Politics

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is catching fire. But the Democratic presidential nominee’s long shot bid for the White House will hinge on his ability to attract African-American voters. Recent polls in Iowa and New Hampshire, the first two primary states, show him beating Hillary Clinton by 10 points and 22 points, respectively. Those states, however,…

You’re young, black, educated and saddled with a personal investment in yourself, aka student-loan debt. Student-loan debt is a real and present issue. Nationally, college graduates and students have racked up $1.3 trillion in student-loan debt, with black and low-income students taking on a disproportionate share. The overall amount of student-loan debt surpasses credit card…

Once the Labor Day weekend sun sets, kids hit their schoolbooks and parents return to relentless commutes, politics returns with the vengeance of an awakened dragon. And during a presidential season, as primaries near, predictions are inevitable. Political predictions, of course, are a tricky and relatively unscientific business, but The Root will attempt to present…

The NFL preseason is arguably a waste of time unless you’re a die-hard football fan or a desperate gambler or you’re related to someone who is actually playing in the games. It’s simply practice for players who are hoping to make the team and for television analysts working on their one-liners and hot takes. Because…

What has made the 21st century so interesting is that, perhaps for the first time in American history, the right people are being studied. Examining “race in America,” now in vogue, used to be called grappling with “the Negro problem.” Black leadership and luminaries were ignored when they repeatedly said during the last century’s white…

Trivia time: Name anyone who has been elected president of the United States without having served in any political office before running. There aren’t many. In the 200-plus-year history of the U.S., there have only been three presidents who were never on the stump before swearing an oath to protect the United States: George Washington, Ulysses S.…

Those noisy, rabid bands of Donald Trump crowds feel pressed to let you know that they aren’t racist. Far from it, they’ll attempt to convince you. Conservative pundits, some embarrassed, point to voters disaffected by big government, the lingering recession and political elites. “White power” chants at the Donald rally? Naw, man, we were just…

Donald Trump’s meteoric rise has become as baffling to the whiny, political chattering class as it has to occasionally tuned-in observers who appear stupefied in his wake. But what’s missing is a deeper nip-tuck look into the rabid whiteness driving his ambitions. The answer to the mystery of his popularity has stared us in the…