The Barras Report Blog

WHEN we see a 75-year-old white man out in the woods with a group of Black and brown kids from low-income neighborhoods, teaching them...

It’s all coming together, portending real trouble for DC — its government and, consequently, its residents — regardless of the positive...

Imagine the neighborhood your family has lived in for more than 150 years being turned into a deteriorating flood zone. Now imagine the...

THE ritual of signature gathering in the District may seem perpetual — although dozens of candidates for political office, including four...

WHEN General Motors, Chrysler, and Ford – the “Big Three” American automakers – were close to extinction 15 years ago, their workers and...

SOMETIMES it’s difficult for me to tamp down my cynicism about the District government and local politicians, especially as it relates to...

DURING the past month, I have heard that question multiple times from people across DC who are not satisfied with AG Brian Schwalb’s...

WHEN the galley for Ruth J. Simmons’ memoir — Up Home: One Girl’s Journey — arrived in my mailbox a few months ago, I couldn’t wait to...

ON Saturday, environmental advocate Bill Vanderberg was where he is most Saturdays during the year – leading volunteers maintaining...

A year in which there are only three races for governor’s seats, all in the Deep South, wouldn’t normally create a lot of political...

Editor's note: The Supreme Court 6-3 ruling made public on June 29 striking down affirmative action programs and policies at two...

When I learned of recent funding cuts and spending prohibitions for key District programs and services preliminarily imposed by House...

“CLOSE the racial wealth gap” was the phrase du jour last week at DC Council Chair Pro Tempore Kenyan McDuffie’s public hearing on the...

I traveled recently from Baltimore, the city where my mother grew up, to Portland, Maine, where my dad did. It’s easy for many to see...

By Teresa Kay-Aba Kennedy “I don’t want nobody to give me nothing. Just open up the door and I’ll get it myself.” That line from the...

THE interstates built in the 1950s and 1960s killed the vitality of the communities where people of color and the poor lived, from...

Before my friend and activist Tony De Pass died of colon cancer, he often boasted, during frequent and blistering critiques about the...

A lightning strike and a small fire are all it took this weekend to remind residents in South Louisiana – across much of the Gulf Coast...

TATUM is an East Texas town of about 1,300 people, closer to Shreveport than Dallas. It’s on the north shore of Martin Lake. Across the...

I thought last week about the psalm that describes how the most exalted pays closest attention to the smallest, the most in need among...