The Root

There are certain figures that, for one reason or another, get seared in your brain.Read more...

Today’s episode of White people are wildin’ takes us to Florida, where a white woman was arrested after slapping a Black child and calling him a racial slur. Why? Well, because their go-karts bumped into each other.

On Friday, activists from across the country will commemorate the anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington with another demonstration in the nation’s capital, this time centering the victims of state-enabled violence.Read more...

On Tuesday, social justice organization Until Freedom led a march for Breonna Taylor around Churchill Downs, the site of the Kentucky Derby. The march attracted hundreds of protesters and resulted in over 60 people being arrested.Read more...

Apparently some Democrats and Republicans have been making fun of Democratic presidential Joe Biden’s respect for the Chevy Tahoe of airborne diseases, COVID-19. There is a movement of folks who believe that with the election less than three months away, Biden should be traveling around the country and social…Read more...

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Idris Elba is hoping to provide seven underprivileged boxers with stability, structure and a chance at victory for his new BBC Two documentary series, Idris Elba’s Fight School.Read more...

In what can only be called a monumental moment in sports history, the Milwaukee Bucks—the national basketball team that plays in the same state where Jacob Blake was shot some seven times by a police officer—have boycotted Wednesday’s playoff game against the Orlando Magic.

Since the NBA resumed play in July, we’ve seen protests, demonstrations and players have been extremely vocal about a multitude of issues that impact our communities.Read more...

I’m reminded this afternoon, when rewatching Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s goofy speech at the Republican National Convention, of Pinocchio. And of Icarus. And of Antonio Salieri. And of Tom Ripley. And of the Chrysler 300. And of so many other people and places and things—fictional and as real as tree…Read more...

Here’s the thing about systemic racism: It’s everywhere. It manifests itself in nearly every aspect of the world Black people have to navigate. Systemic racism in policing is the hot topic right now, but the same implicit and explicit bias that causes the extrajudicial executions of Black suspects by law…Read more...

“Practice?! We talking bout Practice!”Read more...

We typically chill with Netflix, but this is no time to chill—this is not a drill! We have more quarantine content coming up!Read more...

Javicia Leslie may be taking over the leading role of CW’s series Batwoman—making her the first Black Batwoman—but the 33-year-old isn’t planning on making the iconic character all about her. She tells The Hollywood Reporter in a new interview that this has “everything to do with my people and little Black girls,” in…Read more...

Day 2 of Satan’s pep rally couldn’t even get started before it was bogged down in controversy.

Something was wrong with Paul George.Read more...

A Black Lady Sketch Show? More like A Black Lady Success Show!Read more...

Angela Davis has been fighting the good fight for more than 50 years, working as a social justice activist and scholar. Now, she is featured on the cover of Vanity Fair’s September 2020 digital issue, and in a conversation with 13th and When They See Us director Ava DuVernay, she speaks on this year’s “racial…Read more...

Kenosha, Wis., police are searching for a gunman they say fatally shot two people and wounded a third during a night of volatile protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Protests and chaos erupted in Kenosha the night Blake was shot Sunday and continued through Tuesday. According to officials, things went…Read more...

2020 has been the most dizzying year in recent memory, upending much and not enough of our sense of our security, place, and hope in the future.

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The Five Heartbeats, the 1991 movie written and directed by—and also starring—Robert Townsend (Keenan Ivory Wayans was a co-writer) is easily one of my favorite movies of all time. For my money, The Five Heartbeats is the greatest fictional Black music group of all time, and that is indisputable. Sure, there are other…Read more...

Shots were fired at a group of organizers marching from Milwaukee to Washington, D.C., on Monday night.Read more...

I’ve argued countless times that the idea that Black people are loyal to the Democratic party is a fallacy. First of all, if it were true that we were stuck on a “Democratic plantation,” (because I guess we’re pretending that phrase isn’t racist AF in and of itself) then Black people would show up in all local and…Read more...

New body-camera footage released last Wednesday revealed Phoenix police insulted Muhammad Muhaymin Jr.’s faith while he pleaded for help before his death.Read more...

Jacob Blake isn’t supposed to be alive.

Last summer, a Black family was held at gunpoint by Phoenix police after their 4-year-old daughter walked out of a Family Dollar store with a doll. Video of the incident went viral, and the family filed a $10 million suit against the city.Read more...

