The Root

At some point, people—and public servants in particular—are going to have to come to terms with the fact that they can’t just post any old thing they want to social media without putting their jobs in jeopardy. This goes especially for white professionals who can’t seem to restrain themselves from putting their racism…Read more...

“I can’t breathe” isn’t just a hashtag or a rallying cry, they are actual words said by actual people before they died in police custody. The phrase became a slogan for the Black Lives Matter movement in 2014 after the death of Eric Garner and that energy was reignited after the recent death of George Floyd. Since…Read more...

When it comes to the recent, nationwide wave of Black Lives Matter protests, there is a clear demarcation line between who is on the right and who is on the wrong side of history. The owners of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette have picked their side—and it ain’t the right one.Read more...

When I was young, I had a friend named Luck. He was called Luck because he did a bunch of rotten shit and never got caught. Once he stole a 30-gallon fish tank from the pet store in Prince Georges Plaza by walking into the store and walking out with it. He didn’t try to hide it. He didn’t play it off like he was…Read more...

Eddie Murphy singing was a thing in the ‘80s. And not just a random thing. He released three music albums. While most people remember “Party All The Time,” which was written and produced by Rick James, what is less remembered is that Eddie had music from the likes of Stevie Wonder, Nile Rogers...and even Michael…Read more...

I believe the old adage is “Freedom of speech doesn’t mean freedom from consequences.”Read more...

A new Instagram campaign featuring black actresses, activists, designers, Olympic athletes, politicians and more aims to shine a light on magnifying black voices.

Yvonne Orji is not Molly, y’all. She just plays her on TV (on HBO’s Insecure, in fact). But, there’s a part of her that can relate to Molly and Issa Dee’s devolving friendship.Read more...

We’d be the first to admit that it feels like a strange time to celebrate our regularly scheduled Big Beauty Tuesday. While life does indeed go on, even amid protests and pandemic, right now, it should be anything but business as usual. But this pivotal moment in American history also proving to be a time to expand…Read more...

It’s been nearly three months since Breonna Taylor was fatally shot by three police officers during a botched no-knock search-warrant attempt on March 13. Now, sexual assault allegations by two women against one of the officers involved in Taylor’s death have surfaced.

By now, we’ve all seen the horrific footage of 75-year-old Martin Gugino being shoved to the ground by two Buffalo, N.Y., police officers during a George Floyd protest Thursday. If you haven’t seen it, let me describe it for you using my third eye.

Patricia Eva “Bonnie” Pointer, one of the founding members of The Pointer Sisters has died. She was 69 years old.Read more...

When black people and our allies take to the streets tonight in protest—as we have on previous nights past and as we will on nights to come—we will be calling for justice. Justice for our community means justice for George Floyd. Justice for our community means justice for Breonna Taylor. And justice for our community…Read more...

A 17-year-old high school student who was spat on by a white attorney during a Black Lives Matter protest in Milwaukee is calling for “prompt and appropriate” justice in his case.Read more...

After ignoring our plight for decades, suddenly white people are tripping over themselves to prove that they actually give a shit about black folks. We’ve seen NFL quarterbacks exposed as either blatantly racist or denounced for racial insensitivity, companies like CrossFit have turned into dumpster fires and plenty…Read more...

As we watch the imploding of legacy media and public accountability of entertainment brands and companies happening in real-time, this definitely seems to be a time of reckoning.Read more...

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.