By Walter Fields Do our boys really matter? That is the question I have pondered since learning that Baltimore City Public Schools is threatening to not renew the charter of Baltimore Collegiate School for Boys (BCSB). This school is the only all-male, public school of its kind in Maryland, and provides a safe and nurturing […]
Author Archives: Walter Fields
NNPA Guest Columnist
Posted inCommentary
The Lynching of Eric Garner
Walter Fields It was one of the most difficult scenes in Spike Lee’s classic movie “Do the Right Thing,” the brutal strangulation of peace-loving Radio Raheem by New York City police in a Brooklyn pizza shop. That scene touched a raw nerve as it recalled the 1983 death of 25-year-old graffiti artist Michael Stewart, another […]
Posted inCommentary
Ben Carson’s Political Malpractice
By any measure Ben Carson is at the top of his field. The renowned surgeon has established a clear and irrefutable legacy in medicine. His life-altering surgical procedures are the stuff of legend, and the fact that he is an African-American male in a profession where Blacks comprise just 4 percent of practitioners is all […]
Posted inCommentary
Obama’s One-Sided Responsibility Lecture
Too often during the presidency of Barack Obama, the nation’s first African-American president, he has felt the need to chide Black Americans to take responsibility for their destiny. In announcing his new “My Brother’s Keeper” initiative targeting young men of color, the president again waded into the personal responsibility waters and told the nation our […]
Posted inCommentary
When Black Men Flex, Society Gets Scared
By chance I watched the NFC Championship football game at the home of a friend and former college football player, Vaughn McKoy. Of course, it was Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman who stole the show. Sherman’s infamously aggressive post-game interview triggered a debate over the appropriateness of his comments. For two Black men watching the […]