Social Justice
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California Is Using Slave Labor to Fight the Wildfires
“Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction” — The 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America text Yesterday, I vacuumed the stairs. There was a time…
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Why They Kneel: New York, San Francisco and How To Colonize a City in 5 Easy Steps
To examine the injustice and inequality that prompted some NFL players to protest during the national anthem, each week, for the remainder of the NFL season, The Root will explore the data behind racial disparities in the two cities represented in the National Football League’s premiere matchup—Monday Night Football. Tonight, the New York Giants travel…
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Founder of the First Ever MLK Day Parade Is Laid to Rest
On Saturday, the funeral for civil rights activist Ovide Duncantell was held at Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church in Houston, Texas. He was 82. As the founder of the first ever Martin Luther King, Jr. Parade in the country, as well as Houston’s Black Heritage Society, Duncantell dedicated his life to advocacy and activism within the…
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Floridians May Not Have Elected Andrew Gillum but Did Vote to Restore Voting Rights to Over 1 Million Ex-Felons
Much to our eternal chagrin, Floridians did not elect Andrew Gillum as governor of their deservedly designated simple-minded (and often repressive) state. However, on Election Day, they did vote “yes” on Amendment 4, a citizen-proposed ballot initiative that will enable more than one million ex-felons to regain their voting rights, potentially changing the political landscape…
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Why They Kneel: Cowboys vs. Titans Proves Why Supporting Black Business Is Supporting Black Lives
To examine the injustice and inequality that prompted some NFL players to protest during the national anthem, each week, for the remainder of the NFL season, The Root will explore the data behind racial disparities in the two cities represented in the National Football League’s premiere matchup—Monday Night Football. Tonight, the Tennessee Titans travel to…
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Why They Kneel: Boston, Buffalo and That Pesky N-Word
To examine the injustice and inequality that prompted some NFL players to protest during the national anthem, each week, for the remainder of the NFL season, The Root will explore the data behind racial disparities in the two cities represented in the National Football League’s premiere matchup—Monday Night Football. Tonight, the New England Patriots travel…
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Trump Administration Seeks to Erase the Lives of 1.4 Million Trans Americans Through a Narrow Definition of Gender
Talk about going backward. What began as a trickle, by rolling back hard-won changes the Obama administration put into place for transgender Americans, has turned into a full-out assault, as the Trump administration has proposed to legally define gender as a binary biological absolute determined at birth. This proposal has far-reaching consequences if it comes…
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ACLU Files Lawsuit Against City of Denver for Outrageous Bail Bond Fees
In a righteous blow to the prison industrial complex’s enduring grab for funds from already cash-strapped communities, the American Civil Liberties Union has brought a lawsuit against the city of Denver for what it terms illegal jail bond fees. The lawsuit reportedly began when a Denver man committed a petty crime by breaking a city…
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Cop Who Shot and Killed 12-Year-Old Tamir Rice Withdraws New Police Job Offer
Timothy Loehmann is the man who shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice less than two seconds after arriving on the scene of a Cleveland playground (the police cruiser was still moving). Loehmann is the guy who’d been on the job in the Cleveland PD only eight months before killing Tamir, and who had to leave his previous…
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Why They Kneel: New Orleans and Washington, D.C., Prove Black Cops Can Be Racist
To examine the injustice and inequality that prompted some NFL players to protest during the national anthem, each week for the remainder of the NFL season, The Root will explore the data behind racial disparities in the two cities represented in the National Football League’s premiere matchup—Monday Night Football. Tonight, the Washington Redskins travel to…
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