Politics

Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-Fla.) statements on the Black Lives Matter movement surprised many last year. But how far will he go in addressing the disparities in the criminal-justice system? The Root’s Meet the Candidates series continues its exploration of where presidential candidates stand on some of the most pressing issues for African Americans. Previously we…

Editor’s note: This article has been revised to clarify Hillary Clinton’s policies on how to raise incomes and make college more affordabie. Black people turned out in droves to usher in the Obama era. Can Hillary Clinton ignite a similar passion? Yes, Clinton has a long history of supporting issues that matter to African Americans,…

It’s easy to view the bubbling toxic-water crisis in Flint, Mich., as the case of yet another majority-black city victimized by institutional neglect. Michigan itself is a cautionary tale of once-thriving Northern manufacturing towns, once the heart of black Northern migration, now disintegrating from economic malaise.   But, in reality, Flint serves as a primary example…

Donald Trump’s rhetoric attracts an army of angry white people to his campaign rallies, but at the same time, he has tried to court the black vote. Can his policy positions balance the interests of the two groups? In The Root’s new series, Meet the Candidates, we take a closer look at where leading presidential…

News outlets across America are talking about how anxious the American voter is heading into the 2016 election. We’re anxious about the economy, anxious about national security, anxious about criminal justice; the whole country just seems like a bundle of nerves looking over its collective shoulders at every new drip of news. Generally, this anxiety…

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a self-proclaimed democratic socialist, stands to the left of Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton on some issues. But many wonder whether he, after serving a state with few minorities, truly understands the concerns of African Americans. With the 2016 presidential election season under way, The Root is focusing on leading candidates of…

Here’s a question: What could Chicago’s Mayor Rahm Emanuel do to prompt Democrats to call for his resignation? No Democrat has yet, even though Chicago’s mayor is in the throes of scandal centered around the issue of police misconduct. Last weekend Hillary Clinton was asked about Emanuel and answered, “Mayor Emanuel has said that he…

Republican Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder is in hot and highly contaminated water. Residents in Flint, Mich., have been drinking, bathing in and cooking with contaminated water for over a year, and all signs indicate that Snyder has known about it since Spring of 2015. To make matters worse, on Wednesday morning, teachers in the Detroit…

“For hundreds of years, what most mattered in America was whether you were White or not, and that question has continued to be the driving force in our politics, as consultants and candidates have competed for the support of White swing voters thought to be essential to winning elections,” writes Steve Phillips in the opening…