Category: Commentary

With the Super Bowl over, the fantasy football season has ended. But it turns out there is a fantasy league for economists. So, sorry to those of you with Paul Krugman on your team, but I am siding with Joseph Stiglitz in his argument that income inequality is slowing the recovery. Both Stiglitz and Krugman […]

Dr. Anthony Jones has been an AIDS Specialist for more than 15 years. During that time he has become increasingly discouraged as he watched the AIDS epidemic in the San Francisco Bay Area grow among its African-American community. “We’re really at a crossroads with HIV in the Black community,” said Jones. “We have the knowledge […]

To mark the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Dr. Carter G. Woodson’s Association for the Study of African Life and History has chosen “Civil Rights in America” as its overarching theme for Black History Month 2014. At a time when voter suppression, gerrymandered congressional districts and Senate filibusters continue to thwart the […]

There is nothing like doing what you love to do—and it’s even better when others share your vision and goals. Tuesday, Jan. 28 was almost perfect. Along with three key supporters of the U.S. Black Chambers, I started the day off by telling the U.S. Black Chambers, Inc. story on TV One’s “News One Now […]

“Income inequality” has become the political buzzword of 2014. Most recently, in his State of the Union address this week President Obama made it a central theme of his second term. Both progressive Democrats and conservative Republicans in Congress are making the issue a focus of this year’s mid-term elections, and leading voices for human […]

In December, Ohio Congressmen Tim Ryan, a Democrat, and Dave Joyce, a Republican, introduced legislation calling for the award of the Congressional Gold Medal to the famous civil rights reporter Simeon Booker. Booker is perhaps one of the most well-known African-American journalists, and is often called the “Dean of the Black Press.” As Johnson Publishing […]

Dr. E. Faye Williams, Esq., Chair of the National Congress of Black Women (NCBW) said the following about President Barack Obama’s State of the Union message. “President Obama was perfect in his SOTU message to bring the country back together and he challenged us, especially Congress, to get to work on things that really matter […]

The state of Maryland faces a stark choice with respect to its treatment of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). A federal court recently ruled that Maryland’s educational policies are unconstitutional and violate the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause because they deprive its four HBCUs of academic programs that are unique, high demand and high […]

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 […]

During a January 12 Meet the Press segment, Maria Shriver unveiled “The Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nation Pushes Back from the Brink.” Her analysis outlined in graphic detail how dramatically American families, the workplace, and the role of women have changed during recent decades. We all have a personal stake in the challenges that working […]

“Art is a weapon in the struggle of ideas, the class struggle.” —Amiri Baraka With the Jan. 9 passing of the prolific poet, playwright, essayist, and critic Amiri Baraka, one of the literary giants of the 20th century was called home. Along with offering condolences to his wife, children and family, we remember the 79-year-old […]

As I watched President Obama deliver his stirring eulogy for Dr. Nelson Mandela during the former president’s memorial service here in Johannesburg, I was struck by a mélange of competing emotions—each one battling for supremacy, each one struggling to anchor me within its reality. Pride and nostalgia, but also a profound sense of loss, disappointment […]