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Maybe Now Isnât the Time, Guys
If youâre tempted to point out that youâre one of the good ones right now … please donât. If you are upset that people of color are upset that their lives and beliefs are under assault by a resurgent, resilient, citronella-candle-filled white supremacist movement, empowered by a White House that canât call a racist a…
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Dear Family, Please Move Out of Mo., Love, Danielle
Last month the NAACP issued its first-ever travel advisory for a stateâa whole entire stateâfor people of color. That state was my home state, the place of my birth and home to the people I love most in the world: Missouri. The advisory was shocking in that it wasnât for other states much more historically…
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Counterpoint: Oh, Câmon! Spider-Man: Homecoming (and Its Diversity) Were Just Great, Jason
Jason Johnson, our political editor at The Root and an in-real-life close and personal friend of mine, wrote this last Friday about the new Spider-Man movie: Spider-Man: Homecoming is a fun movie, but not one that will stick with you for long. Itâs significantly better on the diversity front than whitewashed Doctor Strange, or the…
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From Fear to Fortitude: One Womanâs Fight for Black Boys a Year Later
This time last year, I was curled up in a ball on my bed, in tears and feeling frustrated, angry and afraid. I was suffering from a condition I coined called âMOBB disorder,â the seemingly irrational fear of a mom of a black boy that he will be unfairly stopped, harassed, brutalized or killed by…
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The Root Is Gaining 2 Very Smart Brothas
True story: Iâve known the founders of VSB, aka the blog Very Smart Brothas, for a minute. They are my friends, fellow black-blog pioneers who hopped into the game in 2008 and revolutionized and remixed it to the degree that their greatness had to be acknowledged. And that greatness is coming to The Root. VSB…
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Boomerang at 25 Isnât Just a â90s Eddie Murphy Flick; Itâs a World We Want to Live In
It is a Friday night on the set of 1992âs romantic comedy Boomerang. In between shooting takes for the now classic Thanksgiving-dinner scene, Eddie Murphy and cast trade jokes about what would happen if Mr. and Mrs. Jackson (John Witherspoon and BeBe Drake) had sex in the bathroom of his character Marcusâs luxurious New York…
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Iâm Just Here for the Ribs
I love any excuse for a cookout. My father is from Texas, lives in St. Louis (two places famous for ribs), and was raised on barbecue. He probably has St. Louisâ own Maullâs BBQ sauce in his veins instead of blood. During the spring and summer, he typically hauls out the grill for a series…
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Live Blog: The Root Goes to the BET Awards and Tries to Look Cool
Day, oh glorious day is here! Yes, tonight The Root is at the BET Awards trying not to be awkward! Our outfit selections are at the ready, and we assume BET is ready to kick off its biggest and best party, hosted by comedian Leslie Jones. Follow this space as I, Danielle Belton, The Rootâs…
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The Root Is Going to the BET Awards Even Though 1 of Us Canât Pick Migos Out of a Crowd
That one is me. I used to be so good at faces, until suddenly I met so many faces, they all started to just blur together. Did I see Erika Alexander of Living Single in a Walmart parking lot in Los Angeles last week, or was it just some other stylish black lady driving through?…
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Mmmm, The Root Came Off Really Great in This Post About All the Drama Going on Around Here!
In a recent post by Business Insider about all the drama going on around us, The Root was reported to have grown by 35 percent. Since transitioning over to GMGâs Kinja publishing platform in January, the African-American digital magazine The Root has 35% more uniques each month than it did in the same months last…
