the root institute
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More Than a Hashtag: Tarana Burke Joins The Root Institute to Talk Movement Building, Me Too and Maintaining Momentum Amid COVID-19
Tarana Burke knows better than most the power of a hashtag. After all, hers—#MeToo—turned into a zeitgeist moment back in the fall of 2017, as Hollywood actresses began using it on social media in response to the mounting allegations against Harvey Weinstein. Black Twitter quickly rose to correct the oversight of the tag’s originator Burke,…
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The Health of Our Communities Begins With Black Women: Planned Parenthood’s Alexis McGill Johnson, Dr. Joia Crear-Perry, and EHE Health's Joy Altimare Join The Root Institute
If this August has confirmed nothing else, it’s that where women gather, there is power; power often underestimated and underutilized, but capable of transforming the world. We saw it 100 years ago this week with the passage of the 19th Amendment, which enabled (white) women to vote after a decades-long suffrage movement. Forty-five years later,…
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It's Time to Have a Crucial Conversation About Our Communal Health With Planned Parenthood’s Alexis McGill Johnson, EHE Health's Joy Altimare and Dr. Joia Crear-Perry
“If you want to feed a person, you pay a man,” says Joy Altimare of EHE Health, one the sponsors of our first-ever Root Institute. “But if you want to feed a village or a community, you make sure a woman is actually enabled to take care of herself and her children.” The direct links…
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'We Have Got to Make Sure We Are Flexing, Showing Our Power': Cory Booker Gets Political About Wealth Building in a Crisis at The Root Institute
For Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) our economic plight is a political issue. With us living in a time where “it is harder to build wealth in this generation [than] in the past” Booker, during an interview with The Root Institute, added that we have to put pressure on our government and politicians to implement laws…
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'We Don't Talk About This at Home': Taraji P. Henson Gets Real About Our Mental Health at The Root Institute
In 2005, I was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder while staying at UCLA’s medical center in Los Angeles for several weeks over Christmas. Back then, to me, the severity of my diagnosis was already scary, but what was even scarier? Feeling I was alone. “We don’t talk about this at home,” said actress Taraji P. Henson…
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Taraji P. Henson Talks Mental Health, While Cory Booker Takes on the Health of Our Finances at The Root Institute
It’s week three of The Root Institute, meaning it’s time to talk about the health of our minds and our finances featuring actress Taraji P. Henson and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ). Both are joining me, The Root’s Editor-in-Chief Danielle Belton, for separate chats on issues crucial to our community—from erasing the stigma of mental illness…
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Aloe Blacc, Arisha Hatch and Kierna Mayo Discuss The Transformative Nature of Art at The Root Institute
Presumably, ever since art has existed, there have been conversations about what art actually means. And over time, the most effective ways to use art—protest, social change, allegory, etc.—became as essential to the conversation. In the Black community, where all art is under a microscope, those conversations of interpretation and use are central; no movie,…
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Ava DuVernay Talks to The Root Institute on How She Creates Art that Makes A Difference
“Art is the foundation of any movement,” is how director Ava DuVernay began our interview as we unpacked the transformative power of art—both in its ability to uplift and destroy. DuVernay, personally, has been driven from the beginning of her film career to create art that uplifts and moves the culture forward with creativity, sensitivity…
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Ava DuVernay Gets Real About How Art Can Shape Perceptions at The Root Institute
A visionary film director with an activist’s spirit, Ava DuVernay makes art that is rooted in her conscious. From limited miniseries like When They See Us, to TV dramas like Queen Sugar, to summer blockbusters like A Wrinkle in Time and documentaries, like The 13th, DuVernay crafts narratives with her people—and their past, present, and…
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The 19th Represents: A Female-Focused Summit Hosts a Bevy of Brilliant Women—and a New Role for Meghan Markle
‘Tis the season for a summit! As you hopefully know by now, this week marks the second week of The Root’s monthlong inaugural Root Institute, our absolutely free to the public virtual conference taking place each Tuesday and Thursday through August. But August also marks the ratification of the 19th Amendment, effectively ending the decades-long…