The Root

According to data from Parrot Analytics obtained by The Root, viewership for Netflix’s series When They See Us and Dear White People jumped 329 percent during the recent uptick in Black Lives Matter protests. Justin Simien, the creator of Dear White People, says that although he’s thrilled to see interest in his work,…Read more...

You would be hard-pressed to find many officials who have been more diligent and vocal about protecting their citizens from the coronavirus outbreak than Atlanta’s Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. So it was a shock to many when she announced via Twitter on Monday evening that she herself has tested positive for COVID-19Read more...

Dave Chappelle’s famed Brooklyn-based musical festival was held in 2004 and later released as a documentary (Dave Chappelle’s Block Party) during 2005’s Toronto International Film Festival. The concert featured the likes of The Roots, Mos Def, Kanye West and Talib Kweli, and was released in the U.S. shortly after…Read more...

One of my favorite things about being a sports head is the fellowship involved. Every time there’s a big moment, whether it’s a soul-crushing buzzer-beater or a blockbuster trade that nobody ever saw coming, I clamor for my phone to see how my homies are reacting, and after Monday’s news that the NFL’s resident…Read more...

On the anniversary of Curtis James “50 Cent” Jackson III’s day of birth, Clifford Joseph “T.I.” Harris, Jr. dared the New York native to a virtual duel of music tracks.Read more...

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Halle Berry issued a statement of apology on Monday after backlash for discussing her intentions to play a transgender man for a film she was pitched. She revealed she was considering the role during an Instagram Live session with hairstylist Christin Brown over the weekend.Read more...

It’s often said that if Black people took up arms and marched through the streets, gun laws would get passed with the quickness. It’s been said we could never get away with it the way mobs of white protesters have been able to this year alone. Well, on the Fourth of July, about 1,000 heavily armed Black people…Read more...

In addition to generally being trash, cops are also really fucking weird. They’ll publicly decry claims that they’re racist but in private will be in Facebook groups saying some truly vile shit. Apparently, they know that being racist is bad, but instead of not being racist, they simply lie about it. Take for instance…Read more...

On the day following Malia Obama’s 22nd birthday (and some other holiday about a mediocre flag or somethin’), a “Constitutional Conservative running for Congress in Florida’s 18th Congressional District” named KW Miller proclaimed that Beyoncé was not a true African-American and was instead an Italian woman named Ann…Read more...

White people are simply losing their goddamn minds. If it’s not white women suffering from The Karening, it’s white men finding new and often horrific ways to terrorize Black people. In Oregon, a Black family was trying to enjoy a day at the beach when a group of white men began yelling racial slurs and doing the Nazi…Read more...

As Americans across the country were gathering in parks and backyards to commemorate the July Fourth holiday, protesters in Phoenix were demanding city police be held accountable for shooting and killing a man while he was sat in his parked car.

We can hear the trolls pulling up to their keyboards as we type... In May 2018, Meghan Markle walked down the aisle to marry Prince Harry of England famously wearing a veil embroidered with every territory of the British Commonwealth, the 54 member states formerly ruled by the British Empire. But in a recent Queen’s…Read more...

Two months ago, or three years in 2020 time, a video was uploaded showing a white woman calling the police and making a false accusation against a Black man after he simply asked her to put a leash on her dog. The video resulted in the woman losing her job, temporarily losing her dog and becoming May’s Karen of the…Read more...

A new report from the Chicago Tribune finds Black and Latinx birthing parents represented the vast majority of COVID-19 cases while pregnant in Illinois. According to data shared by the state’s Department of Public Health last week, nearly half (49 percent) of all these cases affected pregnant Latinx parents, while…Read more...

Touchdown! Colin Kaepernick for the win.Read more...

On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass gave an iconic speech in Rochester, N.Y., in which he asked a question that is still relevant to Black people 168 years later: “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” On Sunday in Rochester—on the anniversary of the day Douglass delivered his speech—a statue of the 19th-century…Read more...

I believe the phrase is “where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” but “I tried to tell, y’all” works perfectly fine, too.Read more...

I don’t know exactly when my disdain for adidas Originals Stan Smith shoes started. I’m guessing it was somewhere in my 20s, a time culturally defined as grown-and-sexy that featured the coolest of the cool jettisoning super baggy clothing and jerseys in favor of button-ups and lifestyle tennis shoes to match said…Read more...

Fans of the NBC series The Office are getting in their last viewings before it disappears from Netflix in 2021, when the beloved show moves to NBCUniversal’s streaming service, Peacock. While many are waiting to hear if the Peacock launch will come with a reboot of the show, one cast member is aiming to keep the…Read more...

With a primary focus on Black-owned businesses since our founding here at The Glow Up, admittedly, we occasionally forget the rest of the world hasn’t caught on to how rich, varied and high-quality the offerings from Black entrepreneurs can be. #BlackoutDay2020 aims to change that, as everyone—not just us folks and…Read more...

