1. Eat whole bananas

In the ending of “Copper Sun,” the second to last episode of Queen Sugar’s second season, the song “Fall Into My Arms” by Ngaiire plays as Ralph Angel stares at and walks into Blue’s room. Blue is his son; he’s largely raised him alone but with the help of his family, particularly Aunt Vi, but he recently found out at…

I don’t know about you, but where I lived in the mid-90s, there weren’t many places for a high schooler to get a job, or so I thought, anyway. Close to me was the world’s most perseverant Hardee’s of all time, McDonald’s, a Bruno’s and a Winn-Dixie, the last two both grocery stores.

On the list of things I’ve always wanted to be in life, placing “ninja” on LinkedIn is definitely high on the list. Of course, that desire ebbs and flows because who the hell ever thinks they’re going to be an actual, real-live ninja? But as it turns out, that shit is legit a real job.

I’m just saying. If they’re going to call the cops on us for setting hard screens, we can easily return the favor.

Updated: Monday, July 17, 2018; 3:53 EDT: When I wrote this piece, I was not aware that, according to court records, Chris Young sexually assaulted a woman in front of her three children at gun point the morning before the murder.

In what I imagine will eventually be a very regretful decision on her part, Angela Rye—noted #BlackGirlMagic trumpeter, public speaker, CNN contributor and women’s empowerment scion—decided to jump out the window in defense of her “brother,” Charlamagne Tha God (CTG).

0:01: The camera pans down a spiral staircase as we’re greeted with a bubbly and aggressively southern voice that we soon learn belongs to Beyoncé Knowles, the lead singer of Destiny’s Child. And if we weren’t quite sure that she’s the leader, her entire stomach is out. Only leaders are allowed to have their entire…

A few months back, we took to the streets of Los Angeles to talk about being Urban by Nature. We gathered a few hundred Angelenos for a night of discussion, drinks and networking.

Over the weekend, I received a quite kind email from a man named “Jake” with a series of screenshots from articles I’ve written about white people attached to it. The subject of the email read “Your a Confirmed Black Racist.” I was immediately compelled to thank Jake for gathering so much of my work in one place—he…

One of what?

Set It Off is a movie I love watching. It’s such a nonsensical movie for so many reasons that it all blends perfectly, if you let the liquor tell it. It’s one of the greatest mediocre movies in the African-American Cinematic Theater canon. Once you add in the soundtrack, it really is iconic for so many reasons. But in…

During the first 18 years of my life, my parents and I lived at seven different addresses.

On July 12, 1991, Boyz n the Hood hit theaters nationwide after early screenings in Los Angeles and New York City. As a 12-year-old living in Germany at the time who saw it while visiting relatives in Five Points, Ala., that summer, the movie changed a lot for me. Apparently, I wasn’t alone.

Smug is a funny word. It’s a word whose definition does it no real justice. But what is the definition? Glad you asked. Smug is an adjective that means having or showing an excessive pride in oneself or one’s achievements. You know the type, the folks who are super duper self-satisfied and feel superior in most…

Two years ago, I wrote a thing asking which was the single blackest last name. After an intense vet involving census results, personal recollections, proximities to yams, and even a consultation from an Adam Clayton Powell hologram, the list was narrowed to four: Washington, Jefferson, Jackson, and Jenkins.

What a difference a year makes. Just a little over a year ago, Damon and I signed those final signatures to complete the process to transition into becoming part of The Root. Like most things in life, it’s important to reflect on milestone moments. By this point last year, Damon had begun working as a senior editor at…

Since the 2016 presidential election, I have read and I have heard from people—mostly white but some nonwhite—that it’s unfair to generalize about white people just because Donald Trump is now our president. The rush to defend themselves has been so unceasing that #NotAllWhitePeople has become a popular and…

1. At some point during the two-hour layover at O’Hare International Airport on my trip from Pittsburgh to New Orleans last weekend, a supernatural force compelled me to glance up from my laptop and scan the gate around me. There was a shift in the space-time continuum that the universe was attempting to alert me to…