blogging the beltway

On Tuesday President Obama delivered an economic speech on what he called a “make-or-break moment” for the middle class and poor. “This is the defining issue of our time,” the president said from a Kansas high school on the questions of how to restore the nation’s economy, rebuild the shrinking middle class and narrow the…

Back in March, before Herman Cain officially announced his candidacy for president and political watchers were just beginning to ask, “Who is Herman Cain?” he granted an interview with The Root. Though largely unknown at the time, the former Godfather’s Pizza executive was confident about his chances, partially because of his popularity with certain factions…

On Friday the departments of Education and Justice jointly released new guidance emphasizing that public schools may voluntarily consider race in order to achieve student diversity. The two documents (one for K-12, the other for colleges and universities) describe various approaches that administrators can lawfully take when using race in decisions such as admissions, recruitment…

It’s officially the holiday season at the White House, where 85,000 visitors are expected to tour in the month of December alone. Kicking things off on Wednesday, first lady Michelle Obama welcomed military families (and a pack of media folks) for the first viewing of this year’s holiday decorations. “We’re using the holiday season here…

As one of five commissioners on the Federal Communications Commission — and the first African-American woman to serve, by the way — Mignon Clyburn hasn’t exactly been winning new fans lately. Last week the commission’s Internet regulatory rules went into effect, newly stirring criticism from net-neutrality advocates, who say that the guidelines don’t go far…

Earlier this month, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security held a hearing — “21st Century Law Enforcement: How Smart Policing Targets Criminal Behavior” — focused on the effectiveness, or lack thereof, of racial profiling. Witness after witness maintained that targeting people based on race is shoddy police work. “The racially discriminatory…

The national “War on Drugs,” which escalated in the 1980s with the creation of mandatory minimum prison sentences, notoriously drove criminal-justice stats off the charts. According to the Sentencing Project, drug offenders in state prisons have increased thirteenfold since 1980, and drug offenders currently account for half of the federal prison population. African Americans are…

Despite his influence throughout the civil rights movement — playing a central role in helping desegregate the University of Mississippi, launching boycott campaigns against discriminatory merchants, registering disenfranchised black voters and spearheading investigations into the murder of Emmett Till — the late Medgar Evers doesn’t have the same name recognition as other prominent civil rights…

There’s just over a week to go before the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction — better known as the super committee — hits the Nov. 23 deadline to reach a deal. But the bipartisan, 12-member panel, charged with finding at least $1.2 trillion in new deficit cuts, doesn’t appear to be even close. The Root…