The Root

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Representation matters. We hear it, and we know it to be true; we also know it to be good for business. But if the racial reckoning of this past year has proven anything—beyond a need for the long-overdue overhaul of any number of American institutions and industries—it’s that even the most well-meaning of those…Read more...

What happens when everyone is an “expert?” How to navigate a world where everyone’s “insights,” no matter how dubious, are cloaked in corporate-speak, strenuously hyped by like-minded cohorts, then injected straight into your brain via a mechanism intentionally designed to push your emotional buttons? And how much do…Read more...

I owe Merrick Garland an apology. When it was announced that Obama’s pick for the Supreme Court (See Mitch McConnell as to why that didn’t happen) would now be President Biden’s pick for attorney general, I said some pretty harsh things about Garland.

Vanessa Bryant has spoken out against Meek Mill’s lyric referencing the late Kobe Bryant, which she believes was “disrespectful.”Read more...

They used to call me “Cheekie.” They still do.Read more...

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If you’re reading this, then it likely won’t come as a surprise to you that the cops will arrest a Black boy for no real reason. Last week in Plano, Texas, a Black teenager was arrested and spent the night in jail. His crime? Walking home from work.

White people love racism so much they’re willing to throw away their freedoms in order to indulge in America’s favorite pastime. Case in point: a Pennsylvania man was arrested for making a series of violent threats against members of Congress and Black people.

Close your eyes and think back to when afterparties were a thing and we could all go out dressed to impress, looking our best and being the flyest of all the guests.Read more...

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: White folks are just different. Private messages show that a Pennsylvania cop was relatively indifferent to the fact that he’s facing federal charges for his role in January’s riot at the Capitol.Read more...

Nzingha Stewart, one of the directors of Hulu’s Emmy Award-winning Little Fire’s Everywhere, will be flexing her directorial skills once again for an upcoming limited series starring and executive produced by Zoe Saldana.Read more...

History books are spilling over with people who have achieved seemingly impossible feats in their lifetime, but they often miss the awesome stories of many Black innovators. One of these people was one of the first Black pilots who also raced cars and designed a cloaking technology for ships. This is the story of…Read more...

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André Leon Talley has much to be proud of in his storied career: being mentored by legendary Vogue editor Diana Vreeland, blazing a trail as one of the first Black talents on Vogue’s masthead, and being both a bestselling author (of 2020's The Chiffon Trenches) and a bonafide fashion legend, garnering his own…Read more...

Dr. Dre is back in the studio—and it looks like he is intentionally using art to imitate life.Read more...

Whether it’s personal growth, stories of the past, love or jealousy, music has a way of pulling us in. From pop-rock to hip-hop to soul and R&B, this week’s releases explore a variety of emotions, voices and unique points of view on multiple important topics.Read more...

Little Fires Everywhere star Kerry Washington and The Old Guard star Charlize Theron will be facing off in School of Good and Evil, a new feature from Paul Feig, The Root has learned.Read more...

America exports a whole lot of its culture to the rest of the globe—music, movies, ways of dress, slang. This country’s addiction to white supremacy is also known across the world, but the U.S. isn’t the only nation to have embraced the hideous ideology throughout history or—more critically—to be driving it forward…Read more...

Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter is hellbent on journalists referencing his “I’m not a businessman, I’m a business, man” lyric in the article’s lede with every money move he makes, isn’t he?Read more...

What is the difference between OnlyFans and Donald Trump’s tax returns for the last eight years?

More than 50 years after Malcolm X was assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom in New York at the hands of members of the Nation of Islam, new information about the role FBI and the NYPD played in the targeting of the Black nationalist leader has emerged.

Max Roach was a famed jazz drummer and composer who has countless albums with various configurations of artists. His career spanned decades and if you are up on jazz at all, you know Max Roach even if you don’t know that you know Max Roach. One thing that stands out to me about him is how socially conscious his albums…Read more...

