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Play Captures Tumult of Civil Rights Era
(The Root) — The national celebrations and commemorations surrounding the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington have, once again, marked race as a subject of exploration in popular culture. The recent critical and commercial success of Lee Daniels’ The Butler, which offered an epic cinematic depiction of the civil rights movement’s heroic period, has…
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Face-to-Face on Racial Inequality
(The Root) — On Thursday, Sept. 12, the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy at Tufts University convened a National Dialogue on Race Day. The standing-room-only event attracted upwards of 400 people to discuss racial justice and equality in America 50 years after the March on Washington. The struggle for racial justice necessitates…
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Obama Steps Back From the Brink
(The Root) — President Obama’s decision to postpone a U.S. military strike against Syria to pursue further diplomacy may restore the political credibility of an administration that, over the past two weeks, has been on a determined and aggressive course toward war. The rush to war has been disappointing and contrary to Obama’s call for…
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Obama's Syria Plan: Ill Conceived, Ill Timed
(The Root) — President Obama’s decision to pursue military action against Syria (he’s currently trying to rally congressional and public support) in response to the Bashar al-Assad government’s use of chemical weapons is unfolding as a major foreign policy error, one that may severely undermine American credibility abroad and domestic priorities at home. Obama’s march…
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Lessons From the Birmingham Bombing
(The Root) — Sept. 15 marks the 50th anniversary of perhaps the most tragic episode of the civil rights movement. On that day Denise McNair, 11, Carole Robertson, 14, Addie Mae Collins, 14, and Cynthia Wesley, 14, were killed in a terrorist-sponsored explosion at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala. Their deaths overtook…
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Nice Speech, Obama, but What About Policy?
(The Root) — President Barack Obama’s speech commemorating the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington forcefully articulated an expansive vision of economic justice and racial equality but stopped short of concrete policy proposals needed to turn words into deeds. “Five decades ago today, Americans came to this honored place to lay claim to a…
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A Good Week for Equality and Justice
(The Root) — While the nation’s attention was riveted on last Saturday’s massive March on Washington demonstration, the pursuit of racial justice quietly continued in two remarkable instances. The day before the NAACP-organized demonstration that featured 70 speakers and a keynote from MSNBC host and National Action Network leader the Rev. Al Sharpton, President Barack…
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Race Conversation We're Already Having
(The Root) — Whether or not we want to admit it, Americans are finally engaging in a national conversation about race and democracy. But it’s not happening in a single town hall forum televised on C-SPAN or through a Twitter chat hosted by President Obama, with millions tuning in. No, this conversation has been happening…
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Eric Holder's War on the War on Drugs
(The Root) — The Justice Department’s plans to reduce federal incarceration rates related to the war on drugs represent a major victory for prisoners’-rights advocates and the African-American community, in which record numbers of young men have been imprisoned as casualties of America’s drug wars. In a historically significant speech before the American Bar Association…
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From Selma to Shelby, Voting-Rights Struggle Lives On
(The Root) — This week marks the 48th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, arguably the most important single piece of legislation passed during the civil rights era. President Lyndon Johnson signed the legislation in a public ceremony that included Martin Luther King Jr., who received a handshake and an official pen from the president.…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
