an abolitionist because you don’t wear a mask; you’re just a maskhole. And now the Capitol Police are going to arrest your ass.

The third annual African American Film Critics Association TV Honors has announced the recipients for the 2021 season!Read more...

“I’m not a businessman, I’m a business, man.”Read more...

A few days ago, between news of GOAT-level USA gymnast Simone Biles pulling out of some events at the 2020-in-2021 Tokyo Olympics for mental health reasons, and DaBaby literally sounding dumber and dumber with each sentence, you might have also seen slow news day fodder in the form of comments made by Ashton Kutcher…Read more...

Prosecutors in Ingham County, Mich., recently announced they will no longer pursue criminal charges in cases where police officers pulled motorists over for something minor and then went on a fishing expedition searching for evidence of more serious crimes. It’s a new policy meant to reduce the potential for racial…Read more...

I was born in the mid-’70s, but I am distinctly a child of the ’80s. It is the era in which I came of age, alongside a generation raised largely on John Hughes and “Quiet Storm.” In fact, the oft-forgotten Generation X was in many ways foundational—and groundbreaking. In many ways, we are the bridge between the analog…Read more...

Watch out world...the fourth season of Grown-ish is going there.Read more...

Apologies are like coupons; they come with a list of rules.

(This is part two of a two-part series where writer Christina Blacken takes the Ford Bronco Sport to Chicago’s surrounding wilderness).Read more...

*Deep, heavy, Negro spiritual sigh*Read more...

Last weekend, a white man in Cold Spring, Minn., reportedly rammed a stolen SUV into an interracial couple’s house in an alleged racially motivated attack. Police say he exited the vehicle in front of the home after placing a large slab of granite on the gas pedal and that there was a teddy bear in a noose hanging…Read more...

Willie O’Ree, the first Black person to ever play in the NHL, is finally getting his flowers—or should I say his Congressional Gold Medal.Read more...

The mayonnaise-slathered rally on Jan. 6 was supposed to be a peaceful protest of white folks who don’t understand how elections work. Because they didn’t understand that the vote that day to certify the 2020 presidential election was procedural, they gathered outside the Capitol to yell and shout and “yee-haw” as…Read more...

When your status as the greatest gymnast of all time is undisputed, it’s easy to lose yourself in your accomplishments. But after withdrawing from Thursday’s individual all-around competition at the Tokyo Olympics in order to “protect her body and mind,” Simone Biles took to Twitter on Wednesday to thank her fans for…Read more...

During Tuesday’s House select committee examining the Capitol coup attempt, there were tears. There was justifiable outrage over Republicans’ unwillingness to admit how close the throng of domestic terrorists came to overthrowing the government of the United States. There was shock, sadness and public shame.Read more...

There’s a reason white conservatives tend to discuss race relations in America, and whatever it is they think Critical Race Theory is, in circles that are almost exclusively white and conservative. They know their weak-and-fragile-ass arguments will fall apart under the slightest bit of outsider scrutiny, so it’s best…Read more...

Everything old is new again. The adage is old too, but what has us suddenly feeling young again is the revival of Cross Colours, a Black-owned cultural revolution when it hit its peak in the 1990s along with the hip-hop generation. With help from big names like Bruno Mars and Cardi B—who were drippin’ with “Finesse”…Read more...

“The most dangerous creature on this whole Earth, is a woman who knows how to think.”

If you’re a member of Rihanna’s Navy, no doubt you’re already well informed on how good the singer-actress-entrepreneur purportedly smells—it’s the stuff of celebrity legend.Read more...

Remember in 2020, when we all made resolutions to read more during lockdown but instead, we made a lot of sourdough and banana bread and downloaded TikTok?

Here’s a question: What the hell is wrong with the Aurora Police Department?Read more...

I haaaaaaaaaate strip clubs (Sorry! Paying women to disrobe has never been my ministry), but I can tell you exactly where I was on Friday, November 19, 2004.Read more...

By this point, anyone interested in equity in retail should be familiar with the 15 Percent Pledge, the initiative launched by Brothers Vellies founder Aurora James in June 2020, in response to both calls for racial justice and equity and the largely performative promises of the beauty and fashion industries. Calling…Read more...

I know it’s hard to believe, but America used to be a fucked up place.

On Tuesday, the United States government auctioned off a rare Wu-Tang album to an unknown buyer for an undisclosed amount.Read more...

Our Forever President Barack Obama, who abandoned foreign policy in order to drop podcasts, curate playlists, and launch a cinematic universe that would put Marvel’s to shame, is now a strategic partner and minority owner of NBA Africa because of course, he is.

Tuesday marked the fourth anniversary of the day Gemmel Moore was found dead from a drug overdose in the West Hollywood, Calif., home of wealthy and white Democratic donor Ed Buck—it also marks the day Buck was finally held accountable for Moore’s death.

To Michigan Rep. Jewell Jones, just know that I feel you.

I’ve never been an Olympic gymnast a day of my life, but I absolutely know what it’s like to have a demanding career in the public eye in which I’m expected to perform at the best of my abilities every single day despite facing immeasurable scrutiny. I know what it’s like to have whatever stressors or personal demons…Read more...

It seems da mess surrounding DaBaby’s comments at the superspreader event Rolling Loud Miami last weekend continues to evolve.Read more...

QAnon apostle Marjorie Taylor Greene, unsanctioned high school chaperone Matt Gaetz and the self-proclaimed “dumbest man in Congress” were forced to evacuate a press conference when their regularly scheduled bullshit parade turned into an all-out shitshow.Read more...

Have you heard what “many people are saying?”

Is this a safe space? I need to confess something to you all.Read more...

The barbaric constraints of the Jim Crow era in the South are writ large upon American history. We are well aware of how Black citizens were relegated to the backs of buses, not permitted to eat in restaurants or use general restroom facilities, and were often brutally discouraged from pursuing their right to advocate…Read more...

On December 22, 2020, 47-year-old Andre Hill was shot and killed in Columbus, Ohio, by former Officer Adam Coy, who has since been charged with murder in Hill’s death. Coy’s body camera was turned off when he shot Hill, who was standing in a garage armed with nothing but a cellphone in an incident where even the…Read more...

There’s about to be some more melanin in this mid-century modern house!Read more...

More often than not, the Olympics opening ceremony is tacky but overwhelmingly bland; an oxymoron, if you will. The ceremony doesn’t always reflect the grace and pure talent that come with being an Olympian—but Telfar Clemens’ “collection” of Liberian Olympic uniforms checks all of the boxes.Read more...

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...