The Root

I’m honestly starting to think Facebook won’t crack down on racists because they’re the company’s target demographic. Seriously, how many stories have you read about a mayor/police officer/random white guy who works at the post office losing his job because of something racist posted on Facebook? Mark Chambers, a…Read more...

The deaths of Eric Garner and George Floyd have turned the words “I can’t breathe” into an infamous phrase inextricably linked to the issue of excessive force used by police on Black citizens. Both Garner’s and Floyd’s altercations with police were recorded and posted on social media for the world to view, but one…Read more...

Princeton announced Saturday that it was striking the name of former U.S. President Woodrow Wilson from its public and international affairs school as well as a residential building, citing his “racist thinking and policies” during his time in office, as well as his tenure as president of the famed Ivy League school.…Read more...

Social media companies have consistently been under fire over the past three years for allowing President Donald Trump and his supporters to use their platform to promote hate speech, even though hate speech supposedly violates their terms of service. Now, both Reddit and Twitch have begun to crack down on hateful…Read more...

When Kanye West’s clandestine 10-year deal with Gap for an ongoing Yeezy collaboration (which was reportedly years in the making) was announced last week, it seemed like a match made in overpriced basics heaven. The fact that Nigerian-British female designer Mowalola Ogunlesi is onboard as design director of the…Read more...

The last month has seen prolonged, mostly peaceful protests against police brutality and systemic racism. Naturally, the police response has been engaging in the very same brutality that people are protesting. Such was the case during a Sunday night protest in Detroit when a police officer drove an SUV through a crowd…Read more...

What do you call a Karen who’s so racist she can’t even argue with other white people without using anti-Black racial slurs? A white woman in Adrian, Mich., was filmed dropping the n-bomb several times while shouting at her new neighbors for being noisy.Read more...

No one knows John Winsmith or John McQueen.Read more...

After the deaths of Eric Garner and Trayvon Martin, we saw NBA players don hoodies and T-shirts in order to create awareness around the injustices that befall our communities. And in looking to take those efforts even further, CBS Sports reports that the NBA has given players the green light to replace their names on…Read more...

A year after trans Afro-Latina Layleen Xtravaganza Polanco died while imprisoned in solitary confinement at Rikers Island, New York City Bill de Blasio has vowed to end the practice “once and for all.”Read more...

OK, NASCAR. We get it.Read more...

Hundreds of protesters gathered in St. Louis to march towards Mayor Lyda Krewson’s home demanding her resignation after she read the names and street addresses of protesters who are calling on the city to defund the police department during a Facebook Live press briefing last Friday. It was a peaceful march but that…Read more...

I had to check when this song and video came out because I associate it so heavily with college. Except, this was a single from Baduizm, which was released in February of 1997 when I was a senior in high school. The video for “Other Side of The Game” came out in the summer of 1997 before I even got to college so it’s…Read more...

Minneapolis City Council Vice President Andrea Jenkins told The Root in an Instagram Live interview what exactly she means when she and her fellow council members call for defunding the police.

This past weekend was intended to be a landmark one for Essence. The beloved Black legacy publication celebrated its 50th anniversary amid a pandemic, pivoting its 26th annual Essence Festival of Music and Culture to a virtual format spanning over not one, but two weekends, culminating in its traditional Fourth of…Read more...

President Donald Trump would like America to believe that U.S. intelligence learned that a bounty had been placed on the heads of American troops in Afghanistan and no one told him.

Over the last month, companies large and small have paused their advertising on Facebook in an effort to push the social media giant to do more to stop the spread of hate on its platforms. The #StopHateforProfit campaign has amassed a huge roster of Facebook clients, including multinational conglomerate Unilever,…Read more...

The United States Supreme Court reversed a restrictive Louisiana abortion law Monday that would force all but one abortion provider in the state to close its doors, and which would impact reproductive laws across the nation.Read more...

Much like Issa Rae, I’m rooting for everybody Black.Read more...

The man we’ve grown to know as the professional football player who took a knee in protest against police brutality is giving us a peek into the young boy whose experiences started it all.Read more...

For President Trump, Twitter serves several purposes. First, it is his bully pulpit (more bully than pulpit) in which he vaguely threatens and intimidates rivals. Second, it’s his unfiltered voice to his people, which basically serves as a virtual “yee-haw” to round up the good ole boys. Lastly, it’s his masturbatory…Read more...

Anthony Mackie’s Marvel character Falcon not only has quite the big responsibility ahead of him as the future Captain America, but Mackie the actor does, as well—specifically, speaking to the fight for diversity and inclusion.Read more...

The culture could not be canceled on Sunday night, as the 20th—and entirely virtual—BET Awards set a new standard for quarantine entertainment. As was to be expected from the pioneering Black entertainment network, the evening was Black Lives Matter-themed—and the stars did not disappoint.Read more...

I’m pretty sure BET was amongst those of us who wistfully declared, “2020 is going to be my year.”Read more...

