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  • A Black Man’s Coming of Age in the Age of Obama

    In the title of his first book, Invisible Man, Got the Whole World Watching: A Young Black Man’s Education, The Nation contributing writer Mychal Denzel Smith calls to mind three works: Ralph Ellison’s classic Invisible Man, Mos Def’s “Hip-Hop” and Lauryn Hill’s seminal album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. With the eloquence and beauty of…

    By

    Hope Wabuke

    Published

  • Marion Christopher Barry Overdosed After Smoking K2. Here Is What We Know About the Drug

    On Sunday, Marion Christopher Barry, son of the late Washington, D.C., political giant Marion Barry, died of a drug overdose. According to reports, the younger Barry was in a Southeast D.C. apartment drinking and smoking K2, a now banned synthetic marijuana that not only used to be legal but was also sold in just about…

    By

    Stephen A. Crockett Jr.

    Published

  • When Black Lives Don't Matter to Black Athletes

    There is a specific moment in my sportswriting career that haunts me with the slow-burning intensity of a friend’s betrayal: I was interviewing a black professional athlete for a profile over which he and his handlers had fairly tight control. At some point during what had been a casual, fluffy and pedestrian back-and-forth, I asked…

    By

    The Root Staff

    Published

  • How My Story on Black Students Surviving PWIs Led to Death Threats

    I was finishing an essay when I got the death threat. I usually ignore calls that are blocked or from unlisted numbers, but for some reason, I was feeling adventurous that day. “You’re trying to start a race war with your articles, Larry,” said the voice on the other end of the line. “You won’t…

    By

    Lawrence Ware

    Published

  • Om Space: 1 Man’s Mission to Heal His Community Through Yoga

    Imagine a small, sustainable farm in western Maryland, a safe space where black men come together to heal and connect with themselves. They are trained to become certified yoga instructors and are educated and empowered to go out and use what they have learned about the practice of yoga to change and empower their own…

    By

    Breanna Edwards

    Published

  • Why the Black Lives Matter Movement Has to Take on Charter Schools

    Black school systems are treated like black men and women in America. Urban schools are broken up, experimented on and policed in efforts to improve them. The reformers expect students, teachers and parents to be grateful and accept test-score growth in return, just as black communities were expected to be grateful when crime dropped even as…

    By

    Andre Perry

    Published

  • #BlackGirlsSwimFast: On Simone Manuel and Swimming to Freedom

    Following their 1-2-3 finish in the 2015 NCAA 100 swimming finals, Mark Anthony Neal tweeted #BlackGirlsSwimFast to celebrate the magnificence of Lia Neal, Simone Manuel and Natalie Hinds. On Thursday night at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, it took 52 seconds for Manuel to swim the fastest. And when she touched first in a…

    By

    The Root Staff

    Published

  • An Ode to Lisa Nicole Carson

    This past Saturday, while I was out of town and couch-crashing, I managed to come across a very interesting show on Centric TV. It was called Being: Lisa Nicole Carson and it chronicled Carson’s rise in the acting game throughout the ’90s up until her sudden disappearance throughout the 2000s and, now, her return. I…

    By

    Joel Philip

    Published

  • 5 Mysteries Surrounding the Life and Death of Dr. Sebi

    What if I told you I had a cure for AIDS? Would you believe me? What about cancer? Or diabetes? There are those who believe that Dr. Sebi, born Alfredo Bowman—a world-renowned vegetarian herbalist, healer, pathologist and biochemist—had the cure for all of them, all the diseases that bring devastation and an altered existence before…

    By

    Stephen A. Crockett Jr.

    Published

  • Ray Rice Isn’t Being Blackballed by the NFL for Domestic Violence. He’s Just Not Good Anymore

    Ray Rice, barring a dramatic set of miraculous circumstances, will never play for the NFL again. I know it. He knows it. Me, you, your mama and your cousin, too, know it. The homegirl from around the way knows it. Bonita Applebum may not know it yet, but she’s about to know it once I…

    By

    Shamira Ibrahim

    Published