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  • I Reconnected to My Father, Only to Disconnect From Him Again

    My father has never really been a major part of my life. Not having a father around was pretty much a normal thing throughout my childhood. My birth mother passed away from breast cancer when I was 3 years old, which left my brother and sister and me to be raised by family. My aunt…

    By

    Danielle Young

    Published

  • Whiteness Is a Superpower

    All superheroes are white. Superman is white. Spider-Man is white. Batman is white. Wonder Woman is white. But I’ve never wanted to be white. For a lactose-intolerant person like me, whiteness is like cheeseburgers, tacos and vanilla ice cream: I recognize that the world considers them to be appealing and delicious, but they have made…

    By

    Michael Harriot

    Published

  • ‘It Gets Better’: The Lie We Tell LGBTQ Youths

    Editor’s note: For Pride Month, The Root and Jezebel are teaming up once again for JezeRoot, with content by writers of color around everyday life for LGBTQ individuals. Recently, I went to an LGBTQ “It Gets Better” panel at a comic convention. The panelists, one of whom is a good friend, talked about how things…

    By

    S. D. Chrismon

    Published

  • School Board Member Blames Her Racist Facebook Posts on Michelle Obama, NFL Protesters

    After being called out for a collection of racist social media posts echoing the sentiments of noted Twitter political pundit Roseanne Barr, a board member of Alabama’s second-largest school district passionately explained herself by citing Michelle Obama’s unpatriotic hate for America and kneeling NFL players’ insistence on disrespecting the troops. Donna Pike, a member of…

    By

    Michael Harriot

    Published

  • Black Women Will Save Us, but Who Will Save Black Women?

    During the Alabama special election between Roy Moore, a man with a history of predatory behavior toward teen girls, and now-Sen. Doug Jones, we heard again what has become a mantra for progressives: “Black women will save us.” Black women turn out at incredibly high and reliable voting rates, something that institutions like the Democratic…

    By

    Genetta M. Adams

    Published

  • Slaves, Dinosaurs and White Jesus, Oh My! How Taxpayers Fund Crazy Christian Conservative Education

    Slaves who accepted Jesus into their hearts were better off than the ones who held on to African religions. Black people were pretty happy under Jim Crow until Northerners messed everything up. Noah brought dinosaurs onto his ark and Africans had dinosaur puppies, but the Nazis don’t want you to know that. These are not…

    By

    Michael Harriot

    Published

  • A Hero’s Journey: Father Comes Home From the Wars Is a Reckoning with American History

    A war. A hero. A conflict. A journey. These are the components of any timeless tale, dating as far back as the ancient Greeks. In fact, they are the prototypical “hero’s journey,” as epitomized by the second-oldest known Western text in history, well-known to many high school and college literature students as Homer’s The Odyssey.…

    By

    Maiysha Kai

    Published

  • There Goes the Neighborhood: How Food Helps Drive Gentrification

    Lezli Levene Harvell has enjoyed food all of her life. The festivals, invitations to private food events and the scene, in general, fascinated her. However, she also noticed a dearth of black people being celebrated in the culinary world and wanted to do something about it. A pediatric dentist by training, Levene Harvell started the…

    By

    Terrell Jermaine Starr

    Published

  • Energetic and Nostalgic Performances by Bell Biv DeVoe, Tony! Toni! Toné and More Helped the Apollo Spring Gala Raise Over $2 Million

    This week the legendary Apollo Theater celebrated the 13 years of its star-studded annual Spring Gala. Every year the iconic Harlem landmark gathers every ounce of black excellence it can find to raise funds for its year-round artistic- and community-programming initiatives. Guess how much they raised this year? No … guess. Over $2 million! Yeah,…

    By

    Danielle Young

    Published

  • 10 Euphemisms for ‘Racist’ That Won’t Hurt White People’s Feelings

    Have you ever referred to someone or something as racist? I have. While many people shy away from using the word because of its incendiary nature, I use it a lot. A whole lot. My predilection for using the term is not because I think everything and everyone is racist. It’s that I want to…

    By

    Michael Harriot

    Published