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Black Voters Matter
Editorâs note: In the third installment of the four-part series After the Fire, The Root looks at how the social-justice movementâon- and offlineâis influencing the presidential race for 2016. Did your candidate say, âBlack lives matterâ? After the Fire was reported and written by Associate Editor Danielle C. Belton. Illustration by Jada Prather. Read Part 1…
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Leaderless or Leader-ful?
Editorâs note: In the second installment of the four-part series After the Fire, The Root looks at the structure of this current movement, a movement where anyone can be the boss, yet nobody is the boss. After the Fire was reported and written by Associate Editor Danielle C. Belton. Illustration by Jada Prather. Read Part 1.…
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How to Burn What Canât Catch Fire
Editorâs note: In the four-part series After the Fire, The Root looks at the growing social-justice movement, from traditional players to #BlackLivesMatter, examining where the movement has been, where it is now and where itâs going. After the Fire was reported and written by Associate Editor Danielle C. Belton. Illustration by Jada Prather.  Something every…
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Bobbi Kristina Brown: 1993-2015
She lived her life, and now has died, in the spotlight, regardless of whether she wanted to be in it. Bobbi Kristina Brown, 22, the only child from the marriage of music legend Whitney Houston and R&B singer Bobby Brown, has died. According to Entertainment Tonight, Bobbi Kristina passed away surrounded by family at the…
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âLight You Upâ Cop Threatens to Use Taser on Sandra Bland in New Dash-Cam Video
New dashboard-camera footage has been released showing Sandra Bland’s ill-fated police stop July 10. In the video she is shown arguing with a Texas state trooper over being stopped, an argument that escalates when the officer becomes upset that Bland is not putting out her cigarette. The officer forces Bland from her car after threatening…
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The Death of Sandra Bland Isnât Helping My Fear of Driving While Black
For most of my adult life Iâve struggled with anxietyâwhether mild or seriousâand itâs done everything from make me cancel events to lose my train of thought midsentence. Itâs caused me to hide in my house for days on end, and about six years ago it came for my ability to drive anywhere without having…
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âThis Is Our Selmaâ: NCâs Fight for Voting Rights
Monday marks the start of a pivotal voting-rights trial in North Carolina. On the line? Access to the ballot box for tens of thousands of African-American voters. Calling the trial its âSelma,â referencing the Selma-to-Montgomery marches of 1964 in Alabama, the North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP is taking Gov. Pat McCrory to court…
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Black America Knows What Real Patriotism Looks Like
It used to happen every Fourth of July. Our homeowners association would place little, cheap American flags on each lawn, and every year, ours ended up in the trash. Every. Year. My parentsâborn in America, raised in America, the only country theyâve ever known and will know, who had no desire to leave and will…
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The Inevitable but Predictable Backlash Over #BlackLivesMatter
When Black Lives Matter activist Bree Newsome climbed the pole on the South Carolina Statehouse grounds and took down the Confederate flag, I had one of two thoughts. Thought No. 1: That was amazing. Thought No. 2: I hope people wait at least a few hours before they start their backlash. A few hours. Thatâs…
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âSouthern Prideâ or Jim Crowâs Death Rattle? Everything You Need to Know About the Confederate Flag
For a flag said to represent âSouthern pride,â it sure shows up a lot as a representative of Southern hate. Countless white supremacist groups use the flag often, and the 21-year-old white man who confessed Friday to killing nine black people at a historic black church in Charleston, S.C., rocked the ârebel flagâ on his…
