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The Root’s Clapback Mailbag: A Good One
Each Friday, for more than two years, The Root has responded to emails and comments from our readers (and some people who obviously don’t read The Root). Not today. Today, there will be just one email and one response. From: TyrusTo: Michael Harriot I read your blog about the jaguar and found it to be…
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Don’t Try This If You’re Black: Court Rules Woman Who Gave Cop the Middle Finger Is Protected by Constitution
Offering a peek into an entirely different justice system and police procedures that black people had no idea existed, a federal court ruled that a law enforcement officer violated a citizen’s constitutional rights by issuing a speeding ticket to a woman because she gave him the middle finger. After hearing the case of Debra Lee…
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Family Claims Bodycam Footage Shows Slain Rapper Was Asleep When Cops Killed Him
After viewing police body camera footage, family members of a rapper who was shot and killed in a California Taco Bell drive-thru say the video shows that six cops opened fire while the man was still asleep. The Guardian reports that the members of 20-year-old Willie McCoy’s family viewed police body camera recordings of the…
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Separate and Unequal: The Real Education Scandal Is America’s Affirmative Action Program for White People
While the conversations surrounding the newly uncovered college cheating scandal have focused on the advantages of the wealthy, the hypocrisy of those who demonize affirmative action, and the outrageous hubris of the elite, there is one indisputable fact that most people have either consciously ignored or overlooked entirely: In America, white people get a better…
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ACLU Sues Philadelphia Courts Over Money Bail Practices
In 2015, Eugene Lee spent three months in jail for a botched armed robbery. While that might not seem like a long time, you should know that Lee was not convicted before being sent to jail. He was also not the gunman in the incident. In fact, the robbery involved a toy gun that someone…
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No, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Didn't Call Ronald Reagan a Racist. But She Should Have
One of my earliest memories in life was the night Ronald Reagan was elected president because it was also the night I prayed harder than I ever have in life. During the presidential campaign of 1980, I distinctly remember being terrified after I heard an adult say: “If Reagan is elected, he will send black…
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An Exclusive Interview With the Jaguar Who ‘Attacked’ a Woman at an Arizona Zoo
After a woman was injured after crossing a barrier to take a selfie with a jaguar at an Arizona zoo, The Root negotiated an exclusive one-on-one interview with the jaguar. Michael Harriot: Hi, how are you? I want to thank you for taking some time out of your schedule to do this interview. What would…
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NY School Holds Mock Slave Auction Selling Black Students to White Kids
After an apparent celebration kicking off the return to 11 White History Months in a row, administrators at an exclusive private school in New York are scrambling to explain reports that a teacher held a series of mock slave auctions in which white students bid on their black classmates. According to WPIX, Rebecca Antinozzi, a…
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The Root’s Clapback Mailbag: Bad Words
Happy Clapback Day! From now on, I will only refer to the day between Thursday and Saturday as “Clapback Day.” I’ve done the etymological research and discovered that the day was named after the Greek god of hot grease, Frysomethis. It’s not that I want to censor or outlaw the old name. But, as a…
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Paul Manafort’s Sentence Proves White Lives Matter
I know black people like Paul Manafort. Like Manafort, Larry Langford, the former mayor of Birmingham, Ala., was essentially jailed for collusion after he directed $7.1 million in county bond business to investment bankers in exchange for $230,000 in cash, a few suits and some jewelry. Like Manafort, Larry Langford was found guilty in a…
