culture
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5 Reasons I Really Wanted Justin Bieber to Get His Ass Kicked
I don’t listen to the Biebs. He’s not my age group and I’m not his target audience, so therefore our paths have never crossed. But I totally get him as an archetype. He’s the newest white guy doing all the black-guy stuff. You know: the black-guy dancing, the black-vibrato singing, the black-guy swag. I get…
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Don’t Ignore That Dull Pain. It Could Be Deadly if It’s a Blood Clot
What begins for hundreds of thousands of Americans as a dull pain in a leg can turn into a life-threatening episode that all too often baffles even their doctors. A blood clot that starts in an extremity may be small, but if it breaks off and travels to your lungs or heart, it can kill…
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Watch: Studio Sessions at The Root Featuring Abiah
Abiah is a seasoned artist and a self-proclaimed vocal beast. With his five-and-a-half-octave range (the artist’s voice could practically shatter glass) and pitch-perfect tone, we think he’s worthy of the title. Abiah and his band took to the Studio Sessions stage to serenade all who would listen with two songs from his album Bottles: “Little…
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‘Project Pat’ Buchanan Really Needs to Stop It With This ‘Death of the White Middle Class’ Nonsense
When it comes to the subgenre of punditry best described as “crotchety, delusional conservative white man,” Pat Buchanan has long been its shining star. To Buchanan’s credit, he’s been consistently curmudgeonly about America’s shifting demographics for decades. In 1992 Buchanan infamously spoke of a “culture war” plaguing the United States during a speech at that…
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3 Reasons Why Folks Tried to Take Away My Black Card and 1 Reason They’ll Never Get It
It’s usually threatened whenever there is a cultural milestone that you’ve failed to accomplish. Perhaps you’ve never seen the original Roots or have not fully memorized the entire catalog of Luther Vandross. When those around you discover this lapse in your black cultural conditioning, the threat is issued: “We’re going to revoke your black card.”…
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They’re Called ‘Microaggressions’ but There’s Nothing Small About Them
For 11 months I regretted that I had not glared at my white therapist and said, “You are dead to me. You are not the person I thought you were. You never knew me. You only saw the stereotype.” For 18 years he had been my favorite doctor, yet I stayed away. Previously, I would…
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Hip-Hop Has a Woman Problem
Let’s go down memory lane for a bit. Twenty-eight years ago marked the release of MC Lyte’s seminal debut album, Lyte as a Rock. It was hip-hop’s first meaningful album from a female emcee. Twenty years ago marked the release of Bahamadia’s Kollage, the best hip-hop album ever from a female rapper. With the help…
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Allen Iverson Turned 41 This Year … and 25 Other Reasons Why I Feel Old Right Now
While I’ve been watching the Cavs play the Warriors during the NBA Finals, it’s been hard for me to look at Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue and take him seriously. Not because his team has been getting mollywhopped by Golden State in the first two outings. No, it’s because he will always be the guy Allen…
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Naomi Campbell and the ‘Twice as Good’ as White People Myth
Recently, for The Guardian, Naomi Campbell shared an excerpt from a limited edition, two-volume book that chronicles her life as a groundbreaking and highly successful supermodel and all of the opportunities stemming from that. Yet for all that is shared in the excerpt—her as a supermodel, her speaking with world leaders as a contributing editor…
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An Unofficial Guide to Ramadan for Trump Voters or the Uninitiated Negro
As of June 6, the holy month of Ramadan has started for much of the Muslim population—which, despite all statements by Donald Trump and his ilk, is not exclusively made up of bomb-toting Arabs in menacing turbans. This demographic includes Asians (fun fact—Indonesia contains the largest Muslim population in the world), Caucasians, the man who…