On Wednesday, the Obama Administration held an “African American Policy” conference in Washington, hosting leaders from state and local governments, academia, business and media to discuss a range of topics: how the President’s jobs bill, if passed, would extend unemployment insurance benefits to millions of Americans–particularly relevant for blacks, 15.1% of whom are unemployed. And [...]
Herman Cain’s improbable rise to the top of Republican presidential primary polls — and the prospect that two black men, including an incumbent, could compete head-on for the White House next year — should be proof that American politics has moved beyond race. Instead, Cain’s candidacy has been marred by empty self-promotion, embarrassing miscues and [...]
Somewhat lost in the firestorm of sexual harassment allegations were Herman Cain’s comments on Sunday’s Face the Nation regarding abortion – chiefly, that Planned Parenthood clinics are intentionally placed in black neighborhoods to perpetrate genocide. They actually reflect a view that’s regaining traction among socially conservative blacks. Here’s Cain, a Baptist preacher, in an exchange [...]
Last Tuesday, the Obama Justice Department filed a brief arguing that Texas Republicans’ proposal to redraw the state’s electoral map was explicitly designed to dilute the power of minority voters. It was an explosive charge, especially given that Texas Governor Rick Perry, who signed the redistricting bill into law, is angling for President Obama’s job. [...]
Last weekend in Tennessee, Herman Cain boasted that as President, he’d build a fence along the U.S.-Mexican border “20-feet high, with barbed wire, and electrified.” The crowd applauded, and in an interview a day later, Cain shrugged the whole thing off as “a joke.” He might come to regret being so cavalier about immigration, which [...]
Rick Perry reportedly raised $17 million in the nearly two months since he burst into the Republican presidential race. It’s an impressive haul that places the Texas governor squarely in the top-tier of the Republican money race with Mitt Romney, who apparently took in some $14 million in the the same period. The Federal Elections [...]
The Census Bureau’s Tuesday report that nearly 46.2 million Americans — one in six citizens — live in poverty shouldn’t be entirely surprising given that economic conditions have continued to worsen in the more than two years since the Great Recession officially ended.
In San Antonio on June 23, Rick Perry addressed the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials’ annual meeting. He was optimistic, focused on Texas’ booming economy, and reminded the crowd – Republicans and Democrats – about his most high-profile Latino appointments, including Eva Guzman, the state’s first Latina supreme court justice, and the [...]
