-
Like Whiteness for Chocolate: Teacher Suspended for Dressing Up as Rapper Common, Complete With Blackface
Just when you thought blackface had been relegated to old college yearbooks, a California teacher provided the latest proof of white superiority—at least in the field of “trying it”—after he wore blackface in the classroom to buttress the bona fides of his Halloween costume. On Oct. 31, Milpitas High School teacher David Carter decided to…
-
Someone Came Up With a Pretty Simple Way to Breach Trump’s ‘Impenetrable’ Border Wall
Less than two months after Donald Trump hailed his dumb border wall as a “virtually impenetrable” barrier that couldn’t be breached by “world-class climbers,” officials report that industrious border-crossers have figured out a clever way to bypass the wall: A saw and a ladder. The Washington Post reports that people whose level of genius appears…
-
SC Investigating Emanuel AME for Mishandling Charleston Church Massacre Donations
South Carolina’s statewide investigative agency is looking into one of America’s oldest black churches after a former employee raised questions about donations to the victims of a racial terrorist attack. On June 17, 2015, Dylann Roof walked into Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., and opened fire during a Bible study session, killing South Carolina…
-
The Root’s Clapback Mailbag: Smile, Bih.
It has been a tough week here at The Root and all of G/O Media. First of all, I discovered that many of my co-workers here are fans of candy corn and putting sugar on their grits (which is kind of the same thing because sugar grits are technically candy corn). Later in the week,…
-
ACLU Files Suit Against South Carolina's Wealth-Based Driver's License Suspensions
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles’ policy of automatically suspending the driver’s licenses of people unable to pay traffic tickets, a policy which disproportionately affects poor and nonwhite people. Along with the ACLU of South Carolina, Terrell Marshall Law Group PLLC, the Southern…
-
Comparing the 2020 Presidential ‘Candydates’ to Halloween Treats
It’s Halloween so we thought we’d do something fun. But then, Editor-in-Chief Danielle Belton strictly forbade me from dressing as Megan Thee Stallion and having a twerk-off against Monique Judge who, of course, dressed as Cardi B. Once that was out of the question, we decided to compare each one of the presidential candidates to…
-
A Nazi Flag Was Hanging in a California Corrections Office, Which Totally Makes Sense
California officials said parole officers were using a banner symbolizing hate, racism and white supremacy for “training purposes,” after a keen-eyed citizen noticed a large Nazi flag hanging in an office at the California Department of Corrections. Seems legit. You gotta train employees because most people don’t quite know what a swastika looks like until…
-
When NY Ended Money Bail, a Prosecutor Trained DAs to Keep People in Jail
As New York joined a handful of other states in passing sweeping criminal justice reforms, one of the state’s top prosecutors helped attorneys and legislators find loopholes to subvert laws intended to end money bail and guarantee speedy trials. In April, New York Democrats, who controlled the governorship and both legislative branches, passed measures that…
-
Praise Be: A Black Woman Just Stopped Alabama’s Abortion Ban
A black U.S. District Court judge issued a temporary injunction on Alabama’s restrictive abortion law that stripped women of their reproductive rights. The law was set to go into effect on Nov. 15 until a black woman forced the state to pump its brakes. The Robinson v. Marshall ruling—named for the plaintiff, Dr. Yashica Robinson,…
-
#WorkingOutWhileBlack: Alabama Cops Kill Man in Front of Wife and Daughter After Someone Calls Cops on Them for Not Committing a Crime
Five Alabama police officers are on leave and one man is dead after the deceased man’s family reportedly witnessed cops shoot him at a local gym. AL.com reports that two police officers shot and killed 39-year-old Dana Sherrod Fletcher outside of Planet Fitness in Madison, Ala., around 4:30 p.m. on Sunday. Police say they shot…
