Category: Commentary

Dr. Gregory E. Thornton The new school year is off to a strong start in Baltimore City. New Career and Technology Education pathways have been added at more than a dozen middle and high schools, a new athletics program is gearing up at middle schools, and more elementary students are getting opportunities to learn through […]

Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis makes a statement to the media at the front door of the Rowan County Judicial Center in Morehead, Ky., Monday, Sept. 14, 2015. Davis announced that her office will issue marriage licenses under order of a federal judge, but they will not have her name or office listed. (AP Photo/Timothy […]

Dr. E. Faye Williams TriceEdney – On 7/26/48, President Harry Truman signed Executive Order 9981 which effectively led to the eventual desegregation of the military. There’re many who laud Mr. Truman for visionary action and just as many who reflect upon the economic futility of having to manage two separate military forces – one Black, one […]

Rep. Elijah Cummings As America celebrated Labor Day this week, we were doing more than enjoying a day off from work with our families.  We were acknowledging the essential — and continuing — contributions of working families and labor unions to America’s commitment to equality and opportunity for all. When my children were young, I […]

Bill Spriggs The Federal Reserve Board’s Open Market Committee will be meeting on September 16-17. The Wall Street gamblers have been egging on the Fed to change its current course and to start raising interest rates. In part this will add another gaming table to play on, but some of them have been holding their […]

David Hilliard I’m compelled to inform the public of the Foundation’s perspective on the PBS documentary film, The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution.   The filmmaker, Stanley Nelson, identifies the film as the rise and fall of the Black Panther Party (BPP).   Huey P. Newton was the leader and standard-bearer of the BPP.  The film […]

Dr. E. Faye Williams TriceEdney – Our country has been experiencing a dramatic case of meanness of spirit and tragic deaths by law enforcement, as well as by citizens against each other—especially among young people.  While the record will show there is no actual rise in crime in most places and no actual rise in […]

(AP Photo) Now that the hearing on a series of motions relating to the six officers accused of killing Freddie Gray have begun, let us remember what brought Baltimore to this point. The hearing on Sept. 2 decided that Marilyn Mosby, Baltimore’s State’s Attorney will not have to step down from the case due to […]

On Sunday evenings my mother would go around reminding her five children to make sure all our dirty clothes were in the basement laundry area by announcing, “The colored girl is coming in the morning make sure your dirty clothes are by the washer.” Sounds U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders absolutely awful in 2015 but in […]

I enjoyed the recent (Aug. 8) article in The AFRO on the closing of the Baltimore City Jail. I worked there from 1977 (as Director of Offender Aid and Restoration) – until retirement in 2010. Gov. Hogan’s announcement that he will close the Jail- and which part will be closed?- was a nice sound bite. […]

This summer’s rollout of President Obama’s Clean Power Plan is great news for the Black community. The plan establishes federal limits on carbon pollution from power plants, slowing climate change and the myriad of negative health and economic consequences. Nearly 40 percent of the six million Americans living close to coal-fired power plants are people […]

Kenneth J. Brewer, Sr. If you’ve ever bought a brownie at a PTA bake sale, a chocolate bar wrapped in foil from a collegiate team player, or placed money in a collection plate on Sunday morning, you have participated in philanthropy– the generous donation of money to good causes. Although many black people do not […]