Category: Commentary

In my office, the barbershop, and on our street corners, the request I hear most often from my neighbors is: “Mr. Cummings, I need a job!” Jobs – good jobs that pay a living wage and offer benefits – remain the most important issue on people’s minds. That is why job creation continues to be […]

There has been a concerted effort by the State of Maryland and the University System of Maryland (USM) to portray Coppin State University as a dysfunctional institution of higher education. While the Judge (Blake) was still deliberating the current HBCU lawsuit, the University System hastily put together a review (Special) committee to ostensibly investigate the […]

April 4 marks the 46th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on a balcony in Memphis. Black America and people of goodwill in the nation and the world were stricken by grief, frustration and anger at the murder of this great man of justice and peace. Indeed, rebellions erupted in urban […]

My dear esteemed Maryland HBI presidents Neufville, Wilson, Burnim and Bell; I speak to you as an oppressed nationality, a 44-year supporter and activist of civil and human rights, and an historically black institution (HBI) faculty member. As you know, Judge Catherine Blake still found vestiges of segregative practices in the Maryland higher education system on […]

March was celebrated as Women’s History Month. While women have made great strides in this country, there is still much that needs to be done to bring them on par with men in America, particularly in the area of equal pay for equal work. It is neither fair nor prudent that we live in a […]

If you think it’s difficult for Congress to pass legislation these days, imagine what it took to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a law that celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. As we reflect on the Act and what it took to get it passed, we should first imagine the southern lobby against […]

In remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who at the age of 39 was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968, the Hawaii Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Coalition and the “Hawaii Needs a Raise Coalition” partners are planning a “People’s Walk” on April 4, 2014 beginning at 3:30pm There will be a […]

I was pleased when “character, courage and commitment” was selected as the theme for Women’s History Month this year. These are the personal qualities by which societies are transformed. In his 2012 Proclamation, President Obama acknowledged our nation’s progress in assuring universal equality and opportunity, even while he challenged each of us to continue the […]

“We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community … Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own.” Cesar Chavez While it is commonly thought that the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s was by, of, […]

The Kenyan Proverb, “When elephants fight, the grass suffers,” is apropos to us, the grassroots. Only in our case, we are fighting over elephants and donkeys, but we are still the ones suffering. We watch the two parties fight every day, and then we take sides and jump in. Who is hurt by that? Certainly […]

Statements by state legislators and representatives of the University system of Maryland (USM) in defense of Maryland’s dual system of higher education sound much like the rhetoric of the 1860s. Then, Southern Dix¬iecrats and plantation owners warned of the social, political and economic upheaval freeing the slaves would bring to the Southern way of life. […]