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  • 8 Years a President: Thoughts on 2 Terms of a Black President and Black First Family  

    It’s a tall task to assess the entirety of President Barack Obama’s two terms in office, to cull an ultimate judgment from all the success and missteps of his administration, and then measure that against the unprecedented obstructions it faced. One can point to the decline in deficit and the growth of gross domestic product,…

    By

    The Root Staff

    Published

  • All That 'Rigged' Talk Overshadows the Very Real and Active Suppression of Black Votes

    Frantically saving himself from the rat-a-tat of queries from skeptical black journalists at a rushed “off record” session at the GOP headquarters months ago, Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus dropped the only mic he could think of to shut up the crowd: “I used to work for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.” Many in…

    By

    Charles D. Ellison

    Published

  • Exclusive: Hillary Clinton Has Plan for HBCUs and Education. Trump? Not So Much, She Says

    This election may be the most important of our lifetimes. It will determine whether we build on President Barack Obama’s legacy to create a more just and equitable society, or let all the progress we’ve made get ripped away. Every issue we care about is effectively on the ballot. That includes education. I believe it’s…

    By

    The Root Staff

    Published

  • Engaging Black Millennials 101

    The narrative that black millennials aren’t enthusiastic about the 2016 election is false. We understand the power of voting. We know what’s at stake for black communities. We understand the magnitude of the election. We are not ignorant of our history of struggle against systemic oppression and institutional racism. What we are is frustrated and…

    By

    The Root Staff

    Published

  • Obama and the Congressional Black Caucus: Allies and Foes

    “If Bill Clinton had been in the White House and had failed to address this problem, we probably would be marching on the White House. There is a less-volatile reaction in the CBC because nobody wants to do anything that would empower the people who hate the president.” —Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), former chairman of…

    By

    Lauren Victoria Burke

    Published

  • FBI Director James Comey Manufactures an October Surprise for Hillary Clinton

    America had such nice plans for the weekend. Most people were getting ready for some World Series baseball, looking through Party City for that last slutty Ninja Turtle costume, maybe even spending a few hours in line for early voting. The last thing most Americans expected this Friday afternoon was a shameless unprofessional and utterly…

    By

    Jason Johnson

    Published

  • President Obama and First Lady, Please Do These 10 Blackest Things Before You Leave

    The Obamas haven’t been the typical presidential family. From moving Michelle’s mama into 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. to hosting rappers and poetry sessions, this couple has done away with tradition and brought some much-needed life (and color) to the White House. Now, with only a few months until they leave the Oval Office, there are 10…

    By

    Chanté Griffin

    Published

  • The Miseducation of the White Man: How Our Education System Failed White Voters

    My first job after college was teaching kindergarten. For a decade I worked as a kindergarten teacher and then as an elementary school principal. Now I am a professor charged with preparing teachers and administrators. The 2016 presidential election is the first time that every one of my approximately 2,000 former K-12 students are of…

    By

    The Root Staff

    Published

  • Civil Rights Groups Ready to Stand Up to Voter Intimidation

    Gabrielle Gray is a little busy these days. The 26-year-old doctoral student in political science at Howard University is coordinating the school’s 2016 Presidential General Election Voter Protection Project. It involves putting together teams of students from HBCUs around the nation to keep voters of color from being intimidated at the polls on Election Day.…

    By

    Allison Keyes

    Published

  • Sometimes It’s Perfectly OK to Hate Those Who Believe in Your Oppression

    When Michelle Obama said, “When they go low, we go high,” she offered a succinct and strong defense of dignity. The idea is that simply because someone else—in this case, Donald Trump—resorts to a certain level of campaigning that many find debasing doesn’t mean everyone else should join him in the mud pool. It’s a…

    By

    Michael Arceneaux

    Published