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And the Pulitzer Prize for Caucasity Goes to…
This weekend, as I watched COVID-19’s racial disparities blow a 104,600-point lead to extrajudicial police killings, I pondered the effectiveness of nonviolent protest versus “riots.” I imagined strategies that might deter police brutality. I even considered if chaos was a good thing. But, of all the things that crossed my mind, there was never even…
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Black Minneapoleans are 6 Times More Likely Than Whites to be Choked Unconscious by a Cop. In Other Cities, It's Even Worse
According to the Hennepin County, Minn. criminal complaint, On May 25, Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on George Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds. As Floyd desperately pleaded for his life, Chauvin continued to kneel. Floyd drifted into unconsciousness and Chauvin did not remove his knee for 2 minutes and 53 more…
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Social Studies: Redemption Songs
Until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned, everywhere is war. Until there no longer first class and second class citizens of any nation. Until the color of a man’s skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes, me say war.…
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A Timeline of Events That Led to the 2020 'Fed Up'-rising
Without the proper context, it is impossible to understand the mushroom cloud of uprisings that are exploding across the country in the wake of the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and countless others. To contextualize the anger, frustration and desperation that forced protesters to recreate the lawlessness and chaos that black people…
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The Root's Clapback Mailbag: White People Be Knowing
Thanks, Caucasians! This week’s mailbag was mostly filled with white people offering advice to black people on how to protest, how to respond to white supremacy and how to think in general. Although the unbelievable depth of white people’s brazenry knows no bounds, it’s always enlightening to learn about dealing with oppression from people who…
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Social Studies: I'm Rooting for the 'Thugs'
This is not a riot. Riot: 1a: a violent public disorder, specifically a tumultuous disturbance of the public peace by three or more persons assembled together and acting with a common intent b: public violence, tumult, or disorder A riot is not the language of the unheard. They hear this shit. They have always heard…
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The Angry Black Person's Guide to Protesting Like Good White People
So you’ve experienced injustice and you want to change the system, bring awareness or just express your frustration about an unfair system you’re black and it’s Friday. As someone once said: “To be black in America is to exist in a constant state of…Oh shit! This motherfucker shot a dude right in front of me!”…
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Social Studies: The Language of the Unheard
I like funerals. Of course, I don’t like it when people die. I take the loss of life very seriously. But I like being around black people in their finest clothes. I love pound cake. I love sitting next to cousins who crack jokes while I attempt to stifle giggles. I like church choirs and…
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The Karenavirus Pandemic: The Diagnosis, Treatment and Causes of KAVID-19
In late 2019, after drinking a farm-fresh, free-range, organic kale smoothie latte from a quaint farmers market in a newly-gentrified section of Brooklyn, Karen Rebecca Kaleighanne Ashley Thompson noticed that she had lost her sense of taste and smell. She sniffed two Gwyneth Paltrow vagina-scented candles to no avail. She tried tasting chicken seasoned with…
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Social Studies: If #AllLivesMatter…
#AllLivesMatter is trending on Twitter. The Root created this daily column as a space to curate and catalog blackness on social media. Sometimes it’s cool. Sometimes it’s funny. Today it is neither. The internet is a white space. Like America, social media reflects the thoughts, narratives and positions of a majority. Like America, black culture…