The problem with Donald Trump is that white people, (I know, not all white people, but a lot of y’all) love him. They really believe that he is a messiah or a magician or a madman but they aren’t just enthralled by his antics, they are literally in lockstep with his bullshit.

Over the weekend, it was announced that former The Talk co-host Eve will be making her return to scripted television, via an all-new musical drama pilot from ABC.Read more...

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 1.Read more...

With less than a week from the broadcast ceremony of the 78th Golden Globes, the organization that hosts the awards is in hot water.Read more...

Mara Brock Akil’s iconic Girlfriends came back into our lives via Netflix last year, but though binge-watching the series (and many others) helped me make it through the mess that was 2020, my real life posse of Black women was even more integral.

Another day, another Black man harassed and brutalized by police officers while in the commission of...minding his own business.Read more...

You may have recently come across the story of Shaina Bell, the 24-year old mother of three who was arrested in Liberty Township, Ohio, and charged with two counts of misdemeanor child endangerment after she left two of her children alone in a motel room while she worked her job at Little Caesars.

So, this is interesting...Read more...

Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly (all parts of it) has been think-pieced to death, so that’s not what’s going to happen here. Plus, I probably already did that and am too lazy to look it up. And this series is about Black ass album covers anyway. To Pimp a Butterfly is one Black ass album cover.Read more...

I could never take naps as a kid.Read more...

Time and time again, police officers across America prove that they are utterly useless when it comes to dealing with conflicts involving the most vulnerable among us. It doesn’t have to be all cops; there have been enough instances where officers arrived on scenes where no real potential for violence was…Read more...

Texas is still recovering from the snowstorm that caused the state’s power grid to collapse and left millions without electricity during freezing weather. For days, millions of Texans lived without power, sufficient warmth, accessible roads or empathy from certain elected officials. (I’m looking at you Sen. Ted Cruz…Read more...

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is continuing his arbitrary-ass war on accessible voting because, well...I honestly have no idea. Well, actually I do: The Republican game plan to disenfranchise non-Republican voters is pretty well-documented—but for DeSantis, voter suppression is like his version of porn addiction. But …Read more...

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I love the album cover for multi-hyphenate Dee Dee Bridgewater’s debut album, 1974's Afro Blue. Dee Dee is a Grammy-award winning singer, actor, philanthropist, etc. She’s bad bad. Just like this album cover. It is art. I’d hang this album up in if I owned a physical copy of it.Read more...

He’s not always there when you call, but Michael Eugene Archer—better known by his stage name D’Angelo—is sure as hell always on time.Read more...

2019 Pedroncelli Rosé Case (12 Bottles) | $89 | MehRead more...

Man...I really thought we were done with this Capitol riot shit.Read more...

The Minnesota House of Representatives rejected a bill intended to provide funds for increased police security during the upcoming trial for one of the officers accused of killing George Floyd.

I’m sure you don’t need reminding, but George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police spurred ongoing, nationwide protests. Chicago was no exception, and a report from an independent watchdog group finds that the police response to these protests were woefully inadequate.Read more...

There’s already evidence of telling slip-ups from organizations trying, and failing, to authentically show a commitment to diversity and inclusion so many of them publicly professed during the racial justice reckoning of 2020.

I will never in life seek his counsel on fashion choices, but when it comes to money moves, Russell Westbrook is no joke.Read more...

Nothing says discrimination like booing a Black person trying to talk about discrimination.

Here at The Root, we strongly endorse any and everything involving the iconic multihyphenate Erika Alexander. Why? Because outside of being a transcendent talent, she always keeps it a buck.Read more...

We interrupt the regularly scheduled Clapback Mailbag to bring you this special program:Read more...

It’s no secret that a lot of Republicans are evil—probably most Republicans—but Florida Republicans are like Satan’s own personal task force sent on unholy missions to keep the most underserved and underprivileged in the state at the back of literally every line ever. I’m not sure what else to call it besides evil…Read more...