Remember zines? Okay, maybe we’re dating ourselves, but younger versions of The Root’s Editor-in-Chief Danielle Belton and I (Managing Editor of The Glow Up, Maiysha Kai) were early fans of the format, maybe even producing a few zines of our own. (Okay, that definitely happened). Historically, zines organize various…

“Any man who must say ‘I am the king’ is no true king” - Tywin Lannister

By the time you read this blog, you are probably overcoming the ‘itis—but it’s cool because we don’t have anywhere to go anyway! Sink back, lean into that ‘itis and enjoy your leftovers (they taste better because the seasonings had time to marinate, you know?) Want something to watch while you eat? I got you...

There have been few bright spots to celebrate in 2020—and even those have often been bittersweet. Take, for instance, the unprecedented uptick in interest in Black-owned businesses and creators (something we’ve always been invested in, but we digress) since non-Black America suddenly seemed to wake up to the…

Every once in a while, I think to myself: “You know what? Maybe I use the word “caucasity” too often in my writing.” But every time I have that thought, a fresh white person surfaces and reminds me that it is not me who uses the word too much, it is white people who perpetrate acts of caucasian-flavored audacity too…

It’s easily arguable that American society isn’t very forgiving to people who have committed crimes. For Black people and people of color especially, it often seems like rehabilitation is a concept the criminal justice system accepts in theory—not so much in practice. It’s easily arguable that America is a nation that…

Dallas Cowboys strength and conditioning coach Markus Paul died Wednesday night at the age of 54 after suffering from a medical emergency at the team’s practice facility in Frisco, Texas, on Tuesday.

A former student has sued an Illinois high school, citing multiple racist incidents he experienced and observed during his time at the school.

This holiday season is unlike any that we’ve ever faced.

Last year I spent Thanksgiving with—wait for it—17 people crammed into a two-bedroom, one-bathroom Jersey City apartment where the festivities spanned over the course of two days with enough food for each person to take home a to-go plate and still leave the host enough to last through the next week.

The first Black woman to serve as a U.S. senator, Carol Moseley Braun, has been out of public office for nearly 20 years. But she’s hoping to make a return to government—in President-elect Joe Biden’s cabinet, nonetheless—with an unlikely position: Secretary of the Interior.

“Back the Blue” advocates would have you believe that the “defund the police” rallying cry is a call to end policing in America outright. While there certainly are those who wish to abolish the police, “defund the police” is a call to take some of the funding normally granted to police departments and allocate them to…

We are coming up on Thanksgiving weekend and the streets are buzzing about another Saturday/Sunday namesake—The Weeknd (born Abel Tesfaye).

Okay, okay, okay...we know this is a loaded topic this year, trust. Too many of us will not be partaking in the home cooking of our nearest and dearest this Thanksgiving (and arguably, too many are risking it all by doing exactly that, but that’s another post), and in an already incredibly difficult year, yes, that…

In 2017, 11-year-old Honestie Hodges made national headlines after a horrific confrontation with Grand Rapids, Mich., police, in which they handcuffed the little girl at gunpoint at her home. The incident led to a new policy dictating how the department would interact with minors.

“It could be worse” seems to have overtaken the many versions of “I’m fine” on the list of the most common responses to “How are you doing?” Understandable, considering that we’re in a global pandemic and just responding with “I’m fine” feels both disingenuous and insensitive. But while “It could be worse” is…