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New Zora Neale Hurston Book Will Tell Story of the Last Survivor of the US Slave Trade
Eighty-one years after Their Eyes Were Watching God debuted, a new work by Zora Neale Hurston will appear on bookshelves. In 2018, publisher HarperCollins will release Hurston’s account of the last-known survivor of the American holocaust known as the U.S. slave trade. In 1931, Hurston spent three months in Alabama interviewing Cudjo Lewis, who came…
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Everything You Need to Know About the GOP’s Tax Heist but Were Afraid to Ask
Congress is poised to pass a piece of legislation that will amount to a $1.5 trillion tax hike for Americans who don’t have trust funds, silver spoons or monocles. No one knows what is in the final bill because Republicans have added more changes than Kim Kardashian’s plastic surgeon, but luckily The Root always has…
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From an Ex-Neoliberal: Why Ta-Nehisi Coates Keeps Talking About White Supremacy
I love Cornel West. Part of the reason I am a fan of his is that, before my nonfame and lack of fortune at The Root, I taught a college-level course called “Race as an Economic Construct.” The idea of the course was to eliminate the subjectivity of race theory by explaining race in America…
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Rheumatoid Negroitis: The 10 Worst Dancers in Black Music
Even before researchers named the rare malady that afflicts hundreds of black people across the world (my unofficial research on YouTube shows that 99.99 percent of us are unafflicted), we all knew someone who suffered from one of the most tragic diseases known to man. It has been overlooked for too long, but it’s time…
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Should We Delight in Omarosa’s Demise?
As soon as news spread that the Black Wicked Witch of the White House had been thrown out of the official presidential residence like she was Jazzy Jeff in a lost episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, the melanated part of the country burst into a giggling fit not seen since we did the…
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LeBron James Debuts New ‘Equality’ Shoes, Shades Trump in Visit to Washington, DC
No, LeBron James didn’t bring mismatched shoes to play against the Washington Wizards on Sunday. When King James took to the court wearing one white shoe and one black shoe with the word “Equality” stitched on them in gold, he was making a political statement against Donald Trump and racism. That’s not conjecture by NBA…
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The Root’s Clapback Mailbag: We’re the Real Racists
You’re the real racists. I’ve always wanted to say that. That phrase has surpassed “Not all white people” as the No. 1 complaint in the comments, emails, messages and tweets we receive at The Root. So today’s Clapback Mailbag is dedicated to the people who believe The Root should be added to the list of…
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It Turns Out This ‘Decorated Army Hero’ Must Have Earned a Distinguished Medal for Lying-Ass Liars
Everyone who knew Papotia Reginald Wright knew him as an Army hero. He boasted of earning the Purple Heart, Bronze Star, Green Beret … as well as the Yellow Moon and even the distinguished Blue Diamond. It turns out, though, that not only was Brooklyn, N.Y.’s Wright not “magically delicious,” but he was a total…
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New Mexico School Shooter Was a Trump-Loving, White Supremacist Troll
The man who killed two Aztec, N.M., students before ending his own life had an extensive history on white supremacy websites, where he used multiple aliases to troll people and spread pro-Donald Trump memes, authorities say. When 21-year-old William Edward Atchinson opened fire on students at Aztec High School on Dec. 7, killing Casey Marquez…
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Nah, White Women … You Can’t Have This One
In the aftermath of black people showing up out of nowhere—like little Kenard who snuffed out Omar on The Wire—to kill Roy Moore and the “alt-right’s” dream of making the documentary Mr. Molester Goes to Washington, everyone wants a little bit of credit. The Democratic Party is saying, “I told y’all.” The pundits are giving…
