Opinion
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Joe Biden Doesn’t Deserve Black People
My fiancée and I have developed somewhat of a routine for the Democratic presidential debates. We make dinner, mix a drink, sit in the living room, and she falls asleep as we watch the candidates try to sell us. When she wakes up, she asks me to give her a synopsis of what she missed…
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The Root’s Clapback Mailbag: A Salute to the ‘Good Ones’
For too long, the writers at The Root have ignored the plight of those whose labor goes unrecognized and unheralded. In our fight for equality and justice, we have forgotten one outstanding group of Americans who are willing to lay their lives on the line. But that ends today. Today’s Clapback Mailbag is dedicated to…
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Maybe Meghan Markle Was Just Tired of Eating Baked Beans and Eggs on Toast for Breakfast
Any list of the pleasant surprises from the months of book-related touring, talks, events, and appearances in 2019 would include the week I spent in London in May. It was my first time in England—a place I never had any desire to visit. (I’ve seen Closer seven times, which I figured was enough London for…
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The Root's Clapback Mailbag: Based on an Almost True Story
Happy New Year! In 2020, we will be doing something different with the mailbag. Don’t worry: the mailbag will still come every Friday. We’ll still answer a selection of emails, tweets, DMs and comments from our readers. We will continue to fuel the mailbag with white tears. But this year, we’re also going to respond…
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An Open Letter to All the Disrespectful Negroes Who Went to Ghana and Ditched Us in Triflin'-Ass America
Firstly, I hate each and every one of you. Secondly, I’m not even sure if “firstly” is a word—it felt awkward in my mouth, like peanut butter on potato chips—but it fits with what I’m saying, so it will be today. But thirdly (and most importantly), why did you do this to us? Of course, “us”…
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The Root’s Clapback Mailbag: Keep That Same Energy, Wypipo
For the last mailbag of 2019, we chose an email, a tweet, a DM and a comment that all ask the same question: Why are we so racist? How can we use the slur “wypipo” while condemning their use of the n-word? How can we make jokes about our Caucasian constituency? Wouldn’t we call them…
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In the Age of Trump…the Future Is Cloudy
In the Age of Trump, you can’t help be pessimistic about the future. There’s something nasty about this new age. A nastiness—even when we kick that cheating bastard out of office—that will cling to us black folks like a sweaty, funky shirt. Trump’s racism, xenophobia, and general stupidity are leaking into the genius of Blackness.…
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Kwanzaa Is Dame Dash to Jay-Z’s Christmas
There was a time back when Kwanzaa and Christmas were cruising on a yacht popping Cristal and truly Big Pimpin’. Then there was a feud, something about Christmas cozying up with Lyor Cohen or Kwanzaa promoting Cam’ron to the president of Holiday Records, and Christmas bounced, went on to marry Beyoncé and partnered with the NFL.…
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Christmas Vs. Kwanzaa: The Tale of the Tape
I was raised in a fundamentalist church that believed in the seventh-day Sabbath, tambourines and neverending, four-nights-a-week services that lasted well into Arsenio Hall’s opening monologue. Apparently, God’s eternal kingdom specifically forbade rap music, brazen women who had premarital sex (if you were a man it wasn’t ok but it didn’t decrease your value) and…