The Root

Oh boy.Read more...

The statistics about police shootings in the United States are horrifying: Despite a pandemic, when stay-at-home orders affected many cities and towns across the country, police shootings are on track with previous years. As of July 17, more than 1,000 people have been the victims of police shootings.Read more...

Book: Heavy

Protesters in Portland, Ore., say federal agents donning camouflage and driving unmarked vans have been detaining protesters around the city’s downtown area since at least July 14. Stories about the arrests have been corroborated by multiple people, as well as videos showing the officers arresting protesters without…Read more...

Hey y’all—we are thrust into the middle of July and though we won’t all be shuffling into movie theaters to see our first round of blockbusters, there’s still content to have! Thanks to Al Gore (haha!), we have the internet. Thanks to the internet, we have streaming.Read more...

President Trump’s niece Mary L. Trump is not here to play with y’all.

I was a shitty brother.Read more...

It looks like Mo’Nique’s journey toward justice is moving along, despite attempts to halt things.Read more...

By now you have likely heard the story of the legal situation now happening between the country music band formerly known as Lady Anti-BLM Antebellum and the Black woman blues singer who has performed for more than 20 years under the moniker Lady A.Read more...

As a role player, Denver Nuggets forward Jerami Grant doesn’t make a lot of headlines. But after dedicating an entire press conference to discussing the death of Breonna Taylor, he’s doing exactly that for all the right reasons.Read more...

Michaela Coel is wrapped in brilliance.Read more...

I hate when people try to talk around a subject. It’s far easier to just be upfront and straightforward about what the issue is. Simply put, if you’re not gonna knuck, then don’t sit here and try to buck. As conversations on the inherent racism of the Confederate flag have reignited in recent months, we’ve seen…Read more...

On Thursday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held a one-man, racist dog whistle concert in which he stoked the flames of racism, bashed the New York Times and admonished those who removed Confederate statues.

Virginia State Police are conducting an investigation of a traffic stop on I-495 in April 2019 after the motorist’s attorney posted video of the violent arrest on social media on Monday. During the video, Virginia State Trooper Charles Hewitt appears to take delight in the violent arrest of Derrick Thompson, a Black…Read more...

I mean, do we even need to intro this one? Shouts out to Will, Jada and unfortunately, August Alsina; that Red Table Talk launched a thousand memes.Read more...

We told y’all earlier that the middle school principal would win.

It’s the weekend; whatcha drinkin’? If you’re not teetotaling, chances are you may indulge in an adult beverage this summer weekend—it’s what we do! Case in point: Around this time last year, I was getting my entire life at the Chicago launch of Janelle Monáe’s collaboration with Belvedere Vodka at the Museum of…Read more...

In a past life, I used to rock a snapback or a fitted damn near every time I left my apartment, which invited a lot of unsolicited small talk.Read more...

Now that she has confirmed being shot, additional details are surfacing about the incident that occurred involving Megan Thee Stallion and Tory Lanez outside of Kylie Jenner’s house party over the weekend.Read more...

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is a Tucker.

The Rev. Cordy Tindell Vivian—a product of the Midwest who helped make history in the South—died on Friday morning at his home in Atlanta of natural causes at the age of 95, The Associated Press reports.

We called it “The Bull in the Ring.”Read more...

I always feel like somebody’s watchin’ me—oh wait, you are, technically, because you’re reading my words right now. Hey there. Sit down and get comfortable.

Twenty years ago, my life changed forever. When I woke up on July 16, 2000, I never could have predicted how different my life would be by midnight. But it was. And I was. And still am, if I’m being honest. As I was scrolling my social media feeds this morning, I noticed that my son’s godfather posted a tweet that…Read more...

Given the sheer amount of fuckery popping off on a daily basis, it’s almost easy to forget that we’re currently in the midst of a pandemic that is decimating both public health and the economy. Almost. While the president and certain GOP governors try to deny and downplay the severity of the virus, it’s only getting…Read more...

Four months ago, Breonna Taylor was killed in her own home by Louisville Metro Police while sleeping. Despite calls for justice only growing louder and louder as time has passed, only one of the officers involved in Taylor’s death has faced any kind of consequence. The outrage only intensified after David McAtee was…Read more...

In 2018, Florida voters made a momentous decision: restoring the right to vote for those convicted of a felony, so long as they’ve fulfilled their prison time, parole or probation. But since then, the state of Florida has introduced what has been deemed as a modern-day voting tax for released felons, mandating that…Read more...

