A 50 year plea to heal our divided society persists
March 9, 2018“In 1968, the Kerner Commission concluded that America was heading toward ‘two societies, one Black, one White—separate and unequal.’ Today, America’s communities are experiencing increasing racial tensions and inequality, working-class resentment over the unfulfilled American Dream, White supremacy violence, toxic inaction in Washington, and the decline of the nation’s example around the world.” This quote […]
Parkland High School students have the courage and will to reform gun laws
March 2, 2018This is our first task, caring for our children. It’s our first job. If we don’t get that right, we don’t get anything right. That’s how, as a society, we will be judged. And by that measure, can we truly say, as a nation, that we’re meeting our obligations? Can we honestly say that we’re […]
Failures on gun control fail our children
February 23, 2018The United States is failing in what surely is the first duty of government — protecting our children from threats that they cannot deal with themselves. Voters and politicians are failing our children. After 17 students and teachers were killed and a dozen wounded on Valentine’s Day by an unbalanced 19-year-old firing an AR-15 rifle […]
Urban Leaguers are ready to fight for a fair and accurate 2020 Census
February 16, 2018“Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all […]
S***hole countries not a priority
February 2, 2018Our 45th President traipsed over to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, with a plan to rub elbows with world leaders, repair some relationships, and possibly shred even more. He had hardly landed before he started threatening to cut off aid to the Palestinians unless they participate in peace talks with Israeli Prime Minister […]
Behind the Black unemployment rate
January 26, 2018When the unemployment rate dropped and economic conditions improved under the leadership of President Barack Obama, 45 derided the gains as “fake news.” He suggested that the monthly Employment Situation (www.bls.gov) reports of the Bureau of Labor Statistics were inaccurate and “made up.” These are the monthly reports that detail employment statistics, including unemployment rates. […]
Dr. King’s call to ‘Give Us the Ballot’ is as relevant today as it was in 1957
January 18, 2018Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s first speech at the Lincoln Memorial was not his celebrated 1963 address at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Six years earlier, when he was still a relative newcomer on the national scene, Dr. King addressed 25,000 civil-rights activists who had gathered at the memorial for the Prayer […]
Fifty years ago
January 11, 2018Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., born on January 15, 1929, turned 39 years old fifty years ago. Assassinated on April 4, 1968, he didn’t make it to 40. Yet in his scant 39 years on the planet, he upended the ways we think about race, capitalism, poverty, power, and imperialism. The powers that be –foundations, […]
The infrastructure hoax
January 5, 2018Our nation’s infrastructure is crumbling. Nearly ten percent of our bridges are deficient or decrepit, a quarter of our schools are in fair or poor condition. More than half of all schools need major repairs before they can be classified as good, but 31 states spend less on school construction now than they did in […]
‘Tis the Season to Remain Woke
December 29, 2017“You see, we may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated. It may even be necessary to encounter the defeat, so that we can know who we are.” – Dr. Maya Angelou, American Author & Civil Rights Activist Psychology Today Interview, February 17, 2009 Without any fear of exaggeration, it can be said, […]