Politics

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…

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,…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

“I freed a thousand slaves,” Harriet Tubman famously said. “I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves.” With a black man occupying the White House, and the nation grappling with a wrenching recession, and celebrating the contributions of African Americans to this nation’s history, this seems an opportune moment…

The devastating earthquake that has destroyed Haiti’s capital has aggravated the already catastrophic economic and political conditions of the country’s history. As a Haitian put it: “Tout ayiti krazé”—the whole country is no more. Beyond the utter terror, pain and loss that is overtaking the population, and the horrifying cries for help from under piles…