If you were to create the perfect point guard, you’d want a floor general with court savvy and a high basketball IQ, who’s a tremendous and willing passer that also plays suffocating defense.

I know what the headline says, but we’re not actually gonna talk about the inauguration today—at least not the formalities of it.

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It’s been 12 years since I last felt how I felt while I begrudgingly watched some of the inauguration yesterday. Whatever relief experienced in ridding of the outgoing president (minimal) or pride in witnessing history (eh), was flattened by anxiety that something terrible was going to happen. And so from the time…Read more...

From Selma to Queen Sugar to When They See Us to whatever the hell else has dominated the pop culture landscape, Ava Duvernay has made it her mission to bang us in the head with an endless ARRAY— (see what I did there?)—of dope content. And after conquering the film and television industry, the 48-year-old Oscar…Read more...

In what appears to be chapter 7 of the ways in which Trump screwed over America, new President Joe Biden learned that he won’t be inheriting a coronavirus vaccine distribution plan from the former administration because there isn’t one.

What happens when a high-ranking police officer resigns from one police department after the unjust police shooting of a Black citizen only to become police chief of another embattled police department that came into the spotlight after the unjust police shooting of another Black citizen? Well, mainly, the new police…Read more...

One of former President Shitbag Von Nunu’s best traits was that he was notoriously bad at the mundane shit. Instead of hiring people who were qualified in their respective fields, Von Nunu placed an emphasis on loyalty over everything. In turn, he put people who didn’t know what the fuck they were doing into powerful…Read more...

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Former NBA player Delonte West is living proof that the comeback is always greater than the setback.Read more...

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In 2015, when my best friend/then-roommate told me that Ta-Nehisi Coates was going to write Black Panther, my reaction was “Oh shit!” followed by “He’s probably only going to do it for like a year, though.”

A pair of nooses found outside an Illinois high school over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday has spurred a hate crime investigation by local authorities.Read more...

Today has been really emotional. My own moods swung from pure delight to pure anxiety as I woke up this morning and realized that #45 had left the White House as President for the last time—then pessimistically waited for something bad to happen during the Inauguration—but then tearing up the moment Vice-President…Read more...

Apparently, cops are only cool with other cops using deadly force as long as the victim is Black. A deputy in Florida is facing charges after writing that he wanted to kill federal officers following the shooting death of Ashli Babbitt during the Capitol riot.Read more...

Vice President Kamala Harris’ third order of business—her first was stuntin’ on these hoes, and the second was making sure that a broke bitch had nothing to say—was making sure that she installed the last Infinity Stone to secure Democratic power.

Wednesday’s Best Deals | Kinja Deals

Every person who owns “grails”—shoes somebody REALLY wants enough to spend way over retail just to obtain them—thinks about where they’d rock them if given the opportunity. I mean you can’t just wear them anywhere, right? I realize it’s a pandemic so grocery stores are getting a lot more flyness than in regular years,…Read more...

Much of Wednesday’s inauguration ceremony for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris felt like a balm to a wounded nation’s soul, especially 22-year-old Amanda Gorman’s beautiful recitation of the inauguration poem, “The Hill We Climb.”

I have a lot of respect for Anjanette Young, the Black woman whose dignity and wellbeing Chicago police officers had such little regard for that they made her wait handcuffed and naked for over half an hour while they searched the wrong home for a suspect in Feb. 2019.Read more...

Grammy-nominated artist Ledisi will once again be portraying legendary gospel great Mahalia Jackson, this time in an upcoming biopic, Remember Me: The Mahalia Jackson Story.

In 2017, The Root reported that the U.S. Department of Justice and the city of Baltimore reached an agreement on a consent decree to ensure that the city and Baltimore Police Department “protect individuals’ statutory and constitutional rights, treat individuals with dignity and respect, and promote public safety in a…Read more...

Republicans are still peeved at the powerful showing of historically marginalized voters—Black people, specifically—who gave Democrats the win in the White House and the Senate. This was evidenced recently by the violent Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, aka a tantrum thrown by white people mad that they don’t…Read more...

It is a new day in America.

The past four years of Trump’s presidency have been like living with a drug addict who is deep in their addiction. Anyone who has endured this unfortunate cohabitation knows that each day brings with it a certain unsteadiness that creates its own kind of frantic normalcy. It’s toxic and exhausting and if you stay in…Read more...

