Category: Commentary

Of all the issues confronting President Obama, the Congress and the American People in 2014, rebuilding our economy continues to be our number one priority. Despite recent economic progress, far too many Americans remain out of work. Of all the requests that I receive, foremost among them is this. “Mr. Cummings, I need to feed […]

I popped into my local post office to get my Christmas stamps and was offered one celebrating Kwanzaa, one featuring holiday baubles, and another picturing gingerbread houses. Where’s the Madonna with the Christ Child, I asked myself. Feeling miffed, I left without purchasing any stamps. What Jesus Christ stands for has been removed from the […]

For the past 18 years I have devoted my life to working in what I later discovered is the area of Cultural Economic Development. My understanding of that enterprise, however, didn’t emerge until 2006 when I was forced to pick a topic for my doctoral dissertation. Through my research, I realized that what I had […]

We shall overcome, we shall overcome, We shall overcome someday; Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe, We shall overcome someday. With 2014 right around the corner, I wonder what is the target date for someday? When I sing the song I feel vibrations from the ancestors who owned it when they sang and […]

Former Kansas senator and 1996 Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole was recently presented with an award that is named after him. The World Food Program USA’s first George McGovern and Bob Dole Leadership Award, is named after him and his friend and colleague The two teamed up in the 1970s to make food stamps easier […]

The Republican Party’s inability to prevent some of its elected officials and party operatives from making racist and sexist remarks and tamp down others’ penchant for cringe-worthy gaffes along those lines necessitates a slight revising of that old saying: It’s always like déjà vu all over again. Last week, it was – actually for just […]

When the tax man cometh, Black dollars “goeth.” Where will they goeth? Down a myriad of paths in pursuit of new items such as furniture, cars, clothing, and other niceties. But first, unless you do your own tax return or get it done for free by someone, Black dollars goeth to tax preparation firms, the […]

Last week, I was privileged to be included in a U.S. congressional delegation that attended President Nelson Mandela’s memorial service in South Africa. The experience was an inspiring one, just as Nelson Mandela’s life uplifted so many of us in decades past. I readily acknowledge that I was in need of the inspiration I received […]

Pope Francis is displaying an extraordinary style and passion that demands our attention. He addresses the needs of the poor, embraces the outcasts, and loves those on the margins of society. In this recent “apostolic exhortation,” The Joy of the Gospel, he raises a moral challenge to both his church and his world. Like Dr. […]

According to the 13th Amendment, slavery in this country has not been fully abolished; there is an exception that says if one is duly convicted of a crime he or she can be enslaved. Read it for yourself; don’t take my word for it. So, if you have been enslaved by either doing a crime […]

Last week, President Obama delivered an address, starting a dialogue on how the long path to America’s current level of inequality has led us to the wrong place. The president said that Americans’ frustration with Washington is “rooted in the nagging sense that no matter how hard they work, the deck is stacked against them.” […]

Some of the responses by the Republicans and their friends to the Iran nuclear deal have been nothing short of amazing. The deal includes greater and closer inspections of Iranian sites, some relief from the sanctions, and the delay in certain steps that the Iranians had been contemplating. After six months this is to be […]