Throughout slavery, Reconstruction and the movement for civil rights, African Americans in the U.S. have faced racism, social disparities, and oppression. While things have advanced for us significantly, black Americans still encounter subtle and blatant social disenfranchisement.
For instance, the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world and the people behind bars in the U.S.

In the latest episode of "Deconstructed," IVN Principal Political Analyst TJ O'Hara talks with Dr. Lenora Fulani, the first African American independent and first female presidential candidate to qualify for the ballot in all 50 states. She is also an American psychologist, psychotherapist, and political activist.

Feel like health care costs are too high? Think drug prices are out of control? You are not alone.

According to Kaiser, 80% of Americans feel the same way. Unfortunately, there is very little information about how drug and health care prices actually work.

As with most of what we encounter in today’s world, things aren’t always as they seem. And in the world of partisan politics, our health care debate most often gets reduced to simple talking points that serve to inflame fear or anger rather than substantive discussion.

San Diego, CA- A scramble is underway in Sacramento to correct a bill drafting error that set an incorrect signature threshold for the Full Voter Participation Act (FVPA), a measure that could change elections for San Diego County.

The FVPA was scheduled to be put on the ballot this November, but that certainty is gone.

The measure would do for the county what Measure K did for the city, eliminate the 50%+1 rule and move elections to the November General election when the most voters participate.

Here's essentially what happened:

Iowa independent voters are watching the nation's politics as closely as the nation watches Iowa to understand political trends.

As goes Iowa, so goes the nation. So they've been saying since at latest 2000, and probably even before that.

One letter to the editor of the New York Times, dated January 28, 2000, noted how remarkably close national presidential vote tallies tracked Iowa's votes in 1992 and 1996: