When the economy was upright and Americans could go outside without wearing a full-body condom and Trump was just another old white man yelling on his Twitter lawn, “the way too old to be trolling with his trolling ass”-failed businessman was pushing a racist birther theory that then-President Obama was not an actual…Read more...

God-level MC, hip-hop mainstay and legend, Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones—aka Nas aka Nasty Nas aka Esco aka “N-A-S are the letters that spell, Nas Nas Nas”—released a new Hit-Boy produced record, “Ultra Black,” (and announced a new album, King’s Disease) for our listening pleasure on all streaming platforms. I have 7…Read more...

According to social media, white TikTok teens are now discovering the “chopped and screwed” production style created and popularized by late deejay, DJ Screw.

What do you know, turns out that the president’s orange-tinted skin might not come from a slathering of Kylie Cosmetics’ Weathered Basketball No. 7 and well, it could be Russian prostitute urine.

As a special teams contributor coming out of Oklahoma State, Kemah Siverand’s draft profile wasn’t exactly sterling. In fact, he didn’t even have one; so it came as no surprise that he went undrafted in the 2020 NFL Draft.Read more...

Sometimes you just need someone to put it plain. Enter country legend, Dolly Parton.Read more...

Bill Baptist, an independent photographer who has been shooting Houston Rockets’ games for a number of years, was relieved from his duties by the NBA after posting an offensive meme about Senator Kamala Harris on his Facebook page (where careers go to die).

We have a paramount cast lineup for a paramount author’s paramount work!Read more...

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Today I learned that there are, literally, over a thousand Confederate symbols on public land all over America. In recent years, calls have grown for these glorified participation trophies to be removed, calls that have only grown louder in the wake of George Floyd’s death earlier this summer.Read more...

As long as pay disparities for Black women continue, inevitably so will the respectability politics that insist that we are somehow culpable for those inequities—you know, the “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” mentality that is the hallmark of so many of America’s suppressive policies and longheld beliefs about…Read more...

In Louisville, Ga., one of the last remaining former slave markets is finally being removed from the town’s center.Read more...

Well, it only took five months, but Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron has finally met with the family of Breonna Taylor. While not much has been revealed about the meeting, the family and the family’s attorneys have expressed appreciation for the conference and appear to be somewhat hopeful that justice is…Read more...

The Salt Lake City Police Department has suspended its K9 program following the release of body camera footage that depicted a Black man being bitten by a police dog despite being on his knees with his hands up.Read more...

Let’s begin with a prayer:Read more...

On Thursday, President Trump continued the verbal assault on prominent female politicians and an MSNBC host, and unless the 53 percent of white women who voted this fuckstick* into office don’t take notice and give a shit, he’s going to keep doing it and maintain the highest office in the land.

You know what doesn’t get enough love and attention right now? Black joy. So what are we going to do about it? Well, at The Root Institute, we decided to have a whole conversation around Black joy, especially as it relates to the current times we’re in. Panama Jackson—it me—was joined by choreographers Chloe and Maud…Read more...

Art is the cornerstone of most societies. The art often reflects the times the artist lived in and/or the systems in place at that particular time. To that end, art can be used in a transformative manner to effect change or as a piece of propaganda to sell a message or a viewpoint to masses.

I used to joke that “Pinterest saved my life.” Not literally, of course, but during an especially dark period in 2011, the platform best associated with “Mormon women and Midwestern moms” (as recently noted by the Washington Post) became an unexpected lifeline out of depression and back into my creative self.Read more...

As a child, the word “crazy” bounced around every black space I called home. “Crazy” was a destination and an origin. “Crazy” was at once a pejorative and wholly emblematic of our abundance. I loved the word “crazy.” I used it a lot in my oral communication with folks I loved. I used it to describe folks I despised.…Read more...

Michelle Obama released a new PSA this week about the importance of voting in the election on Nov. 3. Whether you’re opting to vote in person or by mail-in ballot, the stakes are incredibly high this time around, and now more than ever, we need to make sure our voices are heard.

After retiring from the NFL, former players have myriad options at their disposal. They can become noteworthy commentators, like Tony Romo and Deion Sanders; pursue coaching, like the Herm Edwards and Sean Paytons of the world; or they can burn jerseys in their front yard, like Adam “Pacman” Jones.Read more...

What is Black joy? Is it a superhero? Is it a way of life? Is it under attack? The answer to all of those questions is both yes and...hmmm? Thankfully, to address and discuss the idea of Black joy, what it means on an individual basis as well as for the community—especially during times of crisis—The Root Institute …Read more...

We’re about to get a true blue “Ice Cream Paint Job” thanks to RZA and Good Humor. The Wu-Tang superstar partnered with the ice cream company to work on a new jingle to replace the current well-known ditty for frozen delicacies, “Turkey In The Straw.” Not only is the 19th century tune an extension of the racist,…Read more...