Lawmakers in Mississippi responded to increased pressure over the state’s distasteful flag—which boasts the battle emblem of the treasonous, slavery loving Confederacy—by passing a measure this weekend that makes it possible for the flag to be changed legislatively.

Two transgender women, one of them a Black Army veteran and lung cancer survivor, have filed suit against the Trump Administration challenging a recent rule change which strips away anti-discrimination protections in the Affordable Care Act.

Protestors who gathered in Jackson Square Park in Louisville, Kentucky to continue their calls for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor were set upon by gunfire on by an unknown assailant on Saturday night.

Big Style Sale | AmazonRead more...

We’ve already established that white people are really concerned about Chicago, and no one pretends to be more concerned than the white-orange President of the U.S.

Police officers Nathan Woodyard, Jason Rosenblatt, and Randy Roedema of the Aurora Police Department in Colorado have been put to work in a “non-enforcement capacity” since interest has renewed in the case surrounding the death of 23-year-old Elijah McClain last year.

Thomas Edwin Blanton Jr., a former member of the Ku Klux Klan and one of three men convicted of murdering four Black girls in Alabama by bombing a church in 1963, has died in prison at 84 years old.

Spurred by increased attention to racism and racial justice, brands across all industries have scrambled to do the right thing by Black consumers. Among these companies is Unilever, which recently pledged more than $1 million in donations to social justice organizations.Read more...

Earlier this month, a video went viral depicting a group of white counter-protesters during a rally against police brutality in New Jersey. During the video, two of the counter-protesters are seen on the ground, mocking the way in which George Floyd died. One the men seen in the video was identified as a New Jersey…Read more...

Per the New York Times, Kanye West has inked a 10-year deal with Gap to create an iteration of his Yeezy branded clothing line for the retailer. And anybody who is (or has been a fan of Kanye) knows about his relationship with the store. Specifically because the entire first verse of classic record “Spaceship”—it is…Read more...

Early Wednesday morning, a Black teenager says she was sitting in her car when a group of white men sprayed her with lighter fluid, called her the n-word and set her on fire.Read more...

Just as the fight for racial justice isn’t complete without centering the experiences of queer and trans black folks, the movement for gender equality is similarly inadequate if it doesn’t directly address the concerns of Black and transgender people.

Across the world, coronavirus cases are popping up again. But in few other countries has the virus had as disastrous a toll as it has in America, which has failed to meet the challenge of managing the worst public health crisis in the century.Read more...

It’s hot AF, it’s summer AF and it’s still Black Music Month...AF. Sometimes you just need that perfect summertime, summer jam playlist to be the backdrop for or the reminder of the moments created during Sundress SZN. This list hopes to be that. It will be BlackAF.

Thirty days after the murder of George Floyd at the hands of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, it seems white people are still slowly coming to the realization that AmeriKKKa is racist as fuck.Read more...

On Thursday, the Alabama Crimson Tide became the latest sports team to release a video speaking out against systemic racism.Read more...

It’s been a long time, I shouldn’t have left you, without a bunch of trailers to escape to. Yes, a lot has happened in the past few weeks, which makes this kind of escape all the more necessary, so let’s get to it. Hopefully, we provide you something to look forward to.Read more...

The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the nation’s largest provider of sex education with more than 600 health centers across the country, ushered in a new era in its nearly 104-year history on Friday, as its board of directors announced the appointment of Alexis McGill Johnson as permanent president and CEO…Read more...

President Donald Trump claims that “Blacks” come up to him and say things like “I love you” and “You’re doing a great job” and “Thank you for moving us out of this rat-infested hell!”

This week’s Clapback Mailbag is about strawmen.Read more...

Force MDs “Tender Love” is a jam, you hear me? It’s as good today as it was in 1985, a nod I give to just how good GOAT writers and producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis are at song creation. The video, though, is awesome in a different way.

Outrage has grown in the last week over the way the case of Elijah McClain has been handled. McClain was a 23-year-old Black man who died last year during a confrontation with police in Aurora, Colo. After a petition for a new investigation into the case garnered 3 million signatures, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) has…Read more...

Ahead of Sunday’s 2020 BET Awards, the network’s annual ceremony celebrating the best in Black culture, nominee John Legend sat down with The Root to discuss some hot-button topics. The EGOT winner is up for “Best Collaboration” and “Video of the Year” honors for “Higher,” his song with DJ Khaled and the late Nipsey…Read more...

When last we left the Boston Celtics, Jayson Tatum was ballin’.Read more...

A former Miami Gardens police officer has been charged with four counts of official misconduct and two counts of battery stemming from a January incident where he knelt on a Black woman’s neck and stunned her twice with a Taser during an unlawful arrest.Read more...

Later this summer, Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden will announce his running mate—and it’s widely presumed he will choose one of the many dynamic Black women who have risen to the top of the political sphere (and its adjacent headlines) in recent years. But as anyone watching the Biden camp knows, he already…Read more...