culture
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NFL Executive Troy Vincent on Football, Leadership and Why the Player Protests Actually Worked
If you could choose one person who understands the controversy surrounding the NFL protests for justice and equality, someone who played more than a decade and a half in the NFL might have insight into the issue. If that person’s résumé included a stint as the head of the players union, a job working in…
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The NFL Protests Are a Perfect Study of How White Supremacy Works
Y’all’s president is tweeting about the National Football League again. Shortly after that guy who lives in the White House woke up, submerged himself in a vat of Cheetos dust and ate his leftover KFC thigh and wing (Original Recipe, of course—not those newfangled crispy or spicy concoctions made after America stopped being great), Donald…
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The Black Person’s Guide to The Walking Dead
Because The Walking Dead returns Sunday night and it always makes me a little upset. Although I love the show, I always get sad because every season splits everyone into two factions. In my opinion, there are only two kinds of people in the world: 1. People who watch The Walking Dead. 2. People who…
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Being Insecure in Harvey Weinstein’s World: On Mayim Bialik, Rape and Concern-Trolling
Over the past two weeks on the heels of the Harvey Weinstein travesty, I’ve noticed a trend. And I have a question and am in need of an answer. Why is that some white women are incapable of focusing on a topic without shitting on someone else? I say this because I thought I was…
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I Tried It: If You’re Looking for a Way to Doze Off, Meditation May Be the Key
I’m a wannabe yogi. I’m working on myself as a human being, and yoga calls to me more than anything else ever has. I love yoga, I practice yoga at minimum three times a week, I teach yoga a few times a week and I read all the yoga books. In my few years of…
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New Clinical Trial That Cured 6-Year-Old of Sickle Cell Disease Shows Promise for All
In July 2016, a resilient, joyful 5-year-old named Bryce took part in a first-of-its-kind clinical trial at Children’s National Health System in Washington, D.C. As an infant, Bryce had been diagnosed with a particularly severe form of sickle cell disease and had already suffered at least four strokes related to the blood disorder. A little…
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An Annotated Breakdown of a Nazi Getting Punched in the Face
First, let us pray: Dear 7-pound, 8-ounce sweet newborn, but still with dreadlocks and a do-rag, dark-skinneded baby Jesus. We come unto you, dear Lord, to give praise. To offer up our most precious hallelujahs, amens and “Do that shit, Savior” supplications. For it was you, our melanin messiah, who, after a week of our…
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The Root’s Clapback Mailbag: Always Bringing Up Old Stuff
I’m sorry. First, I would like to apologize to the readers who trusted me to bring them the latest and best clapbacks of the week. Next, I want to issue my deepest regrets to all the idiots, racists and people with generally bad grammar who feel ignored. I have failed you. This week, through the…
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How TV Writer Angela Nissel Is Bringing Her Unique Voice to Tyler, the Creator’s The Jellies, and Why Black Female Writers in Hollywood Need to Be Heard
If you took a look at the writers’ room of some of your favorite television shows, you’d be hard-pressed to find a black person, and even harder pressed to find a black woman. But for the last decade, Angela Nissel has been leaving her mark behind the scenes on shows like Scrubs, The Boondocks and,…
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Tracing Your Roots: Did My Ancestor Work in a Prior Enslaver’s Home?
Repeating patterns in Reconstruction-era census records point to possible connections during slavery. Dear Professor Gates: I’m trying to determine if my third great-grandmother (from my mother’s paternal side of the family) was a slave or if her mother was. In the 1880 census in Lytle’s Fork of Scott County, Ky., she is listed as Polly…