Politics
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Michelle Bachmann Says There's No Proof Black Lawmakers Were Harassed
It’s the moral equivalent of “You Lie!” Conservatives have been skeptical of claims by black members of Congress that civil rights pioneer John Lewis was called the “N” word and that another Congressman was spat upon by protesters during the health-care debate. Now the conservative Minnesota Republican has come out and openly expressed the doubts…
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Why So Few Blacks Join Immigration Rallies
At last week’s immigration march on Washington, tens of thousands of immigrants and activists rallied around the Capitol Building, calling for legislation that would afford legal status to the millions of illegal immigrants living and working within the United States. While official crowd estimates for such events are notoriously unreliable, the New York Times noted…
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Shirley Franklin Helps Close the Broadband Divide
A BlackWeb 2.0 Special for The Root Former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin has taken on a new role as an advocate for broadband access for the underserved. She was recently named by the Alliance for Digital Equality as a senior policy adviser. In a special report to Roll Call, Franklin and former Miami Mayor Manny…
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Steele's Spending a Matter of Concern for Some in GOP
Did Michael Steele really suggest the RNC use its funds to buy a private plane? Some within the party say this is so According to two knowledgeable sources, Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele once raised the possibility of using party money to buy a private jet for his travel. “I know that … regular…
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President Obama's Black Agenda
I have to admit I was a bit perplexed when I was a panelist recently at Tavis Smiley’s “We Count: The Black Agenda is the American Agenda” forum in Chicago, which focused heavily on what President Barack Obama has not done for the black community, rather than the significant down payment he has made in…
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Obama Goes to Afghanistan to Lecture Karzai
While most of the nation thought President Obama was resting up from a busy legislative week with a visit to Camp David, he was secretly flying to Afghanistan, the new focus of American military effort. This was only the second visit by the President to the war zone — he visited troops in Iraq last year…
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Keep Recruits Out of the South Carolina Trustees Fight
Not that I’m surprised, but parts of “post-racial America” are dead ringers for the bad ol’ days. Especially places where the majority might’ve voted for President Obama, but many remain hung up on the Civil War. Take South Carolina, for instance. Not only does the Palmetto State insist on flying the Confederate Flag on statehouse…
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Your Take: Who Lost on Health Care?
After the Scott Brown victory in Massachusetts, the general consensus was that health care reform was going to be put on the back burner. Even President Barack Obama seemed to say as much by burying health care reform deep in his State of the Union address in January. Obama surrendered so much on comprehensive reform…
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Your Take: No Compromise on Sentencing Disparities
More than two decades ago, President Ronald Reagan signed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, making penalties for possession of crack-cocaine offenses 100 times harsher than those for powder cocaine offenses. This glaring disparity has since become a defining symbol of the racism encoded in our criminal justice system. We treat crack—which is often found…