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Kwanzaa 101 for the Uninitiated, Self-Conscious, or Confused
Y’all, Kwanzaa is LIT. Seriously. What other uniquely African-American holiday invites you to spend seven days talking about the realest shit? People get so caught up in how it’s a made-up holiday, but come on—a holiday is a group decision. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday as a federal holiday is younger than Kwanzaa. I’m not…
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More to Love? 5 Partners Sound Off on Juicy Pregnancy Sex
This week, after scrolling through my social media feeds following reports that Real Housewives of Atlanta star Porsha Williams’ fiance Dennis McKinley blamed his ongoing infidelity on lack of interest in pregnancy sex, the world seemed to be confessing how gross they felt having sex during pregnancy. With black women already fighting for our lives…
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It’s Time to Fully Welcome LGBTQ Members Into the AME Church
A hand grasped the supplicator’s shoulder and pulled him upright in the middle of his “Our Father.” Absalom Jones, a regular parishioner at St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, along with Richard Allen, prayed at their usual space in the lower pews at St. George’s, but this particular Sunday was different. The leaders at…
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New Kentucky Governor Restores Voting Rights to More Than 100,000 Formerly Incarcerated
Fresh into his new job as governor of Kentucky, Democrat Andy Beshear signed an executive order Thursday to restore voting rights to more than 140,000 formerly incarcerated Kentuckians—a move that inordinately affects voting rights for African Americans in the Bluegrass State. As the Washington Post reports: On its face, Mr. Beshear’s executive order is race-blind.…
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Revolution, Reparations, Revelry: The Root’s Black (AF) Gift Guide 2019
The theme from last year’s Black AF Gift Guide was self-care; in 2017, it was about being woke. This year, we’re talking “Revolution, Reparations, and Revelry,” because we like alliteration, and because these three go together like greens, yams, and ham (turkey ham, if you don’t swill swine. If you don’t eat meat, please pass).…
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Black Friday: A Special Rite of Passage With My Black Family
I’m not always the fondest of turkey, but I always look forward to shopping on Black Friday. Although the day after Thanksgiving is often reduced to “capitalist consumption for the un-woke masses,” it has become a favorite family tradition of time spent with two women I love, my mom and aunt. It always includes a…
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Tina: The Tina Turner Musical Will Surprise You With Its Depth and Move You With Its Songs
It’s always amazed me that some people can watch a concert or musical with no visible emotional response. I always say that it’s cultural—that in the African (American, Caribbean, Latinx, etc.) tradition we “talk back,” “chat back,” “shout back” “sing back”—and though I know different communities have different cultural norms, it is nonetheless jarring to…
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Black Bodies Will Not Be Your Platform, Jameela Jamil
As a black woman, I’m still learning to love my big tits, thick thighs, and heavy hips—but what I do know about my body is that it isn’t the literal or figurative platform for anyone’s agenda but my own. Yesterday morning, I woke up to some essential conversation on Black Twitter about eating disorders and…
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Afro-Brit Kingsley Ben-Adair to Portray Barack Obama in James Comey Miniseries
Looks like a Kingsley is set to play our once and forever KANG, Barack Hussein Obama, in an upcoming miniseries based on James Comey’s tell-all memoir. Deadline reports that director Billy Ray tapped Afro-British actor Kingsley Ben-Adir in the miniseries adaptation of former Comey’s book, Higher Loyalty, in a CBS Studios produced vehicle. In addition…
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Never Forget: 5 Years After His Death, Family, Activists Continue to Build Tamir Rice’s Legacy
The tragedy of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, the young black boy with the cherubic face, will never leave me. We see a lot of extrajudicial abuse and murder here at The Root, but this one is especially long-abiding, given his age, how Tamir and his sister were treated after he was shot, and, of course, the…