The fight against systemic racism in policing was never about any one case. Stories like that of Elijah McClain, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor are but raindrops in a sea of incidents involving Black people and the aggressive tactics used against us by law enforcement.Read more...

A global pandemic. Police violence. Protests. An economic crisis. Our democracy at risk—and with it, many of the freedoms we enjoy, tenuous though they may already be. We are facing intersecting challenges at this moment in America, and it’s often difficult to know where to focus our attention and energy, let alone…Read more...

Diversity and inclusion is all of the talk in corporate America, but how does one truly establish an inclusive and intersectional space?Read more...

As an Aaliyah fan, I’m at the point where I’m so frustrated by the runaround in regards to the availability of her music catalog that I want to write a “4 Page Letter” to whoever is in charge. It will not be enclosed with a kiss, by the way, just filled with complaints and frustrations.Read more...

Danielle Fuentes Morgan had been looking forward to the reunion with her brother for months.Read more...

Five months have passed since Louisville Metro Police ambushed 26-year-old Breonna Taylor in her home, shooting and killing her. In the intervening months, her case was first met with silence, with her family, alongside local activists and journalists, fighting to share her story and demand accountability from local…Read more...

Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt is fast as shit.Read more...

At The Root we don’t care what consenting adults do with their time. We don’t think that it’s news. Now, if consenting adults’ business spreads from their sheets to the streets, well, we are going to report it because messy and, well, messy.

So it’s not so much that working while naked is a thing I need to do. I’m anemic, so I get cold easily. (I am the person who, immediately after checking into a hotel room, turns the thermostat to 80, leaves and doesn’t come back until the room is sufficiently toasty.) And it doesn’t feel sanitary to sit my bare Black…Read more...

Like many other hallowed Hollywood events, the 20th anniversary of the Toronto International Film Festival will look very different this year. The popular festival is expected to be held virtually from Sept. 10-19 and will hold several virtual conversations with industry heavyweights. According to The Hollywood…Read more...

The destruction of a Confederate monument in Portsmouth, Virginia, in June has caused so much tension that prominent politicians in the state are now being charged with crimes for their alleged involvement in the act.Read more...

Karl Turner has loved seafood for a long time.

Glamour Magazine has unveiled its September cover story, which is all about the stigmas of Black women’s hair. The package follows six Black women and the workplace discrimination they’ve been subjected to because of how they choose to wear their hair. The story was guest-edited by journalist Ashley Alese Edwards, and…Read more...

In NBA circles, Staples Center in Downtown Los Angeles is commonly known as The House That Kobe Built. And now a portion of Figueroa Street in its immediate vicinity will be renamed after one of the greatest professional athletes who ever lived.

This year, the March on Washington will take place on Aug. 28 and Facebook Watch is teaming up with Will Packer and Jesse Collins Entertainment to premiere a one-hour special to recognize the 57th anniversary of the historic 1963 event.Read more...

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When protesters took to the streets in 2020, it was clear—the status quo wouldn’t do. There needed to be a change, tangible and real, to how our government and our corporate structures do business. From reckonings in the media at Bon Appetite and the New York Times to a rapidly changing corporate landscape where more…Read more...

On Monday, Satan had his first Zoom call and the results were a baffling mess of mayonnaise-slathered fuckshit. Day one of the Republican National Convention was basically an all-you-can-eat buffet of clusterfuckness. I don’t even know where to begin.

Samuel “Blitz” Bazawule is booked and busy.Read more...

The shooting of 29-year-old Jacob Blake at the hands of police in Kenosha, Wis., on Sunday has sparked national outrage.

As 29-year-old Jacob Blake lay in intensive care unit Monday night, protesters took to the streets around the country with his name on their lips, a new addition to a seemingly endless list of victims of police brutality. In Kenosha, Wis., where Blake was shot by local police on Sunday, the rage became explosive, with…Read more...

Still with us on our journey through Lovecraft Country? Last Sunday’s episode—the series’ second—is why I have certain issues with traditional Black pain/trauma narratives (spoilers to follow, so if you haven’t watched, stop here). We can certainly explore the origins of our deepest pains—but isn’t it so much more…Read more...

Tarana Burke knows better than most the power of a hashtag. After all, hers—#MeToo—turned into a zeitgeist moment back in the fall of 2017, as Hollywood actresses began using it on social media in response to the mounting allegations against Harvey Weinstein. Black Twitter quickly rose to correct the oversight of the…Read more...