It’s Lit
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'Hey, Democrats, Pay Attention!' The Root Presents: It's Lit! Talks The End of White Politics With Zerlina Maxwell
On-screen, on the air, and now, on the page, Zerlina Maxwell is a force. Having held positions on both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton’s campaigns, an activist on issues of race, gender and sexual violence, as well as years in the game as a commentator for the likes of CNN, MSNBC, and now as host…
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PageTurners: Black Magic, in This World and Others
Magic. What is it exactly? Some will debate wholeheartedly that the confines of magic exist in fantasy novels and movies and television shows—you know, fictionally. I’m not going to lie; I agree with this, but I think it’s deeper. I think magic can exist within a very real world and still have all the impact,…
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Anti-Racism Titles Are All Over the List of 10 Most Challenged Books in 2020
While 2020 marked an inflection point in the nation’s awareness of issues of racial injustice, it also quickly ushered in heaps of backlash against anything to do with acknowledging the pervasiveness of racism in America. Critical race theory, the New York Times’ 1619 Project, the phrase Black Lives Matter and anti-racism training have all been…
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'Cosmology Is Black—It’s Blackity-Black': The Root Presents: It's Lit! Explores The Disordered Cosmos With Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
Real talk? The Root’s Editor-in-Chief Danielle Belton and I consider ourselves to be pretty smart people—but scientifically minded, we are not. So when we received a pitch to review and speak with cosmologist Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein on her first book, The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred, we were both…
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PageTurners: The Lyrical, the Literal and the Literary Worlds of Black Performance
Performance occurs in a myriad of ways, from spoken and written poetry to taking the stage, to playing a game of spades. In fictional universes, particularly in fantastical worlds, a character’s performance can range from their abilities to their descriptions. This week, the intricate tapestry of Black performance is explored through many different lenses in…
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'She's a Kiki and a Good Time': The Root Presents: It's Lit! Studies the Book of Bevelations With Bevy Smith
When’s the last time you had a good kiki? With our social lives deeply lacking during quarantine, many of us have turned our focus inward—which proved the perfect time to indulge in some Bevelations with radio host, veteran strategist, media personality, and guaranteed good time, Bevy Smith. As Smith, a close friend of The Root’s…
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PageTurners: Fighting With Fact and Fiction
It seems as though authors this week are gearing us up for some sort of fight. Whether it be of the fictional kind or a nonfiction account of something or someone who inspires us to be or do better, these authors are coming in hot, armed with books that will leave you saying, “Fuck yeah,…
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Voices of Harlem: Jermaine Dupri Joins Rémy Martin and the Harlem Writers Guild on a Poetry-Inspired Collaboration
The relationship between poetry and music is intrinsic. While all music isn’t lyrical and poetry isn’t musical, it’s difficult to imagine one without the other—and impossible to imagine Harlem without either. The New York City neighborhood that was home to an iconic “Renaissance” still reverberates throughout our culture today as a mecca for Black ingenuity,…
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'I’m Just Like a Kid in It Myself': The Root Presents: It's Lit! Explores a Fresh New Chapter With Karyn Parsons
Now, this is a story all about how one life got flipped, turned upside down…life after The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, that is. For many of us, Karyn Parsons is best known as the fresh princess of the beloved hit show, playing Will Smith’s uber-fashionable yet often air-headed cousin, Hilary Banks. In life, she is anything…
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PageTurners: Finding Historical Perspective In Literary Work
Here’s my take: books that are about history—fiction or nonfiction—guide us in the decisions we make about setting and breaking boundaries. Reading fictional works that feature an inspiring hero or heroine doing something extreme or overcoming a major obstacle can be very influential when it comes to making difficult decisions of our own. Reading a…