Politics
-
Forgiving John Mayer
As John Mayer’s racially charged comments in a Playboy magazine interview ricocheted around the racketball court that is the Internet this week, I found myself exhausted by the sad reality that the national dialogue on race remains driven by the engine of celebrity gaffes and gotcha moments. Our voracious, ADHD-afflicted news cycle castigates, forgives and…
-
Three of Color Dead in Alabama Campus Shooting
The three University of Alabama Huntsville faculty members who were killed Friday were all people of color. Gopi Bodila, the, the chairman of the biology department, was of Indian origin. Dr. Adriel Johnson, an associate professor, and Dr. Maria Ragland Davis, an assistant professor who specialized in plant sciences, were both African-American. Amy Bishop, a…
-
Black National Anthem Disgraced At White House
The Black National Anthem, aka Lift Every Voice and Sing, should never suffer the indignity afflicted upon it Wednesday night at the White house. There was Smokey Robinson, one of America’s best singer-songwriters, smiling at the camera while drawing an absolute blank. There was Jennifer Hudson looking similarly perplexed, along with Morgan Freeman, Natalie Cole…
-
Meeting Mandela
Twenty years ago, I was in Cape Town, South Africa covering the release of Nelson Mandela for TIME Magazine. It was one of the highlights of my journalistic career. Just hours after this great man walked out of Victor Verster Prison, I was sitting in the Cape Town City Hall just a few feet away…
-
Nothing Special for the Black Jobless
President Barack Obama did something Wednesday he hasn’t done until now in his first year in office; he had an exclusive meeting with civil rights leaders. The first African-American president of the U.S. met with the Rev. Al Sharpton of the National Action Network; Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League, and Benjamin Jealous,…
-
Somalia and Yemen: Al-Qaida's Next Hot Spots?
The Obama administration understands the strategic importance of the Gulf of Aden. The warm waters between Somalia, Yemen and Djibouti are the gateway to the Suez Canal, which carries the heaviest shipping between Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Europe. The administration does not need a terrorist attack on shipping through the gulf similar to…
-
President Obama Meets With Black Leaders to Talk Black Jobs
NAACP president Ben Jealous, president of the National Urban League and former New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial, and National Action Network head Al Sharpton headed to a snowed-over White House to discuss the disappointing job situation for black Americans. In advance of the meeting, Jealous told The Root that he planned “to talk about jobs…
-
Bob Dylan's Black History
The White House commemoration of Black History Month continued with a star-studded event hosted by President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama in the East Room of the White House Tuesday evening. The 90-minute concert marked the fifth in a series of inclusive celebrations of music and the arts, including a summer spoken-word event…
-
How Illegal Immigration Hurts Black America
In October 2008, amidst claims that one of its subsidiaries was knowingly hiring illegal immigrants, North Carolina poultry producer House of Raeford Farms initiated a systematic conversion of its workforce. Following a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid that nabbed 300 undocumented workers at a Columbia Farms processing plant in Columbia, S.C., a spooked House of…
-
LGBT People of Color Need More Than Health Insurance
The health care debate is still raging across the country, and ensuring that it moves forward so that all Americans have access to affordable and high-quality health insurance is a critical first step. But acquiring and keeping health insurance coverage is only half the battle for millions of Americans. New research from the Center for…