The Root

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In a nice twist of fate, two residential halls at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville are being named after Black civil rights activists, not because the buildings were already named after racists but simply because the two activists deserve the honor.

A day after announcing a $3 million fund to support grants to Black people struggling during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation (BLMGNF) says the fund has been exhausted.

It isn’t that the first Black president didn’t believe or want to give Black folks their 40 acres and a mule; it’s just the level of white hate he witnessed during his time in office made the push for reparations a “non-starter.”

In a display of utter disrespect during Black History Month—of all months—it was recently revealed that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (the journalist-based voting collective of the Golden Globes) has absolutely no Black members. Frankly, most Black people already figured that—and if you’re a Black person…Read more...

Historically, the first year or so into a console generation results in a bit of a drought in releases, and having a whole-ass pandemic pop off in the middle of development cycles has only exacerbated that fact, with many big titles already having been delayed to next year. Still, this didn’t stop Sony from pulling up…Read more...

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Black history has been passed down from generation to generation through storytelling. Stories of religion, trauma, love and family have been the backbone of our communities, and the most recent releases from Black authors continue that tradition. In a time where meeting and being together in person is near…Read more...

I had high hopes for Montee Ball.Read more...

Sometimes it really feels like America is The Bad Place.

Editor’s Note: The Rise of the Black Superhero is a three-part series breaking down the past, present and future of Black superheroes across comics, film, and tv. This is part 3. Read part 1 and part 2.Read more...

As a news reporter, my rule of thumb is that the media shouldn’t take police accounts of incidents at face value. Law enforcement officers have every reason to lie just as the civilians they police do, and I’ve covered too many stories where video footage contradicted what officers said happened in their reports.Read more...

Vanessa Bell Calloway has been in the business for a long time. From her turn as Yvonne Caldwell on All My Children where she famously (or is it infamously?) broke up Black power couple Angie and Jessie Hubbard to her turn as Princess Imani in the original Coming to America—when Prince Akeem asked her to “bark like a…Read more...

Are you white?Read more...

Let’s play a game, shall we?

If you’re an active member of the Black Twitter community, chances are you’ve heard some variation of the phrase, “How is Twitter free?!” after something super dramatic and entertaining happens, rivaling the best television show during sweeps.Read more...

In 2019, we first heard that Viola Davis would be portraying former (and forever) first lady Michelle Obama in an upcoming Showtime anthology series aptly titled, The First Lady.Read more...

Look, I’m not saying I yelled “LET’S FUCKING GO, BAYBEEE!” when news broke that Ta-Nehisi Coates has been tapped to write the next Superman movie.Read more...

In case you haven’t noticed, “Black joy” has been our theme for Black History Month 2021 at The Root—and as the month comes to a close, it’s fitting that we share the joy that is writer Alice Randall. Perhaps you’re familiar with Randall through her bestselling (and controversial) 2001 parody of Gone With the Wind,…Read more...

The conservative-funded Students for Fair Admissions group is taking its legal challenge to Harvard’s consideration of race in student admissions to the Supreme Court.

While pursuing a degree in nursing, George Jewett broke the color barrier as the first Black football player in the history of the Big Ten. During the 1890 and 1892 seasons, he played fullback, halfback, and kicker at Michigan before transferring to Northwestern in 1893 to play two more seasons and earn his degree.Read more...

There’s a reason I generally never feel bad about the negative things I say and write about police officers. I’ve spent much of my life witnessing the disregard and even the contempt a lot of cops have for Black life. And that’s only based on what I’ve observed in person—I can only imagine what cops are saying about…Read more...

Happy Friday, folks! I hope your week has been good so far, I’m feeling pretty good myself. We got quite a few bangers in store today, so I figure we might as well jump right in.Read more...

It’s Friday and I’m at work (from home), but I’d “rather be with you.” Actually, I kind of am! Hey, readers of The Root, I have some great news to end the week on. There is an actual body of work featuring Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak and Bootsy Collins (the latter of whom is listed as a “special guest”). It’s called An…Read more...

Tim Fielder is a force of nature. His enthusiasm for life is evident in his consistent booming laughter and the kinetic energy of his 6’4 frame as it grabs you in the friendliest bear hug. He’s the type of guy who remembers meeting your mama at a conference for five minutes and then shows her love the next time he…Read more...

Ain’t no way in the world this monthlong series would pass without a nod to one of the greatest albums ever that also happens to feature Michael Jackson at his Blackest. 1979's Off The Wall is a certified classic. It’s the album that launched Thriller. But the cover let’s you know it’s about to be the jams. Mike has…Read more...