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently removed data on hospital capacity for medical facilities across the country from its website. Since COVID-19 hospitalizations have often been used to speculate on how well the health care system can handle the coronavirus outbreak, a lot of people expressed…Read more...

If you had Trump hawking Goya products on your 2020 bingo card, then I would like you to email me at stephen.crockett@theroot.com as I’m going to need three-digit and four-digit numbers to play before 8 p.m. ET. Seriously, what the fuck is going on? Has anyone seen Doc so he can come fix the goddamn flux capacitor…Read more...

So…Read more...

Ava DuVernay and her arts advocacy collective ARRAY has another project in the works—and this time they’re diving into reality TV. Or since she is a documentarian, perhaps “docu-series” fits better here.Read more...

One of the key elements of Pam Keith’s message as she runs for the Democratic nomination for Florida’s 18th Congressional District seat is restoring the integrity of American institutions and making it work for Black Americans who are often left out of the process of justice. A labor lawyer by training and Navy…Read more...

Earlier this week, ProPublica and the Detroit Free Press published a story about a 15-year-old Black girl, identified only as Grace, who is currently detained in a Michigan juvenile detention center for not keeping up with her schoolwork. The article, which went viral, chronicled the struggles between Grace, her…Read more...

Despite a report on Tuesday alleging that Kanye West was “ending” his 2020 Presidential campaign (which I would rather be writing about), the Oklahoma State Election Board announced that the rapper/producer is on the ballot for the Sooner State.Read more...

I was prepared to hate it. While in London last year, I was invited by Ebele Okobi—my host the week I was there—to attend a showing of Hamilton at the Victoria Palace Theatre, and I had my “I’m gonna hate this shit” cup of tea ready to sip. I knew it was Founding Father fan fiction. But mostly I have a deep animus for…Read more...

I’ve fought racism, parking tickets and cashiers for extra napkins, but I can’t say that I’ve ever thrown hands with a Great White Shark. Mike Tyson, however, is not me—which apparently means that he’s about to beat some shark’s ass.

The president of people who believe that ketchup is spicy knows that barring Russian interference, a Twitter hack or some other form of espionage, his best chance to stay in the White House is to use Twitter to create fear and pandemonium, so he is doing just that.

Every so often, we’re forced to utter some variation of the phrase, “This is still happening in [insert contemporary year]?”Read more...

Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but the WNBA isn’t doing particularly great.Read more...

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) is not only a thief, but he’s also a pro-virus idiot who has given in to the politicization of masks—literally the smallest thing we can do to try and keep the virus from spreading—and has overridden local municipalities across the state that wanted to make mask mandatory.

Every piece of new evidence released to the public surrounding the death of George Floyd reveals the disregard many cops have for Black life as well as how Black people are immediately perceived as criminal. For the first time, police body camera footage has been made available for in-person viewing and what that…Read more...

A lot can happen in 20 years. On the flip side, those two decades can also shine a light on how much hasn’t changed.Read more...

Nick Cannon is apologizing to his “Jewish sisters and brothers” for his controversial comments made on his podcast, Cannon’s Class. The episode, which featured former Public Enemy member Richard “Professor Griff” Griffin, found Cannon discussing anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. Griffin was removed from Public Enemy…Read more...

As someone who’s never had a professional football team named after them, I would imagine that it’d be quite the honor, but if you were to ask the surviving members of the Tuskegee Airmen the same thing, you might be surprised by their answers.Read more...

Nordstrom Rack Home Goods Sale | Nordstrom Rack

Megan Thee Stallion has spoken up and given her own version of what went down this past weekend with Tory Lanez and the house party incident that ended up with Tory being arrested and Meg taken to the hospital for a foot injury.Read more...

Michelle Obama’s first podcast as part of her exclusive Spotify partnership officially has a release date. The aptly titled The Michelle Obama Podcast will be available for the streaming service’s users on July 29.Read more...

When you think about Missouri, you think of Middle America, a section of the country that lacks national media exposure—a red state that a lot of folks don’t believe can be flipped. Consequently, we dismiss a lot of the upstarts who could generate the traction of an Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib or Alexandria…Read more...

The state of Pennsylvania is taking baby steps towards weeding out the “bad apples” (in a bunch that’s more spoiled throughout than people want to admit, but whatever) plaguing police departments by requiring officers applying for new positions to reveal previous employment records. And I know what you’re thinking:…Read more...

Good news, everyone: Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been released from the hospital. You may release the breath you’ve been holding since she was admitted last night.