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Cord Jefferson

Cord Jefferson is a staff writer for The Root. His work has appeared in National Geographic, The Daily Beast and on MTV.

Recent Articles

The Right Messengers

With NPR embroiled in another controversy, it's time to ask again whether the media can ever responsibly cover race.

Cord JeffersonMar 09, 2011
Juan Williams (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

In July 2010, the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism released Media, Race and Obama's First Year. The white paper detailed what many already knew: The American media often does a terrible job of covering racial issues -- and having a president of color has done little to change that fact.

Virtuality Bites

On the Internet, society's most intractable issues with race and class are increasingly prominent.

Cord JeffersonNov 05, 2010
Antoine Dodson, whose reaction to an attack on his sister made him an Internet meme (AP Photo/Bob Farley)

In July 2000, then-Federal Communications Commission Chair William Kennard gave the keynote address at the international Supercomm conference for broadband service providers. Before an audience of people whose job it is to connect the whole wide world, Kennard called the rise of the Internet the "third greatest revolution in mankind's history," after agriculture and industry. "This latest ... revolution should be defined, first and foremost, by its power to unlock the potential of all of our people," he said, "by its power to educate our poorest children, to empower people with disabilities, to uplift impoverished rural and urban communities, and to repair and revitalize the fabric of our communities."

Stuff Rich People Like

In his new book, Chris Lehmann takes the wealthy to task -- and that means liberals, too.

Cord JeffersonOct 18, 2010
The New York Times building on Eighth Avenue in Manhattan (Flickr/Rian Castillo)

The cover of Chris Lehmann's new collection of essays, Rich People Things, is a simple pen-and-ink drawing by illustrator Peter Arkle. It looks as if it could have fallen from the pages of the latest indie graphic novel, and its meaning is similarly straightforward. The scene, from the antique armchair to the pair of eyeglasses to the cat, is laden with dollar signs. Even a glass of wine, presumably spilled by the cat, has pooled to form a dark puddle in that familiar snake-and-staff shape. Everything we are meant to understand -- not just luxury cars or tennis-club memberships -- is connected in some way with money.