The Root

The first time I saw Kobe Bryant play live was at the McDonald’s All-American Basketball Game in 1996. The game was played in Pittsburgh that year, and I went to the Civic Arena downtown to watch it. I’d already had a relationship with the idea of him. He was the top high school basketball player in the country that…Read more...

When it comes to diversifying the fashion industry, “change” is more than a buzzword; it’s a moral imperative if the historically exclusive arena is to evolve. Last year, Gucci, along with many other luxury brands, was forced to confront its own missteps in creating “diversity and inclusion,” both by hiring a dynamic…Read more...

You know how folks will typically amp themselves up for a night out at the club by exclaiming, “This about to be a movie” and it is never an actual cinematic experience? Well, that is certainly not the case for one of the best Black Twitter threads in the history of the social media platform. That shit was most…Read more...

Grief isn’t typically a rational emotion; it’s a raw one. And while many of us sat shellshocked by the deaths of Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, and the seven other lives (including three children) tragically lost in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, Calif., on Sunday morning, there was the very rational…Read more...

If you were a Kobe fan as much as I was, then you know that both he and Michael Jordan often repeated the now-famous Phil Jackson quote that characterized their superstar careers:Read more...

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President Donald Trump began his Monday the way he always does: He ate the remains of a baby goat that was leftover from the weekend, slogged around the White House looking for his pig’s blood and cilantro smoothie and then locked himself in his private bathroom where he rage tweeted about ex-national security adviser…Read more...

When an officer shoots and kills someone, whether on-duty or off, there is usually an investigation into the shooting to determine whether there was any wrongdoing on the part of the officer involved.Read more...

Multiple federal agencies have joined local authorities investigating what caused the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and seven other passengers in Los Angeles County on Sunday. Currently, officials are focusing on foggy weather conditions in the area that day as well as potential…Read more...

Winter Whiteout Sale | BackcountryRead more...

A tragic pall was cast over the 62nd annual Grammy Awards Sunday night as news broke earlier in the day of Kobe Bryant’s untimely death. The fact that the awards were held in the Staples Center, the arena Kobe called home for the majority of his 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers only added to the mournful…Read more...

Just two days before being scheduled to perform at the much-anticipated Grammys tribute to the late Nipsey Hussle, YG was arrested on robbery charges.Read more...

It was a decision that Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum called “one of the most important” he could make during his tenure: appointing the next chief of the Tulsa Police. The department has been beleaguered with claims of racism since long before the high-profile 2016 killing of Terence Crutcher at the hands of then-Tulsa cop…Read more...

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Clive Davis plans on getting the last word when it comes to the legacy of Whitney Houston.Read more...

Los Angeles Lakers great and five-time NBA champion Kobe Bryant was among nine killed in a deadly helicopter crash in California on Sunday. The smooth shooting guard and perennial NBA All-Star who was one of the league’s most prolific scorers was with his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, when the plane crashed near…Read more...

As news broke about the tragic and untimely death of NBA icon Kobe Bryant in a helicopter crash in California on Sunday, an outpouring of condolences flooded social media platforms as fans, celebrities, athletes and coaches around the world reacted in shock and disbelief.Read more...

Updated 1/26/19, 6:10 p.m.: Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva confirmed to the L.A. Times that there were nine people on the aircraft—a pilot and eight passengers, and he wouldn’t confirm who had died in the crash until the next-of-kin were notified.Read more...

At 15-years old, Coco Gauff is the youngest pro-tennis player to beat a reigning title holder at a Grand Slam tournament since 1991 and is the youngest to reach the last 16 at the Australian Open since Martina Hingis in 1996, according to ABC.Read more...

They say that “a dog who brings a bone will carry a bone.”Read more...

Good news for HBCU’s comes as Howard University receives its largest donation in the college’s 153-year history.Read more...

The curious case of Keith Tharpe, a story that spans nearly 3 decades, has finally come to its end; although, not the way many expected.Read more...

Could you imagine how it feels to have served in the military and then work a quarter of a century for the Department of Corrections to learn one day that your son has been murdered while broadcasting on social media—of all places?Read more...

Three-time Grammy Award winner Chance the Rapper has been tapped to host a reboot of Punk’d — the hidden-camera, celebrity-driven prank show that was wildly popular in the early aughts.Read more...

Actress, producer and screenwriter Lena Waithe has enjoyed a pretty damn successful last few years career wise. She’s the creator of the hit Showtime series The Chi and writer of the hit film Queen & Slim. And in 2017, she became the first black woman to win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a…Read more...

According the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, on any given day, over 437,000 children are living in the U.S. foster care system and the number has been rising. In 2019 only around 61,000 children were adopted and 26% of that number weren’t adopted until they were at 9-years or older. 17,844 (7%) aged out…Read more...

