Politics
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Sen. Cory Booker Is an Optimist—but Can He Break Senate Gridlock?
All along the way of Sen. Cory Booker’s political rise, in one way or another he’s been cast in—and played—the good-guy role. He rose to prominence as the upstart Newark, N.J., city councilman depicted in the documentary Street Fight. As Newark’s mayor, he built a national profile by cultivating almost a million and a half…
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Michelle Obama’s Kansas Graduation Speech Stirs Debate
Days after drawing heavy criticism from Peta over the use of real eggs for the White House Easter egg roll, Michelle Obama is now under fire for a proposed graduation address in Topeka, Kan., the Associated Press reports. Some parents and students are in an uproar over the first lady’s plan to address a combined…
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PETA Goes After Michelle Obama on Easter Egg Roll
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, more fondly known as PETA, is targeting first lady Michelle Obama in a new YouTube video, pleading with her to end the tradition of using real eggs in the annual White House Easter Egg Roll. In the 80-second video, titled “Michelle Obama, We Need to Talk!” three preteen…
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Note to Democrats: If You Lose in November, Don’t Blame Black Voters
As midterm elections near and pundits predict Republican blowouts in November, Democrats appear poised to run that classic racial sob story if they lose control of the Senate: The black folks did it. RealClearPolitics actually gives Democrats a 1 percent edge over Republicans in a generic congressional ballot, and even Quinnipiac shows voters viewing Democrats as the “lesser…
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Analyzing American Democracy In the Age of Obama
The fifth annual Barack Obama and American Democracy conference will convene at Tufts University this week. Sponsored by the university’s Center for the Study of Race and Democracy, the conference draws a community of scholars, activists and policy experts to debate, analyze and discuss the Obama administration’s impact at the local, national and global level.…
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Americans Say Obama’s Not Black? How Pew Got This Wrong
Twenty-seven percent of Americans say President Barack Obama is black, while 52 percent say he’s mixed race. That’s part of a newly published Pew Research Center report that has inspired jarring headlines like these about perceptions of the man commonly (formerly?) known as the first African-American president: “Is Barack Obama ‘Black’? A Majority of Americans…
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Why the Sudden Rush Into Africa? It’s the Oil
Kenya, Libya Uganda and Nigeria are thousands of miles removed from that toilet of European tension known as Ukraine, but as drama unfolds in Eastern Europe, their destinies could be closely aligned. In essence, the more Russian President Vladimir Putin puts the grip on Russian gas prices, the more Western powers—from NATO to the United…
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Marijuana Arrests and Potential Ban on Menthol: Jim Crow Revisited?
The “war on drugs” — especially marijuana — and a possible FDA ban on menthol cigarettes are racial justice issues that should concern African-Americans and members of other over-policed communities, panelists at the National Action Network’s annual convention said Saturday. Art Way of the Colorado Drug Policy Alliance called policing of nonviolent drug offenses “areas…
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Actually, Obama’s Record Compares Just Fine With LBJ’s
The tenuousness of making comparisons between President Lyndon B. Johnson’s vaunted vote-wrangling prowess and the allegedly ineffectual legislative skills of President Barack Obama was nicely summed up on Wednesday with this tweet: Although it’s meant to get a laugh—and it’s hard to imagine a future where Obama’s remembered as a Tea Partier—the upshot—that perceptions change…
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Obama Could Stand to Be a Little More Like LBJ
On Thursday, President Barack Obama joined other dignitaries at a civil rights summit to commemorate the 50th anniversary of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s signature accomplishment as president—passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. And in a nod to the shoulders that he stands on, Obama said, “I have lived out the promise of LBJ’s efforts.”…