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How Black-ish Became the Blackest and Best Comedy on TV
Last week The Root contributor Demetria Lucas D’Oyley wrote a response to Tyler Perry’s recent assertion that the reason his work and his characters get so much criticism is that they’re “fat.” In her piece, Lucas D’Oyley (rightly) stated that the weight of his characters has nothing to do with how Perry’s work is perceived.…
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Black Women Should Be Like Ayesha Curry? How Many Black Men Are Willing to Be Like Steph?
It’s been roughly a month since Ayesha Curry—wife of NBA superstar Stephen Curry and mother of NBA post-game press conference superstar Riley Curry—published the tweet that would launch a million more tweets, a thousand more think pieces and a hundred more “clever” memes incorporating “thoughts” and “thots.” The dust and debris left by this dustup…
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How #YallQaeda Is Nothing but a Big Bucket of Highly Armed White Tears, Explained
Who is this #YallQaeda you’re talking about? On Saturday, a group of anti-government militiamen—armed to the teeth and ready to fight to the death—took over the federal Malheur Wildlife Refuge after a protest in Harney County, Ore. They were apparently upset because two ranchers—Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son, Steven—had been convicted of arson. The…
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As Someone Raised on Bill Cosby, I Feel No Joy in Writing About His Alleged Crimes
My parents forced me to have a crush on Rudy Huxtable. Now, I realize how that might read. I can imagine people picturing a dictatorial and deranged mother and father tying an 8-year-old me to a chair when The Cosby Show came on and forcing me to chant, “I will crush on Rudy Huxtable” while…
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On Being a New Parent When News Like Tamir Rice Hits
Invariably, among the countless words and rants and tweets and think pieces and blogs and status messages and emails and texts generated whenever another news story breaks about a police-involved killing of a young black person, are the words from parents. Mothers and fathers of black babies, of black boys and girls, of black teenagers…
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10 Stale, Tired and Tasteless Jokes About Kwanzaa so You Don’t Have to Create Your Own
It’s Dec. 23, which means we’re smack dab in the middle of the time of year when families across the country come together to celebrate Christmas. Or Hanukkah. Or Festivus. Or they have no religious affiliations but are grateful for the extra days off and the post-Christmas Nordstrom sales. It’s also the time of…
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Why Steve Harvey Crowning the Wrong Miss Universe Is the Best Thing to Happen to Miss Universe
So let’s get a couple things out of the way first: 1. Steve Harvey has too many jobs. Steve Harvey is the host of The Steve Harvey Morning Show. And Family Feud. And Steve Harvey the talk show. That’s three full-time jobs. Plus dozens of panels, talks and seminars. And, I’m assuming, a couple hundred…
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10 Things I’ve Learned After Being a Dad for 2 Weeks
1. Infants are what would happen to an adult if you made it super tiny and then gave it a liter of Jack Daniels. The tiny part I knew already, but the drunken part is something I’ve discovered in the last couple of weeks. Because you treat infants the same way you’d treat a friend…
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How 2015 Was Drenched in White Tears
Abigail Fisher is the average-est white woman in the history of average white women. Her averageness is so average, it’s aggressive. Enthusiastic. Transformative. It boldly goes where no average has gone before. She’s unambiguously average. Obnoxiously average. Disruptively average. If she were a character in Star Wars, her name would be Darth Average. She’s to “average…
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How Being Petty Won 2015
On July 21 at 11:46 p.m., Meek Mill, upset that Drake didn’t help him promote his recent album, took to Twitter to announce to his millions of followers that Drake doesn’t write his own rhymes. Then, 11 minutes later, he tweeted that he wouldn’t have even allowed Drake to be on his album if he…
