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...

On Wednesday, President Trump was doing it again, and by again, I mean he was acting as if a tornado of an opponent who is looking to bring his house down was fitting right into his plans.

In a past life, 112 might’ve given you thoughts of interwoven harmonies during Bad Boy’s heyday, but now that we live in the era of Damian Lillard, that number means something entirely different.Read more...

Raymond Allen (Sanford and Son, Good Times) died on Monday after a battle with respiratory issues, Variety reports. Allen was 91 years old.Read more...

Sterling K. Brown paid a virtual visit to The Daily Show With Trevor Noah to discuss the importance of sharing and telling Black stories in the media. The This Is Us star explained that the beauty of the award-winning NBC series is that it gives an “interesting look at how much people can love each other and know each…Read more...

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It was 3 a.m. in Onikan, a suburb of Lagos. The street below her window was uncharacteristically quiet. In the distance, she could hear the faint thump of a bass-line and the strained, faint chorus of afrobeat. She listened for the shrieks of laughter and enjoyment coming from the building down the road. In the…Read more...

Whether or not we’ll see fans in attendance this season at NFL games has yet to be determined. But one thing we won’t see this season is live performances of the national anthem.Read more...

You know how I know America is inherently racist? There are multiple schools named after Confederate generals and KKK leaders, and it took the deaths of multiple Black people and months of protests for school boards to finally go, “You know, we might have a problem here.”Read more...

If I have made anything clear throughout my relatively short time at The Root it’s this: Def Jam: Fight for NY is one of the greatest fighting games in the history of anything ever. Period. So you can imagine both the delight and apprehension fans like me felt when Def Jam recently teased a new game on Twitter.Read more...

Seattle Chief of Police Carmen Best announced Monday that she would be resigning at the start of September, after the city council voted to trim the budget of the police department and reduce the workforce by up to 100 officers.Read more...

2020 has been a wild rollercoaster of a year. The largest race reckoning America has seen in a generation is happening in the midst of a global pandemic that is showing no signs of going away and all the while, a man sits in the White House who just can’t seem to go a day without making an embarrassing spectacle of…Read more...

I was today years old when I discovered that Tucker Carlson is not Ben Shapiro’s father.

It’s been nearly 50 years since the debut of Lady Sings the Blues, which was a huge inspiration for writer-director-producer Lee Daniels—so much so, that he is now directing his own biographical drama about the iconic Billie Holiday, The United States vs. Billie Holiday.

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was competing only with Rihanna for forcing Black America to hold its collective breath with anticipation. Unlike Rihanna, it wasn’t as if Biden couldn’t put out a new album because he was busy shutting the makeup and beauty world down with a…Read more...

“Art is the foundation of any movement,” is how director Ava DuVernay began our interview as we unpacked the transformative power of art—both in its ability to uplift and destroy.Read more...

It’s another Big Beauty Tuesday here at The Glow Up, and instead of our regularly scheduled weekly video, we hope you’re indulging in the incredible conversations going on in our first-ever The Root Institute, taking place every Tuesday and Thursday throughout the month of August.Read more...

When Mathew and Tina Knowles divorced in 2011, it was more than just a high-profile breakup. It was the dissolution of a family dynasty; one which birthed not only two beautiful and talented daughters but one of the most successful girl groups of all time, Destiny’s Child (which released their last album in 2006), of…Read more...

It always bothers me when Black people get praised for remaining calm and cordial while dealing with the aggression of racist white people. One reason it’s so bothersome is that it’s far more satisfying to watch a racist get folded up after choosing the wrong negro to try their best KKK Grand Wizard impersonation on,…Read more...

This is a new world we are living in.

NBCUniversal’s new streaming platform Peacock just announced some new comedy content that is very relevant and needed during these somber times. Amber Ruffin will be hosting The Amber Ruffin Show and Larry Wilmore will host the Untitled Larry Wilmore Show as part of the streaming platform’s weekly topical late-night…Read more...

As evidenced by the 2020 uprisings, it is imperative that we take a stand against racial injustice. Across the country (and the world, for that matter), we are seeing civilians, celebrities and corporations (though we question the intentions of some of these companies) emphatically say “Black lives matter.”Read more...

Outside of being one of Hollywood’s most sought-after actresses, Tessa Thompson is an advocate for Black lives and social justice. The Creed star tells Porter magazine in a new cover story that she hopes to continue to use her platform to bring awareness to the larger issues occurring in the industry and throughout…Read more...

As I’m sure you’re all familiar with by now...Donald Trump lives to lie.Read more...

A visionary film director with an activist’s spirit, Ava DuVernay makes art that is rooted in her conscious. From limited miniseries like When They See Us, to TV dramas like Queen Sugar, to summer blockbusters like A Wrinkle in Time and documentaries, like The 13th, DuVernay crafts narratives with her people—and their…Read more...

Everything is theirs.Read more...

Cardi B is as much of an open book as ever for her September Elle cover story. The 27-year-old rap sensation discusses her forthcoming album, getting Donald Trump out of office and much more for the feature, which was released Tuesday.Read more...

The once-promising career of running back Derrius Guice is in serious trouble.Read more...

So a racist white man drove his car through a crowd of Black Lives Matter protesters and didn’t stop until he ran smack into the consequences of his own actions.Read more...

In Trump’s world, facts don’t matter, common sense is a liability and all of his staffers are required to act as if human skin can just naturally turn the color of a carrot without assistance.

Lee Daniels has something to say.Read more...