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LA Fitness Fires 3 Employees for Going Full Starbucks on Black Customer in Viral Video
Updated Thursday, April 19, 2018, 9:19 a.m. EDT: LA Fitness has fired the manager and two other employees at its Secaucus, N.J., location after staff members suggested that a black customer’s fitness routine should include at least one set of getting the fuck out their gym. In a statement to NJ.com on Wednesday, LA Fitness…
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Trump Tweet About Immigrant ‘Breeding’ Invokes White Supremacist Rhetoric
I’m beginning to think Donald Trump has a punch card where he gets a stamp toward his white supremacist membership every time he makes an outwardly racist statement. I have always believed that 74 percent of the “alt-right’s” ire is rooted in their obsession with brown people’s penises. Their fear of black phallus causes them…
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Atlanta’s Brian Tyree Henry Is More Than Just Your Paper Boi
I’ve often thought about making a list of TV and movie characters so beloved that the actors who play the roles become inextricably linked to the characters. Perhaps the greatest indicator of this phenomenon is when black audiences begin referring to actors by the roles they play. Michael K. Williams will always be Omar from…
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Exclusive: Inside the Deadly South Carolina Prison Riot Where 7 Inmates Were Killed
An inmate and a guard inside a South Carolina correctional facility spoke with The Root detailing conditions inside the facility and a massive gang fight that left seven prisoners dead and 17 inmates injured on Sunday. According to a source who spoke to the Associated Press, the fight at Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopville, S.C.,…
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Don’t Disrespect Our Anthems: 6 Black Songs Off-Limits to Taylor Swift and Other White Musicians
When I first called the Department of Homeland Security to report Taylor Swift for suspected terrorist activity, the federal agents hung up on me just as I was explaining why I didn’t consider Swift’s remake of “September” an attack on the legendary band Earth, Wind & Fire so much as I regarded it an assault…
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Tale of the Tape: Nicki Minaj vs. Cardi B
After releasing two songs on Thursday, rapper Nicki Minaj reignited her feud with the current princess of rap, Cardi B, because—if we’re being honest—we kinda forgot about the black female Max Headroom of hip-hop once we met Cardi. I guess Minaj has to sell those records any way she can. (Is it even “records” anymore?…
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Texas State University and the War on Whiteness
In a case that involves Alex Jones, white tears, a racist Instagram account, an Illuminati-like student body government and the indomitable Caucasian ability to fit itself through loopholes, students at Texas State University in San Marcos have taken over the university’s student center after a failed bid to oust the student government president and anti-reverse-racism…
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The Root’s Clapback Mailbag: Apologetically Black Friday
A few days ago, during a meeting, I asked The Root staff for more mailbag material. “It doesn’t necessarily have to be hate mail,” I said. “It could be anything worth responding to.” In my head, I was sure that readers had reached out to our writers for a number of reasons. Maybe they tweeted…
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This Is Probably My Last Day at The Root Before Janet Jackson Hires Me as a Backup Dancer
First, I’d like to apologize to Editor-in-Chief Danielle Belton for lying to her when she interviewed me for this position that it was my dream job. At that point in my life, I thought playing point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers or starting at quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys was a long shot. More…
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‘Diversity of Thought’ Is Just a Euphemism for ‘White Supremacy’
Every so often a new phrase emerges that encapsulates the cunning Caucasian ability to keep power and dominance within their clutches by painting themselves as the oppressed class. Whether it is “reverse racism,” “Make America great again” or “separate but equal,” coining catchphrases as a means of maintaining white supremacy has been one of our…