During a recent interview with Bloomberg, multi-hyphenate Jemele Hill opined on the media’s response to social justice protests this past summer, her journey as a podcaster and television personality, and future plans for her burgeoning media empire.Read more...

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America’s racial awakening has brought about a number of positive changes—or at least earnest attempts at bringing change. The spotlight on systemic racism in policing, for example, appears to have lawmakers (mostly Democratic, but still) taking police reform more seriously than ever before. But when it comes to…Read more...

When Kamala Devi Harris is sworn in as the first female, Black and South Asian vice president on Wednesday morning, she will do so on a Bible owned by late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, under the undoubtedly smiling eyes of the first Latina on the Supreme Court, Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Harris will also…Read more...

In case you haven’t heard, America is throwing a party today.

If you have a moment to take, take it.

Grammy-nominated artists Jazmine Sullivan and H.E.R have been tapped to perform at this year’s Super Bowl LV in Tampa, Fla.

After his inauguration today, President-elect Joe Biden will begin the arduous process of undoing much of the racist mess put in place by his predecessor—and top of his list is rescinding the racist 1776 Commission.

The day many thought would never arrive is finally here: Donald Trump’s presidency is coming to an end.Read more...

Legislation was introduced on Martin Luther King Jr. Day that would allow voters to change the name of the historical Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala.

A Black woman in Texas has had to leave her home after facing racial harassment from a white man in her neighborhood.Read more...

Historian (and 2020 The Root 100 honoree) Dr. Ibram X. Kendi will partner with Netflix for a handful of antiracist-centered projects.

Somewhere in the world, some person or persons proved their commitment to the fight against racial injustice in America by donating $40 million to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. The donation was made anonymously, so the civil rights organization doesn’t even know who to thank for their generous show of…Read more...

In one of the most ambitious attempts in the history of the Caucasian activity known as “trying it,” the man incarcerated for his alleged participation in the mini-lynch mob that led to the death of Ahmaud Arbery has petitioned for his release, claiming that the current “racially charged” atmosphere makes it…Read more...

Tuesday’s Best Deals | Kinja Deals

Presidential Shitstain, who just won’t stop trying to run his administration like a communist regime, apparently had to be warned that pardoning Republican lawmakers connected to the mayonnaise mobsters who stormed the goddamned U.S. Capitol would be frowned upon by those Republicans who didn’t agree with it.

It’s about to be a great day for the nation and a great day for HBCUs.

Ever since COVID-19 kicked in the door wavin’ the four-four, we’ve struggled as a global community—unless you live in Atlanta or Houston—to adapt to our new normal. Thankfully, while deprived of movie theaters, concerts, and pretty much anything else that brings joy into our lives outside of crab legs, super producers…Read more...

As we approach one full year of dealing with COVID, we’ve seen the pandemic exacerbate existing inequities and create new ones. As the vaccine for the virus continues to be distributed throughout the country, early data shows that Black people have been vaccinated at a much lower rate than white people.Read more...

In less than 24 hours, Joe Biden will become the president of the United States of America. During his inauguration ceremony tomorrow, he will deliver a speech, and it will revolve around the concept of unity because he is a sentient shoestring and unity is his entire steez. In fact, pledging to take a shot each time…Read more...

We’ve had to wait four years to get an adult in the White House, and now, on the heels of the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, let’s take a look at the incoming president’s first 100 days in office.

On Monday, The Root reported that the FBI screened around 25,000 members of the U.S. Army National Guard to make sure a second attack on the U.S. Capitol wasn’t being planned for President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration by insiders tasked with securing Capitol grounds. It was an unusual screening of an unusually large…Read more...

This week, fire-ass artists were coming out of the woodwork. Some released music videos that had me scratching my head and saying, “aren’t we in a global panorama?” While others released chill EPs and albums that had me laying on my floor and staring at the ceiling for a bit, contemplating the universe and also what I…Read more...

On Monday, legendary artist Stevie Wonder posted a four-minute video message in an open letter to Dr. King.Read more...

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I wrote a piece that celebrates King’s legacy and highlights the work that still needs to be done around racial justice and equality. Other writers did the same because that’s generally what writers do to commemorate the holiday—unless you’re a writer for the Trump administration.Read more...