Category: Commentary

Marc H. Morial “The purpose of the law is simple…those who are equal before God shall now also be equal in the polling booths, in the classrooms, in the factories, and in hotels, restaurants, movie theaters, and other places that provide service to the public.” – President Lyndon B. Johnson, July 2, 1964. July 2 […]

Lee A. Daniels Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court issued two decisions that the Court’s conservative majority and the larger conservative movement pretended were about “religious freedom.” In one case, involving the Hobby Lobby chain of craft stores and the Conestoga Wagon Specialties company which makes wood cabinets, the majority ruled that a federal law […]

Bill Fletcher, Jr. The Supreme Court’s decision in the case of Harris v Quinn essentially means that personal care attendants who are represented by a union do not need to pay a service fee that would cover the cost of representing and advocating on their behalf. The Supreme Court’s conservative majority justified this decision purportedly on the […]

I have a story to tell you .  .  . one pulled out of an old trunk. . . from corners of our collective memory. . . from hidden stories of Americana . . . from the dirt swept under the rug . . . from the backroads of history. This will not come as […]

Talibah Chikwendu I enjoy watching the Supremes. Realizing people might think I am talking about the singing ensemble (that I do like), I feel I should clarify that I am talking about the Supreme Court of the United States. It is a unique group and frankly, despite all the pundits who predict their actions, I […]

Michael Millemann I began my legal career in 1967 doing civil rights work in Louisiana. I had many extraordinary experiences there, but the one that made the deepest impression on me occurred in the Louisiana Supreme Court library. When I looked for a rest room, I found two: one for “White men” and a second […]

Guns, guns, and more guns are becoming an integral part of American culture. The problem is that guns are providing far too many Americans with the courage to be insane. This analysis is as neutral as neutral can be since we do have a “dog in the fight.” We also live and have our being […]

Bill Fletcher, Jr. In 2003, we were lied into a war with Iraq. Just about everyone now admits that. At the same time that we were being lied into the war, the then Bush administration was cutting benefits to veterans. This was such an odd set of circumstances. At a point when the U.S. was […]

George E. Curry, is editor-in-chief of the National Newspaper Publishers Association News Service (NNPA.) The 50th anniversary of Freedom Summer is being commemorated this week in Mississippi and it provides the perfect backdrop to reflect on the transformation of not only Mississippi, then the deadliest state in the nation, but the entire region.  As I […]

Julianne Malveaux is a Washington, D.C.-based economist and writer. Judging from its June 18-19 meeting, the Federal Reserve is hedging its bets. It says the U.S. economy is on the mend, but more slowly than expected. They’ve reduced their estimate for economic growth and say that it will take a year or more to get […]

Jim Clingman, founder of the Greater Cincinnati African American Chamber of Commerce, is an adjunct professor at the University of Cincinnati. If you and your children were sitting at the dinner table, with no food and no prospects for getting any, what would you say to them and what would you do? Would you tell […]

Jeremy Bamidele is a former faculty member at Rancho Santiago Community College in California and currently lives in Philadelphia, Penn. where he is completing graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania. Words like sissy and f** can often be heard in the Black community to describe a man who falls outside the comparatively restrictive confounds […]