slavery
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Slavery and 4 Other Things We Expect to Happen if Trump Wins a Second Term
There are some who believe that should Trump somehow pull out a victory on Election Day, America is headed for armageddon. They believe that the president will ride to a podium on the White House lawn on the backs of two unfriendly, fire-breathing dragons, wearing the black hood of a guillotine executioner in which he’d…
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Black Man Who Was Handcuffed and Led by Rope by a Cop on Horseback Sues Texas City for $1 Million
A Black man has sued the city of Galveston, Texas, and its police department for $1 million after being arrested and led by rope by two cops on horseback. According to CBS News, a suit filed on behalf of 44-year-old Donald Neely in a Galveston County District Court alleges that the officers were negligent and…
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'Our Ancestors Cannot Be Flattened': The Root Presents: It's Lit! Wanders in Strange Lands With Morgan Jerkins
Her first book may have been her “undoing,” but journalist and author Morgan Jerkins’ second offering, Wandering in Strange Lands (HarperCollins), is a homecoming. Taking a detour from the “hot-takes” upon which she built her career and the provocative personal essays that comprised her bestselling debut, This Will Be My Undoing, Jerkins retraced the steps…
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I Took My Kids to Visit Theodore Roosevelt Island Outside of Washington, D.C. I Had No Idea It Was a Former Plantation
I live in Washington, D.C., and much like most of the parents in the area—the whole country, really—my wife and I have looked for mostly outdoor activities to do with our kids since the beginning of the pandemic. Washington, D.C., and its surrounding suburbs, are home to tons of museums and monuments; there’s always somewhere…
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9 Years a Slave: Black Combat Veteran Freed After Being Legally Enslaved Over $30 Worth of Weed
This headline is clickbait. To be clear, Derrick Harris is Black. He is also a combat veteran who served in the Army during Operation Desert Storm. And, although the Constitution outlaws slavery and involuntary servitude, the 13th Amendment made a special exception for people who commit a “crime whereof the party shall have been duly…
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Georgia's First Capital Votes to Remove Former Slave Market From Town's Center
In Louisville, Ga., one of the last remaining former slave markets is finally being removed from the town’s center. CNN reports that an advisory committee of 14 members was formed in July to determine what to do with the Old Market House. The structure has been in the town—the first capital of the state—since 1795…
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Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton Is Not a Racist. He Just Plays One in Real Life
Here at The Root, we are very particular about how we label people. We know that labels can be damaging and unshakeable so we are careful not to brand a person a thing unless we are sure that they are in fact said thing. So, it’s with that in mind that I say Republican Arkansas…
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GOP Sen. Tom Cotton Wants to Ban the 1619 Project From Being Taught in Schools
Y’all, I’m pretty sure Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) is a white supremacist. For legal purposes, I’m not outright saying he is. All I’m suggesting is that the dude who wrote a whole op-ed calling for military intervention to stomp out protests against systemic racism, compared the protesters to Confederate traitors and argued that Washington, D.C,…
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'I Said I Would Never Play a Slave': Black Actors Discuss the Fatigue Around Portraying Black Pain
As we’ve witnessed throughout the past few months, Hollywood is in the midst of a racial reckoning—or at least, starting to have that conversation on an unprecedented scale. As part of Variety’s #Represent series, Aldis Hodge, Jay Pharoah, Algee Smith, Derek Luke and Chris Chalk got candid about their experiences with racism in Hollywood in…
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Mike Pompeo Bashes the New York Times’ 1619 Project During Racist Dog Whistle Concert
On Thursday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held a one-man, racist dog whistle concert in which he stoked the flames of racism, bashed the New York Times and admonished those who removed Confederate statues. “Today, the very core of what it means to be an American, indeed the American way of life itself, is under…