(The Root) — For an episode of This Week in Blackness, Elon James White caught up with Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) last month during the Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Conference to get the congressman’s perspective on voter-ID laws and voter suppression in the lead-up to Election Day in November. Lewis, a civil rights legend,…

(The Root) — The Democratic National Convention is partly a massive get-out-the-vote effort for President Barack Obama and other Democrats on the ballot this November. But the controversy over the voter-ID laws that have popped up across the country — laws that critics liken to Jim Crow voter-suppression tactics — has added a more urgent…

Last night Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick told the Democratic National Convention delegates, “We Democrats owe America more than a strong argument for what we are against. We need to be just as strong about what we are for.” Earlier in the day, The Root’s contributing editor Elon James White posed a question along those lines…

(The Root) — During the Republican National Convention last week in Tampa, Fla., The Root’s Keli Goff caught up with former Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele, who is also an MSNBC analyst and a regular contributor to The Root. In part 1 of their interview, they discussed whether the government had a role in…

(The Root) — Thursday at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., The Root’s Keli Goff caught up with Florida’s lieutenant governor, Jennifer Carroll. During the discussion, when Goff asked her about controversy over recent changes in Florida’s voting laws, which critics say disproportionately affect minorities, Carroll characterized current regulations as generous. She touted the…