The Root

Apparently, the White House chief of staff told the head of the Food and Drug Administration to grant authorization to a coronavirus vaccine by Friday or submit his resignation.

Dr. Cleavon Gilman, an emergency-medicine physician who has been outspoken about the dire conditions in American hospitals due to the coronavirus pandemic, says he was barred from returning to work at Yuma Regional Medical Center in Arizona after tweeting about shortages in hospital beds last month.Read more...

What colors would you say reflect an era filled with uncertainty, angst and sheer frustration—one in which there, at last, appears to be a light at the end of a very long time-loop tunnel, but no one really knows exactly when—or how, things will begin to feel even remotely right-side-up again (if ever).Read more...

Tennessee state Rep. David Byrd once claimed that the “mainstream media has sensationalized the reporting on COVID-19 in the service of political agendas.” Byrd has been seen on the House floor without a mask, which goes against everything that scientists have suggested during the pandemic.

Recruitment startup OneTen has joined forces with 37 major companies to employ 1 million Black people over the course of the next 10 years.Read more...

Those of you old enough to remember Teyana Taylor’s national television debut on a 2007 episode of MTV’s My Super Sweet 16 will no doubt also remember the outspoken and already immensely talented birthday girl entering her fête posed in a Barbie-like box wearing a multicolored tulle frock by Heatherette. Thirteen…Read more...

Happy Friday, folks! I’m so proud of you for surviving another week of 2020. This shit ain’t easy, I know it. As a reward for your tenacity I shall provide a list of good-ass games at some solid-ass prices.

In many respects, tennis player Naomi Osaka has grown up right before our eyes. Known for being understated and shy when she first emerged as a top contender in 2018 with her surprise upset over her idol, Serena Williams, since then, Osaka has come into her own as one of her sport’s brightest stars. Between June 2019…Read more...

If you are a Black person, you already know what I’m talking about. If you are white reader, then let me explain something that doesn’t work with Black people around the world: tone. Tone is the raising of your voice. It can also be associated with “talking to me like I’m a damn child.” It is usually met with a…Read more...

Whether the NBA likes it or not, Kyrie Irving is undergoing a metamorphosis.

This year, people from all walks of life used their voices to protest against the injustice they saw around the world. Among those participating in protests in 2020 were athletes in the NBA, WNBA, U.S. women’s soccer, NFL, and other fields, who received comparatively less outrage than professional players have in the…Read more...

Though it may be easy and somewhat comforting to hold onto the idea that President-elect Biden’s win and soon-coming inauguration will fix the problems in America’s democracy exposed by Donald Trump, the reality of today’s Republican Party upends that notion.

On the Strength of their catalogue, Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five will be named Life Achievement Award recipients at the 63rd Grammy Awards!Read more...

Hey nieces and nephews!Read more...

So, during my conversation with Ta-Nehisi Coates earlier this week, he mentioned that he wants his work to “haunt” those who read it, where (paraphrasing) it sticks in their heads and they can’t extract it. I’ve had similar conversations with other writers—and others across the creative spectrum—and this feeling is…Read more...

You may have first become familiar with Zerina Akers through her long and very successful working relationship with an up-and-coming artist named Beyoncé (or something like that). But the stylist, designer and influencer is a force of fashion in her own right, both forecasting trends and consistently sharing her…Read more...

Singer FKA Twigs has filed a lawsuit against actor Shia LaBeouf, accusing him of sexual battery, physical assault, and emotional distress over the course of their one year long relationship. The New York Times reports that the lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, also accuses LaBeouf of purposefully giving…Read more...

Walter Mosley may be best known for writing mysteries—though his bestselling Easy Rawlins series are among the dozens of works across genres that he’s produced in the past 30 years. But the prolific author doesn’t believe there’s any mystery to writing—nor any core requirements to become a writer.Read more...

As the Grammys have proven time and time again, the winner isn’t always the most deserving. But when it comes to Time Magazine’s Athlete of the Year, this year at least, they hit the nail on the head.

The wonderful world of Disney was full of wealthy investors on Thursday night, but it was also an exciting time for potential consumers and fans of Disney franchises. Hosted by Bob Chapek, Chief Executive Officer, The Walt Disney Company and Bob Iger, Executive Chairman and Chairman of the Board, The Walt Disney…Read more...

Apple AirPods (2nd Generation) | $110 | AmazonRead more...

Brandon Bernard died by lethal injection last night at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind., becoming the ninth person on federal death row to be killed by the U.S. government since the Trump administration resumed federal executions last year.Read more...

