Clapback/Mailbag
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The Root's Clapback Mailbag: White History Months
Today, as Black History Month dawns upon us, let us not forget to celebrate the mediocre white people who flood our inboxes with caucasoidal ruminations about how wrong we are. Today we honor the factless frat boys. The clueless Caucasians. The stupid Sarahs and airheaded Amys. White mediocrity is the fuel that powers this country…
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The Root's Clapback Mailbag: Richard Petty
Facts are evil. Nothing is as malicious and divisive to white people as when Black people start talking about actual reality. Because of the bulletproof nature of white privilege, they aren’t necessarily hurt by factual information. However, some white people feel attacked when a Black person brings up actual data or historical information. If someone…
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The Root's Clapback Mailbag: Whitenotes
The Clapback Mailbag will often search through the emails, tweets, DMs and comments to find a common theme from our perturbed readers. Sometimes they are upset about one thing. Occasionally, we will receive a spate of responses that all have the same “whataboutism.” But not this week. This week’s letters feature a mishmash of all…
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The Root's Clapback Mailbag: Nobody Knows the Trouble Whites See, Nobody Knows Their Sorrow
The Clapback Mailbag is a negro spiritual. White people love negro spirituals. They love the pain in the songs and the hope in the lyrics. If you ever want to steal shit from white people, just start singing a nineteenth-century slave song and I guarantee you they will close their eyes, lean back and enter…
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The Root's Clapback Mailbag: The Unreasonable Black Man
I believe most people are reasonable. In fact, there is an objective legal test called the “reasonable man” theory. Basically, when a judge or jury is trying to determine whether or not someone is guilty of a crime—especially negligence—the judge or jury must ask themselves if a reasonable man would act this way. If the…
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The Root's Clapback Mailbag: Empathy for the Devil
Please allow me to introduce myselfI’m a bag of white hot hateI’ve been around for four long yearsYou can read me every Friday I answer emails, DMs and tweetstrying to help you understand raceAnd when you call me the n-wordI don’t fly into a rage Pleased to meet youCan you guess who I am?Here’s a…
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The Root's Clapback Mailbag: Because They Said So
“Because I said so…” Growing up in predominately Black skin, I heard that phrase a lot. My grandmother, aunts, uncles and friends’ parents used it all the time. But my mother was always careful to never use it. She had this weird thing about wanting us to know why we did things. My grandfather owned…