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After Scalia: A Single Supreme Court Justice Can Impede Progress, Influence Our Discourse
As the country and Congress grapple with the sudden passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, a key lesson has emerged from his tenure and his legacy in civil rights cases in particular: A single Supreme Court justice can powerfully influence our national discourse on critical issues of inequality. Through the opinions they write, the…
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In Eric Garner’s Last Words Was a Demand for Dignity
“This stops today.” Eric Garner’s haunting declaration, made during his deadly encounter with New York City police officers, has become a rallying cry for New Yorkers outraged by the latest example of police violence. Garner’s words speak to the frustration of a man—and a community—besieged by repeated police harassment, and they echo his basic human need…
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NAACP LDF’s President Argues for VRAA Passage 1 Year After Shelby v. Holder
Editor’s note: On the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby County, Ala. v. Holder, which gutted key provisions of the Voting Rights Act, Sherrilyn A. Ifill will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee and urge Congress to pass the Voting Rights Amendment Act, S. 1945. Below is a portion of Ifill’s testimony to the committee.…
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The History of Attacks by the Right on Civil Rights Defenders
It’s true that some U.S senators voted to kill the confirmation of Debo Adegbile as assistant attorney general for civil rights because they were concerned about the representation provided by Adegbile as a lawyer with the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund to a man convicted of killing a Philadelphia police officer. Even though LDF’s…
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Forget Duck Dynasty; There Are Important Civil Rights Battles to Fight
When the PR director of a digital-media company tweeted a racist remark about AIDS in Africa before boarding a flight from the United States to South Africa, thousands of Twitter followers tracked her flight. Thousands pressured cable channel A&E to suspend reality star Phil Robertson from his popular show, Duck Dynasty, after the publication of…
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The Summer of Our Discontent
(Special to The Root) — It is 50 years since the summer of 1963, when civil rights and labor activists were putting the finishing touches on the plans for a mass march on Washington, D.C. That march, as we all know, culminated in a key turning point for the civil rights movement. Martin Luther King…
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Voting-Rights Ruling: A Shameful Decision
(Special to The Root) — Three years ago I wrote a piece for The Root entitled, “Supreme Court Saves Voting Rights Act and Itself.” The occasion was the court’s recent consideration of the constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which Congress had reauthorized by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in 2006. In that…
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Don't Be Fooled; America Needs Affirmative Action
As the Supreme Court deliberates over whether America still needs affirmative action in the case of Fisher v. University of Texas, Sherrilyn A. Ifill writes at the New York Times that many in the liberal media have already decided that we don’t. Ifill argues that they are all mistaken. No, the Supreme Court has not…
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SCOTUS Dispatch: 'Hush Fell' Over Courtroom
(Special to The Root) — When our clients from Shelby County, Ala., arrived at the Washington, D.C., offices of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund the night before Supreme Court oral argument in the case challenging the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act, they had a lot to say. They had stories to tell…
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Our Kids Aren't Treated Equally at School
(Special to The Root) — Continuing their historical practice of working together to address issues of concern to the African-American community, the NAACP, National Urban League, United Negro College Fund and NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund are working cooperatively to improve educational opportunities for all students. This week, we will run op-eds by the…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