If you’ve ever wondered why President Trump is fighting so hard to steal the election and remain in office, it’s because he knows that once he becomes a regular citizen again he’s going to prison. OK, maybe not directly to prison, but he’s going to have to answer for all the crooked shit he did before becoming…Read more...

2020 has been a rough year for all of us, but it’s been a particularly ugly year for the Los Angeles Temecula Clippers. After spending their 2019-20 offseason assembling the closest thing to Thanos and the Black Order that the NBA has seen in recent memory, the team left their Infinity Gauntlet at home and embarrassed…Read more...

Time has selected its Person of the Year for 2020: President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

Tommy “Tiny” Lister, best-known for portraying “Deebo” in F. Gary Gray’s directorial debut Friday, has died at the age of 62, per TMZ. An official cause of death has not been determined.Read more...

Testimony from an official at the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention alleges that multiple instances of political interference may have occurred in the department.Read more...

The St. Louis County Council is letting it be known that it is dead serious about police reform. So serious, in fact, that the Council voted Tuesday in favor of a resolution that gives the police department and police union an ultimatum: Either they provide greater public oversight or it’s a wrap on collective…Read more...

With skepticism about the safety and efficacy of a COVID-19 vaccine running high among African Americans, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, wants Black people to know that a Black woman, Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, was heavily involved in developing one of the vaccines that will soon be…Read more...

Religious freedom is certainly an essential concept in America and much of the world, but it’s also a value that has paved the way for bigotry under the guise of holiness. In 2020—the year that can basically be summarized in three letters: WTF?—a small Minnesota town recently voted to allow a white supremacist church…Read more...

While the number of people who have received flu shots this year has seen an overall increase, new data has shown that when it comes to Black children that number has actually gone down.

If you are unfamiliar with Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, she’s the no-nonsense politician who told her constituents during a pandemic that their jumpshot was always going to be weak and, therefore, they should stay their asses in the house and off the basketball courts.

The death of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police officers has transformed the city into one of the epicenters of the current movement surrounding racial justice and police reform. In a notable step forward, the Minneapolis City Council has voted to shift millions of dollars away from the police…Read more...

Taraji P. Henson’s middle name may be Penda, but for the purposes of this news story, the ‘P’ stands for “Principal Photography!”Read more...

Over the last forty years, state and local police budgets have increased at astounding rates, with billions of dollars going toward military-grade equipment for law enforcement. The premise is simple: a better-equipped police force ought to be able to do their job—protecting the public—better, as well as offer more…Read more...

I’m unofficially on Dionne Warwick’s shit list. She hasn’t called me out personally—yet—but she might as well have following a Monday afternoon video she uploaded to her Twitter account.Read more...

Deadline announced today that Moonlight and All Day and a Night star Ashton Sanders has secured both TV and film rights to Peter Nelson’s nonfiction novel, A More Unbending Battle: The Harlem Hellfighter’s Struggle for Freedom in WWI and Equality at Home. If you’re unfamiliar, the official book description reads as…Read more...

As the Trump administration’s Department of Justice prepares to execute Brandon Bernard on Thursday for participating in the 1999 gang killing of a couple when he was 18 years old, calls are intensifying from various corners for the commutation of his death sentence.

Not only did Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr.’s exhibition match provide us with an endless supply of memes, but it proved that even after a 15-year layoff, boxing fans will still clamor to watch Iron Mike throw hands in the ring.Read more...

1868.Read more...

Black farming and civil rights groups are giving President-elect Joe Biden an earful about his decision to bring former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack back to head up the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a job he held for eight years under former President Barack Obama. According to Politico, leaders of farming and civil…Read more...

The key to a perfect steak? A cast-iron skillet. I bought my first years ago, mostly because I heard of the unbelievable flavor it gave steaks, fish, and pretty much anything else you cooked in it.

Rapper and “On Chill ‘’ singer Jeremih is reportedly now recovering after his battle with coronavirus left him in serious condition and on a ventilator in the intensive care unit last month.

President-elect Joe Biden is getting the band back together.

The family of Casey Goodson Jr., a 23-year-old Black man who was shot and killed by a Franklin County sheriff’s deputy in Columbus, Ohio, last week, is now calling for the cop who fatally shot him to be removed from the force.

Cha-ching!

Yet another person in the entertainment industry has decided to hop on Twitter and showcase their ignorance about vaccinations—IN A PANNY.Read more...

This year may have not been one of our most winning, but there are still achievements to celebrate; particularly the handful of designers who harnessed the energy and activism of the moment to compel substantive structural changes in the fashion industry and beyond.Read more...