clapbacks
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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…
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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…
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The Root's Clapback Mailbag: Black People Are Stupid
I want to be wrong. Every week, when the staff at The Root begins scouring our various inboxes for the weekly clapback mailbag, I keep hoping that one of us will discover an email, tweet, DM or comments from someone who can articulately explain why racism is dead. Just once, I’d love to hear someone…
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The Root's Clapback Mailbag: Can't Knock the (Race) Hustle
“You Can’t Knock the Race Hustle” A Clapback Mailbag original song I’m making short term goals for when coronavirus foldsSo I can put away the masks and wear regular clothes.Chilly, with enough hate mail to make ‘em look sillyIt’s only Wednesday and White Twitter sincerely wants to kill me.They read The Root and wanna feud…
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The Root's Clapback Mailbag: Not-So-Black Twitter
I love white Twitter. Twitter offers a unique opportunity to those of us who never had the chance to bask in the glow of whiteness. Because of social media, we can get an up-close look at Karen-related outrage, Caucasian fragility and — the best of all — white tears. And sometimes, they clap back.So today’s…
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The Root's Clapback Mailbag: The Gray Area
If you are a regular reader of The Root (or any of the G/O Media sites), then you might be familiar with the ghetto section of our sites that we term “The Grays.” The Grays is the area containing comments that are “pending approval” and appear as grayed out, unlike the good, white comments. I…
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The Root's Clapback Mailbag: Coronavirus Is Racism
No, hear me out… Like COVID-19, there’s always one person who understands the danger of racism while wholeheartedly believing, “Everyone else might get it, but not me. I’m immune.”Like this letter: From: JakkiTo: Michael Harriot Michael…I hope you’ll read this for a second. There are a lot of white folks that aren’t actually “white” Jewish…
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The Root's Clapback Mailbag: What Is We Doing?
Today’s mailbag is dedicated to the people who are laughed at, made fun of and dismissed as a joke. Every day, the entire staff at The Root engages in a brutal act of bullying against certain members of our team. It’s becoming institutional and I’m tired of it. Whenever any person suggests that we cover…
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The Root's Clapback Mailbag: The Caucasian Virus
In light of this global pandemic, we’ve decided to come forward and admit that our claim that we respond to our readers’ correspondences each Friday may not be 100 percent accurate. After carefully contemplating this issue, we must admit that we have led you to believe a lie. For the sake of transparency, you should…
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The Root's Clapback Mailbag: Flashback to the Future
Each week, as I read the emails, tweets, DMs and comments for Friday’s Clapback Mailbag, I find something that makes me think: “This person is gonna look really stupid in the flashback.” Wait, you don’t think about your future flashbacks? I live my life as if I were a hero in a movie. In every…