Opinion
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Clapback Mailbag: The Lion's Solution
We interrupt our usual clapback session for a very special Mailbag. I am often asked why my writings don’t contain more solutions. Instead of complaining about racism, I guess I’m supposed to fix white people. It’s like robbing someone and then telling them to stop complaining about their money problems and work harder. But I’m…
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Erika Alexander Reminds David Schwimmer That He Starred in a Lily-White Reboot of Living Single
Imagine spending 10 years playing a character on a lily-white show that was a direct and complete appropriation of a black show already in production for a year when yours started, then pretending to know nothing about that show’s existence. In what can only be described as a case of either lying his white ass…
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Terry Crews Is Ashy
There are, according to my research, three grades of ash; each uncomfortable in its own way, but one a bit deeper and, um, ashier than the rest. First, of course, is literal ash. This is what happens when your skin gets dry and an anti-sheen attacks it, leaving you looking and feeling like you just…
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On Processing My Messy Feelings About Kobe Bryant’s Myth, Life and Death
The first time I saw Kobe Bryant play live was at the McDonald’s All-American Basketball Game in 1996. The game was played in Pittsburgh that year, and I went to the Civic Arena downtown to watch it. I’d already had a relationship with the idea of him. He was the top high school basketball player…
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The Root’s Clapback Mailbag: A Racist In the Sun
In 1951, the great American poet Langston Hughes, in his poem, “Harlem,” asked: What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry uplike a raisin in the sun?Or fester like a sore—And then run?Does it stink like rotten meat?Or crust and sugar over—like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sagslike a heavy load. Or does…
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The Root’s Clapback Mailbag: The Fresh Prince of Mailbags
Now this is a story all about howEvery Friday, I turn white smiles upside downI’d like to take a second…Maybe a minute or twoto tell you how I became a racist at a site called The Root. In Black America, I was born and raisedPoetry and economics is where I spent most of my daysBut…
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Black History, According to White People
Mithridates the Great was one of the Roman Empire’s greatest foes and claimed to be a descendant of Alexander the Great, who died by poisoning. Mithridates’ father died from poison. His father died from poison. His mother tried to poison him. Needless to say, Mithridates the Great was obsessed with poison. So, the king created…
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Joe Biden Doesn’t Deserve Black People
My fiancée and I have developed somewhat of a routine for the Democratic presidential debates. We make dinner, mix a drink, sit in the living room, and she falls asleep as we watch the candidates try to sell us. When she wakes up, she asks me to give her a synopsis of what she missed…
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The Root’s Clapback Mailbag: A Salute to the ‘Good Ones’
For too long, the writers at The Root have ignored the plight of those whose labor goes unrecognized and unheralded. In our fight for equality and justice, we have forgotten one outstanding group of Americans who are willing to lay their lives on the line. But that ends today. Today’s Clapback Mailbag is dedicated to…
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Maybe Meghan Markle Was Just Tired of Eating Baked Beans and Eggs on Toast for Breakfast
Any list of the pleasant surprises from the months of book-related touring, talks, events, and appearances in 2019 would include the week I spent in London in May. It was my first time in England—a place I never had any desire to visit. (I’ve seen Closer seven times, which I figured was enough London for…