The Root

Everyone has a breaking point. Janet Mock may have hit hers at the premiere party for Pose’s final season on Thursday night, as she gave a speech that can only be described as—in the words of The Root’s Entertainment Staff Writer Tonja Stidhum—a “PLOT TWIST.”Read more...

Just after midnight on Monday, a mother and her two children were awakened by sounds of intruders breaking into their Walled Lake, Mich., home. The mother’s 13-year-old son heard the commotion and swiftly woke up his 9-year-old brother. Moments later, the two boys’ mother was in their room armed with a gun and…Read more...

While I’m generally known for my quiet, kind-hearted demeanor and as someone who accepts racism quietly and would never push back when someone else says or does something stupid or racist, beneath this placid, compassionate exterior lies a heart that constantly asks the same question over and over again. (Why are you…Read more...

Hearing the guilty verdict handed down to Derek Chauvin last week brought up a lot of emotions for all of us. One of those emotions was relief—and nothing showed that relief more than the faces of the Floyd family. Despite the facts and video capturing all 9 minutes and 29 seconds of the murder of George Floyd, it was…Read more...

Kandi Burruss has been in the game a long time. She has had success as a member of the group Xscape; as a songwriter who has penned such eternal classics as “Bills, Bills, Bills” for Destiny’s Child and the girl anthem “No Scrubs” for TLC; as a member of the fan-favorite Real Housewives of Atlanta franchise; as the…Read more...

I don’t enjoy violence.

The University of Pennsylvania has issued an apology after it was discovered that one of its museums stored remains of a MOVE bombing victim for more than 30 years.Read more...

Shame is a universal condition—no one is immune. In fact, it might be argued that shame is also one of the strongest drivers of human behavior, often causing our worlds to revolve around it. We have it inflicted upon us—especially those of us in already marginalized groups—and in turn, inflict it upon others. We live…Read more...

Content Warning: The following article contains details of alleged sexual misconduct, including unauthorized sharing of explicit photos, groping, harassment and bullying.

The Big Lake School District in Minnesota is responding to outrage after a photo of a racist “promposal” has gone viral.

This month makes 10 years from the weekend I drove from Pittsburgh to D.C. for a party to celebrate both the three-year anniversary of the launch of VerySmartBrothas—the blog Panama Jackson, Liz Burr, and I created in 2008—and the release of Your Degrees Won’t Keep You Warm At Night, a self-published compilation of…Read more...

The families of Black men killed by police spoke with White House officials and senators Thursday about the passage of a meaningful reform bill that will address police brutality, with the May 25 anniversary of George Floyd’s death being the goal date.Read more...

On Thursday, Billboard announced its nominees for the annual Billboard Music Awards. This year’s ceremony will air live at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles and will include fan-voted categories for Top Social Artist and Top Collaboration. Because y’all know how we get down ‘round this way, let’s go ahead and get into…Read more...

What type of mom do have? If she’s a great one, the question isn’t whether she’s biological, adoptive, bonus, spiritual, or chosen (We see you, house mothers!); a great one has a vital role in creating the person you are—and loves you unconditionally through all your growing pains. Chances are, she cherished every…Read more...

Welp, it looks like Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz better start working out so that he can fight off attackers in prison because he’s about to lose his job and go straight to the pokey if anything in his former friend’s letter is true.

Black Panther 2 will soon begin production in Atlanta, and director Ryan Coogler recently made headlines when he penned an op-ed explaining exactly why he wasn’t boycotting the state of Georgia after the passing of voter suppression bill SB202. Of course, many fans are likely curious about the cast and crew as they…Read more...

The recently passed COVID relief bill had $5 billion in provisions intended to help Black and brown farmers who have historically been the victims of systemic racism within the Department of Agriculture. Predictably, white folks have a problem with that and have filed a lawsuit against the federal government, claiming…Read more...

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability has just completed its 16-month-long investigation into the February 2019 raid conducted by Chicago police officers into the home of 50-year-old Anjanette Young, who was made to wait handcuffed and naked while officers searched her home for a suspect who did not live there.…Read more...

As a card-carrying member of the “Teyana Taylor Can Do No Fucking Wrong” fan club—“Issues/Hold On” or “Wake Up Love” will immediately bring you to your senses if you feel otherwise—I was on the brink of writing my senator when I learned in December that the same angel that gave us “Come Back to Me” was retiring from…Read more...

T-Pain’s internet presence is truly one of the most delightful things we’ve got going for us. If you weren’t aware, the R&B singer is an avid gamer who streams on Twitch from time to time. When he recently encountered a group of racists in the lobby for a match in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, well, shawty snapped.

The debate team for Atlanta’s Morehouse College recently withdrew from a tournament for reasons that, as far as I can tell, boil down to one thing: Black people can’t exist in predominantly white spaces without battling racism.Read more...

You ever had that friend that just can’t get right?Read more...

There has been a lot of talk about meditation in recent years. Everyone claims to be doing it, and countless apps have been created to help people with their practice, and introduce newcomers to its benefits. But what is meditation, exactly? According to Webster’s dictionary, the definition of meditation is: “to…Read more...

