Politics
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Nigeria Hits the Reset Button
The outcome of the Nigerian election and the thus-far peaceful reaction to it is the most hopeful news out of Africa’s largest country in years. For the first time in Nigeria’s history, an incumbent head of state has been defeated at the ballot box. On May 29, when President-elect Muhammadu Buhari is sworn in, Nigeria…
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Higher Heights Works to Harness the Rising Political Clout of Black Women
Power, policy and mobilizing the political influence of African-American women. That was the focus of a lunchtime meeting of influential black women in Washington this week. In the ornate parlor of the Dorothy Height Building, between the Capitol and the White House, more than 40 women met to discuss the role of black women…
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Chicago Mayor’s Race: Rahm Emanuel Takes a Few Jabs, but He’s Still Standing
Incumbent Mayor Rahm Emanuel sat through the second of Chicago’s three runoff debates looking as if he needed to pinch himself while trying not to look as if he wanted to punch his opponent’s lights out. He wasn’t supposed to be there. All bets were on Emanuel brushing aside his four much lesser-known challengers in…
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She’s Speaking Up for the Voiceless in Ferguson
As a child, Missouri state Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal suffered from a severe speech impediment that prevented her from speaking clearly. “There was a disconnection somewhere. What was coming out of my mouth did not match what was in my head,” she told The Root. “R’s came out as W’s; O’s came out as ‘oos.’ I…
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Black Women March to Senate Leader’s Office in Protest Over Loretta Lynch
“We will not be moved, we will not go back, we will not stop,” said Dr. Barbara Williams-Skinner as she led a prayer outside the door of the U.S. Capitol office of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) as staff and U.S. Capitol police officers stirred nearby. About 20 prominent black women arrived at…
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President Obama and The Wire Creator David Simon Talk Criminal-Justice Reform
President Barack Obama has previously expressed his love for the HBO series The Wire (2002-2008), which chronicled the effect of the war on drugs in the city of Baltimore. Now he’s sat down with the creator of the series to talk about mass incarceration in the U.S. On Thursday the White House debuted a video…
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Liberals, Conservatives Seek Common Ground on Criminal-Justice Reform
Get tough on crime. That was the mantra throughout the United States, both at the local and federal levels, as crime boomed toward the end of the 1970s. Many laws were passed, putting more police on the street and inflicting higher and higher penalties for various crimes in direct response to fears over drugs and…
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CBC Members React as Jesse Jackson Jr. Gets Out of Prison
Today, former Illinois Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. is scheduled to leave an Alabama federal prison after serving time for misusing $750,000 in campaign funds for personal use. The 50-year-old former congressman and son of the Rev. Jesse Jackson received a sentence of 30 months in prison in 2013. Jackson Jr.’s sentence was shortened by three months because he completed a substance-abuse program, and…
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At 5 Years Old, the ACA Is Succeeding at What It’s Meant to Do: Lower the Uninsured Rate for All
Ready to have that other-than-March Madness, watercooler conversation on the fifth anniversary of the Affordable Care Act? Get your pen and pad ready, because the results are in: What you probably know better by the name “Obamacare” is actually working. It’s not perfect; nor is its implementation near complete. But as President Barack Obama’s grandest…
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One-on-One With the Most Influential Big-City Cop in America
When tensions between law enforcement and communities of color rise to a boiling point, President Barack Obama has often, of late, turned to Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey, formerly the top cop for Washington, D.C., a 46-year law-enforcement veteran and now CEO of the Police Executive Research Forum. After the spate of police killings of…