reader hate mail
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The Root’s Clapback Mailbag: It’s Not My Fault
It’s not my fault. You know black people—we never accept responsibilities for our actions. When I was hired by The Root, I stupidly pitched the idea of the Clapback Mailbag, where I would respond every week to the emails, tweets and comments received by the staff. I blame David Letterman’s “Viewer Mailbag” and Deadspin’s Funbag…
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The Root’s Clapback Mailbag: The Longest Clapback Ever
Pssst! Deputy Managing Editor Yesha Callahan is off today flying to the BET Awards, so I get to break all the usual protocol! If it were not for this necessary explanation, I wouldn’t even write this lede. But today’s mailbag will focus on one specific topic, namely the opinion piece titled, “White people Are Cowards.”…
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The Root’s Clapback Mailbag: Make the Mailbag Great Again
Deputy Managing Editor Yesha Callahan is gonna be mad at this short-ass lede, but today there’s no need to pussyfoot around. We all know why we’re here, so let’s address the elephant in the room. Dear Ted Cruz: I can’t believe you did this to me. I thought our mutual hate for each other had…
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The Root’s Clapback Mailbag: The Story of Clapback-idon
What is beef? Allow me to explain using the words of the immortal poet Amos Definitely (I think that’s Mos Def’s real name): Beef is not what these famous niggas do on the mic,beef is what George Bush would do in a fight.Beef is not what Ja said to 50,beef is more than Irv not…
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The Root’s Clapback Mailbag: When the Cat’s Away, the Racists Still Stay …
Hi, everyone, my name is Stephen A. Crockett Jr. I’m 6 feet 2 and love old movies. [Editor’s note: This isn’t your fucking Tinder profile. Let’s get on with it. —Yesha] I was just trying to introduce myself to Michael Harriot’s readers, who may not be familiar with my work here at The Root. As…
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The Root’s Clapback Mailbag: It’s a Hard Job, but Someone Has to Do It
Aside from Deputy Managing Editor Yesha Callahan, whose primary job is waking up at the crack of dawn to harass me about ledes and how long it takes me to write, most of the staff at The Root are usually busy doing multiple things at once, according to our readers. [Editor’s note: Some of us…
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The Root’s Clapback Mailbag: Lotion Is the Cure for Racism
As I was digging through this week’s selection of emails, tweets, direct messages and comments trying to figure out why everyone is so angry, Deputy Managing Editor Yesha Callahan contacted me to harass me about an intro. I don’t know how we got there, but our conversation somehow landed on Star Wars, specifically how Donald…
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The Root’s Clapback Mailbag: A Children’s Story
Once upon a time, not long ago, when people wore pajamas and lived life slow, when laws were stern and justice stood, and Negroes didn’t come to white neighborhoods, there were some wypipo who were misled by some more white people. Here’s what they said: “Me and you, Brad, we’re gonna get real mad. And…
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The Root’s Clapback Mailbag: All Mailbag, No Clapback
Don’t hate me for this. I am often asked if people who send us tweets, DMs and emails are really as mean as I make them out to be or if I have to wade through the positive emails to find the couple of idiots who want to use the n-word. So today I decided…
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The Root’s Clapback Mailbag: Lions, Tigers and Wypipo, Oh My!
It’s 4/20, so today’s collection of tweets, direct messages, emails and comments is dedicated to all the people who … Dammit, I forgot what I was about to write. Anyway, for some reason, I feel positive today. It’s probably because so many of you reached out to discuss the topics that unite us all, like…