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Cory Booker to Announce Decision on Presidential Run, Would Become Second Strong Black Candidate in the Race [Updated]
Update: 2/1/2019, 10:16 a.m. ET: Senator Cory Booker is running for president of the United States, making his announcement on the first day of Black History Month. Read below his comments about running for president, among other issues, in this interview exclusive to The Root. Earlier: Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) would be one of the…
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Chuck Schumer: Trump Can't 'Take Hostages' In Negotiations Over Border Security
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was in a relaxed, confident mood when I met him in his office Tuesday afternoon—and for good reason. President Donald Trump had recently been forced to agree to the Democratic position that the government be reopened before any talks about a possible border wall—the reason Trump shut the government down—without…
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Newark Mayor to Trump: Forget the Wall! Our City’s Water Has ‘Dangerously High’ Levels of Lead
Newark, N.J., Mayor Ras J. Baraka wrote a letter to Donald Trump, urging the president to ditch his potential plan to fund his long-sought border wall with emergency funds and instead send some of that money to Newark to replace faulty lead lines that are leaking “dangerously high levels of lead” into the city’s tap…
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Rashida Tlaib, the Hypocritical Cuss Word Controversy, and the Myth of Political Civility
As a young boy growing up in Detroit during the 1980s, I remember the late Coleman A. Young, the city’s first black mayor, cussing people out—usually news reporters. If you grew up in Detroit then or in the early 1990s, one of your favorite pastimes was joking about Coleman—we called him by his first name—telling…
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Little Rock, Arkansas' Young, Black Millennial Hope for Mayor Looks to Unify the City
LITTLE ROCK, Ark.—Frank Scott knows he’s a black man. And he knows everyone knows he is favored to win tomorrow’s mayoral runoff. He knows black folks in Little Rock want him to represent them. But the community banking executive knows that in order to win, he needs to bring the city together and convince white…
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Mike Espy Didn't Make History in Mississippi, But He and Other Black Candidates Definitely Made Progress
JACKSON, Miss—The U.S. Senate runoff between Mike Espy and Cindy Hyde-Smith got most of the national attention, but that race may not have been the most important one in Mississippi this election cycle. That’s why it’s important to not let disappointment about Espy’s failed bid to become one of the rare black candidates to win…
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Mike Espy Is Hoping to Prove America Wrong About Mississippi During Runoff for Senate Seat
Ridgeland, Miss.—There were just as many members of media as there were voters when Mike Espy appeared at his voting station at Highland Colony Baptist Church, just a five-minute drive outside of Jackson. The former congressman and agricultural secretary rolled up to the entrance in his SUV with his wife, Portia, and their family, to…
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Group Made Its Way Through Mississippi Before Senate Runoff to Get Black People to Register to Vote—and to Understand Their Political Power
TUNICA, Miss.—Devin Gordon was standing outside his second-floor apartment when LaTosha Brown asked to have a chat. “How you doing young man?” Brown asked. “Can we talk to you for a second?” She was out canvassing the neighborhood with Tunica Teens In Action, a local organization that helps young people become politically engaged, when one…
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Stacey Abrams' Political Rise Is Georgia's Coming-to-Jesus Moment
ALBANY, Ga.— Glenn Singfield, Sr. takes a lot of pride in the racially diverse clientele that enjoys his meals at Albany Seafood Company, a family-owned business that’s been around since 2014. “Look around this place and see who’s here,” he told me Saturday night, noting the 50-50 split of black and white customers. “The only…
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A Nurse Aims to Heal More Residents of Rural Georgia—But This Time From the State Legislature
LEARY, Ga.—Joyce Barlow had barely warmed her pew seat at Mt. Zion Baptist Church before having to deal with health scares affecting two members of the congregation. She had just delivered her campaign speech when the holy ghost filled one of the deaconesses. The woman began shouting and convulsing. A couple of . church members…
