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Sojourner Truth Gets Her Day in Congress
The United States officially enshrined the legacy of barrier-breaking lecturer and civil rights activist Sojourner Truth today, unveiling a memorial that will sit, like those of so many other famous men and women of American history, in Emancipation Hall of the US Capitol Visitors’ Center. Truth was the first black person, male or female, to successfully bring suit in US court—for the return…
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Joe Biden Stands Up to Domestic Abuse
This afternoon—between Specter defections, Clinton-Obama joint appearances and a rare Tony Bennett sighting, one of the strangest I’ve spent on Capitol Hill—it’s worth looking miles from the Beltway, to Austin, TX, where Vice President Joe Biden toured the National Domestic Violence Hotline Center. Joined by Austin Mayor Will Wynn, Biden surveyed the complex that hosts…
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Arlen Specter: Democrat in Training
Forget Day 100—Day 99 was far more interesting. Shortly after noon on Tuesday, Sen. Arlen Specter announced that he will campaign for reelection in 2010 as a member of the Democratic Party. News of the longtime Pennsylvania Republican’s defection sent shock waves through the Capitol and left Democrats enthused and senior Republican Party officials scrambling…
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What Happened to the Office of Urban Policy?
In November 2008, less than one week after winning the votes of city dwellers by a margin of 28 points, President-elect Barack Obama announced he would reward them by creating the first-ever “White House Office of Urban Policy.” Like other new aspects of Obama’s executive branch, appointing a city czar was intended to fast-track communications…
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Who Knew MLK Was so Green?
A coda to this phenomenal Earth Week at THE ROOT: On Earth Day itself, Attorney General Eric Holder took time out from pointed questions about torture memos and prosecutions of Bush administration officials, and celebrated like an increasing number of black Americans: By getting down with nature. After digging and raking (a bit awkwardly) alongside…
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Barack Obama Wants "Plain Vanilla" Credit Cards
Covers the White House and Washington for The Root. Follow her on Twitter.
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Should Van Jones be Inside the White House?
This Earth Day, it’s pretty clear that if we humans want to keep chilling on this planet, there’s a lot of work to do. The 9 billion person question: Are the right people dong it? My friend Brentin Mock has write a piece for PARLOUR magazine on Van Jones, newly tapped as a green jobs…
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Taking Green Global: Tougher than You Think
This Earth Day, supporters of political action on energy policy are trying to keep pace with the threat of devastating climate change. Back from recess, a handful of congressional committees are holding hearings as I type, about the scale of American response to the threat, and just what we’ll have to show for ourselves at…
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The Root's Green Guide
It’s Earth Day, and for a lot of black folks, sadly, that doesn’t mean much. But at The Root, we’re trying to do our best by the environment. Don’t worry. It’s easy being green. To get started, here are seven tips to help you put your best green foot forward. 1. Recycle 2. Become a Straphanger 3. Go From Four Wheels to…
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Black Folks, Green Thumbs
At first glance, recent scenes of Michelle Obama planting a White House garden were captivating because of the backdrop. The thought of berries, herbs, spinach, okra, cucumbers, radishes and sweet potatoes sprouting from the South Lawn of the “People’s House” is enough, on its own, to capture the public imagination. But there was something even…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
