The Root

The blackest night in entertainment is returning for another round this summer! You hear that? It’s the sound of Bardi Gang rolling their tongues to scream a rousing, “Okurrt!”Read more...

This Aukey surge protector orients its four AC outlets and two USB ports to the side, which is great for hiding behind furniture. But it’s also a night light and phone stand, which is sort of contradictory to the furniture thing, but I guess you could use it either way. Get it for $14 with promo code WKJCRAED.Read more...

After a week full of terrible ass ideas comes the news that the College Board—the organization responsible for administering SATs—will bestow students with an “Adversity Score” based upon their socioeconomic status.Read more...

*Sung in Tony! Toni! Toné! harmony* Do you know what today Sunday is? It’s their anniversary...Read more...

I could be talking about the New England Patriots or the Trump administration or even the Phoebe Robinson Podcast but no, when I’m talking about soooo many white guys, I mean the recent crop of Democrats running for the 2020 nomination.

A Staten Island police commander involved in the arrest of Eric Garner, the black man who died after an NYPD officer put him in a chokehold for allegedly selling loose cigarettes in 2014, assured one of his officers that Garner’s death was “not a big deal” upon learning about his condition.Read more...

Last weekend, I was invited to a brunch hosted by Ebele Okobi, who is Facebook’s Head of Public Policy, Africa, and was my de facto tour guide and event planner during my week abroad. There were nine of us there—an African diasporic reunion of black people scattered throughout the globe but settled in London. Among…Read more...

Soooo only Jussie gets special treatment?

Who approved this?

The Senate Thursday confirmed Wendy Vitter, Donald Trump’s nominee to sit on the federal bench in New Orleans, despite strong objections from Democrats about her stance on Roe and Brown, respectively, the nation’s landmark pro-choice and school desegregation laws.

Fashion brand Oh Polly is saying “So sorry” after it was forced to issue apologies when social media users pointed out its placement of plus-size and black and brown models on an Instagram account separate from that of its “main” line.

When it comes to ingenuity and creativity, very few things surpass the unending inventiveness of black folks. Whether it is out of necessity or unbridled imagination, not only can we make something out of nothing, but we can make it fun. Enslaved Africans took coded messages and turned them into songs. We turned…Read more...

Bad Gal RiRi knows the power of an image.

And they scoffed at us when we said The Handmaid’s Tale was prescient—or maybe, they were actually smirking.Read more...

News outlets across the country have characterized two recent bills that effectively banned abortions in Georgia and Alabama in a number of ways. Some media outlets have painted the laws as Republican measures while others have painted it as the byproducts of Christian crusaders or the creations of sexist men.

Remember when Harriet Tubman was supposed to replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill? If you don’t, I don’t blame you—since the Trump administration seemed to forget too. So here’s a quick refresher.Read more...

Just days before Nipsey Hussle was brutally killed on March 31, he filmed a music video for an aptly titled song, “Higher.”

No other city in the U.S. is as closely associated with technological advancements than San Francisco, which, for the most part, has embraced both tech companies and their services in civic life. But on Tuesday, San Francisco passed an ordinance that would ban the use of one very specific technology—facial…Read more...

The John Wick franchise is like a wet dream for lovers of action-adventure films. Director Chad Stahelski has built a world with umpteen highly choreographed fight scenes (I’d hate to be a stunt person in the film), a semi-solid storyline, guns and gallons of blood.Read more...

Want to see people with Apple Watches be forced to hack off their hand with a saw? Well, Chris Rock is here for you!Read more...

I have a complicated relationship with Alabama because Alabama is a complicated place. Though I’ve lived less time there than anywhere else in the world that could be considered home (fall of 1993 through spring 1997 and only two summers, ever), it is also the state where I went to high school and where my parents…Read more...

What a time to be alive—and what a year to be at Essence Fest! The annual convention of black girl magic just announced a major coup: Essence’s December/January cover girl, Michelle Obama will be making her Essence Fest debut on July 6, 2019 at the Louisiana Superdome!Read more...

Here’s a long list of people you should never fuck with:Read more...

On Thursday, President Trump is set to unveil a new immigration plan created by his listless son-in-law Jared Kushner—who once auctioned his position in the White House to international investors for green cards—that will lean more toward what migrants will bring to the country, like “genius” Melania Trump, while…Read more...

In the continuous effort by the right to bring God down to Trump’s level, televangelist Jim Bakker is selling a $45 gold-plated Trump coin that he calls a “point of contact” with God, showing President Trump alongside Biblical King Cyrus.Read more...

On May 16, 1966 a tiny baby who would be named Janet Damita Jo Jackson performed an eight-count out of her mother’s womb and into the world.Read more...

