The Root is planted: black opinion, news and culture

The Root, an ambitious new online magazine that focuses on African American culture, politics and genealogy, launched today. The site arrives with a quantity of journalistic gravitas inherited from its parent, Washington Post Co., as well as academic and media star power from editor in chief Henry Louis Gates Jr. Malcolm Gladwell, Charlayne Hunter-Gault and William Julius Wilson are contributors, and former New York Times reporter Lynette Clemetson is the managing editor.

With its sepia-toned author photos and family-tree-like visual structure, the site's design evokes one of the Root's principle themes: the exploration of African American ancestry.  The Roots section offers readers tools for exploring their familial history, including an online family-tree building application, links to DNA-testing services and suggestions for hard-core archive hunting.

Barack Obama is well represented in the site's early posts. The News page is stocked with the latest Obama-related developments--many from sister publications Slate, Newsweek and the Post itself-- including the recent Obama endorsement by Toni Morrison.

On the Views page, John Edwards finds at least one backer, but again it's Obama who generates the most buzz. Princeton professor and Obama enthusiast Melissa Harris-Lacewell admitted she is "drinking the Kool-aid and loving every minute of it." 

"I feel like a citizen," she wrote. "I don’t think I realized just how disinvested I was, until Barack came along. For me, the wins in Iowa and South Carolina feel like Reconstruction."

Author Kai Wright is more guarded. Citing the candidate's "race-neutral" image, he writes:  "The question for black America is what he will do with the power he gains from shedding his skin. If he continues to avoid unpleasant questions about race, we're in deep trouble."

In an introductory video, Gates traces the Root's lineage to Freedom's Journal, the nation's first black-owned and black-focused newspaper, started in 1827. "One hundred and eighty years later," he says, "TheRoot.com seeks to continue that work, providing fertile ground for exploring our history, our aspirations and ourselves."

Comments

[Alex Walker]

I have already checked out this web site and I'll tell you what I don't like about it.

They have an impressive lineup of contributors, but they are all established writers. There is no mechanism for new voices to submit manuscripts.

With all due respect, I am not interested in what Henry Louis Gates, John McWhorter, or Toni Morrison have to say. They have had plenty of opportunities to mouth off over and over again for decades. The Barack Obama phenomenon, if nothing else, has shown that the "conventional wisdom" we've been taught by these "experts" for decades is wrong.

It is high time for new voices to be heard.

[KClark]

I checked out the site and will take a closer look lately. From the beginning, I see that there is nothing different than what so many other "black" blog, online magazine's, etc are already saying. It's new, so maybe it will change but I doubt it. I'm sure they'll continue to give one sided arguments of every situation as though all blacks agree on every topic.