Politics
-
John Crawford Case: It’s Open Carry for Whites and Open Season on Blacks
While the attention of America—and the world, for that matter—is on the demand for answers about the death of an unarmed 18-year-old in Ferguson, Mo., I wanted to take a moment to discuss another officer-involved shooting that happened just four days before Michael Brown was gunned down. John Crawford III was shot in a Wal-Mart…
-
Holder: DOJ Investigation in Ferguson Will Be Full, Fair and Independent
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will be in Ferguson, Mo., Wednesday to meet with community leaders and FBI agents to be briefed on the federal civil rights investigation into unarmed teen Michael Brown’s death. Penning a piece for the local newspaper, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Holder promised that the Department of Justice’s probe would be…
-
Obama: Attorney General Eric Holder Will Be in Ferguson on Wednesday
President Barack Obama, back from vacation at Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, once again stood before the nation to address the racial tensions in Ferguson, Mo., as well as the tensions between law enforcement and the black community, saying that he has spoken with state officials and plans to dig deeper into the circumstances of unarmed…
-
The President’s Critics Are Wrong About His Response to Ferguson
Last year, right before President Barack Obama made his unannounced appearance in the White House briefing room to personally address the acquittal of George Zimmerman, Trayvon Martin’s killer, on murder charges, I was among those who argued, no, the president shouldn’t be called on to make a statement about the case. Although the words Obama…
-
Ferguson’s White City Leadership Must Change
From Ferguson, Mo., to similarly afflicted hoods: It’s about time to put the hands down and roll the sleeves up. The strategy? A shrewdly engineered calculus for political engagement that fundamentally reshapes contemporary Ferguson. Sure, most of us are not on the ground in Ferguson, so I’ll take the predictable hit from some readers as…
-
Get Out of Your Own Way, Hillary Clinton
Hillary Clinton needs to get out of her own way—that is, if she wants to be president. But something tells me she hasn’t learned her lessons from 2008. On CNN recently, she seemed to take a swing at President Barack Obama, saying that she doesn’t think the U.S. has done a very good job of…
-
Without Obama, Clinton Could End Up Like Gore
Although we’re all still sort of pretending that it remains to be seen whether Hillary Clinton will run for president in 2016, she recently gave the most definitive confirmation she has to date of her impending candidacy. No, she didn’t say the words “I’m running for president,” but she publicly criticized President Barack Obama, and…
-
Why Diapers Matter When It Comes to Personal Responsibility and Poverty
The term “personal responsibility” has long served as one of the favorite rallying cries of conservatives. Want to rile up an audience? Shout about how lack of personal responsibility among the poor is hurting hardworking, taxpaying “real” Americans. As a testament to the outsized role “personal responsibility” has long played in debates about poverty, it…
-
What Are Black Politicians Doing—or Willing to Do—About Police Killing Black Folks?
It’s the question bound to come up when an unarmed black person gets gunned down, choked or beaten by a power-tripping white cop with a loose trigger: What are black politicians gonna do about it? And, to the consternation of folks asking, the answer is not as black and white as they’d like it. Although…
-
Black Female Candidates Face Different Challenges—Some of Them From Black Voters
Black women are often the backbone of political campaigns—making calls, managing offices and registering voters. And we show up at the polls. In the last two presidential elections, the turnout percentage of African-American women was greater than all other demographic groups. In Virginia, for instance, Gov. Terry McAuliffe owes black women, in particular, for his…