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Student at Center of Howard University Financial Scandal Speaks Out Amid Campus Protests
As students at Howard University enter the second day of campuswide protests, the university’s board of trustees issued a statement moments before the immaculately dressed law student who has become a symbol of the administration’s mismanagement appeared with journalist Roland Martin and a very luxurious house plant to clear his name while everyone involved gulped…
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The Root’s Clapback Mailbag: Let Wypipo Go
It’s Good Friday and Passover Eve. The Root’s deputy managing editor, Yesha Callahan, is not here to force me to write an extensive lede because last night, Very Smart Brothas and The Glow Up had their first joint event, Urban by Nature, in Los Angeles. A lot of the staff from The Root attended, but…
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Comfortably Numb: Stephon Clark, Alton Sterling and the Value of Being Punched in the Face
I was 9 years old the first time I was punched in the face. During a church service, I absconded from the sanctuary with two of my older cousins and headed to a neighborhood store. When I returned, my mother asked where I had been and I snitched: “I went to the store with Bernard…
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The Finessing of Howard University
If you are black, you likely know what it means to “finesse” something: Finesse (verb): To acquire smoothly and without force. The art of persuasion or trickery, in which an individual is able to get something he or she wants with cunning and prowess. If you are black, it is also statistically unlikely that you…
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Hair-Dryer-Roasted Chicken Wins the 2018 Award for the Whitest Thing on the Internet
In a ceremony televised on Fox News and the Food Network, the New Yorker’s “roving food correspondent” Helen Rosner was awarded the 2018 “I Was Told by AppleCare” prize for Unapologetic Whiteness. In a story titled, “Yes, I Use a Hair Dryer to Make Roast Chicken” (which insinuates that at least one person asked her,…
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DMX Plans to Get Out of Jail by Playing His Songs in Court
Look, I’m not one to question anyone’s credentials, but when I heard the cockamamy scheme that attorneys for DMX have planned—to play his music at a Thursday sentencing hearing—the first thing I thought was, “Welp, someone has finally made him lose his mind, up in here, up in here … ” That’s not a joke.…
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Remember the Resource Officer Who Shot the School Shooter in Maryland? It Never Happened
Donald Trump, the National Rifle Association and people who believe in the magical fairy tale of armed school employees preventing school shootings were all forced to eat their words with a supersized cup of “shut the fuck up” Monday, when authorities investigating the case of the Maryland school shooter who was stopped by a “good…
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Who Hacked the ATL? Hijackers Are Holding Atlanta for Ransom and Time Is Running Out
For the past five days, a mysterious group has been holding the city of Atlanta for ransom as federal authorities fight a computer attack that has crippled the city. Federal, local and state authorities are frantically trying to find a solution. More important, in the spirit of transparency, the city unwittingly committed a tactical blunder…
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America’s Oldest Gun-Maker Goes Bankrupt Because No One Needs Guns Now That Obama’s Gone
After more than two centuries of providing America with classics like the AR-15-style assault weapon used to mow down 20 first-graders at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn.; the pump-action shotgun used to kill 12 people in an Aurora, Colo., movie theater; and the .223 semi-automatic rifle used to kill 14 people in San Bernardino,…
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Video Shows Cop Killing Decynthia Clements After Discussing How Not to Kill Decynthia Clements
Even though she was brandishing a steak knife, when Decynthia Clements emerged from her SUV and walked toward Elgin, Ill., law enforcement officers, it seemed as if the cops had everything under control. Clements’ truck was immobilized and surrounded by at least seven officers. A K-9 unit was on the scene. The officer in charge…
