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Detroit Figures Out How to Charge Poor People for the Right to Not Die From Coronavirus
If you had one shot, one opportunity to help someone, would you capture it or would you let them die of thirst? His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy. There’s vomit on his sweater already, mom’s spaghetti…Hopefully, it’s not the coronavirus. Because if you live in Detroit, you might not be able to…
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Ruling Allows Lamonte McIntyre Lawsuit to Move Forward in the Craziest Police Corruption Case Ever
A federal court has refused the defendant’s request to dismiss Lamonte McIntyre’s claims against a Kansas City, Kan., police officer who allegedly sexually assaulted his mother and the Kansas county that wrongfully convicted him of a 1994 murder that landed him in prison for 23 years If that first paragraph sounds hyperbolic, then you might…
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Bernie Sanders' Senior Adviser Said Some Very Stupid Things…Like Most of Us
White people are racist, straight people are homophobic, men are sexist and everyone is stupid. Everyone. I firmly believe that most white people have told a racist joke, have laughed at one, or remained silent when one of their friends or family members said something racist. I have often written that people who are silent…
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The Root's Clapback Mailbag: Black-on-Black Clapback
Y’all won. Every week, as I prepare for the Mailbag, there’s always at least one very angry white person asking why I blame racists instead of calling out my own people. So this week, I decided to do that. This week, I decided to highlight anti-black black people who are so enamored with whiteness that…
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The Spectacular Assassination of Nathaniel Woods
Assassinate: 1. to kill someone by sudden or secret attack often for political reasons or to injure or destroy unexpectedly and treacherously. text We can be almost sure that there is someone in America’s past who has been wrongfully executed. The law is not infallible. But Nathaniel Woods’ case is different. The state of Alabama…
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Kim Kardashian Visits Trump to Discuss Criminal Justice Reform That Isn't Really Criminal Justice or Reform…or Even Trump’s
Instagram model, activist and almost-lawyer Kim Kardashian, affectionately known as “the Rosa Parks of people who are nothing like Rosa Parks,” visited President Donald Trump on Wednesday to push for further criminal justice reform. Shortly before she was spotted at the White House, Kardashian tweeted: “Today Alice, Crystal, Judith, Tynice and I, along with the…
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An Open Letter to White Liberals Blaming 'Low Information' Black Voters for Not Cleaning Up White Folks' Mess
Dear Sir or White Man, I’m writing this letter, lurking outside the threshold to equality, peering through the same peephole through which we watched you enjoy 401 years of unfettered, glorious freedom while black people presented themselves as a living sacrifice, offering their necks to nooses, their skulls to batons and their children’s bodies to…
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Jackson State Student Manager's Storybook Ending Is as Sweet as His Nickname
Like every sports-loving athlete, I too have dreams of hitting a big shot in a big game while the crowd goes wild. My homeboy Dan-o swears he scored seven touchdowns in a junior high football game. His brother, my best friend, once scored 20 points in a city league game. (His name is James so,…
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There Is No Such Thing as the 'Black Vote'
Once, for about an hour, on a hot day in July 2007, I was not black. This was before people had music on their phones, but I had figured out a way to hook my iPod Shuffle up to my stereo system. After hearing my Uncle Junior play it, I fell in love with James…
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3 Wrongly Convicted Black Men Who Spent 36 Years in Prison Set to Receive $2.9 Million Each
When I was 16, my mother and my next-door neighbor, who we called “Crow,” dropped me off for my first year of college. I thought my mother would be happy that she would no longer have to scream “Did you put the seat down?” when she heard me in our only bathroom, but I was…
