Jay Connor, Author at The Root | Page 85 of 182

Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude

Raptors Exec Masai Ujiri Outed as the Real Racist After White Cop Accuses Him of 'Racial Animus', 'Anti-Law Enforcement Prejudices'

If American history has taught us anything, it’s that Black people are bald-faced liars. We lie about our police interactions, we lie about the existence of white privilege, we lie about our own innocence, we lie about any and everything to do with the irreparable harm that white people have done to us for generations…

By

Jay Connor

Published

September 2, 2020
Naomi Osaka Honors Breonna Taylor With Mask at U.S. Open, Has 6 More Masks Lined Up Because She Ain't Losing Any Time Soon

Just so we’re clear, Naomi Osaka has no intention of losing in the U.S. Open anytime soon. I say that because, on Monday night, she took the court at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York City donning a black face mask with Breonna Taylor’s name on it. She then proceeded to stomp a mudhole in…

By

Jay Connor

Published

September 1, 2020
Baltimore Ravens Apply Pressure, Urge Mitch McConnell to Do His Damn Job by Bringing George Floyd Police Reform Bill to Vote

In the immediate aftermath of the Milwaukee Bucks refusing to take the floor during Game 5 of their NBA playoffs series in response to the police shooting of Jacob Blake, the Baltimore Ravens canceled practice on Friday and issued a statement demanding police reform and addressing systemic oppression in America. “This is bigger than sports,”…

By

Jay Connor

Published

September 1, 2020
Donald Trump Blasts Black Lives Matter as 'Discriminatory,' 'Bad for Black People' Because of Course, He Did

Kids are a lot of work. They get into everything, have limitless curiosity and oftentimes have to be saved from themselves. If it were up to a child, they’d eat ice cream for breakfast, Skittles for lunch and skip dinner entirely to watch reruns of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. They’re well-intended though, so their cuteness might…

By

Jay Connor

Published

September 1, 2020
NBA, NBPA Announce Social Justice Initiatives; NBA Playoffs to Resume on Saturday

It’s official: the NBA playoffs will resume on Saturday. Per ESPN, the league will also work with its players on a number of initiatives centered on social justice, police reform and other important issues impacting our communities. “These commitments follow months of close collaboration around designing a safe and healthy environment to restart the NBA…

By

Jay Connor

Published

August 28, 2020
Twitter Sets Former NFL Star Brian Urlacher Straight After He Comes for Jacob Blake

Social media is a graveyard for common sense. It’s also a cesspool of bigotry, fallacies and white supremacist rhetoric that endangers the lives of those we hold dear. In a past life, NFL Hall of Famer Brian Urlacher—which is Wakandan for “this man is about to get dragged”—was a force of nature; a six-foot, six-inch…

By

Jay Connor

Published

August 28, 2020
Mets, Marlins Walk Off the Field After Honoring Jackie Robinson With 42-Second Moment of Silence

On Thursday night, when the Miami Marlins and New York Mets expressed their intention to play, despite plenty of other MLB teams opting to strike in response to the police shooting of Jacob Blake, it raised eyebrows. Then shortly after taking the field, this happened: If you would’ve told me at least four of five…

By

Jay Connor

Published

August 28, 2020
After Bringing the Sports World to a Standstill, NBA Players Agree to Resume Playoffs

After refusing to play, and forcing the entire world to focus its attention on Sunday’s police shooting of Jacob Blake instead, NBA players have reversed course and now agree to resume the NBA playoffs. On Wednesday, The Root reported that something unprecedented occurred: fed up with the mistreatment of Black people in America, the Milwaukee…

By

Jay Connor

Published

August 27, 2020
Jermaine Dupri, Bakari Sellers Strive to Engage Black Male Voters With Shop Talk

It’s a simple equation that becomes more and more urgent by the day: Black women notoriously hold it down in elections, but if Joe Biden is going to emerge triumphant in November, he’s gonna need Black men to show up and show out at the polls—the same way we did for Barak Obama in 2008…

By

Jay Connor

Published

August 27, 2020
Because Police Refuse to Stop Shooting Unarmed Black People, We Now Live In a World Without Professional Sports

I had no intention of watching the game. As a lifelong fan of the Orlando Magic—I still have nightmares of my Dad chasing me around the house with a broom after we got swept in the 1995 NBA Finals—I wanted no parts of the inevitable coup de grâce that would be Wednesday’s Game 5 against…

By

Jay Connor

Published

August 27, 2020

Menace to supremacy. Senior Edior at The Root. Consultant and friendly neighborhood NDA signee elsewhere else. Impatiently waiting for y’all to stop putting sugar in grits.