Critics of the war on drugs are having one hell of a week. First California passes a law Sunday to equalize the prison sentences that black and white defendants convicted of drug crimes receive, and then, on Wednesday, Philadelphia passed legislation that will require police officers to ticket people who are in possession of small amounts of marijuana instead of…

Approximately 100 people received word from Texas health officials that they need to come in for questioning, and possibly an examination, because they may have had contact with Thomas E. Duncan, the New York Times is reporting. Duncan is the only known person to have been diagnosed in the U.S. with the Ebola virus.  The people being…

My best friend, who lives with her boyfriend, got into a car accident. Via mass email, she asked all her friends for money to help with the expensive repair. I said to her privately that her boyfriend should be handling that, not us. She called me judgmental and unrealistic, then we fought about my high…

Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Karla FC Holloway to talk about her new book, Legal Fictions: Constituting Race, Composing Literature, and the question of whether we are on a path to a post-racial America. She also weighs in on President Barack Obama’s ability to serve the interests of African Americans while…

In order to join The Root’s commenting community, you must register through Facebook. This allows a transparency that we consider crucial for a safe and tolerant commenting environment. We strongly discourage the use of pseudonyms. We encourage commenters to use their real first and last names as the username. Your username will be displayed with…

Too many black men have lost their lives because of encounters with police officers whose racially charged presumptions about what the men were holding in their hands informed their decision-making minutes before the men were gunned down. In fact, it’s what Jennifer L. Eberhardt, a Stanford psychologist and one of this year’s recipients of the…

There is finally justice for 17-year-old Jordan Davis, the young man gunned down by Michael Dunn after a verbal dispute over loud music in a Jacksonville, Fla., gas station in November 2012. Dunn was found guilty of first-degree murder by a jury of eight men and four women who deliberated just five-and-a-half hours. A different…