The Root

Five years have gone by, some 1,825 days, since the people of Flint, Mich., were doomed to a life with no clean water, with no clear end in sight. (Nestle just pledged to continue providing bottled water for the town at least through August of this year.)

A one-year-old South Carolina girl died in a burning car after her father abandoned the car (and her) in an attempt to evade police after a high-speed chase in South Carolina, authorities say.

A group of high school boys in the town of North Pole, Ala., (yes, you read that correctly), apparently took offense to a transgender student’s use of their bathroom and decided to protest by crashing the girl’s room.Read more...

It’s no secret that hate crimes are on the rise since our alleged president was sworn into office. They show up in news reports on a near daily basis. In this latest example, a man in Greenwood, South Carolina, will go down in infamy as one of the worst neighbors ever after attempting to hire the KKK to kill his…Read more...

Lynne Patton, regional administrator for the Department of Housing and Urban Development and wannabe Real Housewife of PG County, decided to take time from her busy schedule hawking her right-wing reality show to add to the din of Republicans stoking the flames of bigotry against freshman Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.).

Newly released body-cam footage shows Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer Wende Kerl shouting for Danquirs Franklin, 27, to lower his weapon.Read more...

After four score and 50-11 years, Game of Thrones has reached its final season. What better way to celebrate than with a black ass soundtrack?

It doesn’t feel like summer until I get to sit outside on a warm night. Sure, I run the risk of getting 30 mosquito bites, but if I have a good book and there is a nice breeze, it is all worth it. If you’re like me and equate summer with eating watermelon on your patio set, you’re in luck. Target is currently running…Read more...

Russell Wilson just spiked the ball on Future’s face—not only did he just become the highest paid player in the NFL, signing a $140 million extension to stay with the Seattle Seahawks, which includes a $65 million signing bonus, he flexed on everyone by posting a video to social media of him lying in bed with his wife…Read more...

This country has always had a wealth gap, and America usually fixes this problem...for white people.Read more...

If there’s one thing to take from Ava DuVernay’s career journey, it’s that she has proven she is here to create a true legacy.Read more...

Eric Holder has been one of the most consistent Democratic operatives in the last two decades. And by operative, we don’t mean the stereotypical, smarmy, back-of-the-room dealmaker and fixer (see Donald Trump’s inner circle), we mean repping Democratic principles and getting in the mix when those principles are…Read more...

Alabama Republicans insist there’s nothing wrong, that Roy Moore is just a cold sore. But just when you think he’s been defeated, here he comes out of nowhere to fuck up your day.

Because Kira Johnson was so amazing (she spoke five languages, skydived, raced cars), she has been the face of what many are now coming to see as a crisis in black maternal health.

It’s hard not to root for Megan Thee Stallion, a bawse ass bitch whose efforts and lyricism has placed her in the minds of many a person with taste. As quipped by Essence, Megan Thee Stallion isn’t a one trick pony. Her lyrical stylings have landed her on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart with her single “Big Ole…Read more...

Thus far, U.S. Senator Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) has raised $13.2 million—the second largest haul of any presidential candidate. But while a majority of that money has come from contributions of less than $100, Hollywood appears to have a love affair with the former California Attorney General too.Read more...

Like a rapper that knows an explosive diss track is about to be released, the president of the United States is playing reduced-stress checkers—in which they’re only six pieces on the board to prevent confusion (but he still cheats)—by releasing tweets that will help his followers know his position on the…Read more...

A week after fanning the flames of Islamophobia and vitriol directed at Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) with a tweet, Trump used his time with a Minnesota news affiliate to take aim at the freshman representative one more time.Read more...

Nia Wilson’s family was supposed to be planning a graduation for her, not a funeral. But last summer, in a crime that sent shockwaves through the San Francisco Bay Area and the country, the 18-year-old high schooler was fatally stabbed in the neck on the platform of an Oakland Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station.Read more...

It’s high time for yet another celebration of cannabis culture — that’s right, April 20 (or 4/20) is coming up once again.Read more...

Over the course of the past year, journalist Jemele Hill has undergone a series of major transitions. After nearly 12 years at ESPN, she chucked the deuce and secured the bag at The Atlantic as a staff writer. She then joined forces with longtime friend Kelley L. Carter to jump start Lodge Freeway Media and concluded…Read more...

I’m one of those people: I’ve never seen a full episode of HBO’s Game of Thrones. I say full episode because I tried to watch the first episode a few years ago and just couldn’t make it through. I don’t know what happened or why on that particular day I couldn’t complete the task. I binged the entirety of the first…Read more...

Louisiana prosecutors have charged Holden Matthews with three hate crimes, one for each of the black churches he’s accused of burning down in St. Landry Parish.Read more...

No matter how many successful projects you’re juggling, it’s a special feeling when your passion project — your baby — scores a win. Lena Waithe now knows how that feels.

