culture
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The Black Woman’s Tale: Why Margaret Atwood’s Espousal of White Feminist Beliefs Shouldn’t Surprise You
2018 is off to a pretty interesting start. At the conclusion of the painful year that was 2017, various women of assorted celebrity backgrounds assembled to simultaneously weaponize their privilege and latch onto the momentum and resurgence of Tarana Burke’s “Me Too” movement. This gave birth to a new movement on Jan. 1, 2018: #TimesUp.…
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Classic Hip-Hop: Nas Performs Illmatic With the National Symphony Orchestra
Nas’ first full-length feature, Illmatic, was the very first hip-hop album to get The Source magazine’s coveted five-mic rating. It was sonic and lyrical perfection; it remains an undisputed hip-hop classic. A progenitor to soaring street lullabies like Kendrick Lamar’s Good Kid M.A.A.D. City or even Jay-Z’s Reasonable Doubt, Illmatic vividly captured the life…
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Watch: Black Colleges in the Age of Trump Chronicles Donald Trump’s Treatment of HBCUs
When Stanley Nelson agreed to discuss his new op-ed documentary on HBCUs’ strained relationship with the Trump administration, I struggled to find the terms to describe him. Simply calling Nelson a “filmmaker” seemed inadequate. Referring to him as the premier documentarian of the black experience seemed a little hyperbolic (not to mention that it contained…
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Let’s Get Lit: Black Lightning Is the Superhero Show for the Trump Era
Let’s make a black-superhero television show, shall we? First you’d need to have a network that actually has a track record of successful shows about superheroes. CW? Check. Then you’d need a diverse black cast that hits all age groups. Cress Williams as the star, with old-school cred from Living Single and crossover love from…
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Watch: MLK Now 2018 Live from Harlem’s Riverside Church
Hundreds of people have gathered at Harlem’s famed Riverside Church to celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. at this year’s MLK Now 2018. MLK Now is organized by Blackout for Human Rights, and this year The Root has the honor of being the official media partner of the event. Join us live via livestream…
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What Does It Mean to Have a ‘Gentrified’ Martin Luther King Jr. When Some Blacks Are the Gentrifiers?
My first real experience with the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. happened in 1980, just 12 years after his tragic assassination in Memphis, Tenn. I was a 14-year-old freshman at Loyola High School, a prestigious Jesuit all-boys school in Los Angeles built on the philosophy that rigorous academic training would produce the next generation…
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The #MeToo Movement Won’t Kill Any Sexy Movies in Hollywood, Because You Know What’s Sexy? Consent
I was scrolling through my Twitter timeline, minding everyone else’s business, when I came across an article entitled, “How the #MeToo Movement Could Kill Some Sexy Hollywood Movies,” via the Hollywood Reporter. After rolling my eyes so hard they could be on a river, I decided to take a gander. In the article, several industry…
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Episode 1: Our Video Series Shares Never-Been-Told Stories of the Memphis Sanitation Workers
In Memphis, Tenn., 1968, 1,300 sanitation workers braved the bitter cold to engage in a revolutionary 65-day action to defend their right to personhood. These men struggled against the noose of white supremacy to proclaim their dignity. They stood, shoulder to shoulder, armed with picket signs and perseverance, determined to declare to the world, “I…
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Baggage vs. Experience: What Do You Take With You and What Do You Leave Behind?
On a recent The Root After Dark Twitter chat, I asked people to tell me how quickly they fall for people and how soon after that they reveal their feelings. The responses were wide and varied, but there was a recurring theme: A lot of people said that even if they felt something right away,…
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The Caucasian Panthers: Meet the Rednecks Armed, Ready and ’Bout That Anti-Racist Life
On Dec. 4, 1969, law enforcement officers raided a home at 2337 Monroe St. in Chicago. First they killed Mark Clark, who sat by the door with a shotgun. Then they trained their gunfire on the south bedroom and opened fire. When the cops stopped firing, they pulled the 21-year-old chairman of the Illinois Black…