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  • How Obama Ruined Race Relations

    One of my favorite true-life parables is the story of Hungarian Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis. In the mid-1800s, Semmelweis worked in a maternity clinic where a large number of women died during childbirth. He believed that the problem was neither the medicine nor their treatments. Semmelweis believed that there were tiny little creatures living on the…

    By

    Michael Harriot

    Published

  • Obama Commutes 330 Prison Sentences Like a Boss

    In his farewell lap around the track, President Barack Obama cut short the prison sentences of 330 federal inmates, all of whom were sentenced to lengthy terms for drug offenses. During his eight years in office, Obama commuted the prison sentences of some 1,715 people, more than any other president in history, the Associated Press…

    By

    Stephen A. Crockett Jr.

    Published

  • An Elegy for Obama

    I am in mourning. As the presidency of Barack Obama draws to a close, I keep thinking about a piece I wrote for The Root eight years ago when he was sworn in for the first time. Back then, I couldn’t stop singing anthems of joy and patriotism, grounded in what now seems like a…

    By

    Genetta M. Adams

    Published

  • Obama Surprises Biden With Presidential Medal of Freedom

    The greatest bromance ever told got even sweeter Thursday when President Barack Obama shocked Vice President Joe Biden by awarding him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Biden and the president had gathered with others for what was described as a final tribute to the vice president, the Washington Post reports. Obama began by delivering a…

    By

    Monique Judge

    Published

  • President Obama Ends ‘Wet-Foot, Dry-Foot’ Policy for Cuban Migrants Seeking Residency

    President Barack Obama announced Thursday that he has ended the “wet-foot, dry-foot” policy that allowed Cubans reaching U.S. soil to stay and become automatically eligible for American residency, while those found at sea were sent back home to Cuba. “Effective immediately, Cuban nationals who attempt to enter the United States illegally and do not qualify…

    By

    Monique Judge

    Published

  • Report: Chelsea Manning on Obama’s Short List for Commutation

    Former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, who is serving a 35-year sentence for leaking classified material, has been put on President Barack Obama’s short list for a possible commutation. “I have more hope right now than I have the entire time since she was sentenced,” Manning’s aunt, Deborah Manning, told NBC News. “I do…

    By

    Monique Judge

    Published

  • David J. Johns: Thanks for Making Me Feel All the Feels, President Obama

    The illustrious poet Maya Angelou taught me that most often, people will forget what you say; they may struggle to recall what you did; but if you show up, on purpose, they will never forget how you made them feel. As I sat Tuesday night in a television studio in the middle of Times Square…

    By

    The Root Staff

    Published

  • The President Had Us All in Tears During His #ObamaFarewell Address

    The Obama farewell wasn’t a funeral. Far from it. In fact, it was a revival. At the close of a historic two-term presidency, as the nation’s first African-American president of the United States, Barack Obama had one last benevolent act: to remind the country not to give up on hope or the belief that it…

    By

    The Root Staff

    Published

  • President Obama Pens 55-Page Article on Criminal Justice for Harvard Law Review

    President Barack Obama returned to his Harvard Law Review roots (he was the first black president of the 100-plus-year-old journal in his last year at the school) as he penned a 55-page-article on our justice system, how his administration has moved the needle and how far we have to go to make substantive change. Entitled…

    By

    The Root Staff

    Published

  • The Final Days of Obama’s Presidency: Moving Van Spotted Inside White House

    Sad days are upon us, folks: A moving van was reportedly spotted outside the White House on Wednesday. CNN reporter Michelle Kosinski tweeted a photo of a white Moving Masters Inc. truck parked inside the White House gates near the West Wing. The Obamas, who will be out of the White House in two weeks,…

    By

    Stephen A. Crockett Jr.

    Published