Inside the Explosive Delineation Debate Picking Apart Black Folk’s Identity, History, and Who ‘Belongs’
The Root’s Ultimate Guide to Holiday Dos and Don’ts!
Forget What JD Vance Said — Here are 13 Times White Folks Never Apologized For Bad Behavior
NFL Might Tax Steelers’ DK Metcalf’s This Eye-Watering Sum For His Sideline Move
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Rutgers Women’s Basketball Coach Offers Condolences to Family of Don Imus, Who Infamously Referred to Team as 'Nappy Headed Hos'
We are such a forgiving people, aren’t we? Rutgers women’s basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer offered her condolences to the family of late radio shock jock Don Imus, who infamously called her Scarlet Knights team “nappy-headed hos” during a broadcast in 2007. On Tuesday, the longtime coach read from a prepared statement at a postgame…
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Meet Danielle Outlaw, Philadelphia’s First Black Female Commissioner
The City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection has finally appointed a sister to run the show—and she plans to bring some real law and order to the police department. Danielle Outlaw is Philadelphia’s first African-American female police commissioner. The 45-year-old Oakland, Calif. native is a Pepperdine University alum and law enforcement veteran with more…
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Free Cyntoia: It Was Her Faith That Made It So, Long Before She Left Prison
It is most appropriate that we open on this Sunday morning—it’s Wednesday afternoon, you say? Oh. Excuse me, er, that we open on today, in the Christian tradition, with this quote from the King James Version of the Bible: “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed…nothing shall be impossible unto you.” As…
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Dolphins' Cornerback Xavien Howard Arrested for Domestic Battery
Xavien Howard, a cornerback for the Miami Dolphins, was arrested late Sunday night on domestic battery charges. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that according to police, Howard and his fiancee engaged in a verbal argument over a purse Howard purchased that she was not aware of. The argument turned physical when he grabbed both her…
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There Was but One Creative Gawd Who Smote All Others in 2019. Mr. Billy Porter Is Kuumba Personified
If there’s one thing black folk are, it’s creative. Whether through necessity or just burned into our melanin-ness, we make sumptuous meals from scraps, our bodies defy gravity when we dance; and we have reimagined fashion, hair, sport, ways of looking at the world, and even naming our children in our burnished image (even if…
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In Memoriam: Honoring Those We Lost in 2019
The year 2019 took us on a rollercoaster ride of emotions: It began with the swearing-in of the most diverse Congress in U.S. history and culminated with the impeachment of the president. In between, we witnessed rap going country with Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road”; Lizzo blowing up big with performances at the BET…
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In What Should Come as a Surprise to No One, LeBron James Named Associated Press Male Athlete of the Decade
Over the course of the last decade, all LeBron James has done is collect three NBA championship trophies, been named Most Valuable Player the same amount of times (bring his total to four), and lead the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Miami Heat, and—barring a catastrophic collapse this season—the Los Angeles Lakers to the playoffs. He’s been…
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Resist! Maxine Waters Stayed True to Her Purpose of Impeaching the Orange Menace
On this fifth day of Kwanzaa, we celebrate Nia, which means purpose, and also surges in popularity as a name every time Nia Long releases a film. “Imani” is the only other principle that even comes close, according to research from the Love Jones Institute for Boyz in the Hood. My aunt Kujchagulia Ujima Jenkins…
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Ujamaa That! Annual Kwanzaa Crawl Brings $250,000 to Black Businesses in Gentrifying Harlem and Brooklyn
Even us anti-capitalists recognize that economic freedom is power in the good ole US of A. And as it relates to Kwanzaa, on this fourth day, we celebrate Ujamaa (ooh-jaa-mah), meaning cooperative economics and also, “shared wealth and work”, “economic self-reliance” and “obligation of generosity.” Last year, we feted Richelieu Dennis, and in 2017, it…
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Randall Woodfin’s #BirminghamPromise Embodies Ujima, or Collective Work and Responsibility
On today, the third day of Kwanzaa, we celebrate the principle Ujima, or collective work and responsibility. Last year, those who embodied Ujima were the founders of GirlTrek, Vanessa Garrison and Morgan Dixon; in 2017, it was Patrisse Marie Cullors. This year, the honor goes to Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, who promised that starting in…