The Root

On Thursday morning, the 27th annual SAG Award nominations were announced in the most 2020—and now 2021—way possible: on Instagram Live.

Here’s a question: Are police officers born representing the epitome of snowflake-dom or is it a character trait that comes with the job?Read more...

While the NFL maintains that race doesn’t factor into the eligibility requirements of its concussion settlement program, clinicians are coming forward with their concerns that the league’s recommended protocols do in fact discriminate against Black players.Read more...

Inspector James F. Kobel of the New York Police Department has been fired after an internal investigation found he was behind a bunch of racist, sexist, and overall bigoted comments posted on an online message board under the name “Closeau.”

If we’ve learned anything in our fight against police violence and systemic racism in our justice system, it’s that it is damn hard to hold cops who kill unarmed Black people accountable for their crimes. Even when they’re charged in connection with these shootings the charge is almost never murder.Read more...

We are the culture.

The early 2000s are a bit of a blur to me.Read more...

The case of Kyle Rittenhouse is fascinating, not because it shows that white men have privilege under the law (because we already knew that), but because of just how many allowances this guy, charged with killing two people and wounding another, has been able to get.

A force both onscreen and off, Cicely Tyson blazed a trail of her own, lighting the way with elegance, grace, style, class and dignity at every turn. Now, as the icon is laid to rest, Variety reports that the family of the late actress, who died on January 28 at the age of 96, will hold an official public viewing on…Read more...

“This Is the Black Renaissance,” the headline above Dr. Ibram X. Kendi’s byline for Time magazine proclaims, at once a manifesto and mantra encapsulating what he (and others) recognize as “the third great cultural revival of Black Americans.” Like the Harlem Renaissance and Black Arts Movement before it, Black…Read more...

Black Ivory—the trio of vocalists from Harlem, N.Y.—is a group that had me at hello. Made up of multihyphenate, do-it-all group members Russell Patterson, Stuart Bascombe and Leroy Burgess, I still remember the first time I heard their single “Don’t Turn Around” because I was digital crate digging and saw this album…Read more...

I’m a Black woman who was born and raised in Jamaica, an island in the Caribbean you might have heard of (whether for its music or its food or its incredibly fast track stars). Being Jamaican can almost seem synonymous with being Black, since over 90 percent of the population is of African descent (I brought a friend…Read more...

February is a month marked by candy hearts, former presidents and (most importantly) Black excellence, but it also hosts an opportunity to save lives, as World Cancer Day is Thursday, February 4. While this past (and present) year may be dominated by the health crisis known as COVID-19, as of May 2020 cancer remained …Read more...

It’s not uncommon for folks to attend college for a few years only to leave as a result of unexpected circumstances, a general lack of direction, or simply not having the money to continue their education. To help combat this, Morehouse College is launching an online program aimed at helping those men complete their…Read more...

Idris Elba, or Stacker Pentecost as we call him in this house, has been on something of a tear for like, the last 20 years. Seriously, think of all the bangers that man has made from The Wire up to now. That streak looks to continue as Elba, along with his wife Sabrina, announced on Tuesday that they are producing an…Read more...

The first few weeks of 2021 have been a lesson in white privilege for anyone who’d still like to deny its existence in America. We saw a mass of domestic terrorists take over the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, threatening to assassinate elected officials and even trampling to death some of their own fellow MAGA members, all…Read more...

Instead of dealing with the woman who believes that Jewish lasers have caused forest fires in their own backyard, Republicans would rather attack Rep. Ilhan Omar because she’s a woman of color who runs with “The Squad.”

I bet you read that headline thinking “Aw shit, it’s dunk on some white folks time!” Well, uh, not exactly. It’s not that I have any moral objections to dunking on white people, it’s just that it wasn’t a white principal who decided to make “All Lives Matter” the theme for Black History Month at a Tennessee School.

We might be out from underneath the bowels of the Trump administration, but the stench of Donald Trump’s America is still as potent as it ever was—especially for those still being victimized by his policies.Read more...

There are countless cultural contributions Black Americans have made to this country since our reluctant arrival on these shores, but among the most enduring are the famed quilts of Gee’s Bend, Ala., (formally known as Boykin). The majority African American “inland island” largely isolated from the mainland is home to…Read more...

When she’s not preoccupied with protecting our democracy, penning best-selling novels, or getting nominated for a Nobel Peace prize, Stacey Abrams is dropping gems on Pharrell’s podcast, OTHERtone.

Clubhouse, the invite-only social audio app, recently announced it has raised another $100 million funding round, led by Ben Horowitz’s a16z fund. The app is now firmly a Silicon Valley Unicorn, a private startup valued at over $1 billion. This is a meteoric rise for an app that launched amidst the pandemic in 2020,…Read more...

