The Root

Whether you’re fiending for classic Ralph Lauren polo shorts circa early 1990s, Chicago Bulls Championship apparel from the 1997 or 1998 championship years, NFL memorabilia, Harley Davidson merchandise, or even vintage sunglasses, Eric Brown Jr., founder of Backtrack Vintage, a Culver City, Los Angeles-based company,…Read more...

You know that thing some folks do where they act loud, wrong and fragile AF but then call everyone else a snowflake? (Okay, Trumpers. I’m talking about Trumpers.) You can add DaBaby to that exhaustive (and exhausting) list, because even his apologies are fragile as hell.Read more...

The Carters are reinventing a classic—with a strategic reveal from one of the world’s most sought-after contemporary artists. After announcing earlier this month that they are the new ambassadors for legacy jewelry designers Tiffany & Co., the couple’s first appearance for the brand was teased Monday morning, also…Read more...

Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick doubled down on his false statements that Black residents of his state were responsible for the surge in COVID-19 cases.Read more...

Haiti’s death toll has reached 2,207, with 344 people still unaccounted for following last weekend’s 7.2 magnitude earthquake. Tropical Storm Grace also reached the island Tuesday during search and rescue efforts.Read more...

On Saturday, Syesha Mercado and her partner Tyron Deener have finally reunited with their newborn daughter. The couple lost custody of the infant on August 11, just 10 days after her birth.Read more...

Rev. Jesse Jackson and his wife, Jacqueline, were admitted to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago according to a statement from his organization Rainbow PUSH Coalition (RPC) on Saturday.Read more...

Sha’Carri Richardson finished in ninth place in the 100-meter race for the 2021 Prefontaine Classic on Saturday. Richardson, the sixth-fastest woman in track and field history, was competing against six of the Tokyo Olympic finalists including the three Jamaican women responsible for this year’s podium sweep: Elaine…Read more...

James Brown, a 41-year-old white man from Marion, Va., is heading to federal prison after burning a cross on a Black family’s front lawn last summer. He was sentenced to 18 months on Friday.Read more...

Homestead Police Chief Jeff Desimone has been suspended for three days without pay after being caught in a viral video harassing a pregnant Black woman.Read more...

A Montgomery civil rights-era legend, Lucille Times, has passed away at the age of 100.Read more...

While it doesn’t seem like we’re getting a second season of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (TFATWS) anytime soon, it looks as though we’re getting something even better. Anthony Mackie officially closed a deal with Marvel/Disney to star in Captain America 4, according to Deadline.Read more...

Like most kids his age, Edmonton teenager Anthony Muobike spent his afternoons dribbling around his neighborhood while pretending to knock down 30-foot buzzer-beaters like Steph Curry. But with no basketball hoop in his driveway, the 14-year-old’s hoop dreams often felt elusive. That is, until his neighbor, Ian Ray,…Read more...

A white woman who said she tried to kill two children by running over them with her SUV because of their race was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in federal prison on two hate crime charges. Nicole Poole Franklin, 43 of Des Moines, Iowa, had already been sentenced to 25 years on two counts of attempted murder at the…Read more...

There’s a good chance that Sen. Ted Cruz took a family friend to his senior prom. Ted Cruz probably makes it lightly drizzle at the strip club only to pocket money that lands on the couch. Ted Cruz probably used half of his book advance buying books because...wait, he really did that.

Former American Idol finalist Syesha Mercado and her partner Tyron Deneer said at a press conference Tuesday they believe they are being targeted because of how they’re choosing to raise their children. The couple had their second child taken by authorities last week during a roadside welfare check.

A Black couple claims that a Waffle House in Missouri denied them in-dining service because of the color of their skin.Read more...

Most of the time, the Clapback Mailbag attempts to introduce facts and data to our readers who have a habit of not reading things. But today is different. Today, instead of helping angry white people become less dumb, we’re going to help some of our dumbest readers understand how dumb they really are.Read more...

Three Black people formerly employed at a Kraft Heinz plant in Tulare, Calif., have filed a $30 million lawsuit against the megafood manufacturer, alleging that they were subjected to a racist work environment between 2012 and 2018.Read more...

On Thursday, two former officers from the Torrance Police Department were charged with vandalism and conspiracy to commit vandalism for allegedly spray painting a swastika on a vehicle they were in charge of impounding.Read more...

I remember exactly where I was when I was hit with the news on Aug. 25, 2001, that singer Aaliyah had been killed in a plane crash in the Bahamas. I was sitting on my couch in my apartment in Hyattsville, Md. It was a Saturday morning and I turned my television to MTV where Kurt Loder was sharing the devastating news…Read more...

After 87 years of brazen racial insensitivity, the Washington Football Team finally bid adieu to its previous racist-ass name (that doesn’t bear repeating) in 2020. And in the 13 months since, the team has struggled to select a replacement since apparently the Guardians was taken. But Washington’s awkward tenure as…Read more...