Secretary of Education and Cruella DeVille stunt double Betsy DeVos has shown us time and time again that she isn’t the brightest crayon in the box. We’ve seen her struggle to answer the most basic questions about education and even declared that she does not “intentionally visited schools that are underperforming,”…Read more...

A deal on Jachs henleys and crewnecks, a $7 Philips Norelco Nose Hair Trimmer, and a Best-Sellers Magazine Gold Box lead off Saturday’s best deals from around the web.Read more...

James McMillan has come a long way since his drug-dealing days at an HBCU.Read more...

Another day, another installment in the ongoing saga that is “y’alls President is a lying ass liar.” Our subject for tonight’s episode is entitlements.Read more...

The “Unite the Right” rally was one of the darkest moments in our countries recent history. The white nationalist rally took the life of 32-year-old Heather Heyer and left countless others injured and scarred. In some good news, one of the key figures behind that rally has been arrested.Read more...

You know, I’m not gonna lie. The fact that this story went down in Applebee’s in New Jersey just makes all the sense in the world.Read more...

In 1951, the great American poet Langston Hughes, in his poem, “Harlem,” asked:Read more...

Megan Thee Stallion, a.k.a Ms. My Knees Don’t Quit (I made that up. It was either going to be that or “Twerkocalypse Now,”) has just gifted the world with a new track produced by none other than the legendary duo The Neptunes.Read more...

Remember late 2017, when, as the #MeToo movement exploded, Terry Crews made sexual assault allegations against agent Adam Venit, subsequently filing suit and testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2018? As Crews weathered derision from several other high-profile black men, Gabrielle Union was one of many…Read more...

Either Trump doesn’t trust his own Pentagon or his years of service in the military have reduced brain injuries to mere headaches, but either way, President Bone Spurs is so out of touch with his own departments that just days after he walked out and told everyone that U.S. soldiers only suffered “headaches” after an…Read more...

There’s been a new development in the case of the publicly prosecuted Pied Piper predator R. Kelly (Sorry, I love alliteration almost as much as I love dragging Kellz so I just really couldn’t help myself.)Read more...

Green Book wasn’t just the story of a white savior who centered himself in the story of a queer black genius in the 1960s. It also happened to be a real guide as to where it was safe for black folks to eat, sleep and socialize—kind of like a Black Yelp. Why does that matter? Because after 26 weeks of ranking…Read more...

You can try your boyfriend. You can try your wife. You can try that vegan diet your one annoying friend swears by. But don’t you dare try Sauntore Thomas from Detroit.Read more...

As both artist and activist, the once enigmatic Janelle Monáe has emerged as an increasingly identifiable presence in recent years, not only delivering stellar albums and onscreen performances but a more transparent lens into her life. In 2018, the award-winning singer, actor, and producer both delivered the…Read more...

NFL wide receiver and free agent Antonio Brown turned himself in to the Broward County jail Thursday night, according to Sports Illustrated. Brown and his trainer, Glen Holt, are accused of attacking a moving truck driver on Tuesday. He faces charges of felony burglary with battery, burglary of an unoccupied…Read more...

Emmy award-winning Journalist Ed Gordon is still here. You might remember his groundbreaking interviews with Tupac Shakur, Whitney Houston or Orenthal James Simpson after his acquittal.Read more...

Say what you want about Chicago’s winter weather, sports teams, crime rate (though it still fails to rank among America’s top 10 most dangerous cities), and eyebrow-raising celebrity exports (we won’t name names, but the list keeps growing), but the city is also increasingly becoming a leader in health advocacy,…Read more...

California is thought by many to be the be-all-end-all of progressive states. Apparently, though, there are even pockets of the Golden State that come tardy to the party of breaking down gender and racial barriers. But hey, better late than never, as they say.Read more...

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So I know you didn’t watch Day 3 of the Trump Impeachment trial so allow me to recap all the bits you missed.

What Coco Gauff has done in the last year is nothing short of phenomenal, and it appears she knows it.Read more...

The beginning of the year is a time when many people take stock of their closets and try to lend a bit of order to what are notoriously organization-challenged spaces. If you’re one of those people, you might want to consider some of these low-cost but big-impact upgrades to your closet!Read more...

On Oct. 14, 2019, 12-year-old Akeelah Jackson was returning to her St. Louis home from a Family Dollar store. As she crossed the street, an unidentified St. Louis County police officer was pursuing a traffic violation at 59 mph on a street zoned for 30 mph, according to the St. Louis American.Read more...

I’m often skeptical when I hear people say shit like, “We just need to let the old people die out, then racism will be a thing of the past.” Mainly because those racists have kids. Kids who often turn around and do things like this.Read more...