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NAACP LDF Goes Back to Court to Defend a Win for Fayette County, Ga.’s Black Voters
On Nov. 4, 2014, two things happened when voters took to the polls in Fayette County, Ga. First, voters participated in higher numbers than anywhere else in their state. Second, Georgia voters in the recently implemented majority-black district made history by electing their candidate of choice, the first-ever black woman to serve on the County Commission. African-American voters also elected a…
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Chicago’s Minimum Wage to Increase From $8.25 to $13 by 2019
By 2019, people earning minimum wage in Chicago will be making $13 an hour, up from the current $8.25 an hour, thanks to a recent vote by the Chicago City Council to approve a proposal by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Al-Jazeera reports. “We want to make sure people can afford to live here,” Emanuel said…
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UN Pleads With Texas to Delay Execution of Mentally Ill Man
The United Nations is making a last-minute plea to Texas officials to delay the execution of Scott Panetti, a prisoner who is said to have mental disabilities that should have made him ineligible for the death penalty, Al-Jazeera reports. “There is no doubt that it is inherently cruel and unworthy of civilized societies to execute persons…
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A Murder Mystery in Ferguson
The day after the Darren Wilson grand jury announcement, a burned body was found in Ferguson, Mo., near the apartment complex where Wilson shot and killed unarmed teen Michael Brown. That body has been identified as Deandre Joshua, 20, reports the Huffington Post. Joshua had been shot in the head, and his burned body was found in…
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Janay Rice and Her Mom Are Living in Denial
On the heels of a tell-all interview with ESPN published Friday, in which Janay Rice spoke for the first time about the night her then-fiance, Ray Rice, knocked her unconscious in an elevator, Janay and her mother, Candy Palmer, sat for a two-part interview with the Today show’s Matt Lauer yesterday morning and today. (Ray…
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Supreme Court Hears Case to Decide if Rap Lyrics Were Really Facebook Threats
The Supreme Court is hearing a case this week about Anthony Elonis, a Pennsylvania man who was sentenced to four years in prison for posting “explicit rap lyrics” to his Facebook page that expressed his desire to kill his wife, shoot up an elementary school, and “slit the throat” of the FBI agent who was…
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Portrait of a Black Servant in Eastern Europe
This image is part of a weekly series that The Root is presenting in conjunction with the Image of the Black Archive & Library at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. In a portrait format usually reserved for the privileged classes, an elaborately dressed, elderly black man regards the viewer with…
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The Ferguson Movement Has Too Much to Do—Don’t Let It Fizzle Out Like Occupy Wall Street
When we heard last week that Darren Wilson, the Ferguson, Mo., police officer who killed 18-year-old Michael Brown, wouldn’t be indicted, there was a collective gasp of despair that soon gave way to protests, tear gas and, in some cases, riots and looting. Ferguson’s outrage has inspired kindred, mostly peaceful demonstrations across the nation—with young…
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GOP Congressional Staffer, Who Was Reportedly Arrested as a Teen, Quits After Slamming Obama Girls
It’s a timeless adage: If you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all. But Republican congressional staffer Elizabeth Lauten apparently never got that memo. She formally resigned on Monday after her comments about Malia and Sasha Obama went viral. Lauten, previously the communications director for Rep. Stephen Fincher (R-Tenn.), came under fire this weekend…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