Black literature is something to be celebrated year-round but during this month of socially distanced debauchery, Black authors have set us bookworms up for success. On only the second day of February, many authors pulled out all of the stops and have given us memoirs, short stories, debut novels and untold stories.Read more...

Have you heard the story of President Joe Biden and the Great Stimulus Check?

On Wednesday morning Cheryl ‘Salt’ James and Sandra ‘Pepa’ Denton of the iconic hip-hop duo Salt-N-Pepa co-hosted an episode of the Emmy-nominated daytime talk show The Real alongside regular hosts Loni Love, Adrienne Houghton and Jeannie Mai. (Newcomer Garcelle Beauvais was absent.)Read more...

Recreational leagues and amateur sports teams not only serve as the perfect opportunity for would-be professional athletes to live out their competitive dreams, but they also provide participants with an alternative for regular exercise and a mechanism to build camaraderie with potential life-long friends or business…Read more...

Y’all had fun Sundancing in your homes? Are there any new Sundance challenges on TikTok?Read more...

You’ve likely heard of the racial wealth gap, and you may have already seen its impact on your own family’s ability to accrue generational wealth. It’s the phenomenon of the average white family having about 10 times the net worth of the typical Black family in America. That gap has persisted due to disparities in how…Read more...

Be careful what you wish for.Read more...

On Tuesday night, the Critics Choice Association held their third annual Celebration of Black Cinema.

Ever since a national spotlight was put on police violence and systemic racism amid a wave of nationwide protests, cops across America have been big mad and big hurt. They feel they’re being treated as unfairly in the court of public opinion as Black people are treated in actual courts.Read more...

Nothing says traitor like the inability to spell the country you illegally governed (because Russian interference) for the last four years.

Y’all, it is time for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) to present its 2021 nominees! This year’s Golden Globes ceremony is coming much sooner (in a panny!) than the other big one (the Oscars won’t air until April), so we actually don’t have much wait time from now until we learn who gets to flaunt their…Read more...

Easily doubling as both one of my favorite album covers of all time and one of the worst album covers of all time, Big Bear made sure he’d never be forgotten with the Pen & Pixel gem for his 1998 album, Doin Thangs. He also managed to land a fairly remarkable feat: I have literally never heard a single record from…Read more...

It’s disturbing that nooses, which are a well-known symbol of racial terrorism and violence in America, continue to be leveraged to terrorize Black people today.

I taught my last spin class at Push Pedal NYC on March 9, 2020.Read more...

Electronic Arts shocked gamers and sports fans alike on Tuesday morning when it announced out of nowhere that it would be bringing back the College Football franchise. Those hoping to officially play as their favorite college football stars, though, might want to lower their expectations.

Sometimes I can’t tell if I’m on the internet too much or if some people aren’t on the internet enough. I’m simply at a loss for how, in 2021, some whites are still posting blackface pictures on the internet and not expecting there to be consequences. A police officer in Tennessee has been reprimanded after posting a…Read more...

The death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police spurred an ongoing nationwide reckoning on race and intensified calls by Minneapolis residents for substantial police reform. Reform efforts have been underway in the city since last summer, with the latest policy change requiring officers to keep their body…Read more...

Marc Wilmore, the TV writer whose credits include In Living Color, The Simpsons, The PJs and F Is for Family, died last Saturday of COVID-19 and other health complications, his brother, TV writer and comedian, Larry Wilmore, announced Sunday on Twitter.

Featured Deal: Dyson V7 Motorhead (Refurbished) | $150 | WalmartRead more...

White supremacists in Georgia introduced legislation aimed at disenfranchising Black voters by restricting access to the polls. The eight proposed laws would—

It’s time for the 52nd NAACP Image Awards to give Black folks some flowers!Read more...

Amazon Studios has announced the cast for a new anthology series from Hunters creator David Weil.Read more...

There are certain things Black people don’t play with:

La, la, la, laaaaa, looks like we’re going to be waiting a bit longer for Kanye West to get his money right because reportedly, the way he’s been dispensing money (or not) is all the way wrong.Read more...

Fanny Neck Mitch McConnell sat there for four years as the Senate majority leader and never once condemned, commented, complained, castrated–or any other C-word–anything coming out of former President Donald Trump’s anus-shaped mouth.

On Tuesday, Netflix announced its latest project from actor, producer, and America’s freshest prince Will Smith and producer and comedian Larry Wilmore.

When it comes to combating sexism, Halle Berry believes it starts at home and should start young. Accordingly, the Oscar-winning actress and first-time director of the upcoming Bruised, debuting this week at the Sundance Film Festival, is already challenging problematic beliefs and rhetoric as they arise with her…Read more...

A familiar voice opens the trailer for the filmed reading of George M. Johnson’s All Boys Aren’t Blue. It’s the “Mother of Black Hollywood” Jenifer Lewis—in this case, portraying Johnson’s beloved grandmother and part-time guardian, better known to readers of the bestselling book as “Nanny.”Read more...