the root tv
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Watch: Jay Ellis Says Black Resilience Is Beautiful
Black and Proud is a video series on The Root that focuses on the pride that our favorite black celebrities, tastemakers and thought leaders feel about being black. Many of them talk about our resilience and strength throughout history, some talk about our undeniable talents, while others mention our dance skills, dopeness and more. Whatever…
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Watch: Color Complex: Questioning Beauty Standards as a Biracial Woman
Skin color both unites and divides us. Whether you live in India, East Africa or Japan, the color of your skin shapes your identity and opportunities. Color Complex is a narrative series that explores how people of color around the world struggle for visibility and learn to navigate the prejudices and social hierarchies associated with…
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Watch: The Natural-Hair Movement Keeps on Growing
For centuries, black women have been measured by a white standard of beauty. Lighter skin was preferred to dark skin, willowy figures preferred to curves, straight hair preferred to curly hair; and the list goes on. “I was born in Senegal, and relaxing your hair is, like, as normal as waking up and brushing your…
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Watch: James Monroe Iglehart Says the World Takes Notice of Black People
We get the chance to chat with a lot of our favorite black celebrities, tastemakers and thought leaders, so we decided to start asking them about their pride in being black. Many of them talked about our resilience and strength throughout history, some talked about our undeniable talents, while others mentioned our dance skills, dopeness…
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Watch: Growing Pains: Nicole Paultre Bell Learns How to Move Forward After Sean Bell’s Death
Nicole Paultre Bell became a household name—but not from success or fame but because of the infamy of her fiance Sean Bell’s death on Nov. 25, 2006, the night before their wedding. Fifty shots rang out that night, claiming Sean’s life and severely wounding his two friends Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman. Each officer involved…
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Judge of Characters: Oh God, Wait … Am I a Hotep?
This week, besides having to scroll through all things Rumi and Sir Carter, I learned that Madame Tussauds doesn’t care about black people, particularly Beyoncé, Prince, Denzel Washington and any other black wax figure they’ve made. Dr. Umar Johnson may just be a doctor after all. It took some digging from The Root’s Michael Harriot,…
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Watch: The Power of Representation With Matthew A. Cherry, the Creator of ‘Hair Love’
Representation matters. We know this and still, representation is missing from the media we consume. For Matthew A. Cherry, seeing other black directors in action assured him that filmmaking was an attainable goal after he transitioned from the NFL. Now Cherry is making it his mission to normalize natural hair and black fatherhood in the…
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Girls Trip Is the Most Hilarious and Heartfelt Dive Into the Complexities of Black Girlfriends
The bonds between black women are not something you can watch on reality-TV shows or easily catch on any TV shows right now, except maybe Insecure. (Shoutout to Issa and Molly!) Black women’s friendship is more than boozy brunches, epic catfights and screaming “Yasss Queen” to one another. I mean, don’t get me wrong—all of…
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Watch: The Women of Girls Trip Share Their Uplifting Mantras
In the heavily anticipated movie Girls Trip, one of the stars of the movie, Regina Hall, plays Ryan Pierce, a strong black woman who’s created a conception of her life as the one who “has it all.” We quickly learn that Ryan’s fantasy life is a fantasy even to her. Without spoiling anything (because you…
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Watch: A Timeline of R. Kelly’s Troubling History of Sexual Allegations
By now you’ve heard that R. Kelly has allegedly formed a sex cult with women ranging in age from their late teens to late 20s (Kelly denies the allegations). Was anyone really surprised, though? Kelly, who acknowledges that he was molested by a family member from age 7 to 15, according to an interview last…