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A Response From One of Chicago’s ‘Top Gang Thugs’
A few days ago, President Donald Trump convened a panel of America’s top black shuckers and jivers for a breakfast to celebrate Black History Month. Besides the revelation that the ghost of Frederick Douglass has a publicity team to boost his post-mortem public profile, the meeting was mostly about Trump’s feud with CNN and his…
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Breaking News: Donald Trump Tells the Truth
We interrupt your Facebook scrolling, Candy Crush game, tweets or whatever you were doing (although we can’t imagine what you’d be doing on the internet besides reading The Root) to bring you this important announcement: News agencies across the country are reporting the collective, nationwide shock at the unthinkable incident that happened on Fox News…
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The Donald Trump Dictionary of Alternative Definitions
Do you remember when words meant things? I know it’s hard to imagine, but before Jan. 20, 2017, back in the pre-Trumpian era, during the salad days of U.S. history, when Muslims were welcome into the country and the president didn’t have the attitude of a petulant toddler, words had immutable definitions. Back in those…
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Everything I Know About Black History I Learned in the Middle Room
In 1952 my grandfather built a house for his wife and six children in a small South Carolina town. The house had four bedrooms, one bathroom, a dining room and a living room you could enter only if you were dressed in your Sunday best or entertaining company or if somebody had died. After my…
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Everything You Wanted to Know About the Beyoncé Babies but Were Afraid to Ask
The entire world got a case of the vapors yesterday when word spread that Beyoncé is pregnant with twins. However, there are still some people who are clueless about this situation. If we are to come together as a nation—as the Declaration of Independence states—there are some truths we must find to be self-evident. And…
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For Wypipo Who Have Considered Interrupting When Listening Is Enuf
There are invaluable life lessons passed down through generations of black people like invisible family heirlooms. Some are instilled by parents, experience or society, but the most critical ones are learned through a mysterious black osmosis. The first time I heard “soul clapping,” I knew exactly what it meant and how to do it. When…
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The Last Black History Month
After Donald Trump issued a statement that refused to acknowledge the 6 million Jews slaughtered by Nazi Germany during the 1940s on International Holocaust Remembrance Day Friday, black America should prepare ourselves for what may be the last Black History Month. I’m sure many of you doubt that the Cheddar Comb-Over could erase a tradition…
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Why the Muslim Ban Matters to Black People
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew.…
