Opinion
-
Joe Biden Just Proved Why He Must Have a Black Woman as VP
Joe Biden is a white man in America. White people are proud of the genocide of the indigenous people they called “savages” because the Native American holocaust was their “manifest destiny.” They have no trouble calling themselves the “founding fathers” of an economic superpower fueled by the bloody brows and calloused hands of enslaved Africans…
-
Auntie Unfiltered: My Mother-In-Law Won't Eat My Cooking
I am not now nor have I ever been married. It just never happened. Don’t worry; your auntie has not been over here suffering in lonely spinsterdom, and to be clear, I love being boo’d up; I just don’t want be tied down. I do have friends and cousins who are either still married now…
-
The Root's Clapback Mailbag: Old Whites' Tales
I’m not religious, and I know that thunder and lightning are caused by electrostatic charges superheating the air, producing a rapid atmospheric expansion that causes a sonic boom. I don’t think my hallucinations during REM sleep give me information about fertility, nor do I believe stop signs and telephone poles determine my future. I’ve done…
-
KKK Hoods Are Apparently the New COVID-19 Fashion Statement
Police in Colorado are seeking the public’s help to identify a man who went grocery shopping while wearing a Ku Klux Klan hood this weekend, though a similar case in San Diego recently ended with the police throwing up their hands and going, “This is America.” Some white people have used their privilege to respond…
-
The Root's Clapback Mailbag: True or False Equivalency
“If a white person said that…” “What about…” “The Bible says…” Those three introductory phrases are staples in the language used by trolls. But, while some people immediately tune out everything that follows, we at The Root have an obligation to respond to these false equivalencies. We even built a system for it. All during…
-
Auntie Unfiltered: Friendship, Favors, and Why Molly And Issa Are Trash
Have you been watching this season of Insecure? If you haven’t but you plan to, stop right here, because I am about to spoil it for you. If you don’t care, then keep reading. This week on Auntie Unfiltered, I discuss friendship—specifically communication in friendships. If your friendships (or any other relationship for that matter)…
-
I'm Finally Good Enough to Die
I wasn’t always this guy. I wasn’t always a married father who lives in a nice community. I wasn’t always a writer. When I was 16, my dad sat me down and had a very real conversation with me. He told me that he’d given up, that he wasn’t going to hit me anymore for…
-
The 19 Things I Cooked in Self-Isolation and What They Say About My Mental State
“I’ll do something that makes me happy.” That’s how I justified that red velvet cake I made that I didn’t even bother to put icing on, as I was so happy to eat it just plain. Greedily, like a little kid. But it was a large and I had to eventually slice it up and…
-
Auntie Unfiltered: White People Using Black and Brown Emojis
As my granny used to say, “We can’t have shit to ourselves.” White people using black and brown emojis has been a thing for a while now, and one lady wrote me an email asking me to address why that practice should be seen as wrong. In this episode of Auntie Unfiltered, I discuss the…
-
Ain't Nowhere to Run: An Open Letter to Ahmaud Arbery
Although Michael Harriot is on vacation this week, he still agreed to write our weekly Clapback Mailbag. However, instead of responding to trolls, haters, disgruntled readers and anyone who has a question about the content on The Root, Michael submitted this open letter to Ahmaud Arbery. Dear Mr. Arbery, Do not rest in peace. Haunt…