Politics

For more than 50 years, Julian Bond has been a human rights and civil rights leader. In 1960 he co-founded the SNCC, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Bond spent 20 years in the Georgia Legislature after first being denied a seat because of his outspoken views against the Vietnam War. For 11 years, until 2010,…

Twenty-four months after President Obama was sworn in as American’s first African-American president, 1,006 people of all races responding to an online survey by The Root are at times sharply divided on his achievements, and particularly on the racial climate in the country: * While just 15 percent of whites believe that hate crimes, police…

By Felicia Sonmez and David A. Fahrenthold The House on Wednesday evening passed a bill that would repeal the national health care overhaul, approving the measure on a largely party-line vote. The repeal bill passed 245 to 189, with three Democrats — Reps. Mike Ross (Ark.), Dan Boren (Okla.) and Mike McIntyre (N.C.) — joining…

Today’s scheduled vote by House Republicans to repeal the new health care law is largely symbolic, but the Obama administration is taking no chances that people will miss what’s at stake if the worst-case scenario plays out. African Americans are among the groups to which it’s reaching out to rally support in defense of the…

MSNBC is reporting that President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, will confront stubborn rifts over North Korea and bilateral economic imbalances on Wednesday when they meet during a formal state visit. The two have vowed greater understanding and cooperation between the world’s two largest economies in an effort to bridge the strains…

During this time of year, we in the media are given to expounding on what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would have counseled in our era, especially about poverty and war. But there is an aspect of what King was all about that we tend to miss, because time passes, and technology preserves and highlights…

On Friday, after two years in office, Michael Steele was beaten handily in his bid for a second term atop the Republican National Committee. Steele, the former lieutenant governor of Maryland, became the first African American to chair the RNC, occasionally with disastrous consequences: His verbal and behavioral gaffes were infamous and numerous — who…

President Barack Obama has announced a review of government regulations in order to identify those that hamper job creation and make the U.S. economy less competitive. In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Obama said that some government regulations have placed “unreasonable burdens on business — burdens that have stifled innovation and have had…

First lady Michelle Obama spent part of her 47th birthday surrounded by her family and the students of Stuart Hobson Middle School in Washington, D.C. Around 11:15 a.m., President Obama, Mrs. Obama, Malia and Sasha entered the school cafeteria and were greeted by a chorus of “Happy Birthday.” Mrs. Obama’s response, according to the pool report: “All right let’s…

This photo is floating around Facebook. (Obviously, whoever merged these images is slick with his or her Photoshop skills.)  As we prepare to celebrate the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, take a moment to write a caption for this photo. Or tell us what these two men might say to each other. Leave your words…