Opinion
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Being ‘The Black Snob’ Was a Joke, Until the Day I Actually Became One
“I don’t know how you ended up so bougie when we came out of the same family,” said my baby sister, one day over the phone. I was taken aback. Me? Bougie? And yet, I was. Painfully so. And had been, at this point, for several years. But I was still offended. At the time…
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Children of Incarcerated Parents Remain Unseen; We Have to Do Better
Not all stories about children with parents in jail involve recounts of glass barriers, letters or collect calls. And sadly, many don’t end with reunions and redemption, but with pain and shame; some stories end way too soon. On Oct. 18, 2007, my father died from a pulmonary fungal infection contracted inside of an environmentally-hazardous…
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Meghan McCain Meghan McCained Again, So Whoopi Shut That Shit Up By Cutting to a Commercial
Here we go again. Earlier this month, I introduced many of you to the remarkably unremarkable Meghan McCain as such: By any and all metrics, columnist Meghan McCain is unremarkable in every way. In fact, once you remove nepotism from the equation, all you’re left with is temper tantrums and a striking resemblance to former…
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Waiting Is for White People: The Privilege of Not Impeaching Trump
First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more…
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The Root's Clapback Mailbag: Every Friday Is Good Friday
People who read the Clapback Mailbag often ask how I can stomach wading through the morass of emails, tweets, comments and direct messages each week. It is true that they are often filled with hate, grammatical errors and ignorance, but the reason I love Fridays is simple: I love when white people get angry. I…
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'Move the Campus': #GentrifyingGeorge Says Students Should Move Howard University If They Have A Problem With Gentrification
Howard University’s yard isn’t a dog park, but the historic black university in Washington, D.C., has been reduced to as much by colonizing residents who have made it their home (and Lassie’s). As reported by DCist, Susan and the like have descended on HU’s hallowed grounds with their puppies on parade despite the fact that…
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For The Love of Money
My friend Toni and I text a lot and for good reason. We are the same age. We divorced young. We have small children. We work together. The element that makes our black girl magic texting unique is we talk about money all the time. We talk about having it, not having it, hustling for…
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Black People Are Fighting Against Gentrification and for the Heart and Soul of Their Cities
Last week at the corner of 14 and U, a throng of mostly black people swayed in unison to the beat of a live go-go band. The drums and horns blasted as people walked from near and far to not only hear their indigenous music but also to join the resistance. The band and its…
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A Tale of Two Churches: How the Notre Dame Cathedral Illustrates America's Unwillingness to Acknowledge Black Suffering
Police gun down so many black men, I can’t even recall which one is the impetus for this story. But a few years ago, after yet another one of us was mowed down in the street in cold blood, I arrived to my TV writers room in a less than pleasant mood. I was tired.…
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T.I., Tank, The Game, Call for Firing of Fox News Host Laura Ingraham After Mocking Memorial of Nipsey Hussle
Beloved recording artist, entrepreneur and community activist Nipsey Hussle wasn’t even buried for 24 hours before Fox News trotted out host Laura Ingraham to spit on his grave. During a segment on her show The Ingraham Angle, the Wicked Witch of the West made a mockery out of a murder victim—because Fox News is in…