The Root

Mondays, amirite? Wait—is it Monday? I’ve lost track of time...what is time, anymore? If it is Monday (and I’m pretty sure it is), this marks the third since we’ve been under official self-isolation mandates here in Illinois and many other states...with at least a month more to go. If you’re anything like me, you’ve…Read more...

I see you, fam. Really, I do.

President Donald Trump was fully aware that on Jan. 21, the coronavirus had hit the United States, the land he’s been elected (by Russian oligarchs) to govern. He may have also known of the disease’s devastation as early as December but on Jan. 21, a 30-year-old Washington state man who had visited Wuhan, China had…Read more...

You know what America wants to know? Why Trump can’t give a straight answer to journalists about his response to the coronavirus crisis, why he hasn’t consistently instituted protocols consistent with the advice (and warnings) of medical experts, and why he won’t ensure that all the states get the resources they need…Read more...

As the world’s leaders attempt to diminish the startling effects of COVID-19 on its citizens, many people are taking to the internet in order to find ways to cope with strict nationwide social distancing regulations. From Instagram challenges to streaming shows and movies, to worry-Googling their sanity away, there…Read more...

In this time of crisis and uncertainty, there is something to be said for people who can maintain the goodness in their hearts. In Detroit, chefs from local restaurants that were forced to close their doors due to the coronavirus pandemic have become shining examples of heroes who wear aprons instead of capes as they…Read more...

If your soul so beckons you to fly to Atlanta in April, right now, you can literally buy a round-trip ticket from Washington, D.C., for $36. You might not be able to do shit while you’re there, but hey, that ticket price is hard to beat. Granted, it’s on Spirit Airlines, but shit, Door Dash-ing two cheese pizzas right…Read more...

TikTok has become a cultural phenomenon, and like most things in pop culture, the black community is leading the narrative on what’s considered trendy. With the newest popular social media platform, the concept of “digital blackface” is still thriving, unfortunately. While the platform’s content is rarely meant to be…Read more...

So it’s been a little over two years weeks since the COVID-19 outbreak resulted in everything under the sun being delayed and/or canceled. The 2020 Summer Olympics were one of the final holdouts until last week when the organizing committees finally announced the games were postponed.Read more...

Like most black men and women of a certain age, I’m obsessed with Stevie Wonder—which means spreading the gospel of Stevland Hardaway Morris at every given opportunity and catching the Holy Ghost at the countless “Wonder-Full” tribute parties that DJ Spinna throws throughout the country.Read more...

“Three-fifths. That’s all we were counted for. We were voiceless.”

Lonnie Franklin Jr., the convicted serial killer nicknamed “The Grim Sleeper,” was found dead in his cell this weekend in California’s San Quentin Prison.Read more...

On Sunday, the president of people who didn’t wash their hands before the coronavirus and probably still don’t held a rally disguised as a press conference in which he rated questions on a scale of nice and ugly, berated a reporter for quoting him and continued to lie to the American public about what he did and…Read more...

Rap battles aren’t for the weak, so while they might lead to openly questioning a rapper’s credibility or exposing their upbringing through song, Pusha T’s scathing “The Story of Adidon” did the unthinkable: it accused the biggest recording artist in the world of “hiding a child.”Read more...

Every day we stray a little further from God’s light.Read more...

Correctional facilities across the nation have been struggling with the issue of overcrowded prisons. This had been a major problem all on its own, but one that has become exacerbated trough the coronavirus pandemic that threatens inmates and prison staff with exposure to infection.Read more...

If you were a child at any point between 1983 and 2006 and Reading Rainbow wasn’t instrumental in kicking off your educational experience, did you even have a childhood?Read more...

On March 13 in Louisville, Ky, 26-year-old Breonna Taylor was shot to death in what appeared to be a botched police raid as officers from the Louisville Metro Police Department attempted to execute a search warrant at the home of a suspected drug dealer.Read more...

A 5TB external hard drive, a buy 2 get one free video game sale, 30% off Patagonia, a $52 office chair, and more lead for Sunday’s best deals.

Buy $20 in eBooks, get $5 in Credit | AmazonRead more...

The cat’s out the bag. And Da Brat is out the closet – apparently.Read more...

His is the epitome of a life well lived.Read more...

After months of speculation, weeks of wrapping up royal obligations, and the announcement on Wednesday that Prince Charles has been diagnosed with COVID-19, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are reportedly exiting not only the British monarchy but the British Commonwealth, as well.Read more...

If you’re anything like me (or the majority of The Root crew), the stresses of self-isolating are already taking their toll—we’ve been stress-eating, panic-buying and lowkey freaking out, in general—and we’re the lucky ones. If you are one of the few who has the luxury of working from home and still collect a paycheck…Read more...

No matter the state of the world, ‘Ye is gonna ‘Ye, I guess.

