culture
-
Why I’m Rooting for Everybody Black in the NCAA Basketball Tournament
HBO’s Insecure star Issa Rae famously declared during a red-carpet interview at the Primetime Emmy Awards in September that she was “rooting for everybody black.” Some deemed the statement racist. Many misinterpreted Rae’s advocacy as opposition to all nominees who weren’t black. That’s not what I heard. Anyone familiar with the lack of racial diversity…
-
How Isolation, Stigma and Shame Are Killing Black Women Living With HIV
“Before I was diagnosed with HIV in 1994, I was a huge people person, but afterwards, I didn’t want to be bothered with the world,” Gina Brown, a community organizer for the Southern AIDS Coalition, told The Root. The New Orleans native added that not only was she hiding from herself, but she was also…
-
The Bruno Mars Controversy Proves People Don’t Understand Cultural Appropriation
Before we begin any discussion of Bruno Mars and cultural appropriation, we must lay down a few ground rules: This will not be a debate about the quality of Bruno Mars’ work. That discussion is too subjective, and no one will ever reach a consensus on any kind of art. Plus, some people have shit…
-
An Exclusive Interview With DeRay Mckesson’s Vest
In our efforts to cover every angle of the movement, we were able to secure an exclusive one-on-one with one of the most recognizable icons in the struggle for black lives. We met with DeRay Mckesson’s vest in an undisclosed location—not because he wanted to keep his whereabouts a secret, but because we didn’t want…
-
How My Play Cousin Stopped a Mass Shooting and Disproved the Myth About Good Guys With Guns
I used to believe that one of the stupidest narratives in existence was the National Rifle Association’s assertion that “the only person who can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” I also believed that turning mass shooters into celebrities creates more mass shooters. But I no longer…
-
A Word About Louis Farrakhan and Tamika Mallory
Women’s March Co-President Tamika Mallory’s public image has been taking a drumming all week since news broke of her attendance at the Nation of Islam’s annual Saviour’s Day, during which Minister Louis Farrakhan delivered a speech with anti-Semitic commentary. The speech was delivered at the end of February, but Twitter went ablaze last weekend after…
-
Meshell Ndegeocello Is Right About Bruno Mars Being Karaoke, but I’m Bopping Anyway
Meshell Ndegeocello did not mince words when asked about my beloved Puerto Rican Frankie Lymon, better known as Bruno Mars to the rest of y’all. In an interview with Billboard to promote Ventriloquism, an album of covers, the singer-songwriter and musician made clear that she wasn’t impressed with Mars’ performance of the “Finesse” remix featuring…
-
I’ll Always Love Big Poppa: How Biggie Smalls Helped Me Understand My Parents’ Deaths
On March 9, 1997, rapper Biggie Smalls, born Christopher Wallace, had his life taken way too early. He was 24 years old. He was gunned down after leaving an industry party in Los Angeles, six months after the death of rapper Tupac Shakur. Being from Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, and seeing how this entire New York City…
-
Tracing Your Roots: Did Racism Force My Ancestors to Hide Their Love?
Family lore about a great-grandparent’s interracial relationship lines up with clues in census records. Dear Professor Gates: My paternal grandmother, Caroline “Carrie” Fogg Farrar, was from Raleigh, N.C. She was a product of a relationship between her mother, Mary Elizabeth Fogg (who we had been told was 100 percent Cherokee), and a white landowner named…