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Reports of Tension at Morehouse Have Led to ‘State of Confusion’ at Famed HBCU
Last week The Root published an extensive investigative piece that revealed years of turmoil between the faculty, students and board of trustees at Morehouse College. Since these revelations were made public, the repercussions have echoed through the halls of the 150-year-old institution, resulting in what the college’s Student Government Association president has termed a “state of…
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7 Reasons Black America Should Fight Marijuana Prohibition
Take a deep breath. Can you smell the weed smoke billowing in from Colorado and California? Have you read about the citizens of Maine and Massachusetts who turned into zombies from puffing blunts all day? Have you seen the news reports about the scores of people in Oregon and Nevada who overdosed on marijuana? No.…
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According to Republicans, Black People Are Stupid and Lazy
In the latest round of “studies confirming stuff we already knew,” newly released opinion-poll data from the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center shows that people who identify as Republican are more likely to believe that blacks are less motivated and less intelligent than whites. The survey results also reveal that more Republicans believe…
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Just a Reminder: The NCAA Is a Plantation, and the Players Are the Sharecroppers
One of the biggest bait and switches ever pulled on American citizens was the ruse of collectively shared farming. It was a simple but effective long con. Farmers and plantation owners convinced newly freed slaves and poor people to work a portion of their land in exchange for a share of the harvest. In theory,…
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This Is All James Comey’s Fault
On Thursday morning, news surfaced that the experimental humanoid who somehow got a job as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (you’re not fooling us, James Comey; we know a Frankenstein monster when we see one) wanted to tell the public about Russia’s interference in the 2016 election as early as last summer. He…
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How Gentrification Destroys Black Voting Power
Remember when the nation’s capital was so black that Parliament Funkadelic nicknamed Washington, D.C., “Chocolate City”? Maybe you’re old enough to remember when California’s Bay Area was so black that it birthed the Black Panthers and everyone knew what Sir Mix-a-Lot meant when he rapped about an “Oakland booty.” If you’re too young for that,…
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The War at Morehouse
The phrase “black America” may often be overlooked as a trite colloquialism, but it gives voice to the collective experiences of a community forged in fire. Black America is not enveloped inside or beneath the United States of America that we love to hate and hate to love. No, black America exists alongside a nation…
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The Root’s Jason Johnson Called a Conservative Out for Whitesplaining Racism on MSNBC and It Got Heated
On Wednesday morning The Root’s political editor, Jason Johnson, appeared on MSNBC Live, as he often does, alongside Matt Schlapp of the American Conservative Union. Johnson is a veteran political analyst, writer and politics professor at Morgan State University. (Although I have no idea how he does all of this, because every time I turn…
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Jeff Sessions Met With Emmett Till’s Family, but Will He Give Emmett Justice?
Emmett Till’s family members met privately with Jeff Sessions, head of the U.S. Department of Justice, to ask him for … well … justice. The U.S. attorney general met with Emmett’s cousin—Deborah Watts, the co-founder of the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation—and Alvin Sykes, a member of the Emmett Till Justice Campaign, on Tuesday. Emmett’s relatives…
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The World Changed, but Dave Chappelle Didn’t
Remember Evel Knievel? In the 1970s and ’80s, Robert “Evel” Knievel Jr. leaped into the American zeitgeist and became one of the most famous people in the country by electrifying audiences with his motorcycle stunts. He leaped over 14 buses on a motorcycle. Millions of people watched him attempt to jump the Snake River Canyon.…
