culture
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Underground: A Stellar Slave Tale Even if You’re Slaved Out
Whenever I hear skinfolk exclaim that they are exhausted by slave-related stories, my immediate reaction traditionally is to extend to them the invitation to shut their black asses up. About a year ago, though, I inadvertently behaved like the kind of people I have written about. The kind who more or less profess to be…
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Being Mary Jane Recap: The Ex Marks the Spot
When cold-as-freezer-burn Justin becomes the supporter and Lee, the suave, endearing boyfriend, becomes the overly aloof one in one breath while we are being set up for a very obvious and cliché storyline in another, this was one of the more entertaining episodes of this season. I’ll put my dismay at the prospect of Justin…
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The Women of The Root Are on Strike Today
Abolitionist and women’s rights activist Sojourner Truth is famously attributed with asking, “Ain’t I a woman?” Her extemporaneous speech about the nature of womanhood was edited, adjusted and remixed to fit the sensibilities of the white progressives of the time, i.e., abolitionists and suffragettes. Meaning, while Truth was from the Northeast and spoke Dutch as…
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Sorry, Oprah, You Might Be Too Late
Last week, Oprah Winfrey seemingly contemplated a run for the White House in 2020. When asked if she’d considered entering that race, she responded that the 2016 presidential election had dismissed her previous concerns that she might not be qualified enough for the job. In other words: If Donald Trump can do it, so can…
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Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta Is Back: Kirk Is a Nasty Thot and Folks Can’t Keep Out of Joseline’s Womb
Midway through the last season of Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta, I started to hear Beyoncé’s voice: “I’m through with it/Through with it (love)/I’m finally giving it up.” While I love my Negro telenovelas, the previous season was not up to par. It had a bunch of new folks whose problems I didn’t care about,…
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Exclusive: Preview Netflix’s Burning Sands Movie, an Exploration of Pledging and Hazing
There is a certain unspoken etiquette to which members of all families must agree. Whether they are blood relatives, football teammates or sorority sisters, they all understand the unwritten rule that applies to these bonds: Don’t put our business in the streets. Before Netflix has even released its newest movie focusing on a black fraternity…
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Watch: SNL’s Skit About Drugs That Sound Like Black Names Is Just Dumb, Racist Trash
Academy Award winner Octavia Spencer made her debut as host of Saturday Night Live last night. I’ll confess I missed it because I had better things to do on a Saturday night. But then this dumb-ass skit of Spencer playing a woman who’s suing a drug company because they stole the names of her family…
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Get Out Proves That ‘Nice Racism’ and White Liberalism Are Never to Be Trusted
Editor’s note: This article contains major spoilers about the plot of Get Out. Last year was a difficult time for many black people in America. We saw now-President Donald Trump making his way to executive power through sheer racist, sexist vitriol. We witnessed the continued state of institutional violence against black bodies, such as those…
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Unique Views, Episode 33: Black Don’t Crack, Featuring Vanessa Bell Calloway
Whenever Patti LaDanielle (aka The Root’s social-content producer, and our podcast co-host, Danielle Young) and I talk hip-hop—like, real hip-hop—I have a tendency to throw on my hip-hop voice, which includes a faux New York accent and a whole lot of “yos” and “sons” and “gods.” It happened this past episode because Ms. Patti Patti…