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If You're Black, Every Day Is April Fools
While some may claim there is no such thing as “white culture,” I vehemently disagree. Those schooled in the anthropological specialty known as wypipology are keenly aware of the hallmarks of the Caucasian culture, including guitar-based dancing, the affinity for wraparound sunglasses and an addiction to calling the police (known to the ancient Romans as…
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Couple Fears White Man Who Pulled a Gun on Them Will Get a Slap on Same Wrist That Threatened Their Lives
An Arizona couple is concerned that a man may walk away without facing any serious consequences after he pulled a firearm on them during a February business meeting. Brittany Myers and Solomon Odubajo are owners of the Whatchacookin food truck, a Black-owned business serving customers in Mesa, Ariz. On Feb. 5, the couple arrived for…
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Why White People Hate Critical Race Theory, Explained
They’re back! On Monday, Mississippi state Rep. Chris Brown (not that one) introduced two bills in the state legislature affirming the “resolute opposition to the promotion of race or sex stereotyping or scapegoating.” While the concurrent resolutions seem like no-brainers, the measures are part of the Republican Party’s nationwide effort to eliminate the anti-racist terror…
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A Black Girl's Event on Being a Better White Person Has Triggered the Worst White People
Great news! There’s a vaccine for racism! According to some people, eradicating the scourge of discrimination, white supremacy and oppression is easy. The Caucasian cure for systemic inequality involves the simple task of ignoring the issue, pretending it doesn’t exist and shutting the fuck up until the problem magically dissipates into thin air. While naysayers…
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The Root's Clapback Mailbag: Maybe Whiteness Is Not a Pandemic
Last week, a white man did white man things, which caused a lot of pain and heartache. Some people call Robert Aaron Long a “spree shooter,” while others call him a “mass murderer.” Because he went from location to location to kill people, he may technically be a serial killer or a hate criminal —…
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A Thing I Wrote About Guns and Loopholes
I should begin with the hole in my sister’s face. I should describe how surprisingly clean a hole a bullet bores into a skull—as if her head was a watermelon or a piece of wood or a thing we did not love. I should probably detail how surprisingly sturdy my knees felt as I stood…
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The Filibuster Is White Supremacy
I do not love America. To be fair, I don’t quite know what “America” is. Is it defined by the piece of paper that once counted me as three-fifths human or a series of borders on a map? Is America defined by the laws that govern it, or is it the people governed by the…
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George Floyd's Family Reaches Record $27 Million Settlement Agreement With Minneapolis
The family of George Floyd settled a civil lawsuit on Friday after the Minneapolis City Council approved what the family’s attorneys are calling the “largest pre-trial civil rights wrongful death settlement in U.S history.” On Friday, during a closed session, the City Council unanimously approved a measure to pay Floyd’s family $27 million for the…
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The Root's Clapback Mailbag: Best Mailbag Ever
The Clapback Mailbag is over. We’ll continue to respond to emails, DMs, tweets and comments every Friday but, to be honest, there’ll never be another mailbag as good as this week’s collection of well-moisturized whiteness. This one is filled with 40 percent more whiteness. This one is the fulfillment of all our clapback dreams. This…
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White People Don't Make No Sense
This headline is grammatically correct. In African American Vernacular English, “no” is a determiner equivalent to the thermodynamic concept of absolute zero. It is the amount of “mess” that James Brown’s papa was willing to take. It describes how much of a joke Rakim considered himself to be. In 1994, researcher Rock Master Scott, in…
