Category: Commentary

In January 2013, Gov. Martin O’Malley’s administration announced that it will not build a 180-bed new jail for youths who are prosecuted as adults in Baltimore. Instead, it will spend up to $30 million to renovate an existing adult facility that would hold 60 youths, which is more than enough space to house the declining […]

The AFROIn response to “Brother Can You Spare A Dime,” (AFRO, 10/17/12) I was contacted by someone from National Public Radio (NPR) about doing an interview about panhandling and the inner conflict that takes place when I’m deciding whether I should or should not give to those that beg for money.  “What conflict?  There is […]

Who was James Armstrong? That’s a very important question, I recently learned. Now, I know, the theme for Black History Month this year revolves around President Abraham Lincoln and Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and Rev. Martin Luther King and the March on Washington in 1963. But then there is “the Barber of Birmingham.” Even though […]

Let’s just take one day, Feb. 27, 2013, as a snapshot of the state of equality and justice in America. For me, that day started off tense. The Supreme Court was set to hear oral arguments in the case of Shelby County v. Holder-a constitutional challenge to one of the most effective provisions of any […]

In the midst of Oscar awards night Feb. 24, one of The Onion’s writers (we don’t know who he is; I doubt a “she” would have stooped so low), described the lovely and talented child Quvenzhané Wallis with a filthy word that took her all the way out of her name. Using a very crude […]

You’re sitting on the bus, near the back, with only a couple of other passengers on board, all out of earshot. You get a call from a family member who is having problems. They want your advice. Or a call from your doctor’s office, and you need to speak with them right away. You should […]

It now appears that, beginning March 1, Republican resistance to the President’s strategy for getting our economic house in order could well take our economy on a painful toboggan ride. We can avoid this dangerous slide – but only if the will of the American people makes itself felt on Capitol Hill. On March 1, […]

A decade before Rosa Parks’ arrest for refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Ala., bus, police dragged Bayard Rustin off a bus in Tennessee for the same act of protest. When pressed about why he was resisting segregation, Rustin gestured to a young White boy seated at the front of the bus. […]

Dr. Ben Carson, Presidential Medal of Freedom winner and legendary neurosurgeon, is now in the spotlight for his keynote address to the National Prayer Breakfast on Feb. 7. It’s not brain surgery to figure out why. Most notable was his criticism of Obamacare, one of the worst federal laws in decades, and one which, before […]

On Friday, February 15, 2013, the Baltimore City Democratic State Central Committee -45th District (BCDCC) convened at the Oliver Community Center to select a candidate to assume the seat held Del. Hattie Harrison, a longtime political stalwart in East Baltimore, who died Jan. 28. Ten candidates interviewed for the position, including three who are members […]

America, in the years immediately following World War II, began to emerge into an era of rapidly expanding economic growth and social opportunity. All across the nation, veterans and their families were moving into new suburban communities and seizing the promise of a new American prosperity. But, for the Negro veteran, America seemed determined to […]

This year, we are celebrating the 150th Anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation and the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington. As African Americans, we are pleased that this country has progressed from the forced enslavement of our race to the removal of the Jim Crow laws and practices. We are also celebrating the reelection […]