Politics

Though the outsized influence of wealthy conservative donors like the Koch brothers tend to dominate debates about the role of money in politics, a new report indicates progressives now appear to have a fundraising advantage. According to the Sunlight Foundation, the top donors to super PACs for the past year have leaned progressive. But none…

If advocates have their way, voting rights could be a new reality for the nation’s incarcerated. Full voting rights for felons is as hot a topic in Washington as voting rights in reverse pushed by voter-ID-tickled Republicans. But with new legislation moving through the Senate, a spotlight is being placed anew on the plight of…

In this inaugural episode of Crossfire on The Root: Join The Root’s, Jenée Desmond-Harris, as she moderates a debate between Van Jones and Newt Gingrich, the hosts of CNN’s Crossfire. They take on questions surrounding the most practical and moral approach to the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. Plus: What does Chicago have to do with it?

International crises, ranging from a Malaysia Airlines passenger flight being shot down by Russia-backed Ukrainian separatists to Israel’s escalating military intervention into Gaza, have highlighted the Obama doctrine’s political and policy limitations. And at a time when the world is crying out for bold, decisive leadership from the White House, President Barack Obama has appeared…

When we talk about the gender pay gap, most of us are already familiar with the fact that women make just 77 cents for every dollar a man makes. While this remains true, not all women are even that fortunate. For African-American women the wage gap is even larger. African-American women make just 64 cents…

Almost half of the nation’s 100,000 federal drug inmates could spend less time behind bars following a decision Friday by the U.S. Sentencing Commission, the Washington Post reports. In a unanimous vote, the commission decided that 46,000 federal drug offenders in prison are eligible for reduced sentences, the report says. The decision, the Post says,…

Let’s say, hypothetically, that a charity that serves veterans, based in my home state of Texas—where 23 percent of folks polled believe that President Barack Obama is Muslim—accepts a sizable donation from the Obama family. But after the Obamas’ donation becomes public, the charity winds up losing significant financial support from some of its conservative…

Last week The Root’s Keli Goff wrote about the child refugees fleeing violence and poverty in Central America and seeking refuge at our border. Unfortunately, she argued that we shouldn’t protect these brown children and supports deporting them—while claiming that we have our own black children to care about first, citing recent violence in the streets of…

I’m not sure if people of color in a country like ours can afford to be in the position of looking down on children—undocumented or otherwise—for trying to flee violence in their home countries. And although I can appreciate a different point of view, I see the issue of children from Central America making a…