The Root

Love her, hate her, ambivalent or as yet undecided, Meghan Markle—also known as the Duchess of Sussex—is a household name we should all be well accustomed to hearing by now. And as we’ve previously reported, since she and husband Harry have recently signed to leading speakers bureau the Harry Walker Agency, we should…Read more...

Whenever the topic of discussion turns to white people and the bullshit they pull against Black people, there will always be a few white voices that want to disrupt what could be a productive conversation with that old white people spiritual refrain:Read more...

The richest, most beautiful feature of a phrase like “I’m cool,” or “I’m good” is how many different meanings it holds. It can be literal—yes, sure, shit’s fine over here—or it can mean “shit is certainly, 100 percent not fine,” “this conversation is done,” “or “stay over there.”Read more...

There’s a scene in Gone Baby Gone where Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) is deep in the white hoods of Boston, and he runs into two dopeboys he knows—one Black and one white. After greeting the Black one, he turns to speak to the white one.

White people want to have it both ways. They want so badly for Black people to understand that “the past is the past” and that “slavery is over,” but they also want desperately to cling to every monument and flag that celebrates institutions of oppression. They also apparently enjoy having things named for leaders of…Read more...

Members of law enforcement making vile and racist comments on Facebook is nothing new. As protests against police brutality continue around the country, the comments have seemingly increased in their lack of empathy. A detective in Seattle, Wash., has been placed on leave for posting an “All Lives Splatter” meme after…Read more...

Speaking from experience, living in predominantly white neighborhoods can be a mixed bag. On one hand, it’s typically a sign of upward mobility, but on the other hand, having to deal with microaggressions and passive-aggressive racism is fairly common. An interracial family based in Raleigh, N.C. can sadly speak to…Read more...

This won’t be long, because I am not going to belabor the point.Read more...

President Trump’s niece Mary L. Trump is doing the Lord’s work by single-handedly exposing him for being the petulant child we all know and hate.

Matthew A. Cherry—the ‘A’ stands for accomplishments—and mannnn, does he have many. That man is winning!Read more...

Today at The Glow Up, we’re not celebrating a typical Big Beauty Tuesday, where we primarily focus on Black-owned beauty and fashion brands. Instead, as Black shoppers are encouraged to shop exclusively Black (or not at all) for #BlackoutTuesday2020—work we do almost daily—we’re once again turning our attention to the…Read more...

1. The (still growing) gap between Anti and whatever Rihanna decides to release when she’s bored hawking drawers to thirsty Deltas.Read more...

Thandie Newton has a history of being quite outspoken about issues that matter to her. But in her most recent interview, she got quite vulnerable about her own trauma.Read more...

If you believe what you read on the internet, it’s a beautiful day to arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor.Read more...

It started with a piece of strawberry cake.

So…Read more...

The NBA could learn a thing or two from its “little sister,” the WNBA.

You may disagree with Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth’s policy. You may not even like the fact that she’s bold and outspoken, but what you won’t ever do in the history of ever is come for Duckworth’s patriotism.

Terry Crews is ‘Crew-sing’ along that trite hill he intends to “die” on. Following his “Black supremacy” and “Black lives better” tweets, the actor has continued to double- and triple down on his foolish ideologies. In fact, he recently added yet another asinine phrase to the lexicon, “I’m a human rights activist—not…Read more...

According to data from Parrot Analytics obtained by The Root, viewership for Netflix’s series When They See Us and Dear White People jumped 329 percent during the recent uptick in Black Lives Matter protests. Justin Simien, the creator of Dear White People, says that although he’s thrilled to see interest in his work,…Read more...

You would be hard-pressed to find many officials who have been more diligent and vocal about protecting their citizens from the coronavirus outbreak than Atlanta’s Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. So it was a shock to many when she announced via Twitter on Monday evening that she herself has tested positive for COVID-19Read more...

Dave Chappelle’s famed Brooklyn-based musical festival was held in 2004 and later released as a documentary (Dave Chappelle’s Block Party) during 2005’s Toronto International Film Festival. The concert featured the likes of The Roots, Mos Def, Kanye West and Talib Kweli, and was released in the U.S. shortly after…Read more...

One of my favorite things about being a sports head is the fellowship involved. Every time there’s a big moment, whether it’s a soul-crushing buzzer-beater or a blockbuster trade that nobody ever saw coming, I clamor for my phone to see how my homies are reacting, and after Monday’s news that the NFL’s resident…Read more...

On the anniversary of Curtis James “50 Cent” Jackson III’s day of birth, Clifford Joseph “T.I.” Harris, Jr. dared the New York native to a virtual duel of music tracks.Read more...

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Halle Berry issued a statement of apology on Monday after backlash for discussing her intentions to play a transgender man for a film she was pitched. She revealed she was considering the role during an Instagram Live session with hairstylist Christin Brown over the weekend.Read more...

