The Root

Unfortunately, as we begin the new year, another tragedy linked to the Houston-Brown family has occurred. Nick Gordon, ex-partner of the late Bobbi Kristina Brown (daughter of Bobby Brown and the late Whitney Houston) died at the age of 30 on Wednesday. Gordon’s death comes nearly five years after Brown was found…Read more...

David Johns’ issue with how society frames “coming out” stories stems from who we expect to tell them—and who we don’t.Read more...

In news that is surprising to probably no one, a recent batch of environmental policies proposed by the Trump administration have been labeled trash.Read more...

It’s starting to feel like schools really need to examine how they teach slavery because damn, y’all. This is the second story of this nature to break within just the last month.

David Stern, who was notably the commissioner of the National Basketball League for over 30 years, has died at the age of 77.Read more...

Disclaimer: The following information may contain spoilers.

We are such a forgiving people, aren’t we?Read more...

Yesterday, CNN Business reported that conspiracy theorist and delusional blowhard, Alex Jones and Free Speech Systems, the parent company of his website for fellow right-wing crazies InfoWars, has been ordered to pay around $100,000 in legal expenses related to a defamation lawsuit filed in April 2018 by Neil Heslin,…Read more...

The City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection has finally appointed a sister to run the show –— and she plans to bring some real law and order to the police department.Read more...

It is most appropriate that we open on this Sunday morning –it’s Wednesday afternoon, you say? Oh. Excuse me, er, that we open on today, in the Christian tradition, with this quote from the King James Version of the Bible: “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed… nothing shall be impossible unto you.”

You may remember reports of New York City police officer Michael J. Reynolds landing in Nashville, Tennessee in July 2018, according to court records. Reynolds was attending a 3-day bachelor party with six other men, two of whom were also identified as NYC officers.Read more...

I’m thinking former New York City mayor and new presidential hopeful Michael Bloomberg must not have gotten the memo that Democratic candidates are supposed to be wooing the black vote. Either that or he just forgot, apparently, along with his entire stance on his city’s handling of the Central Park Five.Read more...

Seeing as this may be the last story you read this year why don’t we close the night out with some positive news?Read more...

Xavien Howard, a cornerback for the Miami Dolphins, was arrested late Sunday night on domestic battery charges.Read more...

Another day, another example of police officers just being straight trash. I really don’t have any other way to put it.Read more...

Before ending a historic year — opening the first black owned film and television production studio, Tyler Perry is going out with a bang a teaser for his upcoming Netflix thriller, A Fall from Grace.Read more...

Looks like he will stop at nothing to get into the Oval Office.Read more...

Seventeen-year-old football star Bryce Gowdy, who was set to attend Georgia Tech, died early Monday after he was struck by a freight train in his hometown, Deerfield Beach, Florida.Read more...

Once again, mayor and presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg finds himself under the microscope and under fire for recently unearthed video of him saying something trash.Read more...

Gayle King is on vacation celebrating her 65 birthday and the folks at CBS News have lost their minds.Read more...

With all the writing we do here at The Root, it’s a wonder we find time to read. But for many members of our staff, books remain our first love, so while we reflect on the highlights of 2019, we’re also reminded of some of the great reads we encountered this year.Read more...

Rev. Al Sharpton denounced anti-Semitism Monday after 37-year-old Grafton Thomas from Orange County, New York, was charged with a federal hate crime in the Dec. 28 stabbing of five Jewish people during a Hanukkah celebration.Read more...

Pastor Guillermo Maldonado of King Jesus International Ministry Church in Miami addressed concerns of hundreds of parishioners in a Spanish-language service on Sunday.Read more...

If there’s one thing black folk are—it’s creative. Whetherthrough necessity or just burned into our melanin-ness, we make sumptuous mealsfrom scraps, our bodies defy gravity when we dance; and we have reimagined fashion, hair, sport, waysof looking at the world, or even naming our children in our burnished image…Read more...

Hail Hitler? Hell No!

I’ve been a resident of the Atlanta area of Georgia “The Peach State” for 25 years, and for at least a quarter of that time, I’ve brought in the new year in Underground Atlanta, standing shoulder to shoulder with thousands of fellow transplants, Atliens and out of town visitors as we await the city’s decades long…Read more...

The year 2019 took us on a rollercoaster ride of emotions: It began with the swearing-in of the most diverse Congress in U.S. history and culminated with the impeachment of the president. In between, we witnessed rap going country with Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road”; Lizzo blowing up big with performances at the BET…Read more...

