Opinion
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Olo’oruko Mi: Legacy Ponderings of a Nigerian-but-Mostly-American
I’d spent two years on this earth when I met my paternal grandmother Julianna Oni for the first—and last—time. As I was her sole olo’oruko mi—the only heir to be her namesake—she took an immediate liking to me, often raising my youthful frame in her firm, mahogany arms and chanting “Julie Julie Julie Julie” with…
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The Root's Clapback Mailbag: Dream a Little Dream
Fourscore and 12 Fridays ago, our writers brought forth, upon this website, a new weekly feature—The Clapback Mailbag. Nearly two years after this momentous decision, the mailbag proves, every single week, that the Caucasian still lives on a comfortable island of delusion in the midst of a vast ocean of truth. So we come, each…
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Rahm Emanuel Is a Liar
The outgoing mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, is preparing for life outside of municipal governance by rewriting Chicago history. In a May 9 op-ed in the New York Times, Emanuel argues that the city of Chicago leads in police reform because he let the CPD have a seat at the table while working with the…
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The Root’s Clapback Mailbag: Some Rules and Reminders for People Who Read The Root
It’s the Friday before a major holiday, and the regular writer of the Clapback Mailbag, Michael Harriot, has decided to take the day off for whatever it is he does when he is not pulling white people by their taint hairs on The Root. Before he took off the other day, he asked me if…
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You're So Different: OK, But What Makes You Black?
“You’re so different. You’re so articulate. Why do you talk like a white girl? You’re the whitest black girl I know.” Comments like these beg the question: What makes you black? Is it merely the color of one’s skin? Is it a state of mind? Knowing the lyrics to Cardi B’s songs? It took me…
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An Open Letter to the White Boys Who Praised Alabama's Abortion Ban By Citing the Bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church
I don’t believe in hell. My lack of belief is not because of my religion or the absence thereof. I simply tend not to believe in things. A thing either is or it is not. My unbelief does not negate hell’s existence or make it so. But if there is a place populated by the…
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The Root's Clapback Mailbag: The Right to Be Hostile
I love the Clapback Mailbag. Contrary to popular belief, responding to the emails, tweets, comments and direct messages from random people who want to explain why I’m wrong does not depress me. It doesn’t upset me in the least. This isn’t a labor of love because I don’t even consider this labor. One of the…
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Republicans, Men and Christians Aren't Trying to Ban Abortions. White People Are
News outlets across the country have characterized two recent bills that effectively banned abortions in Georgia and Alabama in a number of ways. Some media outlets have painted the laws as Republican measures while others have painted it as the byproducts of Christian crusaders or the creations of sexist men. But the numbers show it’s…
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Eat, Pray, This Can’t Be Love
John Singleton. Dead at 51. Stroke/Hypertension. Nipsey Hussle. Dead at 33. Murdered. Phife Dawg. Dead at 45. Diabetes. Paul Bromley. Alive at 35. Overweight and spiritually confused. Is my clock ticking? Sounds morbid right? Anxious? Yeah, I know … As a black man living in America, thinking about my mortality has become a new daily…