Politics
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Detroit School Leader Otis Mathis Can't Write
According to his memoir, The Teacher Who Couldn’t Read, John Corcoran graduated from college in 1961 and taught high school for 17 years, all without being able to read, write or spell. Finally, at age 48, he sought help and now serves as a public speaker and fierce advocate for literacy. The John Corcoran Foundation…
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Coping With 'The Help'
It was kind of funny. While the overflow crowd of 450 or so ate in the dining room of Queens University of Charlotte, staffers took their lunch in the kitchen before Kathryn Stockett, author of The Help, spoke. No, it had nothing to do with race or class. (And no one had to use separate…
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Tomorrow's Crop of Black Women Leaders
In 2010, black politics is often written in male faces. Tomorrow, women may be the torchbearers of black political power. Today’s pantheon of African-American political talent begins with President Barack Obama, who rode into office on the strength of organized communities and an overwhelming black turnout. Add to the shining roster: Cory Booker, Rhodes Scholar…
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FBI Shuts Down Civil Rights Era Investigations
With little fanfare, the FBI announced in an article in the Washington Post last week that it was closing its investigations into all but a handful of unsolved civil rights era murders. The head of the FBI team assigned to investigate these cold cases stated that “there’s maybe five to seven cases where we don’t…
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The Root Interview: Carol Moseley Braun
During our quest to learn what it takes for a black woman to make it in politics, The Root turned to former ambassador Carol Moseley Braun. She was the first black female senator in Congress, serving Illinois from 1993-1999. She also ran in the 2004 Democratic primary for president of the United States, so we…
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First Same-Sex Marriages Celebrated in D.C.
Today, Darlene Garner and Candy Holmes are getting married. Garner and Holmes have been in an on-again-off-again relationship for more than 14 years. When asked why they took so long to realize they were right for each other, Garner and Holmes joked that their relationship is kind of like the movie, It’s Complicated. Along with…
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Why Are There So Few Black Women Politicians?
When Ayanna Pressley decided to take a shot at a seat on the city council in her adopted hometown of Boston, Mass., she was committed to winning by any means necessary. This meant cashing in her 401(k) retirement plan—earned over 16 years as a Democratic operative in Boston and in Washington for Sen. John Kerry…
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How Black Women Became Powerful
In 1992, President George H.W. Bush held a closed-door meeting at the White House to discuss law and order after the race riots in Los Angeles. Bush and the other lawmakers in attendance received an unexpected visitor in Rep. Maxine Waters, then a freshman representative from South Central Los Angeles, who had invited herself into…
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A Bigger Blunder Than Jim Bunning's Filibuster
We just saw a big man take a big stance in Congress on the issue of spending—so big that for days he was willing to single-handedly delay a vote to extend health and unemployment benefits for thousands of jobless Americans. Republican Sen. Jim Bunning’s position that Congress should find other ways to pay for extending…
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The Perils of Black Power
What is wrong with these black politicians? The headlines in the papers are dominated by black elected officials in trouble. There’s Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., stepping aside (temporarily) as chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. Then there’s Marion Barry, the former Washington, D.C., mayor, stripped of his chairmanship of a city council…