Politics

MSNBC‘s Adam Serwer analyzes President Obama’s recent “assurances” on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno that the government isn’t spying on Americans, in light of information revealed by National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden about the agency’s worldwide data-gathering networks. President Obama said the U.S. government is not spying on American citizens during an appearance…

On Aug. 28, President Barack Obama will deliver a speech at the Lincoln Memorial to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s infamous “I Have a Dream” speech, according to the Huffington Post.  And though no other specifics about Obama’s speech were released, HuffPost, in a separate story, detailed additional plans being made…

After Ebony released its powerful September covers to pay homage to Trayvon Martin, whispers of a boycott by members of the Tea Party began surfacing on Twitter. As The Root reported yesterday, the Ebony staff took to their own Twitter account to address the reports with a rather witty response, and “Black twitter” joined in…

In a piece at the Daily Beast, Jamelle Bouie weighs in on a Republican lawmaker’s unwittingly absurd comment that the president’s tax on tanning beds is, um, “racist” because black people do not use them. The only way to describe the tax as “racist,” Bouie writes, “is to turn the word into a mindless insult.”…

Partnership for a Healthy America, a nonprofit affiliated with Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign, is launching a hip-hop album, Songs for a Healthier America, complete with music videos, to help fight obesity at schools across the country, according to U.S. News & World Report. The first lady — along with rapper Doug E. Fresh, singer-songwriter…

There has been much talk about empowering black boys in the wake of Trayvon Martin’s death. Bernardine Watson at the Washington Post encourages a similar effort for young black girls, particularly given how many of them end up in the juvenile-justice system.  Certainly a national focus on young African American males is overdue, particularly given…

Brittney Cooper, writing at Salon, describes how Jay Z and President Barack Obama rely too heavily on their ability to inspire black Americans instead of taking a more proactive role in carrying out measurable deeds that will help black culture. Yet when it comes to thinking about the political potential of hip-hop, Jay becomes mucked and…

(The Root) — For African Americans, the Great Recession continues. This is both troubling and ironic because it coincides with the administration of the nation’s first black president. The black community’s understandable pride in President Barack Obama’s existence (and that of Michelle Obama and Sasha and Malia) has inoculated the president against constructive criticism in…

(The Root) — I just finished reading an editorial in Virginia’s Richmond Times-Dispatch, the dominant newspaper in the city I now call home. It reminded me why I’m so skeptical about the idea of a national conversation on race. It was about the death earlier this week of 98-year-old former U.S. Sen. Harry F. “Little…