Politics
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Should You ‘Feel the Bern’? Where Bernie Sanders Stands on the Issues
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…
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More Than Half of Chicago Wants Him Gone, so Why Are Democrats Protecting Rahm Emanuel?
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…
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Poisoned Water in Flint, Failing Schools in Detroit: How 1 Law Is Hurting Mich.
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…
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Why Are Democrats Still Chasing White Voters When Brown and Black Is Where It’s At?
“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…
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Supreme Court to Take on Obama’s Immigration Plan
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to consider a legal challenge to President Barack Obama’s executive actions on immigration, setting up an election-year review of his plan to allow up to 5 million immigrants living in the United States illegally to work in the nation legally. The Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful…
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Fighting Racism in the Age of Obama
No one said it would be easy. After all, what’s simple about fighting something that’s baked in the cake of American society, that constitutes its original sin? Racism. That’s racism with a big R and a little one. The kind that’s in your face and explicit, and the kind that you can’t grasp with your…
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Stop Treating Black People Like a One-Issue Voting Pony
Admit it: When you finally tuned out (or logged out) of this past Sunday night’s Democratic presidential-primary debate in Charleston, S.C., you walked away with the distinct feeling that black people have only one or two issues to worry about. Watching headlines and candidate sound bites, the nation might be under the impression that the…
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The Deadening of Blackness in the Age of Obama
After George W. Bush ran the country into the ground, we all clearly and desperately wanted change. Black voters, especially black women, overwhelmingly supported Barack Obama for president. Certainly, as a self-identified African American, his candidacy was historic, but he won the black vote because he professed an agenda that we believed would be good for…
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Top 3 Takeaways From the 4th Democratic Debate
The fourth debate between the candidates for the Democratic nomination for president in Charleston, S.C., Sunday night was an exciting affair if you had never seen or heard of, or had no familiarity with, the candidates. But if you are like most Americans who have any interest in politics, there was not much last night…
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Where Are the Democrats as the Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. is Under Attack?
As the Democratic presidential candidates debate this Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, everything King and the civil rights movement fought for is at risk. An angry, xenophobic, race-based backlash to the inclusion and empowerment of people of color is ripping through the fabric of American society, but the candidates fail to rise to the occasion.…