(Editor’s note: If you’re wondering where your regularly scheduled Big Beauty Tuesday writer has been, she’s on a well-deserved vacation. Nevertheless, our cadre of talented writers is here to keep you briefed on the best of black-owned beauty—this week, enjoy Starr Rhett Rocque!)Read more...

A college student’s quest for late-night leftovers turned into a racially charged episode where the student was roughed up and six Barnard College security guards ended up on administrative leave pending an investigation by the school into their actions.

The 24-year-old man charged with hurling a 5-year-old boy over a railing at the Mall of America was “looking for someone to kill” after being rejected by women at the mall for years, police say in a criminal complaint.

Just one day after winning his fifth Masters Tournament championship in one of the greatest comebacks in golf history, Tiger Woods is set to receive another rare honor: the Presidential Medal of Freedom.Read more...

Flags were flown at half-staff Monday in Westfield, N.J., and a funeral is set for Tuesday to honor a beloved principal who lapsed into a monthlong coma and died after donating bone marrow to a boy in France he’d never even met.

A Pulitzer Prize is kind of a big deal.Read more...

We see a lot of deals around the web over on Kinja Deals, but these were our ten favorites today.

Winter is finally here, but it has neglected to bring HBO’s Insecure with it, because the show will not be returning to the network until 2020.Read more...

Former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams sat down with The Root to reflect on her 2018 campaign for the governor’s mansion in Georgia and whether or not the country is ready for a black woman to be president. She also discussed the media’s treatment of her during her run for governor and some of the racist…Read more...

Beloved recording artist, entrepreneur and community activist Nipsey Hussle wasn’t even buried for 24 hours before Fox News trotted out host Laura Ingraham to spit on his grave.Read more...

Nancy Pelosi is old-school backroom politics. Remember how she finessed the Speaker of the House position by cutting all kinds of deals with Democrats who initially wanted new blood up against Donald Trump and the White Walkers?

On Sunday, Tiger Woods won the Masters. Big fucking deal. I mean I know it’s historic and a major comeback and he got a green jacket and all that, but let’s be clear about this: Tiger Woods don’t fuck with us. He never has, so me going all ape shit and posting celebratory Tiger photos on my Facebook and Twitter wasn’t…Read more...

That moment when your intended charity really looks like a hustle ... in the name of Nipsey Hussle.Read more...

It’s like Plymouth Rock all over again. Or as our Entertainment staff writer Tonja Renée Stidhum so eloquently put it, “What is this Oregon Trail reboot 2520s tryna produce in real life?”Read more...

“Lea Davies wasn’t a priority.” So said Dr. Devon Pravesh (Manish Dayal), on Monday night’s episode of The Resident, a fast-moving, gripping procedural drama on Fox, starring The Good Wife’s Matt Czuchry, Malcolm Jamal Warner as Dr. AJ Austin, and Shaunette Renée Wilson as Dr. Mina Okafor.

I used to like Game of Thrones.

I’m from Boston.

Tiger Woods made a triumphant return to Augusta National on Sunday, winning his fifth Master’s Tournament (and his first since 2005), becoming one of the oldest golfers to win a major tournament at age 43, and putting him three back from tying the record for most majors titles, currently held by golf-legend Jack…Read more...

Iconic celebrities in Hollywood are often a walking potpourri of stories. When you think of what happened in old Hollywood, you can rest assured that the celebs who lived the tale have quite the tale to ... tell. They really lived.

It’s unpredictable, insidious, and currently incurable: Lupus affects approximately 1.5 million Americans, 90 percent of whom are women aged 15 to 44, with black women three times more likely to be affected than their white counterparts, according to the CDC—and reportedly, more severely. The chronic autoimmune…Read more...

In almost every area of politics, President Trump is out of his league. In fact, he’s not even in the ballpark when it comes to everything outside of putting his Diet Coke on his Oval Office desk without a coaster. But there is one area where the president surpasses all of those before him: stoking the flames of hate.

By now, we have all heard the stories of how hard Nipsey Hussle was working to keep his Hyde Park neighborhood from becoming overly gentrified. For years, the area has been inhabited almost exclusively by blacks, but as the city’s Metro has been constructing a new train that will take travelers down Crenshaw Boulevard…Read more...

You can believe Chicago police, stalwarts of truth and integrity, or you can believe surveillance footage. But in yet another incident involving a young black person, you cannot believe both.Read more...

Na’vaun Jackson is a miracle.Read more...

As we continue to follow along with the soap operatic saga known as Jussie Smollett’s Chicago case, many have expressed a desire for it all to be over. The rollercoaster of plot twists — including the biggest of them all, when all charges were dropped, abruptly — sent everyone in a tailspin, and frankly, it was…Read more...

Lena Waithe, First of Her Name, Queen of The Chi, Breaker of Industry Chains, has landed a new acting gig!Read more...