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More Than a Hashtag: Tarana Burke Joins The Root Institute to Talk Movement Building, Me Too and Maintaining Momentum Amid COVID-19
Tarana Burke knows better than most the power of a hashtag. After all, hers—#MeToo—turned into a zeitgeist moment back in the fall of 2017, as Hollywood actresses began using it on social media in response to the mounting allegations against Harvey Weinstein. Black Twitter quickly rose to correct the oversight of the tag’s originator Burke,…
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The Health of Our Communities Begins With Black Women: Planned Parenthood’s Alexis McGill Johnson, Dr. Joia Crear-Perry, and EHE Health's Joy Altimare Join The Root Institute
If this August has confirmed nothing else, it’s that where women gather, there is power; power often underestimated and underutilized, but capable of transforming the world. We saw it 100 years ago this week with the passage of the 19th Amendment, which enabled (white) women to vote after a decades-long suffrage movement. Forty-five years later,…
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It's Time to Have a Crucial Conversation About Our Communal Health With Planned Parenthood’s Alexis McGill Johnson, EHE Health's Joy Altimare and Dr. Joia Crear-Perry
“If you want to feed a person, you pay a man,” says Joy Altimare of EHE Health, one the sponsors of our first-ever Root Institute. “But if you want to feed a village or a community, you make sure a woman is actually enabled to take care of herself and her children.” The direct links…
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Me Too and Essence to Host the Black Women and Girls Survivor Town Hall Featuring Tarana Burke and Angelica Ross
We are in the midst of a renewed focus upon Black safety and survival—and Black female political power—and yet, as we were reminded by our peers at Essence today, “While Black women have the highest turnout rate at the polls, they also have the [second] highest rates of sexual assault,” eclipsed only by Native American…
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Rihanna, Domestic Goddess? Rih Is Rumored to Be Dropping Housewares, but Her Navy Is Sending an SOS for R9
“Pour it up,” indeed. Could our next serving of hot tea be served from a Fenty teacup? The eagle eyes in Rihanna’s fandom (also known as @TeamofRihanna on Twitter) recently caught wind of a new trademark application by the singer’s company, Roraj Trade, LLC, cleverly titled “Sorry, I’m Booked” and filed on Aug. 6 (h/t…
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Going Hollywood: Meghan and Harry Are Reportedly Pitching a 'Top-Secret' TV or Film Project
You can take the woman out of Hollywood, but you can’t take the Hollywood out of the woman—or, at least that seems to be the case with Los Angeles-born actress-turned-duchess-turned-prodigal daughter Meghan Markle, who returned to her home state with her royal husband and son earlier this year. Newly settled into what Variety reports is…
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Essence Answers Sexual Harassment Claims Against Owner Richelieu Dennis With Results of 1st Internal Review
As the 26th annual—and first virtual—Essence Festival dawned this year, #BlackFemaleAnonymous, a group of “former and current employees” of the 50-year-old magazine published an indicting missive titled “The Truth About Essence.” The open letter (subsequently legally referred to as “the Article”) alleged a toxic workplace culture, pay inequities, nepotism, and “an unhinged abuse of power.”…
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Fresh Off That 'WAP,' Cardi and Megan Dive Into Political Discourse
Fun fact: “WAP” may also be an acronym for “Women Active in Politics.” Both Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion are proving as passionate about our current political cycle as they are for the joys of enthusiastically consensual sex—which is as it should be since the two aren’t mutually exclusive. Of course, with Cardi, this…
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On the 19th Amendment's Centennial, Michelle Obama Urges Us to Honor Women's Work in Securing the Vote
Just like our forever First Lady Michelle Obama, we are not going to stop talking about the importance of voting this election cycle—no matter how unenthused you might be. While there were many factors that led to the outcome of what we’d feared would be a disastrous 2016 election (Electoral College, we’re looking at you),…
