Category: Commentary

In 2016 there is a new F word causing controversy in schools. Students are allowed to say it, yet not many of them know exactly what it means. In some ways, this is more harmful than the original F curse word whose place it has taken. A student at a nearby all-boys school wrote a […]

Dear Commissioner Davis, We are eighth grade students from the Park School of Baltimore. We are doing a project called Advoc8. It is a project where we pick a topic and we feel we can make a change in. Our topic is police brutality. We are contacting you because you are the police chief of […]

Recently, I voted for Bernie Sanders as our next President. Talib I. Karim Why?  Well, I’m not a millennial.  I’m 40ish, a business law professor and CEO of a STEM nonprofit.  Yet, I support Bernie because he’s an underdog just like me. And how did I earn my underdog label?  The hard way: through a […]

Marian Wright Edelman When Andrew Carnegie was a 17-year-old immigrant “working boy” in Allegheny City, Penn. (now Pittsburgh’s North Side) in 1853, he wanted to be able to borrow books to improve himself – but in the era of predominantly private libraries he was stopped by an annual $2 library subscription fee. At the time, […]

Lee A. Daniels During his march to the Republican Party nomination, Donald Trump has repeatedly demanded that for the time being all Muslims should be barred from entering the U.S., making it a cornerstone of his campaign.  Then, last week, he declared that idea was “just a suggestion.”  Which statement was the lie?  Throughout his […]

Kim M. Keenan I remember the first time I saw a Black raised fist. I was watching the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City and two Black athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, raised their black-gloved fists and bowed their heads on the medal ceremony stand during the playing of the “The Star Spangled Banner.” […]

George E. Curry When Senator Ted Cruise was running for president, Donald Trump, now the presumptive Republican nominee, enjoyed referring to him as “lyin’ Ted Cruise.”  At one rally, he said, “Lyin’ Ted Cruise – L-y-i-n-dash.” Actually, he should have said “apostrophe” instead of “dash,” but accuracy is not important to Trump.  Fact checkers have […]

Fifty-one years after his assassination and the publication of his autobiography, Malcolm X—who would have been 91 this week—has now earned his place in mid-20th century history, alongside Martin Luther King, Fidel Castro and other radical luminaries. Most see Malcolm X, also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, from his “front view”—from “The Autobiography of Malcolm […]

John R. Hawkins III Everyone knows that a commencement is all about the great students who have completed their courses of study; however the 148th commencement at Howard University was that and more. As greats such as L. D. Britt, world renowned surgeon and educator, Ambassador Horace G. Dawson, distinguished in education and diplomacy and […]

Elijah Cummings Even looking beyond the campaign speeches and rallies of this election year, the contrast between the political parties on civil rights has been striking — and, where the Republican candidates and their positions are concerned, alarming.  Last week, Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Ohio Governor John Kasich suspended their presidential campaigns — virtually […]

Bonnie A. Sullivan The greatest number of Maryland’s low-income minority older adults lives in Baltimore City. In 2010 nearly 41 percent of low-income minority adults 60 years and older lived in Baltimore City, according to the Maryland Department of Aging. As the executive director of the Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service (MVLS), I’ve seen first hand […]

Marc H. Morial “Eschewing political banalities, sloganeering and appeals to fears and suspicions, the candidates should seize the opportunity to challenge the nation to regain her sense of purpose by facing her imperfections, not apologetically, but with the firm resolve that this nation can and should do better.”   – National Urban League Executive Director Vernon […]