Faces of Power: 80% Are White, Even as U.S. Becomes More Diverse

The most powerful people in the United States pass our laws, run Hollywood’s studios and head the most prestigious universities. They own pro sports teams and determine who goes to jail and who goes to war. A review by The New York Times of more than 900 officials and executives in prominent positions found that only about 20 percent identify as Black, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, multiracial or otherwise a person of color.

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Black Federal Employees Disproportionately Affected as Government Shutdown Ties for Longest Ever

By Anne Branigin, The Root The partial government shutdown over Donald Trump’s border wall has now tied for the longest ever, with substantial portions of the federal government nonoperational for the third straight week. And with the stalemate between Trump, Republicans and the Democratically controlled House of Representatives holding strong, that record will likely be…

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My Friend Married the Maintenance Man

It’s a fact that African-American women far outnumber their male counterparts in higher education. D.S. Coleman, a writer for The Root, discusses the dilemma of dating for black women and the impact of the dynamics of their relationships. She presents some statistics that provide context to why this makes dating a complex world to navigate for African-American women.

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Suit Alleges ‘Scheme’ in Criminal Costs Borne by New Orleans’s Poor

A lawsuit filed against New Orleans criminal district court alleges that it runs a “scheme” in which the poor are jailed if they fall behind paying fines. “The extent to which every actor in the local New Orleans legal system depends on this money for their own survival is shocking,” said Alec Karakatsanis, a founder of Equal Justice Under Law, a civil rights group, and one of the lawyers who filed the suit….

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10 Years After Katrina

Ten years later, it is not exactly right to say that New Orleans is back. The city did not return, not as it was. The city that exists now, a decade later, is a work in progress, an improvisation that is establishing a new normal.

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