They say there’s tragedy in comedy.Read more...

The clearly not-so-great-state of Alabama just enacted the most extreme abortion ban since abortion was made legal by Roe v. Wade some 46 years ago. Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, signed the bill that could punish doctors who perform abortions with life in prison.

In one of the most memorable passages of his seminal autobiography, civil rights leader Malcolm X made explicit the impact his in-prison education had on him. Arrested on charges of larceny and sentenced to 10 years in prison, Malcolm read voraciously.

We’re big fans of Butcher Box’s meat-by-mail deliveries of grass-fed beef, heritage grade pork, and organic chicken, and if you sign up for a new account today, you’ll get everything you need to host a little barbecue thrown in for free.

Now we know Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin gets his balling from his father.

Sen. Kamala Harris is not feeling Joe Biden’s claim that the infamous 1994 crime bill—which he was instrumental in creating in order to thwart “predators in our streets” who were “beyond the pale”—did not lead to mass incarceration in the U.S.

Shark vacuum freebies, a grooming essentials gold box, and a PUMA spring-to-summer sale lead off Thursday’s best deals from around the web.

In 2017, the Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality’s Initiative on Gender Justice and Opportunity released Girlhood Interrupted: The Erasure of Black Girls’ Childhood (pdf), providing concrete data that adults typically perceive black girls, particularly those aged 5 to 14, to be more “adult-like” and less…Read more...

Back in the mid-’90s, when game shows had finally fallen out of favor and the talk show wars had devastated Montel, Maury and Sally Jesse Raphael, leaving Oprah on the Iron Throne, there was one mainstay for your middle-aged aunts, grandmas and housewives to get their daytime TV drama fix: Court TV.

John Singleton. Dead at 51. Stroke/Hypertension.Read more...

Today, Amazon’s discounting a number of oral care and grooming products from companies like Braun, Gilette, and Crest. Whether you need some new razors or want to invest in a beard trimmer, this Gold Box has you covered.Read more...

Despite what door-to-door salesmen might tell you, you don’t need a full set of knives. You can breeze through about 99% of kitchen tasks with just a few important blades, and they’re all included in this discounted 4-piece set.

Unita Blackwell, a veteran of the civil rights movement and winner of a MacArthur “genius” grant who was the first black woman to be elected a mayor in the state of Mississippi, has died. She was 86.

There’s a movement afoot in some quarters to get rid of the Electoral College, the institution that really elects the president of the United States.

What do black pastors, Hasidic Jews and Safaree of Love & Hip Hop fame have in common? Apparently, a love of fur—and a determination to stop New York City lawmakers from banning fur sales in the Big Apple.Read more...

The black Washington, D.C., transit worker who got put on blast by an irate commuter displeased by her decision to eat a little something before work was “embarrassed” and “humiliated” by the incident, but she won’t face disciplinary action.

io9 The Rise of Skywalker Concerns Me, a Very Casual Star Wars Fan | Lifehacker If You Own a Pixel, You Could Get up to $500 From Google | Jalopnik This Tesla Model 3 Badged as a ‘Civic Si’ Actually Kind of Works | Kotaku Super Mario Maker 2 Has A Story Mode And Much More | The Takeout Just holding a beer makes women…Read more...

On Wednesday, presidential candidate Kamala Harris announced that should she be elected president, she’ll get right down to business when it comes to addressing AR-15s—the weapon of choice in mass shootings.Read more...

There is palpable energy prior to a theatrical production; a current of excitement that buzzes through an audience anticipating new work on the stage. At the press night for EthiopianAmerica, the newest production from the Chicago-based Definition Theatre Company staged at Victory Gardens, there was also a profound…Read more...

President Donald Trump’s old ass is age shaming his potential opponents for the presidency as he believes the only real challengers for the Iron Throne (and no, I’m not talking about Trump’s special toilet) are former Vice President Joe Biden, 76, and America’s favorite substitute teacher, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders,…Read more...

Imagine having one book in the hottest book club known to man and named-checked by the Obamas—and then, having another book being optioned for adaptation. Well, Tayari Jones doesn’t have to imagine it—she’s living it!Read more...

Almost a month removed from a heart attack that left him hospitalized, balladeer Peabo Bryson visited the first responders who saved his life so he could express his tremendous gratitude in person.

The last time we saw Black Mirror, they had us playing a Choose Your Own Adventure-esque game to watch it. But, this isn’t a game. Black Mirror is returning for its fifth season—and we’ve got a trailer to prove it!Read more...

This very well could be one of those Trump tax schemes in which he grossly undervalues the property and the income on his resort in order to avoid paying taxes, but one of the crown jewels in Trump’s property portfolio is grossly underperforming.