The Root

I don’t know where Donald Trump Jr. lands on the asshole scale but I have to assume it’s pretty high. Like, I don’t know what level of asshole you have to be to fly to Mongolia to kill a sheep—an endangered sheep, at that—who is just chilling, looking for salt and vinegar potato chips or whatever it is that Mongolian…Read more...

In the aftermath of the death of George Floyd at the hands of police, many are looking for dialogue on how America got here (as if they didn’t already know). In order to help facilitate those conversations, Good Morning America anchor Gayle King will host CBS News’ special about racism and police brutality titled…Read more...

Rihanna, Nas, and Megan Thee Stallion are a few of the hundreds of musicians who signed an open letter addressed to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, New York Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie regarding the repeal of state statute 50-A. 50-A is a decades-old law that makes…Read more...

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is presiding over one of the most consequential states in the nation as we approach the November election. Elected in 2018 in the blue wave of Democrats who won executive and other local and national offices, Whitmer has withstood some shrapnel amid challenges in her state.Read more...

A statue of a prominent slave trader found its proper home on Sunday: at the bottom of a harbor.Read more...

On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its official jobs report for May which reported the first drop in the unemployment rate since the pandemic began wreaking havoc on the U.S. economy. Just one problem: The number was off by 3 percentage points.Read more...

I don’t think anyone expected a thoughtful, nuanced take on the racial issues that continues to plague American society to come from the Trump administration. Despite Trump’s claims that “MAGA loves the black people,” some of his most prominent cabinet members have denied that systemic racism within law enforcement…Read more...

Cicely Tyson has been in the game for over 70 years and deserves each and every flower, accolade and beyond. Watching her work throughout the years and continuously maintaining an active career is nothing short of amazing to witness, even from afar.Read more...

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio appeared to make a major concession to anti-police brutality protesters on Sunday, saying that he would cut money from the NYPD’s massive $6 billion budget and reallocate it toward social services. If he follows through, it would mark the first time in his tenure that he’s cut…Read more...

On the same day that Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis officer charged in the death of George Floyd, made his first appearance in court, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden met with George Floyd’s family in Houston as they made final preparations to lay Floyd to rest.

While the Trump administration is considering holding a nationwide speech on race and national unity, (yes, you read that right; King Racist and his tribe of a thousand tiki torches are mulling over a speech on race, which is kind of like a bear holding a speech on honey regulations or a Klan member posting a Facebook…Read more...

Ify Ike is in pain. So much so that she was unable to hold her composure enough to stick to the written speech that she prepared for the protest Monday aimed at her former boss, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, for what she says is his failure to protect the black and brown residents he swore he would shield from…Read more...

In recent years, we’ve all watched Lil Wayne deteriorate before our very eyes.Read more...

The NCAA is massive.Read more...

For some reason, Candace Owens and white people think we should care about George Floyd’s criminal record. We don’t, of course, because a) cops are absolutely not doing background checks before shooting, beating or kneeling on the necks of black people, and b) a criminal past shouldn’t disqualify anyone from…Read more...

I like Total, always have. Their brand of interesting-note sonics always appealed to me as a person who couldn’t sing but always thought I should be an R&B singer—Total was an inspiration. I never dove full-fledge into sharing my vocal stylings with the world, but the dream is still alive in my heart. For the record,…Read more...

Dear Terry Crews,Read more...

SMH.

The doctor of Housing and Urban Development, Ben Carson, is a fucking idiot. Maybe it’s not his fault. Maybe he’s playing a role to keep himself relevant. Maybe he’s lying, like the lies he’s told before. Like the time he claimed that he thwarted a robbery by pointing the robber towards the cash register or the time…Read more...

From the days of American slavery to the present, the world has seen an abundance of media depicting black trauma—from death to violence and everything in between.Read more...

In honor of what would have been his 62nd birthday on June 7, Prince’s estate released the lyric video for his 2015 song commemorating the black victims of police brutality titled “Baltimore.” The video was released in response to the recent wave of Black Lives Matter protests.

I was reminded last week, while watching the clip of 75-year-old Martin Gugino getting pushed by Buffalo police officers and cracking his head open, of a Twitter thread a few years ago by Gene Demby.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is joining the fight against Karen-ing by urging state lawmakers to pass a bill next week that would make it a hate crime to weaponize the police against black people. Inspired by the case of Amy “Central Park Karen” Cooper—who told the police “an African-American man is threatening my life” when, in…Read more...

Before I became an entertainment writer at The Root, I wrote general news for another publication. Writing anything outside of the entertainment beat wasn’t my favorite thing to do, but it was the job. Now that I’m here, I often revel in the fact that it’s not really likely I’ll ever have to write about President…Read more...