To kick off the month of May, Pose fans will be living, werking and posing for the very last time.Read more...

On this fifth anniversary of Drake’s fourth studio album Views, I think it’s high time we say what needs to be said.Read more...

This whole Non-Fungible Token (NFT) craze has me convinced that rich people just don’t know what to do with their money. The more I research it, the more the concept seems like one that managed to teleport from the year 2000 just as the dot-com bubble was bursting. Considering that the whole idea is the epitome of…Read more...

Here at The Root, we don’t do house negro shame. Sure, there are plenty of Black people who sit comfortably at the feet of white men waiting all day for a pat on the head and “good boy,” but we don’t call people out on it. OK, maybe we do but that was mostly Omarosa and she earned it.

I’m part of the liberal media.Read more...

The death of Marvin David Scott III, a 26-year-old Black man who was first arrested and taken to a Texas detention facility in March and ended up dead, has been ruled a homicide.Read more...

A former Wilkinson County, Ga., sheriff’s deputy was fired in November after the FBI contacted his sheriff and informed him that his deputy is being investigated for possessing illegal guns and potential ties to white supremacist terrorism. On Monday, the former deputy pleaded guilty in a federal court in Macon to one…Read more...

Florida Republicans are up to their anti-voter rights bullshit again and they aren’t pretending to hide their disdain for democracy. They have been fine-tuning their bill SB 90, which will make voting in the state much more difficult and passed it in the House on a party-line vote of 77-40 Wednesday.Read more...

The only thing better than waking up yesterday and hearing that Rudy Giuliani’s Upper East Side apartment was raided by the feds is waking up today and remembering that we’re less than 12 hours away from the 2021 NFL Draft. And because I’m such a kind, giving soul, here are your answers to some of the biggest…Read more...

If the jury in the trial of Derek Chauvin had found the former Minneapolis cop who kneeled on George Floyd’s neck until he died not guilty or if a mistrial was called, the Department of Justice planned to arrest him and charge him with federal police-brutality violations.

Being a Black person in the film industry often means having to create your own lanes in a highway filled with whiteness.Read more...

A number of former Jeopardy! contestants are demanding action from the show’s producers following a recent disturbance from a current player that was caught live on television.

What does it cost a culture to ignore or outright deny its most marginalized and abused? One need look no further than America, which struggles under the weight of its hypocrisy each time it claims to be the “land of the free.” Simply put, it’s an integrity issue: How can you trust a country that refuses to prioritize…Read more...

The Department of Justice has charged three men accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery with hate crimes.Read more...

The huge success of Oprah With Meghan and Harry: A CBS Primetime Special means that every possible way to milk that content will be explored. Hell, The Root (and I’m sure many other outlets) has gotten multiple stories and clicks out of it (including this one)!

At this point, I just need the Republican Party to admit that it’s the answer to the age-old question: Is there a heaven for a Klan member?Read more...

A few years ago, The Root’s Michael Harriot wrote what I consider to be a brilliant response to white people’s “Black-on-Black” crime narrative. In the piece, Harriot pointed out all of the most obvious things, such as the fact that the vast majority of violent crime that happens in America is intraracial and the fact…Read more...

You know, maybe it’s because I grew up in the Wild West era of Xbox Live voice chat, but I generally find the current crop of right-wing trolls and provocateurs more bemusing than offensive. I just can’t take a group of people calling folks snowflakes seriously when they get so in their feelings they do shit like…Read more...

Going into business with friends is almost always a recipe for an ulcer or seven. I’ve experienced it first hand in many of my own professional pursuits, and it’s quite clear that rapper-turned-media personality Joe Budden has experienced much of the same with his podcast, The Joe Budden Podcast.Read more...

Unfortunately, it should come as no surprise at this point that teachers can be just as racist as any other group of people. You would think working around kids all day would make you a little more privy to their technological prowess, but apparently that’s not the case, as a group of Black students at a private…Read more...

The widely popular and always hilarious weekly podcast The Read with Kid Fury and Crissle will be partnering up with Issa Rae’s record label Raedio for an all-new comedy album, The Root has learned.Read more...

A North Carolina judge has ruled that publicly owned footage of public employees killing a member of the public cannot be released to the public, citing stuff and things. Meanwhile, the district attorney fought the request from a coalition of media outlets by showing exactly why it should be released.Read more...

The funeral for Ma’Khia Bryant will be take place Friday at the First Church of God in Columbus, Ohio. For Timothy Clarke, the church’s bishop, the sadness of burying a victim of police violence has become all too familiar.

I have yet to experience the joys of retirement, but I would imagine that suddenly having so much free time on my hands would be a major adjustment.Read more...

Bzzzzz—you hear that? That’s the sound of Lil’ Kim reclaiming her time!

First, a prayer.

We know, we know—you’ll always love your mama....she’s your favorite girl (shoutout to The Intruders). But to quote another (world-famous) mama, what have you done for her lately? Mother’s Day is swiftly approaching (that’s May 9, if you’re nasty); if you believe your mother is the best to ever do the damned thing—and…Read more...