culture

If Russia doesn’t get a handle on its soccer fans, the 2018 World Cup could be devoid of one prominent color: black. Yaya Touré — the Manchester City, England, midfielder from the Ivory Coast who claims he had to endure monkey chants from Russian fans this past week during a match against CSKA Moscow —…

(Special to The Root) — I never knew my maternal grandfather’s mother. She was one of my great-grandmothers. Her name was Alice Apple Woods. And she was a Native American. Her name came up this week as I watched a PBS documentary, The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross with my 11-year-old son, Cole. I…

Instead of blaming the victim by telling women to stop binge drinking to avoid being raped, Mychal Denzel Smith argues at the New York Times, society should tell men to stop committing rape. Binge drinking is not good for you. I don’t know that there is a person alive who would argue otherwise. People should…

Earl Ofari Hutchinson writes at the Huffington Post that the famed neurosurgeon may be “the worst thing that happened to us since he opened his mouth,” hurling a steady stream of invectives at women, blacks, Democrats and President Barack Obama. Dr. Ben Carson’s shoot from the lip, crackpot quips, digs, and insults at women, blacks,…

Mark F. Gray writes in a piece at the Shadow League that heads should roll at the Louisiana university’s highest levels because of failures that culminated in Saturday’s forfeited football game against Jackson State. Traditionally, Grambling has been to HBCU football what Notre Dame is to major college football. They were nationally prominent and a…

(The Root) — The Root’s editor-in-chief, Henry Louis Gates Jr., is among the notables named to Ebony’s 2013 Power 100, just released on Thursday. The annual listing is a who’s who of the most influential African Americans and tastemakers across the globe. “There is nothing even remotely equivalent to the pleasure of being honored by…

(The Root) — Fortune magazine has released its annual 50 Most Powerful Women in Business list, and the good news is that three dynamic African Americans are included in the roundup. Ursula Burns, CEO and president of Xerox; Rosalind Brewer, CEO and president of Sam’s Club; and Shonda Rhimes, creator of hit shows Scandal and…

No criminal charges will be filed against George Zimmerman for his part in a dispute he had with his estranged wife and her father last month, said a spokesman with the Lake Mary, Fla., police department Wednesday, the Orlando Sentinel reports. According to the spokesman, the dispute didn’t rise to a criminal level. The incident, which…

(The Root) — The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is learning that social media and slavery tweets don’t mix. An Atlanta man named Willie Lynch recently was the winner of the $1 million Georgia lottery. Historically, “Willie Lynch” is believed to have been the name of a slave owner who gave a speech on how to control slaves…

One day after the Barneys belt scandal hit the press, another young black shopper has come out alleging that Barneys had her accosted and detained until she could prove that she could afford an expensive purse. Earlier this year, Kayla Phillips, a 21-year-old nursing student from Brooklyn, N.Y., decided to splurge on a $2,500 orange…