Over the last decade you may have heard the term gerrymandering thrown around. It refers to the process where legislators draw up heavily partisan districts for their states that often result in them getting a majority of the vote.Read more...

I really have to ask just what Bible this man is reading because what? I grew up in the church, I still attend and I identify as Christian. I don’t ever remember at any point the father, the son or the holy ghost talking about purity tests.Read more...

I don’t know what it is about the holiday season that would make someone go “Let me roast myself on a coffee cup to get them sweet sweet retweets,” but here we are.Read more...

When Too Short commanded that everyone “Blow the Whistle,” he didn’t mean for the president of the United States to in fact retweet the name of the alleged whistleblower who reported his dubious Ukraine phone call but such is life.

A pickup truck-driving white woman who “backhanded” a car salesman was cleared of ethnic intimidation charges on Monday after a judge ruled that slapping the shit out of a black man and calling him “nigger” isn’t necessarily racist if she’s upset about her trade-in value.Read more...

California is known for many things: Hollywood. Compton. Knowing how to party. In 2020, California may become known as a sanctuary state for women because a new group of laws, set to take effect Jan. 1, offers strong legal protections for all workers, but especially women.

Eddie Murphy can admit that some of his jokes from the ’80s just don’t hit.Read more...

Barbara Pinkney of Bradenton, Fla., has been left distraught and traumatized after a horrific encounter with Manatee County sheriff’s deputies.Read more...

“I don’t like getting my hair done, I like my hair did,” Diane (Marsai Martin) tells her mom Bow (Tracee Ellis Ross).

A white Portland, Maine, man who claimed self-defense after shooting his sister’s unarmed black boyfriend in the back was convicted of manslaughter on Friday in a case that included allegations of racism, Islamophobia and white privilege.Read more...

Effective Jan. 1, a New York law eliminating cash bail for most nonviolent crimes will go into effect. While criminal justice reformers praise the move, some police chiefs, district attorneys and lawmakers oppose the change.Read more...

NYPD have released surveillance video of a man believed to be linked to the killing of Yahira Nesby, a black trans woman who was found fatally shot in her apartment earlier this month.Read more...

Over the course of the last decade, all LeBron James has done is collect three NBA championship trophies, been named Most Valuable Player the same amount of times (bring his total to four), and lead the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Miami Heat, and—barring a catastrophic collapse this season—the Los Angeles Lakers to the…Read more...

On this fifth day of Kwanzaa, we celebrate Nia, which means purpose, and also surges in popularity as a name every time Nia Long releases a film. “Imani” is the only other principle that even comes close, according to research from the Love Jones Institute for Boyz in the Hood.Read more...

The best things about Christmas (also Kwanzaa and Hanukkah) heading into New Year’s week are the gifts and the promises. Yes, there is a slew of wonderful viral videos about grandmas crying at Christmas and Instagram thirst trap posts masquerading as New Year’s workout resolutions, but in the end, it’s a week of gifts…Read more...

We are a full 20 years—almost 21!—past the future Prince envisioned when he wrote his double album (and hit single) 1999. And in a year that gave his fans a long-awaited memoir in Prince: The Beautiful Ones, yet another take-home tribute to the iconic musician is taking place. In conjunction with the deluxe reissue of …Read more...

The Associated Press just confirmed what we already knew: Serena Williams is the greatest of all time. On Saturday, the news org named Williams the AP Female Athlete of the Decade after a vote by AP beat writers and member sports editors.Read more...

On Aug. 26, 2017, Damon Grimes died after succumbing to injuries from a fatal all-terrain vehicle accident. But since we’re The Root, you know we’ve uncovered more to the story.Read more...

Either there is an equal amount of scummy people taking a new Gallup poll or Russians have hacked the results to inflate President Trump’s ego, as he has allegedly tied former President Barack Obama as the most admired man of 2019.

We’re coming to the end of a year (and decade) and it’s time for Barack Obama’s tradition of sharing his faves!Read more...

Lawmakers and activists around the country voiced their support for longtime Congressman John Lewis after he announced Sunday that he is battling Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. The 79-year-old civil rights icon and Georgia representative said he plans to continue serving his district while undergoing treatment for the…Read more...

Even us anti-capitalists recognize that economic freedom is power in the good ole US of A. And as it relates to Kwanzaa, on this fourth day, we celebrate Ujamaa (ooh-jaa-mah), meaning cooperative economics and also, “shared wealth and work”, “economic self-reliance” and “obligation of generosity.”

When I was a younger man, I had a bad habit of continuing to argue a point even after I long realized I was wrong. After a while, it becomes a matter of pride and resentment of having to concede.Read more...