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Anti-Blackness Goes East; China Just Banned ‘Hip-Hop Culture’
It’s clear that anti-blackness is everywhere. From Africans in India who face virulent discrimination to Whitenicious in Nigeria, it is not only Europeans who dismiss blackness as inferior, less than or other. Sometimes it comes from other folks of color, and China just stepped up to show that it, too, has skin in this losing…
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Roe v. Wade 45: My Mother and My Abortion
My mother and I were never close. It’s probably because we’re so alike—stubborn, unyielding and always right. It’s hard to have a healthy relationship with someone with whom you spend most of your time butting heads. There were times in my life when my mother and I went months without speaking, only coming together again…
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Michael Jackson Said It Best, Black People: ‘You Can’t Win’
Sometimes, when I’m feeling a special kind of cynical, I put on Michael Jackson’s “You Can’t Win” from The Wiz and wallow in its bluesy refrain. Being black in the U.S. of A., if you watch the news, or think too hard about the daunting odds of America living up to its promise of parity,…
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Now That You’ve Thought About It, Is It #TeamMonique or All About That #NetflixNChill Life?
Voices seem to be split on Mo’nique and her ask for us to quit Netflix because of what she calls its “gender and color bias.” She made the claim after the company offered her a paltry $500,000 for a comedy special, even though she’s an Oscar-winning actress with more than 18 years in the comedy…
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Descendants of 272 Slaves Sold by Georgetown Say They Want Reparation$$$ Now!
As reported by The Root when the story first broke, the storied academic institution of Georgetown owes its entire existence to the sale of enslaved black men, women and children. In 1838 the sale of these humans by Jesuit priests saved the school from bankruptcy; to this day, it remains a thriving academic institution, thick…
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Former Kentucky Cop Told Recruit to Shoot Black Teens if He Caught Them Smoking Weed
In a case that just bolsters my theory that law enforcement has become a haven for virulent white supremacists, a former Prospect, Ky., assistant police chief told a Louisville Metro Police Department recruit that if he caught juveniles smoking marijuana, he should “shoot them” if they were black. And worse. According to documents released Friday,…
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Viola Davis Slays Her 2018 Women’s March Speech: ‘Nothing and No One Can Be Great Without a Cost’
She came. She roared. She conquered. Actress Viola Davis, who has been thrilling audiences with her passionate, deeply felt words since at least 2017 (or that year she made us all cry at the Oscars), gave no less at the Women’s March 2018 in Los Angeles this past Saturday. Decked out in a leather…
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Lena Waithe Asks Twitter to Weigh In on Netflix’s Step Sisters … and They Tell Her
We here at The Root have already weighed in on Step Sisters, the Netflix movie in which a black woman teaches white coeds how to step, the African-American cultural tradition where one’s body is used as an instrument. Frankly, many were looking at the flick with the side eye because … more cultural appropriation. But…
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Jamaica Declares a State of Emergency After Violence Rocks the Montego Bay Area
Jamaica’s prime minister, Andrew Holness, recently announced a state of emergency for St. James Parish, which includes the tourist hot spot of Montego Bay, amid a sharp increase in violent crime in the area. On Thursday the politician dispatched the military to the area. “I have been advised by the security forces, in writing, that…
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Police Discover Child Pornography on Las Vegas Shooter’s Computer
You may have been wondering, as my colleague, The Root staff writer Monique Judge, recently did, why “Las Vegas shooter” is trending again. It’s because authorities have found a mass of child pornography on his computer, according to authorities. On Oct. 1, 2017, 64-year-old Stephen Paddock acted as a sniper from his hotel room, shooting…
