The 2011 Root 100 was released this week. This is the list of the 100 most influential African-American’s from 25 to 45, which sounds like an arbitrary age range to us, especially because at least a couple of them are listed as “Age: Not sure.”

Arbitrary or not, it has to be said that Washington is a hotbed of middlingly influential African-Americans. (D.C.’s got the higher numbers on lockdown.) Seventeen of the Root 100 are based in the District, and that’s not even including the handful who lived here at one time or another.

The Dem Legacy Men — former Florida Rep. Kendrick Meek (No. 29), former Tennessee Rep. Harold Ford (No. 52) and Indiana Rep. André Carson (No. 77) — now have more in common than simply following their family members into national politics. Yay.

Angela Rye, the executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus made the list at No. 95, while Melanie N. Roussell, spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee is the 96th most influential African-American of 2011.

Three members of the Obama administration also made the list: Director of the Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships Joshua DuBois (No. 79); White House adviser Derek Douglas (No. 92) and Deputy Assistant to the President Michael Strautmanis (No. 99). Democratic pollster for the Obama re-election team, Cornell Belcher, came in at No. 97.

Check out the full list here.