Politics
-
Dump Trump, Draft Oprah and Other Outsider Political Fantasies
When Donald Trump announced his plan to run for president in June, few Republican strategists and cable-news media personalities gave him a serious chance to secure the party’s nomination. Many people believed that early missteps, especially controversial statements he made about Mexicans and Sen. John McCain, would sink his campaign before it could really get…
-
#BlackLivesMatter Asks, so #BlackLivesMatter Receives
This week, video of Black Lives Matter activists meeting with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton became a shocking “must-see” event, but not for the reasons some might think. Not shocking because activists talked to Clinton. Not shocking because of the tactics Black Lives Matter activists have used to confront candidates on the presidential trial.…
-
Is Donald Trump Vying to Become the Next George Wallace?
Replace Donald Trump’s New York accent with a Southern drawl, then replace his use of “illegals” with the n-word, and there you have it: a 2015 version of George Wallace, Alabama’s segregationist governor who stoked fear and prejudice to find his place in politics. And like Wallace—who, after losing his first race for governor in…
-
The GOP Attempt to Deny Birthright Citizenship to People of Color
Donald Trump offered a bold, new idea to curb the arrival of undocumented immigrants to the United States: Strike down part of the 14th Amendment. The only problem is that the idea is not new, and it is only bold in how racially insensitive it is. This is just the latest attempt in an ongoing…
-
#BlackLivesMatter to Clinton, Other Presidential Candidates: Get a Real Analysis on Race
When running for president, candidates are expected to be well-versed in many things: international relations, economics, education policy, immigration. But what about race? Daunasia Yancey and Julius Jones, both activists with the Black Lives Matter movement, think it’s time for candidates to brush up on their racial analysis because the issues of black people are…
-
Ha! Sorry? Not Sorry: Bernie Sanders Nixes Aide’s Apology to Black Lives Matter
A day after an aide apologized to Black Lives Matter organizers on his campaign’s behalf, presidential wannabe Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) publicly dissed the apology, telling Chuck Todd on Meet the Press Sunday that it wasn’t necessary. BuzzFeed’s Darren Sands reported Saturday that Sanders’ African-American outreach director, Marcus Ferrell, emailed a group of activists asking…
-
Julian Bond Flirted With Presidential Run in 1976
Julian Bond is dead. His death is being widely reported today by media organizations. But here’s an important event in his life that those stories won’t tell you about the former communications director of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Council and board chairman of the NAACP: Julian Bond’s death comes 39 years after he flirted with…
-
Black Voters Must Hold Democrats Accountable
For the second time in as many months, activists aligned with #BlackLivesMatter have disrupted a major speaking event featuring presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. Activists have targeted Democratic Party candidates for their lackluster positions on winning racial justice. #BlackLivesMatter co-founder Patrisse Cullors, who participated in an earlier direct action at the Netroots Nation conference in Phoenix,…
-
Bernie Sanders, Black Lives Matter and the Search for a Black Agenda
“I don’t know if I will do the fighting myself or other people will.” That’s what Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump threatened Tuesday at a press conference. He was talking about not allowing Black Lives Matter protesters to interrupt him at any forum. But while Trump talks hypothetical encounters with the burgeoning racial-justice movement, his…
-
Why Black Folks Should Watch the 1st GOP Debate
And then there were 10. Fox News, in all its political wisdom, finally managed to whittle a crowded circus tent of 17 Republican presidential candidates into 10 bona fide, top-polling, first-Republican-primary-debate contenders. All men and overwhelmingly white (save a retired black neurosurgeon and a onetime wunderkind Cuban American), these self-ascribed castigators of conservatism will descend…