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Justin Fairfax, The King of Confederate Shade, Shuts Down 100-Year Tribute to American Traitors
Most politicians donāt really understand power. Oh, they may talk about power, they may use power, they may even think they are powerful. But from the local county auditor to even the president of the United States, the meaning of true power eludes them. Justin Fairfax, Lt. Governor of the blue state of Virginia, is…
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She's Running! Kamala Harris Announces Run for the Presidency on Good Morning America
Sitting calmly on the set of ABCās Good Morning America with Robin Roberts and George Stephanopoulos, Senator Kamala Harris announced she is running for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States this Monday. There was an audible cheer from someone behind the cameras the moment Harris said the words which caused the entire…
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No Check, Snowed In and No End in Sight: How Black D.C. Is Surviving Trumpās Government Shutdown
āHe didnāt ask me!ā yelled a heavy set 40-something-year-old guy sitting by the window in my barbershop. I had just asked everybody what they thought about President Trumpās claim that federal employees told him to keep the shutdown going.Ā My barbershop is at the perfect demographic nexus of the D.C. metropolitan area. Nestled in a…
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From 'Big Daddy' Clyburn to Wakanda Salutes: The Biggest, Baddest Congressional Black Caucus Has Arrived
Nobody knows what to call them yet. For years it was just the Congressional Black Caucus, or the CBC. In the 1980s they were nicknamed the Conscience of the Congress. Several years ago contributor to The Root, Lauren Victoria Burke, launched a blog calling them Crew of 42. Of course that name didnāt fit for…
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Nobody Should Be Talking About Beto and Gillum in 2020 Until We Understand Stacey Abrams in 2018
This past September at a Congressional Black Caucus party, I caught up with one of the main players of the āStacey Abrams for Governorā campaign. Iād been covering the Georgia election from day one so I had a pretty honest relationship with most of the team. At that point, Abrams and Republican Brian Kemp had…
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To Boldly Go Where White Men Have Always Been Going Anyway
Fifty years ago last week, the first interracial kiss on American network television occurred. Contextually, the entire situation was strange. The kiss occurred on the āPlatoās Stepchildrenā episode of Star Trek. It was between all-American white guy Captain James T. Kirk and Communications Officer Lt. Nyota Uhura. Mind-controlling aliens, dressed like ancient Greeks, forced the…
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How Stan Lee, Creator of Black Panther, Taught a Generation of Black Nerds About Race, Art and Activism
When I was a kid, I didnāt live close enough to a comic book shop to get there on my bike. My parents would have to take me to Fair Oaks Mall in Fairfax, Va., and Iād get my comics off the old spinner racks at Waldenbooks. As the years went on and specialty comic…
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We Can Do This All Night: Talking Runoffs and Racism at the Stacey Abrams Watch Party in Atlanta
The Stacey Abrams watch party at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Atlanta had more mood swings than a 13-year-old boy at his first homecoming dance. One minute the room was quiet and sullen, the next it was boisterous and proud. The evening started with loudspeakers pumping old-school Whitney Houston and by midnight everyone was swag…
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White Nationalist Who Threatened Stacey Abrams' Campaign Poses for Picture With Brian Kemp
In late September, The Root ran a story about a campaign event held by Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams in Augusta, Ga. Hereās what we wrote at the time. This is a pretty smart campaign stopāsheās tied with Secretary of State and Republican nominee Brian Kemp less than two months from Election Day and African-American…
