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Va. Governorās Race: Conservatives Shed White Tears After Political Ad Calls Out Ed Gillespieās Racist AdsĀ
Racist campaign commercials are so pervasive that they hardly get heavy news coverage anymore. Everyone harks back to the classic Willie Horton ad from the 1988 presidential campaign, as if that were the last time a conservative politicianās racial demagoguery blatantly hit the airwaves for 30 seconds. You donāt have to go back 30 years…
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Paul Manafort Charged With Conspiracy Against the US: 3 Things You Need to Know
If American justice were a movie, the arrest Monday of former Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort and his business associate Rick Gates would be that big courtroom scene right before the credits. The camera would pan back to some well-dressed international villain, pulled from the Smug British Actor of the Month Club, in an empty…
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Hey, I Can Play This Game Too, Guys
I have a confession to make. Iām black. Iām a black guy with black parents and black relatives and even some black friends. I also work at Morgan State, a historically black university. And since weāre keeping it 100, Iām the political editor at The Root, which you are reading right now, and which was…
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The Black Renaissance Is Real: HBCUs See Record Growth in 2017
Last week I went to Howard Universityās homecoming, and like Deon Cole, Chance the Rapper and Malia Obama at the 2012 inauguration, I was reminded that once you see the bands stomping, the music playing and the quad popping, you know that nobody throws a party like an HBCU. In between panels on the future…
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Va. Democratic Party Leaves Black Candidate for Lieutenant Governor Off Flyer (Then Blames Him for It)
In political campaigns, white candidates can always find a black guy. Itās literally Campaign 101: Most successful white American candidates know that in order to show that you are an open-minded progressive candidateāor to signal that youāre a horrible racist but some black people still like youāyou have to find a black guy. After centuries…
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Black Lives Matter Lone Survivor Leon Ford Jr. Loses Police Brutality Case, Still Pursues Justice
Trayvon Martin, Mike Brown, Sandra Bland, Eric Garner, Rekia Boyd, Walter Scott: These (and dozens more) are the names we knowāthe boys, girls, men and women brutally shot and killed by police. Police officers often never faced justice from the courts or the cities that employ them. The deaths of these unarmed black men and…
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White Female CandidateĀ Gets Triggered, Claims Black Opponent Isnāt āIntelligentā
It really doesnāt take much to trigger a Donald Trump supporter. Mention Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Russia or George Soros and theyāre off, screaming about āpizzagateā and wiretapped microwaves. Sometimes it doesnāt even take that much; sometimes all you have to do is be black on a sunny day to trigger a deplorableās āT-Geneā (similar…
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Racial Slur Scrawled on Black Military Cadetsā Doorsāand the Air Force Academyās Response Is Weak
This week, five African-American students at Air Force Academy Prep School in Colorado found the words āNiggers go homeā scrawled on the dry-erase boards outside their dorm rooms. Once the Air Force Academy, which runs the school, became aware of the racial graffiti, the academyās superintendent, Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria, rattled off a statement to…
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Hey,Ā Democrats!Ā Stop ComplainingāYouāre Actually Winning
While most of America was paying attention to President Donald Trump slamming a multibillion-dollar sports industry or, worse, the election of one Southern-fried bigot over another in Alabama, something else amazing was happening. Democrats won the special election in Floridaās 40th district (which includes Miami), giving them the largest number of state Senate seats in…
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Ala. Voters Chose Between āKu Klux and the Klanā Tonight in GOP Primary and Got Roy Moore
On Tuesday night, Roy Moore won the Alabama GOP primary by trouncing his opponent, Luther Strange, in what may be a double-digit margin, but the truth is, this was never really much of an election. Political pundits wanted you to believe that this race was a test for Donald Trumpās ābrand.ā Could Trump push an…