A man who everyone keeps telling me is Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones—like I can’t see with my own two eyes that he’s clearly Bilbo Baggins after his ring was taken away by that hater Gandalf—told reporters on Wednesday that his team will play all of its home games in front of fans at AT&T Stadium when the regular…Read more...

Take my hand, precious Lord, we’ve got some more Mahalia Jackson biopic news to tell (on the mountain)!Read more...

Presumably, ever since art has existed, there have been conversations about what art actually means. And over time, the most effective ways to use art—protest, social change, allegory, etc.—became as essential to the conversation. In the Black community, where all art is under a microscope, those conversations of…Read more...

It has been tough watching the scores of Republicans openly weep after learning that one of their beloved GOP soldiers, a fighter of their fight, Herman Cain, died from complications of the coronavirus. I believe it was Sen. Lindsey Graham who came out stating how much he loved Cain and….

Sometimes two worlds collide: sports and politics; LL Cool J and Brad Paisley’s Accidental Racist and our eardrums; and The Onion and The Root.

Since its debut, On the Record has reignited a longtime conversation on the importance of standing up for and protecting Black women. One of the standout issues, however, is that the film isn’t getting the mass attention it deserves, as has been expressed by the survivors featured in the film, Drew Dixon, Sil Lai…Read more...

As summer winds down, the nation’s COVID-19 crisis continues to wage on. Despite the desire to break the rules and go outside to soak up the last few weeks of summer, we have to stay strong, friends! If you don’t have any plans to keep yourself occupied this weekend, social media is chock-full of entertainment at your…Read more...

It’s once again Black Women’s Equal Pay Day—the day that marks approximately how much longer a Black woman must work to earn as much as her white, non-Hispanic male counterparts earned the previous year. Reaching “parity” by August 13 means that as of 2020, Black women still earn 62 cents on the dollar (compared to…Read more...

So I guess there’s no point in belaboring my premise since it’s right there, with a bullhorn, in the title, but I do want to clarify.

White America is clearly intent on putting its worst foot forward. We already have to deal with folks like Tom Cotton, Matt Gaetz, and, obviously, the president himself, but apparently this wasn’t enough trash for the folks in Georgia’s 14th Congressional district as the GOP nomination went to a QAanon supporter and…Read more...

On Tuesday evening, Fani Willis proved successful in her bid to unseat longtime Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard.Read more...

The Michigan judge who sent a 15-year-old Black girl to a juvenile detention facility for not completing her online homework released the teen from probation Tuesday following the ruling of an appeals court.Read more...

The prospect of giving birth as a Black woman is currently as daunting as it is joyful. Black maternal health has become a major topic of discussion in recent years—one we’ve covered extensively here at The Glow Up—as mortality rates for Black mothers have risen to three to four times those of their white counterparts…Read more...

If there is any upshot to the hellscape we currently live in, it’s that folks are steadily exposing their true selves. Take Sam White, a property owner in Pittsboro, N.C., who is big mad that a Black Lives Matter billboard was erected next to a Confederate flag that he allowed to be placed on the property.Read more...

This is dumb.

We know you’ve been losing sleep over this for months now, but the chances of Tyler Perry announcing Meghan Markle as the lead in his next film just decreased exponentially. The actress-turned-duchess and her immediate family have apparently moved on from Perry’s Beverly Hills mansion, where they’ve been staying…Read more...

Justice may have moved frustratingly slow in holding R. Kelly accountable for countless allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation, but life is coming at several of his alleged enablers fast.Read more...

[Note from News Editor Monique Judge: As an editor for The Root, I disavow and disagree with Jay’s blatant disrespect for the Los Angeles Lakers, a team that is a national treasure and a gotdamn dynasty.]Read more...

Dr. Roxane Gay is a woman of many talents, whose career my writin’ ass aspires to attain one of these days. Not only is she a talented, best-selling author whose work has been featured on various websites and in several publications, but she also served as an English professor at Purdue University until 2018 and was a …Read more...

I can’t just watch the movie John Q.

Can police departments really say they’re making an earnest effort to weed out the violent, corrupt and racist police officers in their units if they aren’t willing to immediately fire those who say or post things online that indicate that they are extrajudicial execution cases waiting to happen?Read more...

Sarah Cooper is one of the rare bright lights of 2020 because she has actually accomplished the impossible—making it so that the sound of Trump’s voice doesn’t automatically make me sick. In fact, her impersonation videos are the primary source of my Trump content now. I rarely watch anything having to do with…Read more...

Master P is indeed a boss.Read more...

In being outspoken for a living, I make it a point to come from a place of logic and understanding when I broach certain topics in front of millions of people on a weekly basis. Whether it’s a podcast, a television or radio segment, or my writing, I really, really, really try to do my research beforehand so I don’t…Read more...