It’s often said that if Black people took up arms and marched through the streets, gun laws would get passed with the quickness. It’s been said we could never get away with it the way mobs of white protesters have been able to this year alone. Well, on the Fourth of July, about 1,000 heavily armed Black people…Read more...

In addition to generally being trash, cops are also really fucking weird. They’ll publicly decry claims that they’re racist but in private will be in Facebook groups saying some truly vile shit. Apparently, they know that being racist is bad, but instead of not being racist, they simply lie about it. Take for instance…Read more...

On the day following Malia Obama’s 22nd birthday (and some other holiday about a mediocre flag or somethin’), a “Constitutional Conservative running for Congress in Florida’s 18th Congressional District” named KW Miller proclaimed that Beyoncé was not a true African-American and was instead an Italian woman named Ann…Read more...

White people are simply losing their goddamn minds. If it’s not white women suffering from The Karening, it’s white men finding new and often horrific ways to terrorize Black people. In Oregon, a Black family was trying to enjoy a day at the beach when a group of white men began yelling racial slurs and doing the Nazi…Read more...

As Americans across the country were gathering in parks and backyards to commemorate the July Fourth holiday, protesters in Phoenix were demanding city police be held accountable for shooting and killing a man while he was sat in his parked car.

We can hear the trolls pulling up to their keyboards as we type... In May 2018, Meghan Markle walked down the aisle to marry Prince Harry of England famously wearing a veil embroidered with every territory of the British Commonwealth, the 54 member states formerly ruled by the British Empire. But in a recent Queen’s…Read more...

Two months ago, or three years in 2020 time, a video was uploaded showing a white woman calling the police and making a false accusation against a Black man after he simply asked her to put a leash on her dog. The video resulted in the woman losing her job, temporarily losing her dog and becoming May’s Karen of the…Read more...

A new report from the Chicago Tribune finds Black and Latinx birthing parents represented the vast majority of COVID-19 cases while pregnant in Illinois. According to data shared by the state’s Department of Public Health last week, nearly half (49 percent) of all these cases affected pregnant Latinx parents, while…Read more...

Touchdown! Colin Kaepernick for the win.Read more...

On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass gave an iconic speech in Rochester, N.Y., in which he asked a question that is still relevant to Black people 168 years later: “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” On Sunday in Rochester—on the anniversary of the day Douglass delivered his speech—a statue of the 19th-century…Read more...

I believe the phrase is “where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” but “I tried to tell, y’all” works perfectly fine, too.Read more...

I don’t know exactly when my disdain for adidas Originals Stan Smith shoes started. I’m guessing it was somewhere in my 20s, a time culturally defined as grown-and-sexy that featured the coolest of the cool jettisoning super baggy clothing and jerseys in favor of button-ups and lifestyle tennis shoes to match said…Read more...

Fans of the NBC series The Office are getting in their last viewings before it disappears from Netflix in 2021, when the beloved show moves to NBCUniversal’s streaming service, Peacock. While many are waiting to hear if the Peacock launch will come with a reboot of the show, one cast member is aiming to keep the…Read more...

With a primary focus on Black-owned businesses since our founding here at The Glow Up, admittedly, we occasionally forget the rest of the world hasn’t caught on to how rich, varied and high-quality the offerings from Black entrepreneurs can be. #BlackoutDay2020 aims to change that, as everyone—not just us folks and…Read more...

Police in Martinez, Calif., are looking for two white people who decided to spend the 4th of July holiday defacing a Black Lives Matter mural painted on a street in front of a courthouse. When you think about it, it’s a fitting way to celebrate the 4th since Black lives didn’t matter on the original Independence Day…Read more...

Legacy publishing house Simon & Schuster just scored a prize: Pulitzer Prize-winning former journalist turned Pulitzer Prize administrator Dana Canedy has just been announced as the new executive vice president and publisher of its flagship imprint.Read more...

As if it were possible, it appears that Pharrell is in an even more creative space than usual. The music and entertainment mogul confirmed on Sunday at the virtual Essence Festival program “Get Lifted” that he will be teaming up with Netflix to present Voices of Fire. The show is billed as a docuseries centered around…Read more...

It looks like John Boyega and Jodie Turner-Smith will be adding to the Black British Invasion in Hollywood with their new project.Read more...

Real estate is cool, but if you want to make some real paper, you might want to look into college sports—provided you’re not a Black student-athlete.Read more...

The family of Breonna Taylor updated their lawsuit against the city of Louisville, Ky., claiming that local authorities executed a search warrant on Taylor’s home to speed up an ongoing gentrification project in West Louisville.

Henderson, Minn., is the new home of a life-size bronze statue of the one and only Prince, a fitting memorial considering the tiny town was made famous after appearing in the late musician’s film Purple Rain.

What is a racist to do when he doesn’t have any news to throw gasoline on the racist fire he keeps lit? Well, bring up some old news, that’s what.

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A little Black girl was kicked out of a daycare in Russellville, Arkansas because its operators said she was encouraging racism by wearing a shirt that read ‘Black Lives Matter.’