-
White Judge Sentenced to Probation for Election Fraud in Same County Where Black Woman Received 5 Years
Right now, there is a black woman sitting in prison, reading about a Texas judge who was found guilty of the same crime she committed. She probably noticed that the judge was sentenced to five years’ probation in the same county that sentenced her to five years in jail. More than likely, she also noticed…
-
Melania Trump Is Serving Michelle Obama’s Collard Greens for Dinner and We Need to Pray
As America frets over the Republicans’ efforts to taint the Mueller investigation, the prospect of a North Korean nuclear contamination and Syria’s use of chemical warfare against its own citizens, there is a much bigger threat of poisoning looming on the American horizon. Melania Trump is going to serve collard greens. Time reports that the…
-
Kanye West, Candace Owens and the Conservative Sunken Place
As an underage college freshman, I was forced to live in an off-campus dormitory with adult supervision. Although I was one of only two black residents in the housing unit, one of the selling points of living in this dorm was their monthly offerings of entertainment as an alternative to college drunkfests. In one particular…
-
The Only Thing Missing From Georgia’s Neo-Nazi Rally Was Actual Neo-Nazis
When a white supremacist group planned a gathering that was supposed to surpass Charlottesville, Va.’s Unite the Right rally, the community prepared for the worst. Hundreds of police officers arrived in a small Georgia town outside Atlanta to keep the peace. Counterprotesters came out en masse to condemn the hate groups that were scheduled to…
-
Could You List the ‘Positive Aspects’ of Slavery? A Teacher Asked 8th-Graders to Do So
Students at a Texas charter school recently received a homework assignment that asked them to list both the “positive aspects” and the “negative aspects” of slavery. Eighth-grade students at Great Hearts Monte Vista Charter School in San Antonio were given a worksheet titled, “The Life of Slaves: A Balanced View.” A mother posted the worksheet…
-
Federal Prosecutors Want to Charge Cop Who Put Eric Garner in Choke Hold
Prosecutors in the Department of Justice have recommended federal civil rights charges against the police officer whose arms just happened to be wrapped around Eric Garner’s neck when he died on a Staten Island, N.Y., sidewalk in 2014, but some officials within the Justice Department are reportedly hesitant to do so. After the state of…
-
Stans, Ranked
Rapper J. Cole’s new album, KOD, has reignited a recurring discussion about the appreciation of “real” hip-hop between his fans and the people who find him interminably boring. While I am a big fan of J. Cole’s, I cannot call myself one of his “stans” because, while I love his music, I cannot bear the…
-
The Root’s Clapback Mailbag: Lions, Tigers and Wypipo, Oh My!
It’s 4/20, so today’s collection of tweets, direct messages, emails and comments is dedicated to all the people who … Dammit, I forgot what I was about to write. Anyway, for some reason, I feel positive today. It’s probably because so many of you reached out to discuss the topics that unite us all, like…
-
Listen to Prince’s Original Version of ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ … Then Cry
On Thursday, the estate of musical icon Prince released the original studio recording of his song “Nothing Compares 2 U,” recorded in 1984. Before Sinead O’Connor turned the song into a hit, Prince recorded the tune at the Eden Prairie, Minn., warehouse during sessions for his album Around the World in a Day. The Purple…
-
We Need a Yelp for Rating White People
On Monday I was in New York to sit on a panel for the San Francisco Human Rights Commission during the American Educational Research Association’s annual conference. Since the conference was in New York, I woke up early to head to The Root’s main office to work. The day before, as I checked into my…
