culture
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Meet the Tech Duo With the App That Lets You Grab the Styles You Love on Social Media
If you’ve ever admired someone’s shoes, wardrobe or general style on social media and wanted to grab it, the good news is there’s an app for that called CoSign. The greater news is that it’s a black creation courtesy of first-generation Nigerian Americans Esosa Ighodaro and Abiodun “A.J.” Johnson. When Johnson complimented Ighodaro’s outfit on…
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Everything You Wanted to Know About Shannon Sharpe’s Yac and Milds but Were Afraid to Ask
Last week the national treasure and former NFL tight end Shannon Sharpe sent Black Twitter into DEFCON 1 when he pulled out a Black & Mild cigar on national TV and exclaimed how he smokes Black & Milds and drinks “Hen Dog.” “I don’t know why y’all be playing with this boy Sha,” he said,…
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5 Ways White People Can Fight White Supremacy
Contrary to popular belief, not every piece of correspondence received by writers at The Root begins with “You’re the racist” or “Not all white people … ” For every piece of hate mail received by black writers who discuss race and racism in America, there are as many from white people who contact us with…
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Does Condoning Racist Family Members Make You an Accessory to Their Bigotry?
I haven’t stepped foot in a playground in decades, but a recent conversation revived that sinking feeling I used to get every time I was near a dome climber. All the other kids seemed to rise to the top with ease, but I always struggled to make it only halfway up. Ah, recess—and childhood. They…
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Why We Need More Women of Color Running Their Own Businesses Under a Trump Presidency
Let’s face it: Half the country has been in a funk since Nov. 9. Not only did Donald Trump become president, but he went about shoring up white supremacy as swiftly as possible. Under his leadership, hate groups have grown and protections for marginalized people have been eagerly dismantled by the administration. And people of…
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The Root’s Clapback Mailbag: The Reverse Clapback
It’s Friday, you ain’t got no job (the U.S. lost 33,000 jobs this month, according to the new unemployment numbers), so you might as well chill with us and check out some mail from some of The Root’s disgruntled readers. (Is that enough of a lede, Deputy Managing Editor Yesha Callahan?* Yes, I’m dedicating this…
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Was Marsha P. Johnson Killed Because of Her LGBT Activism?
At one point in the Netflix documentary The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson, an incarcerated transgender woman named Kitty asks another, Victoria Cruz, who is an activist and counselor for domestic abuse: “What happens when a flower gets wilted? Does it just die away and it’s forgotten?” The question serves as subtext for the…
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We Need to Talk About Jeremy Lin’s Dreadlocks
Jeremy Lin has dreadlocks. As a writer, I was taught to craft a “lede” to a story that concisely summarizes the who, what, when, where and how of the story. I’ve been doing this for a long time, but sometimes you have to use the words that Jesus puts in your heart. When I bent,…
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Tracing Your Roots: How Did My Black Ancestor Come to Own Land?
Finding out how a great-grandfather came to own 300 acres of land in post-Civil War South Carolina. Dear Professor Gates: It is a mystery to me how and when my great-grandfather Peter Golphin obtained his wealth and holdings. He was born about 1858 in Barnwell, S.C. Somehow he obtained 300 acres of land. I have…