Last Friday, our dearly departed entertainment writer, Tonja Renée Stidhum, blessed the internet with an exclusive clip from Nia DaCosta’s upcoming masterpiece, Candyman. And because God is good all the time, today provides the perfect opportunity to bless the masses once more.Read more...

It was a historic moment in politics. After realizing that they were outgunned, Texas Democrats walked out and headed to Washington, D.C., to stop a racist voting bill from making its way into law, creating one of the longest quorum breaks in Texas history. But as with the NBA Playoffs, Breaking Bad and Christmas, all…Read more...

What is “a hot mess”?Read more...

On Tuesday, Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams announced that prosecutors have reached a settlement in the civil rights lawsuit with Robert Jones, who was wrongfully convicted for crimes in 1992 and 1996.Read more...

As of Friday, August 20, almost 25 years after the album’s original release, Aaliyah’s One in a Million is available across streaming platforms and for download. The website aaliyahiscoming.com popped up for the first time in early August, and fans began to speculate whether or not that meant the singer’s discography…Read more...

Hip-hop Hooray!

We know Republicans lie. We know they are racist.

The last thing the justice system needed was another way to put innocent Black people in jail.Read more...

Naomi Osaka is an absolute powerhouse. Just this week she won against Coco Gauff in round 16 in Cincinnati and continues to advocate for her mental health.Read more...

Jeopardy! executive producer and recently appointed permanent host Mike Richards is once again apologizing for some past problematic behaviors.Read more...

Amid the turmoil in Haiti and Afghanistan, Naomi Osaka has found herself reflecting upon her tennis career. In 2020, she was riding high and became the world’s highest-paid woman in sports for a second consecutive year, but in recent months she withdrew from the French Open citing mental health concerns and suffered a…Read more...

In news that can only be described as obvious AF, the country responsible for the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, the 1985 MOVE bombing, and hip-hop cops, targeted Black Lives Matter protesters with over-the-top prosecutions in an attempt to discourage justice after Minneapolis police murder George Floyd, according to a new…Read more...

Nikki Haley is the former ambassador to the United Nations under former President Donald Trump.

On Wednesday, David Elmendorf, the former owner of Bumpy’s Polar Freeze, was ordered to pay $4,500 for harassing, threatening, pulling weapons and calling the police on peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters.Read more...

Let’s just start with the main bullet point and then work our way into the weeds, Nike Boots and rototoms. Recently, Washington, D.C., rapper, fashion icon (I’m gonna give him these flowers) and sometimes oversharer Wale made this statement via Twitter:Read more...

During a press conference on Wednesday, Rusty Hardin, the attorney for Deshaun Watson, revealed that the allegations of sexual assault and inappropriate behavior that have been levied against his client are being investigated by the FBI.

“America loves to hand us the country and say, ‘Here, you fix it,’ when everything is going to shit,” author-activist-educator Brittney Cooper aptly noted during one of our first broadcasts of of The Root Presents: It’s Lit!. Speaking only months after the murder of George Floyd, and a full two years after the…Read more...

The “If you love Giorgio, you’ll love Primo” version of Trump—literally, the physical manifestation of Florida as a person—Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis—Mr. Anti-Mask, or #DeathSantis as he’s known on the streets—is pushing a COVID-19 antibody treatment that just so happens to be one of his top donor’s company’s biggest…Read more...

Working for a big-box urban Florida pharmacy chain for five years, Dr. Martez C.L. Prince, Pharm.D., RPh, always felt pressured to get his customers in and out as quickly as possible. Eventually, the experience soured him on the idea of working for others. Dr. Prince questioned whether or not the big box chain’s…Read more...

With the NFL season set to kick off in September, the conversation has shifted from whether or not players are vaccinated, to how in the hell the league still expects to have “full stadiums” despite the Delta and Lambda variants acting a complete ass. Each NFL franchise has been given carte blanche to impose and…Read more...

After a few delays due to various legalities and the ongoing pandemic, the long-awaited trial for Robert “R.” Kelly has finally begun.Read more...

Nakia Porter, a 33-year-old software engineer, is suing the Solano County Police Department in Northern California for her violent arrest last summer.Read more...

No. This isn’t about freedom. This is about freedoms.Read more...

There’s a literary genre kicking all other genre’s asses and taking over the literary world and TikTok—and I bet you know what it is.Read more...

On Bleacher Report’s Chips, three-time NBA champ Draymond Green chops it up with some of the biggest stars in the league to discuss whatever chip they have on their shoulder. In the latest episode, Dray was joined by former teammate Kevin Durant for what’s easily one of the juiciest interviews of the year.Read more...

After going blow-for-blow in her directorial debut Bruised, in which she also stars, it seems Halle Berry might have another opponent on her hands.

Sometimes, you just need a little something to get you over the hump of a difficult week. While I may not be able to articulate exactly what has made this week so difficult (more like let me count the ways, even if only at the halfway point), it’s been a struggle. If you’ve been struggling like I have, perhaps this…Read more...

What you doing? Not listening to Silk Sonic’s new album.Read more...