Police in Martinez, Calif., are looking for two white people who decided to spend the 4th of July holiday defacing a Black Lives Matter mural painted on a street in front of a courthouse. When you think about it, it’s a fitting way to celebrate the 4th since Black lives didn’t matter on the original Independence Day…Read more...

Legacy publishing house Simon & Schuster just scored a prize: Pulitzer Prize-winning former journalist turned Pulitzer Prize administrator Dana Canedy has just been announced as the new executive vice president and publisher of its flagship imprint.Read more...

As if it were possible, it appears that Pharrell is in an even more creative space than usual. The music and entertainment mogul confirmed on Sunday at the virtual Essence Festival program “Get Lifted” that he will be teaming up with Netflix to present Voices of Fire. The show is billed as a docuseries centered around…Read more...

It looks like John Boyega and Jodie Turner-Smith will be adding to the Black British Invasion in Hollywood with their new project.Read more...

Real estate is cool, but if you want to make some real paper, you might want to look into college sports—provided you’re not a Black student-athlete.Read more...

The family of Breonna Taylor updated their lawsuit against the city of Louisville, Ky., claiming that local authorities executed a search warrant on Taylor’s home to speed up an ongoing gentrification project in West Louisville.

Henderson, Minn., is the new home of a life-size bronze statue of the one and only Prince, a fitting memorial considering the tiny town was made famous after appearing in the late musician’s film Purple Rain.

What is a racist to do when he doesn’t have any news to throw gasoline on the racist fire he keeps lit? Well, bring up some old news, that’s what.

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A little Black girl was kicked out of a daycare in Russellville, Arkansas because its operators said she was encouraging racism by wearing a shirt that read ‘Black Lives Matter.’

An election commissioner in Mississippi claims her intent wasn’t to be racist despite posting on Facebook that she was concerned because “the Blacks” are having lots of voter registration events.

Kanye West is apparently going to make good on a promise he made five years ago when he won MTV’s Michael Jackson Vanguard Award and announced his plan to run for president in 2020.

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Four Aurora Police Department officers are now out of a job following an investigation into photos they took of themselves at the site where 23-year-old Elijah McClain was put in a chokehold by police before dying last summer.

“I am pleased to report that yesterday, federal agents arrested the suspected ringleader of the attack on the statue of the great Andrew Jackson in Washington, D.C.”

While Frederick Douglass would probably be disappointed (but not surprised) that the so-called land of the free hasn’t lived up to its promises of liberty all even centuries after he delivered his rousing speech, “What to the Slave Is The Fourth of July,” I imagine that he would be proud to see his descendants…Read more...

Today is July 4th, a.k.a Independence Day, a.k.a ID4, according to the seminal 1996 film. A day commemorating when some white dudes won their valiant fight to stop paying taxes to some other group of white dudes. For over 240 years, America has taken to grand fireworks displays, cookouts and a solid run of Will Smith…Read more...

Editor’s Note: This story was originally published on July 4, 2019.Read more...

I never thought I’d see the day.

Have I ever told y’all how blessed I am to be working at The Root?Read more...

Former long-shot presidential candidate and Tea Party darling Herman Cain is now in the hospital being treated for COVID-19, just a little over a week after he attended a Trump campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma when coronavirus cases there had spiked to their highest numbers since the start of the pandemic.

Since the NFL recently discovered that most of its players are Black and that maybe racism is a thing, they’ve been doing shit. And there’s nothing worse than a formerly wrong motherfucker with a newfound desire to do right.Read more...

What would summer be without the perfect swimsuit? Plus size swimwear has come a long way in the last five years and the options are abundant. I can’t help myself, when there is a good sale, I always look at the swimsuits first! This week there is a load of fantastic sales everywhere so I’ve rounded up some of the…Read more...

The performative gestures from brands now trying to show that they care about Black lives—all of a sudden in 2020—have been ridiculous, hilarious, and cringe-worthy. Here’s one that fits all three descriptions perfectly.

In this moment in time when white people are losing their minds and pointing weapons at Black people willy-nilly (as well as verbally assaulting them, calling the cops on them, and otherwise threatening their lives and well-being) here is an example of exactly what needs to happen to stop this bullshit: consequences.

Under normal circumstances, in a world where ‘Rona wasn’t prompt and present and folks weren’t idiots, many (if not most) of us would be heading out of town or to beaches. As a kid, road trips were my favorite thing to do. This July 4th, we’re celebrating with a playlist for the road we’d travel if we could.Read more...

After a barrage of accusations and threats to publish incriminating evidence to support their claims, the group of current and former Essence staffers who comprise #BlackFemaleAnonymous say their conditions have been met. The announcement, made via a tweet on Thursday night, came a day ahead of the collective’s…Read more...

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The dynamics that led to what commonly became known as “Megxit” perhaps became a little clearer this week. Court documents produced during Meghan Markle’s copyright infringement and breach of privacy trial against several British tabloids indicate a culture of suppression within the monarchy when it came to allowing…Read more...