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Boko Haram’s Horrifying Trend: Girls Used as Suicide Bombers
In case you were wondering, the group formerly known as Boko Haram didn’t go away. The vicious band of militant Islamists wrecking West Africa is using women and girls to stage a comeback. To date, there have been 53 female suicide bombers in 2015. “No terrorist group in history has used as many female suicide…
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Why Most Black Voters Still Aren’t Feeling Bernie Sanders
Let many a progressive pundit and New Hampshire poll tell it, and Bernie Sanders is catching fire. Raking in a cool $2 million postdebate, the Vermont senator is the hottest thing since his one-hit-wonder state compatriot, the former Gov. Howard Dean, in 2004. Look at other polls and he’s either catching up or “neck and…
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Democratic Debate: Who Won, Who Goes Home and Joe Who?
Oh yeah, that’s right: Democrats do have a primary after all. For an entire summer bleeding into fall, it sure didn’t feel like it. Republicans sucked up all the air, thanks to bigoted sound bites from their candidates and the Democratic National Committee’s own flawed assumption that it just needed six debates to get the…
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A Million Man March That Leaves 20 Years of Reflection
Among the many feelings from 20 years ago, perhaps the most striking was defiance. Nothing like a “Let’s burn the National Mall down” defiance (even though anger was in much heavier supply back then, as it is now), but more of a “We’ll show them” defiance gassing our post-teen, boom-bap-hip-hop-soundtracked Gen X awe with the…
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5 Reasons to Pay Close Attention to the Congressional Leadership Race
The sudden resignation of House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) may have been a House of Cards-like script waiting in the lurch, but it was the last thing we saw coming the day after Pope Francis’ mic drop before Congress. Current House Majority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is favored to take over the speakership, even if…
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Ben Carson Might Want to Brush Up on the Long and Active History of Muslims in America
We are finding ourselves in yet another visceral episode of American-style anti-Muslim rage. If your local science-hacking Muslim teenager isn’t handcuffed for trying to take clocks to their next level, your friendly soapboxing Republican presidential candidate is telling him he can’t be president. Not surprisingly, there has been a complicated morass of Islamophobia for some…
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Political Predictions and the November Election No One’s Talking About
Once the Labor Day weekend sun sets, kids hit their schoolbooks and parents return to relentless commutes, politics returns with the vengeance of an awakened dragon. And during a presidential season, as primaries near, predictions are inevitable. Political predictions, of course, are a tricky and relatively unscientific business, but The Root will attempt to present…
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New Poll: Birthers and Bigots Fill Trump Supporters’ Ranks
Those noisy, rabid bands of Donald Trump crowds feel pressed to let you know that they aren’t racist. Far from it, they’ll attempt to convince you. Conservative pundits, some embarrassed, point to voters disaffected by big government, the lingering recession and political elites. “White power” chants at the Donald rally? Naw, man, we were just…
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Campaign 2016: The Angry White Man’s Last Stand
Donald Trump’s meteoric rise has become as baffling to the whiny, political chattering class as it has to occasionally tuned-in observers who appear stupefied in his wake. But what’s missing is a deeper nip-tuck look into the rabid whiteness driving his ambitions. The answer to the mystery of his popularity has stared us in the…
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Racism in the Air You Breathe: When Where You Live Determines How Fast You Die
Countless African-American neighborhoods are plagued by some of the worst ongoing environmental disasters that exist on the planet. There’s often a landfill, highway, airport or oil refinery next door. Nearby you can find contaminated bus depots, nasty subway stops, plus the lead in old houses, which can lead to neurological disorders and learning difficulties (pdf).…
