Today, 12 p.m.: Join the washingtonpost.com Live Online discussion on MICHAEL STEELE AND THE GOP’s FUTURE  with The Root’s deputy editor Terence Samuel. ***** They are black Republicans… A rapidly disappearing political subculture that seeks legitimacy by asserting that they are something different, something special—the other dark meat. They define themselves—with a quizzical ethos of…

It would have been too risky for the first black president to completely flip the script on inaugural protocol the first time out. Wouldn’t it have been nice to see Barack Obama stride to the podium in a stately East African tunic, complete with headgear and wooden staff?  But my Zamunda-styled fantasy inauguration, complete with…

One significant implication of the current fighting in Gaza crystallized for me a few days ago when I read the following post on my fantasy basketball message board: “Cats must think Obama is a %&$$# (rhymes with cushy).” They must—because the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, the uptick in bombings in Iraq and the Gaza conflagration…

HOMEWRECKERS: I wouldn’t necessarily say that Kai’s piece on sub-prime mortgages was ahead of its time, but I would say that it was right…on…time… A few months later, the conservative commentariat was trying its best to blame the collapse of the financial sector on “unqualified minority borrowers.” Yeah, right. Because black people control all the…

“He totally just wrote me off like I’m that nigga to steal on.” – Charlie Murphy “I’m Rick James, he’s Charlie Murphy.” – Rick James If the Iraqi justice system worked anything like ours, Muntader al Zaidi, reporter for the Al-Baghdadiya network and erstwhile thrower of hard-soled dress shoes at President George W. Bush, would…

The idea is to find the right match. Soul mates or perhaps a team of rivals? If only there were an eHarmony for presidential transitions, Thomas Jefferson might get matched with Condoleezza Rice: “Widower, nation’s first SoS, seeks SBF, preferably also former SoS, for ‘diplomatic’ liaison at country estate. Turn-ons include long trips to France;…

Nov. 19, 2008—The lingering tension between gays and lesbians and the African-American community over the passage of California’s Proposition 8—banning same-sex marriage—isn’t a laughing matter, but it is absurd. It has all the makings of a Tyler Perry movie starring the casts of Big Love and The L Word. Diary of a Mad Black Mormon Lesbian…

We were supposed to see a fur coat in this election. It was supposed to come out at an inopportune moment, the way Frank Lucas’ (Denzel Washington) garish chinchilla did at the Ali-Frazier fight in American Gangster. It tipped everyone off that the customarily low-profile and buttoned-down Lucas was the guy they thought he was…

“I know where to go…I know what to do…” —Ready For The World It’s getting late—have you made up your mind? Here’s one last thing for you undecided voters to consider. As soon as the next president is sworn in, he’s going to have a waiting room full of folks with global problems to deal…

On Election Day, the relationship between Jewish-American voters and Barack Obama will be like a big midterm in a graduate course on coalition politics. It’s a trust walk between the Democratic Party’s two most reliable constituent demographics and a test of the bond between two minority groups that have marched arm-in-arm at times and feuded…