It all started over the past year when like many of us, I made a very hard turn into damn near exclusively buying clothing pieces by and for Black people. While I’ve always been very much into F.U.B.U. as a philosophy (while oddly never buying an actual FUBU apparel) my Buy Black meter hit an all-time high.…Read more...

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I know you read that headline and thought “OK, but isn’t that generally Los Angeles policing as a whole?” You’re not wrong, but a group of deputies have alleged that there are functioning gangs embedded within law enforcement that target Black and Latino neighborhoods.

Republicans don’t want non-Republicans voting. This statement is as factual as “Two plus two equals four.”Read more...

It’s been going on close to two months since the redneck Taliban attacked the U.S. Capitol building because the Republican mafia led them to believe the 2020 election had been stolen. But the FBI is still identifying and arresting people suspected of taking part in the whiney and wrong wypipo war on non-MAGA votes. A…Read more...

Well folks, it seems that we’ve come to the end of this year’s Black History Month Road—but I can’t let you go just yet without providing another installment of virtual events to help you say goodbye the right way. However, there is good news to report! Next month is Women’s History Month—or as we call it, “Black…Read more...

White folks are so desperate to be oppressed that a simple plea to be considerate of the feelings of others is seen as a slight against their constitutional right to be an asshole. Staff and students at a Massachusetts middle school rallied behind their principal on Wednesday after he faced racist backlash for asking…Read more...

Finally, all my years of “thugging” have paid off! I’m getting my own law!Read more...

The first-ever Black media empire, Ebony, is getting its own documentary. Lisa Cortés (All In: The Fight For Democracy, The Apollo) will direct the film and Academy Award and Emmy Award winning filmmaker Roger Ross Williams’ (The Apollo, Life Animated) will produce via One Story Up. Cortés will also produce, as well.Read more...

Earlier this month, we reported that Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks are experiencing a bit of marital strife. At the time, they weren’t quite sleeping in separate beds yet, but I could imagine Russell was bad-mouthing the organization in front of their kids and those Sunday dinners got awkward as hell.

The U.S. Capitol is still at risk of a domestic terrorist attack—potentially one even bigger than the violence white supremacist extremists targeted the halls of Congress with on Jan. 6.

Halle Berrrrrry, Halle Berry! (For all my Hurricane Chris fans, that was for you.)Read more...

Remember when music videos used to play on television? Of course you do, because nostalgic internet users talk about it all the time, often with wistful sighs.Read more...

“Defund W Magazine!” exclaimed The Root’s contributing entertainment writer Shanelle Genai on Thursday, after seeing the most recent images released from W’s annual “Best Performances” issue—which we should note is a bevy of Black excellence. In truth, we’ve been clowning the cover story for days, a side-eye turned …Read more...

January brought big news to the business world, as Starbucks COO Roz Brewer was named the new CEO of the Walgreens Boots Alliance, making her the only Black woman to currently helm a company in the Fortune 500 (and only the third, after former Xerox CEO Ursula Burns and Ursula Burns and Bed Bath & Beyond Interim CEO…Read more...

Once upon a time, back when black and white TVs were still a thing and the 3-point-line was not, there was a bad motherfucker who played for the Minneapolis Los Angeles Lakers.Read more...

Since the very start of late night television talk/variety shows (Broadway Open House was the first to air in a late night slot in 1950 on NBC), we’ve all become accustomed to watching a succession of white men sitting at a desk and interviewing famous folks—after warming us up with a relevant monologue, of course.Read more...

White fragility is a hell of a drug.Read more...

There are only a few things harder than getting your hands on Trump’s tax returns. The first is getting Washington Football Team owner Dan Snyder not to objectify his cheerleaders. The second is having fewer commercials for Coming to America 2. The third and probably most difficult is getting Jared Kushner not to look…Read more...

The recent revelations of a Pentagon report sent to Congress ahead of the 2020 election probing white supremacy in the ranks of the U.S. military back up Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s recent “stand down” order tasking the armed forces with addressing the urgent problem.

I know that I was in full cape mode for all of President Joe Biden’s picks when I learned that Republicans were being extra hard on those of color. Then I learned about Shalanda Young, and sadly it has made Neera Tanden’s bid as the director of the Office of Management and Budget expendable for me.

If you haven’t been listening to The Ringer’s Higher Learning, co-hosted by Van Lathan—who might be taking home an Oscar very soon—and The Bachelorette alum Rachel Lindsay, you’ve been missing your blessing.Read more...

Barry Jenkins, the masterful director behind the Academy Award-winning Moonlight and Academy Award-nominated If Beale Street Could Talk, is teaming back up with A24 for an all-new feature, directed by Raven Jackson.Read more...