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The Root's Clapback Mailbag: The More Things Change
On August 25, 2017, The Root changed the world when it began a feature called the Clapback Mailbag. Back then I thought white people would NEVER stop being racist but I must admit I was wrong. We’re really proud of the part we played in changing the national zeitgeist. Thanks to us, you get to…
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Turning Pain Into Policy: Kamala Harris, Ben Crump Explain Why Police Reform Starts With Economic Justice
Whatever personal feelings one may hold about vice presidential hopeful Kamala Harris’ history as a prosecutor, attorney general and senator, the vast majority of lawyers, legal scholars and criminal justice experts agree on one inarguable fact: She is not Mike Pence. Unlike Pence, Harris wears a mask. Harris doesn’t think COVID-19 will take a self-care…
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This Is Patriotism
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the…
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The Root's Clapback Mailbag: Fire and Light
I heard he sang a good song, I heard he had a styleAnd so I came to see him to listen for a whileAnd there he was this young boy, a stranger to my eyes I felt all flushed with fever, embarrassed by the crowdI felt he found my letters and read each one out…
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9 Years a Slave: Black Combat Veteran Freed After Being Legally Enslaved Over $30 Worth of Weed
This headline is clickbait. To be clear, Derrick Harris is Black. He is also a combat veteran who served in the Army during Operation Desert Storm. And, although the Constitution outlaws slavery and involuntary servitude, the 13th Amendment made a special exception for people who commit a “crime whereof the party shall have been duly…
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Feds Indict Steve Bannon for Finessing Racists, and I Don’t Know How to Feel
If a white nationalist robs a racist in the woods, can you hear me not giving a fuck? Should we applaud the fact that the bigoted propagandist who gave us Breitbart, Milo Yiannopoulos and Donald Trump has been indicted for fraud? Or should we be happy that a bunch of xenophobic nitwits had their disposable…
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The Complete Guide to Defeating Voter Suppression
If you’re reading this, they don’t want to count your vote. If you, like many of our readers, are under the age of 40, progressive, live around non-white people or don’t have anyone in your circle of friends and family who owns a pair of wraparound sunglasses, Republicans are doing everything in their power to…
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Don't Tell Nobody But There's a Surprise 'Black Party' for Kamala Harris, and Guess Who's Gonna DJ?
Can y’all keep a secret? Look, I don’t wanna start spreading stuff but I heard through the watermelonvine (which everyone knows, is superior to grapes) that someone whose name rhymes with Joe Biden (I’m terrible at rhyming) is throwing a secret pre-party for a certain California senator, who just became the first Black woman to…
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Watch: Black Republican Reboots The Wire to Explain How Democrats Ruined Baltimore
My grandmother once said: “If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything.” That’s why I learned how to write. The Root is often accused of being biased in favor of progressive politics (Confession: We are biased toward progressive politics), but today, we’d like to display some bipartisan goodwill by discussing a political…
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First Black Woman to Lead Virginia Senate Faces Felony Charges After Brutal Attack on Inanimate Object
I knew it would happen. For too long, white America has pleaded with officials to hold someone accountable for the disproportionate violence inflicted upon the unarmed victims of state-sponsored brutality. This is the culmination of years of Caucasian protest, activism and advocacy. White people have finally put their money where their mouths are. I predicted…
