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AG Holder, Justice Department Not Playing When It Comes to Civil Rights
Whatever your opinion, Eric Holder is certainly an Attorney General looking to make an impact. To that end, he and the rest of the Obama administration are making a concerted effort in the enforcement of civil rights, particularly in the areas of voting, housing and bank lending. This move is a departure from the former…
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Why Health Care is Organized Crime
She had been ignoring signs of cancer for months. A relative of mine (I’ll call her “Mary”) had no health insurance. Self-employed, she made too much money to qualify for public health programs for the poor, but she did not make enough money to pay for private insurance. When debilitating pain rendered her unable to…
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BOOK EXCERPT: Dancing in the Dark
Wright was far from sympathetic to the black church. With characters like Bigger’s God-fearing mother, he treats religion as a narcotic that allays black suffering without challenging it, but for 12 Million Black Voices he deploys the hypnotic rhythms of the pulpit to evoke the bare, exposed lives of black people. In a powerful passage…
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I Couldn't Take Being A Corporate Slave
As many twentysomethings face the reality that there are far fewer entry-level corporate positions necessary to help usher in their entrance into the business world, others are choosing to avoid the corporate world altogether. Starting an independent business is quite the feat for a person of any age, which is why many are now turning…
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Obama's Jiminy Cricket
It’s been suggested that Obama needs an ‘uncle.’ In fact, every American president needs a Jiminy Cricket—a royal pain in the ass who won’t bend the rules for the sake of expediency, who upholds both the letter and the spirit of the law, who won’t just go with the flow. Someone, in short, like Attorney…
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Meet Brazil's Black Female (Green) Presidential Candidate
In good news for both women and environmentalists, the NEW YORK TIMES flags a heartening story from the heart of the Amazon, one with fantastic implications for politics in Brazil and all of South America. Marina Silva has announced that she will be the first black woman to stand for the office of the presidency.…
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President Obama's Weekly Webcast Hits New Orleans
On the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, President Barack Obama didn’t pay the Gulf Coast a visit in person, but spoke to the whole country about the need to continue focusing federal rebuilding efforts in the city that sank. His words: Over this week of remembrance, THE ROOT has celebrated New Orleans history and shaken…
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Cleveland Brown's White Voice
You know how you hear a person’s voice and can instantly tell that it’s a black person? Not because of what they say, but how they say it, all about the tone and inflection. Well, after reading a recent New York Times piece on FOX’s The Cleveland Show, a new cartoon centered on Cleveland Brown,…
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Mary J. Blige: The Old Lady at the Club?
Hey Jada, thanks for sharing your thoughts on why Mary J. Blige is still “The One.” But, at the risk of sounding like the resident TEWW hater, I must respectfully disagree. Now, I love Mary as much as the next chick and the song certainly rocked, but the R&B diva is indeed showing her age. It wasn’t the…
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Mary J. Blige Reminds Us Why She's Still "The One"
Auto Tune, just like all the other fads of ’09—including Rihanna-esque haircuts and reality shows about baby mamas and housewives—was fun at first, but quickly became overdone and just plain pathetic. I enjoyed Kanye West’s all-Auto Tune album, 808s and Heartbreaks. But I draw the line when it begins to help untalented singers trick us…