Politics

(Special to The Root) — When our clients from Shelby County, Ala., arrived at the Washington, D.C., offices of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund the night before Supreme Court oral argument in the case challenging the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act, they had a lot to say. They had stories to tell…

(Special to The Root) — “I hope never to see a case like this again.” With these words, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor ended a rare and sharp rebuke (pdf) of a federal prosecutor in Texas for racially charged remarks he made during the criminal trial of Bongani Charles Calhoun. Calhoun, an African American, was…

The Washington Post’s Courtland Milloy wishes Michelle Obama would do serious work for the education of girls and skip the lighthearted television appearances. It’s time for first lady Michelle Obama to raise her game. Nothing wrong with telling kids to eat their peas or showing them how to Hula-Hoop. But after four years of focusing…

(Special to The Root) — In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act and called it a “triumph for freedom as huge as any victory that has ever been won on any battlefield.” But this past election season we were back on the battlefield, waging a nonviolent struggle against the greatest wave…

(The Root) — President James Wagner of Emory University recently asserted that the three-fifths clause of the Constitution is a good example of how people with differing political views can find common ground. He was referring to the provision in the U.S. Constitution, written in 1787, that counts each enslaved person as three-fifths of a…

After her mom dance-a-thon skit with late-night TV host Jimmy Fallon, first lady Michelle Obama sat down on the show’s couch and admitted that date night in the White House isn’t as romantic as it was before her husband became the leader of the free world, according to the Huffington Post. Of course, it’s well…

During the ever-evolving battle between President Obama and Republican John Boehner, New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow weighs in on the latest financial crisis, the sequester. But I’m not sure where all this you-are-the-father origination blame game gets us. The bill got bipartisan support in the House and at the time Boehner bragged: “When…

Following Michelle Obama’s popular appearance on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, on which she beat the TV host in an exercise contest, there’s a new viral video to enjoy. The FLOTUS joins the comedian for a mom dance-a-thon, where she shows off moves like “the sprinkler” and “the Dougie.” Buzzfeed has even chopped their moves…

(The Root) — Last week Wayne LaPierre, CEO of the National Rifle Association, wrote a troubling column for conservative outlet the Daily Caller. In it, the 64-year-old gun-rights advocate painted a horrifying picture of a postapocalyptic world in which African Americans from “south Brooklyn” and Hispanic members of “Latin American drug gangs” were such a…