Now that you have read parts one and two of our tutorials on how to play black America’s favorite pastime, it is time to learn the official way to play Black Spades.Read more...

It looks like Nathaniel Woods isn’t the only person Gov. Kay Ivey is willing to put to death.

*Movie Trailer Narrator Voice* In a world where content is plenty and bandwidth is rare, The Root has decided to corral the superfluous amount of trailers that get promoted in our inboxes and spotlight a few of them on a weekly basis.Read more...

The compulsion to convince ourselves that bad things will eventually happen to bad people can be seductive and cathartic. It’s also embedded in most of the lessons taught to us as kids. Children’s stories and fairytales usually end with the “good” winning and the evil receiving some sort of punishment. The concepts of…Read more...

Today’s mailbag is dedicated to the people who are laughed at, made fun of and dismissed as a joke. Every day, the entire staff at The Root engages in a brutal act of bullying against certain members of our team. It’s becoming institutional and I’m tired of it.Read more...

Whether its crowding beaches, prioritizing “freedom over health” or, in this case, just being truly vile human beings, white people seem intent on making this pandemic worse than it already is.

Like a lot of black men who grew up in the ‘90s, hip hop is the soundtrack for my life and has been for as long as I can remember. I can remember “borrowing” cassette tapes from my older sister—she had a new music plug in high school—dubbing them, and sneaking them back into her room before she noticed. It was through…Read more...

We don’t deserve Ari Lennox, but we’ll happily take her anyway.Read more...

If there is a woman in your neighborhood who has ventilators, you might as well go on and get you one to bring to the hospital in case of an emergency because if you are waiting for the president of the United States or his bumbling band of yes-men disguised as an administration to save you, then God bless you.

Have you found Issa Dee’s (Issa Rae) pre-game mirror raps hella relatable? Do you still have “Broken Pussy” stuck in your head? Well, it looks like Glow Up Games is here to satisfy that urge.Read more...

There are some things that have remained consistent since the coronavirus hit: Jeezy is still rapping about drugs despite being a grown-ass man in a serious grown-ass man relationship with the Asian girl from The Real or The Talk or The View. Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz has continued to unite the world with his idiocy,…Read more...

Good old America. Even in the midst of a public health crisis it still finds a way to keep up with the tried and true bullshit.Read more...

We actually found love in a hopeless place, y’all. And by “love,” I mean, Rihanna’s music.Read more...

Throughout the course of his 30-plus year career, Houston O.G. Scarface has established himself as a man who’s not to be played with. But if this ongoing pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that even those we’ve thought to be invincible are susceptible to the very real threat of COVID-19.Read more...

There are no more movies, folks. At least for a little while. One of the side effects of us having to sit our asses at home for the indefinite future is that just about all the biggest movies have been delayed until later this year or into the next. If you find yourself jonesing for some of that good-good superhero…Read more...

We currently are in the midst of a crisis unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. Despite that fact, folks seem steadfast in acting like there isn’t a fatal, highly contagious virus out in these streets. So much so that Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti may have to crack down even further.Read more...

A common misconception equates the use of correct English with “talking white.” It’s a false and toxic notion, but that doesn’t necessarily mean “talking white” or “talking black” aren’t actual things. Perhaps it just has more to do with tone and pitch than it does word choice or pronunciation. How easy is it for you…Read more...

Former NFL lineman Devon Still has a lot to be thankful for.Read more...

Thasunda Brown Duckett is considered one of the most powerful women in banking. She is currently the CEO of Chase Consumer Banking at JPMorgan Chase and helps lead Advancing Black Pathways. The initiative serves as an opportunity to “help black people chart stronger paths toward economic success and empowerment.” In…Read more...

I closed on my house in June 2012. At that point, when moving from my apartment into my house, I made some choices about things to unpack because in the years that I lived in my apartment I never used them. For instance, I own thousands of compact discs (CDs). Well, when I moved into my apartment in 2010, I never…Read more...

So shit is kind of crazy at the moment. Disease is rapidly spreading throughout the country. Those of us who are lucky enough to not be sick are spending the majority of our time at home, separated from the people we care about. In such a trying time an unlikely beacon of joy has emerged with Animal Crossing: New…Read more...

Welcome back to The Root University’s tutorial on how to play spades.Read more...

Self-isolation could mean lying to yourself that you’ll finally finish that creative project you’ve been putting off for years or it could mean bingeing hours on hours of content on the fifty-eleven streaming platforms out there right now!Read more...

The last time I checked, no one elected a medical doctor—or even a pharmacist—to the presidency in 2016 (or a rational human being, for that matter). But that hasn’t stopped many people from following Trump’s dubious medical advice in the wake of the coronavirus. As the world desperately seeks a method to contain or…Read more...

In practicing social distancing in order to best avoid one crisis, many of us are becoming dangerously close to experiencing another: running out of shows to binge-watch.Read more...