The Root

If you’ve long ago lost track of what week it is, can you really be blamed for belatedly remembering Valentine’s Day? That’s the story we’re going with, as between a new year, new administration and Black History Month all occurring during a now-year-old public health crisis, we totally spaced on the fact that the…Read more...

After the South Korean candidate dropped out of the running, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is set to become the first Black woman to become president of the World Trade Organization.

Maaaaan, to be white and a terrorist.Read more...

Mayor Lovely Warren of Rochester, N.Y., is recommending that the city be allowed to fire police officers for cause, along with several other proposals to reform policing in a community that has made headlines for the brutality of its law enforcement.

I don’t care.Read more...

I don’t think I’ve gone a month of my life without hearing somebody yell or text, “Eat the cake, Annie Mae!”Read more...

Sis, you ain’t have to do Van like that.Read more...

Hey nieces and nephews!Read more...

The first rule of working with Beyoncé is: You do not talk about working with Beyoncé. But that didn’t stop us from asking—after all, our sister-in-writing Clover Hope has now worked on not one, but two projects with Queen Bey. Last year, she was one of the writers behind the summer’s gorgeous Black Is King visual…Read more...

Dating is hard in 2021. I mean, harder than usual. It’s always a minefield where you never know what kind of random roll you’re going to get. Dating apps are essentially gacha games with terrible odds for finding something good. Now throw in the whole pandemic and you’ve got something downright impossible on your…Read more...

Do you know how hard it is to repeat as a Super Bowl champion?Read more...

A 43-year-old deputy with the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office in Louisiana died by suicide earlier this week after posting videos on social media in which he spoke out about a system that does “not give a damn about people” like him.

The U.S. Senate approved a budget bill in the wee hours of Friday morning and after a voting session that lasted around 15 hours because Republicans and Democrats are still the Bloods and Crips of the political world, and there was plenty of beef to be had behind partisan agendas.Read more...

Nick Cannon—and his turban and mask—have been spotted supporting COVID relief, Black Lives Matter and underserved communities in recent months. Now The Masked Singer host could use a little support of his own, as it was announced this week that Cannon has tested positive for COVID-19, causing him to miss the first…Read more...

Top Pick: Tenet (Blu-ray, Digital) | $15 | Amazon

What it do, y’all!? It’s ya boy DJ Professor J, the master of money savin’, coming at you with some more sales that will keep your wallet feeling right. I don’t know if you can tell, but I recently revisited Jet Set Radio Future and let me tell you: that shit still slaps.

I love Betty Davis. Her string of albums in the early to mid ’70s—any of which could have easily been included in this series—are a clinic in funk, and in my estimation, were decades ahead of their time. In fact, that’s why I included this particular album, Davis’ 1975 album, Nasty Gal, in this series. For whatever…Read more...

I thought I would be dead by 27.

Self-Love Ritual Pack | $135 | Ella Paradis | Use Code KINJA10

The attempted insurrection at the Capitol last month left many of us shocked and horrified. Within the Pentagon, that horror was only compounded by the realization that many service members—both active duty and retired—participated in the riot. In an effort to address the extremism within the military’s ranks,…Read more...

In an unprecedented move, the House voted to strip Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) of her committee assignments.

Happy Thursday, folks! As you may have already realized, Black History Month is now in full effect. To help commemorate this glorious albeit short occasion, several organizations, networks and nonprofits have rolled out a whole host of events, talks, musical programming and more. Keep reading to see what’s in store…Read more...

It’s a sad day for the whites. The Department of Justice has dismissed a case against Yale alleging that the school participated in the scourge that countless white folks across the country face: reverse racism.Read more...

It’s Thursday, so you know what that means: Another round of Republicans being unwilling to face the fact that slavery was the horrific, violent foundation upon which this country was built. In several states with GOP leadership, legislation is being considered to ensure that the brutal reality of slavery isn’t taught…Read more...

Rudy Giuliani—the man whose teeth and hair dye have made multiple attempts at running away from his face to no avail—appears to be finding out the hard way that words have consequences. He and fellow wackadoodle attorney Sidney Powell—the right-wing Robin to Giuliani’s white nationalist Batman—are now defendants in …Read more...

Self-love and care aren’t just about slapping on a face mask and getting in the bath anymore (but don’t get it twisted, they absolutely fall under that umbrella). Given how incredibly rocky 2020 was and the not-so-steady start this year has been, it’s hard to even fathom actively carving out time for just ourselves to…Read more...

Sundance strikes again! The largest independent film festival in the United States, gone virtual this year instead of celebrating in its typical environs in Park City, Utah, is ground zero for some of the most anticipated films of the year. This year, one long-anticipated film adaptation proved worth the wait: Nella…Read more...

All chicken joints in the Southern California area better board up their doors and windows because there is an actual crazy man at large holding people at gunpoint...Read more...

No, dear reader, this headline is not fake news.Read more...

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.