On the same weekend that former Secretary of State Colin Powell pulled down his pants and took a massive shit all over Donald Trump, NBA great Bill Russell made it his personal duty to finish the job.Read more...

A lot of people are upset with YG. The California rapper, who received top billing on the flyer for Los Angeles’ Black Lives Matter protest held over the weekend, is being chastised for reportedly shooting a music video during the event. Per social media evidence from Instagram and Twitter, the video was being shot on…Read more...

Former Secretary of State and noted Republican Colin Powell is voting for Joe Biden in the upcoming presidential election.

Nine members of the Minneapolis City Council—enough to constitute a veto-proof supermajority—pledged to disband the Minneapolis police department on Sunday, as the city approached nearly two weeks of daily anti-police brutality protests following the killing of 46-year-old George Floyd at the hands of MPD officers.Read more...

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YouTube’s live streamed commencement ceremony to celebrate the members of the graduating class of 2020 nationwide was held on Sunday. “Dear Class of 2020” was initially going to stream on Saturday, however, it was pushed back a day out of respect for George Floyd’s memorial service.

A small coalition of former and current female staffers of color for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio wrote a letter condemning the former presidential candidate for overseeing years-long marginalization of their voices, which led to many of them feeling ignored as they tried to help the mayor avoid pitfalls in…Read more...

Black journalists working at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette say they are being cut off from doing their job during one of the most pivotal news-making events in history—the ongoing protests for racial justice—on accusations that they are biased.

West Coast rapper and internet uncle Snoop Dogg says he will be making his voice heard at the ballot box this year—for the first time in his life.

Two major calls to action have emerged in the current uprising against police brutality triggered by the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor—not to mention the numerous incidents of cops around the country violently cutting down peaceful protesters and members of the media alike.

To call TLC’s “Waterfall” video iconic is almost underselling it. This award-winning video owned MTV back when that was a thing worthy of note and did it while addressing social issues like violence and HIV-awareness. The video stayed true to concept, used some CGI and showed our favorite girl group of the time in…Read more...

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Former NBA star and forever basketball great Michael Jordan has pledged to donate $100 million over the next ten years to organizations working to ensure racial equality, social justice, and greater access to education. The massive joint commitment from Jordan and his Jordan Brand was announced on Friday.

Minneapolis, Minn.; Louisville, Ky.; Brunswick, Ga. These are the latest cities turned inside out because of the killing of innocent black men and women by members of law enforcement. Rightly, the outrage and the pain have spread to every corner of the nation, including cities and communities here in South Carolina.Read more...

Breonna Taylor’s neighbor has filed a lawsuit against the officers from the Louisville Police Department who shot and killed the 26-year-old in her home in March, alleging that the cops also “blindly fired” in their apartment.

It’s currently en vogue to declare that black lives matter (and make no mistake: they do), but it’s far less comfortable to discuss how anti-black racism manifests throughout the world. Colorist beauty standards are not only closely correlated to socioeconomic success here in the United States, but are well documented…Read more...

On the heels of a powerful video from black NFL players demanding that the league stand up for black lives and admit it was wrong for punishing players for silently protesting, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has seemingly answered the call.

Have you ever watched something so ridiculous that it becomes both perfect and almost life-changing? That for me is the video for Rick James single featuring Smokey Robinson off of his 1983 album, Cold Blooded.

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At this point, the fact that the country is currently in upheaval over racist policing shouldn’t be lost on anyone. Unsurprisingly, this hasn’t stopped police from engaging in the same behavior that has inspired nationwide protest.

There are Karens, Beckys and Amys, and then, there are Lilis, Gagas and Selenas. Doing their part to both support the Black Lives Matter movement and set a much-needed example for problematic white women everywhere, the latter are currently using their celebrity status to center the voices of black activists, handing…Read more...

You know the echoes of “Mr. West, Mr. West, Mr. West” in Kanye West’s song, “Good Morning?” Well apparently, that’s the energy media personality Ibrahim “Ebro” Darden had when he called out the rapper’s silence on social media.Read more...

In the last two weeks, my criminal justice campaigns team at Color Of Change has helped more than 6.5 million people take action to demand justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others killed and brutalized by police in our country. On Breonna Taylor’s birthday today, June 5, we honor their lives and recommit…Read more...

Let’s go ahead and get a few facts out of the way about Missy Elliot’s song “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly).” For one, the song is timeless—I believe if this song was released today, some 23 years after its original release, it would still be a hit. It’s so different and so unique, so special, that it defies the era. And…Read more...

The constant whirlwind of awfulness that’s been 2020 has had a good chunk of us feeling like this pear. I, like most of you, am simply exhausted. If it’s not the steady stream of seeing black bodies being brutalized, it’s white people coming out their mouths to say, just, the dumbest shit.Read more...

Dear white people, do y’all see us today?Read more...