Category: Commentary

Even though not all Black Americans refer to themselves as the pejorative n-word, an alarming proportion of the Black community uses and/or supports use of the term. For instance, ministers invoke the word from their pulpits, and the NAACP, with the wink of the eye, looks the other way when prominent Blacks publicly embrace the […]

(NNPA) – On Aug. 29, we will commemorate five years since Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, broke its levees and drowned the city in feet of water.  Five years ago our nation exhibited some of the most profound indifference to human beings as thousands of New Orleaneans were stuck without food, water, or sanitation in […]

When my great-grandmother arrived in Baltimore from Poland, she was 16 years old, here to marry a man she’d never met. She had no money in her pocket, but she had the American dream in her heart. While she was able to build a home and a better future in Maryland, as a woman she […]

Back in March, I delivered a speech to an NAACP Freedom Fund banquet in my home state of Georgia. I drew on my personal life story to urge poor people, White and Black, to pull together and overcome racial divisions. We have to understand that our struggle is against poverty and against those who are […]

After Davon was arrested at the tender age of 16, he was charged with murder. His slinky arms and slender frame fit perfectly in a small holding cell at the juvenile unit in Baltimore City. Nothing would seem amiss about him joining other detained youths except for one thing: Davon was held in a jail […]

Americans are recovering from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, and I am confident we will succeed. However, we also must consider where we and our families will be, economically, when our nation’s economic recovery is complete. Encouraging a morally acceptable answer to this critical issue is a paramount priority – for me, […]

This month we mark the diamond anniversary of a national treasure – Social Security, signed into law on Aug. 14, 1935. It’s a time to celebrate Social Security’s remarkable success. It’s also a time when false assumptions are undermining support for the program and threatening to erode retirement security for our children and grandchildren. We […]

I just upgraded to Windows 7, and the way I did it was the dumbest thing I’ve ever done to this computer. What saved me was that the computer is a great brand and the company, Toshiba, can fix my stupidity for $24.95. It began when my office needed a new program to maintain reimbursements […]

Once again, the United States Congress has failed to correct the government’s modern institutional injustice against Black farmers. After years of racist neglect of Black farmers by the Department of Agriculture that ultimately led to the loss of Black lands and Black livelihoods, the government reached a settlement with the Black farmers that, to date, […]

For many Americans, protecting your home just gets harder and harder. Just ask Gloria. After trying to refinance her home in 2004, she and her husband were saddled with an adjustable rate mortgage. Now, thanks to rising payments, they’re currently fighting foreclosure. Gloria’s story is hardly unique. Thanks to the banking industry’s predatory lending practices […]

Sociologists and historians would remind us that it is the kind of thing to be expected when the country is in social upheaval and economic stress. Folks start looking for scapegoats, and they usually point the finger of blame at some kind of “other” – other race, other gender, other region, other religious group. But […]