Politics
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Obama Should Take More Vacation, Not Less
It’s that time of year again—the time when many take summer vacation, and the time when many will criticize President Barack Obama for doing so. I’m not one of these critics. In fact, I may be one of the few people in America now genuinely convinced that the president should take more vacation time, not…
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Army Set to Dismiss More Black Officers Than White
The Army is prepared to dismiss 550 of its 17,000 majors, with black officers bearing more of the brunt of the cuts than any other ethnic group, according to Army personnel documents, USA Today reports. Records show that 10 percent of black majors are being let go, while 8 percent of Latino and 5.6 percent of…
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Calif. Senate Wants to Make Sure Students Learn About the 1st Black President
The California state Senate is attempting to make sure that students learn about the meaning of Barack Obama’s presidency long after his two terms in office. On Thursday it approved a bill by a 30-1 vote that would encourage schools to give lessons about the historic nature of Obama’s status as the United States’ first black…