Politics
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Hillary Clinton Is Asked for an Example of Her White Privilege
The presidential candidates at Monday’s Iowa Brown & Black Forum, broadcast from Drake University in Des Moines, were well-prepared for the ebb and flow of questions about such topics as immigration and criminal-justice reform and inequality. The event, broadcast by Fusion TV, was the first of its kind this campaign season, focusing primarily on issues…
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Obama’s Final State of the Union: ‘I’m Out’
Seven straight years of frothing-at-the-mouth Republicans. Haters pushing derail buttons on your presidency. The irritating reality that a good quarter of the population still believes you weren’t born here. Now, in the wake of all that, you must give your last official speech before a shark-infested Congress openly hoping for your demise. What would you…
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Watch: 2016 Iowa Brown & Black Democratic Presidential Forum
Issues of importance to African Americans and Latinos were front and center at the 2016 Iowa Brown & Black Democratic Presidential Forum, which took place on the campus of Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, on Jan. 11 at 8 p.m. The event was broadcast by The Root’s sister network, Fusion TV, with questions from…
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Thanks, Obama.
While perusing Facebook a few days ago, I came across this tweet for President Barack Hussein Obama’s last State of The Union (SOTU) address on Tuesday, January 12. Typically, I couldn’t care less about those speeches; it’s an annual event where every sitting President lays out his “guys, I’d really like to do some things” priorities…
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Will Black Millennials Dance With the ‘Party of Our Parents’?
“Tamir Rice was 12 years old. He was murdered outside for using his imagination.” The day after the announcement that there would be no indictment of the police officer who killed the Cleveland boy, with tweets and think pieces sprouting out of our nation’s racial woodwork, those words from Mississippi-born writer Kiese Laymon arrested me.…
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How a Racist System Has Poisoned the Water in Flint, Mich.
Tainted water is poisoning thousands of children in the predominantly African-American city of Flint, Mich. The high levels of lead in Flint’s water may create a plethora of serious, long-term health problems including brain damage, behavioral troubles, anemia and kidney problems. On Wednesday, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder declared a state of emergency in Flint and…
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Jan. 7, 2008: The Day Hillary Clinton Lost the Black Vote
It was a long time ago in an America we would hardly recognize today: Jan. 7 of 2008. The main conversation around Bill Cosby was his conservative positions, not his choice of home beverage. Tracee Ellis Ross was still Joan and not Rainbow. And Dr. Ben Carson was still just the best neurosurgeon in American history.…
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5 Things to Watch This 2016 Election Year
The first week of the New Year is the perfect time for political predictions, trend-spotting and a whole host of other prognostications about the upcoming year, only half of which will likely come true. However, 2016 won’t be like most election years. It’s an open-seat election; we’re definitely getting a new president-elect by November, unless…
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President Obama Just Made Gun Control an Election Issue in 2016
About 15 seconds after President Barack Obama delivered a heartfelt, emotional series of proposals for gun safety, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) released a statement. Within five minutes after President Obama finished speaking, Reince Priebus, the head of the Republican National Committee, released a statement. The swiftness with which these statements were released means that unless the…
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She Botched the George Zimmerman Trial, but Will Angela Corey Get Re-Elected in Fla.?
If you live in one of the 10 or so swing states for the 2016 presidential election, about 12 hours ago, you started getting bombarded with zillions of ads. Whether they’re ads suggesting that Marco Rubio is an absentee senator or ads in which Donald Trump is promising to build a wall against Mexicans or…