Christmas Originally published Dec. 23, 1911. In this, the most joyous season of the year, one’s bosom swells as he thinks of the wonderful events of long ago and the music of our soul swings into meter. Oh Muse of Homer, Milton, come; And guide my thoughts beyond the sun: To show me there in […]
Category: Editorial
Posted inCommentary, Editorial, EDITORIALS, OPINION
The Drama Unfolding Around the Real Bill Cosby
There are so, so, many women. They all tell similar horrifying stories of being drugged and sexually assaulted by Bill Cosby, a man who found fame and fortune playing a Black doctor with an upper class family on television nearly 30 years ago. The man he played—Cliff Huxtable—was a rarity on network television in those […]
Posted inCommentary, Editorial, EDITORIALS, OPINION
The Enormous Blessing of Marion Barry’s Incessant Civil Rights Spirit
Washington D.C., indeed the entire Black community of this country, lost an enormous historical civil rights figure when former Washington D.C. Mayor passed away unexpectedly last week. The AFRO has had a long history of reporting on the many facets of Marion Barry’s life. During the 1960s we wrote about his efforts as a then […]
Posted inCommentary, Editorial, EDITORIALS
Hold the Police Accountable; Don’t Burn the Block Down
Smoke fills the streets as some buildings are on fire after the announcement of the grand jury decision Monday, Nov. 24, 2014, in Ferguson, Mo. A grand jury has decided not to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in the death of Michael Brown, the unarmed, black 18-year-old whose fatal shooting sparked sometimes violent protests. […]
Posted inCommentary, Editorial, EDITORIALS
What is Ben Carson thinking?
Dr. Ben Carson. Ben Carson, conservative author and noted neurosurgeon, is acting as if he may run for president as a Republican. Despite his conspicuous lack of political experience this man is taking steps to run for the most powerful office in the country. And he appears to have some of the Republican right excited […]
Posted inCommentary, Editorial, EDITORIALS, OPINION
Should the Congressional Black Caucus Give Utah Congresswoman-Elect Mia Love a Shot?
Utah Congresswoman-Elect Mia Love. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) Mia Love made history when she became the first Black woman to be elected to Congress as a Republican. Representing Utah’s 4th District, the daughter of Haitian immigrants is even more noteworthy because she is a member of the Church of the Latter-Day Saints, a religion that up […]
Posted inEditorial, OPINION
Who lost Maryland?
What happened? Democrat Anthony G. Brown managed to lose the race for governorship in a solidly Democratic bastion like Maryland to his Republican opponent Larry Hogan even though heavy hitters like Bill and Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama came to the state to campaign for him. And while a […]
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Happy Holidays from the AFRO
Avis Thomas-Lester AFRO Executive Editor The best gift you ever received: I wanted to be a newspaper woman since I was a little girl. For Christmas when I was 11, Santa brought me my own typewriter. It was beautiful—baby blue with a hard case. My parents got me all the accessories. I started my own […]
Posted inEditorial
‘Program Duplication’ At Last- -Acknowledged
The U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland on Oct. 7, rendered its long awaited decision in the Historical Black College & University (HBCU) Equality Lawsuit. This is the lawsuit initiated by a coalition of HBCU alumna and students (Coalition) to address perceived violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 […]
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In a Shooting Rampage, D.C. Became a Small, Tightly-Knit Family
Monday’s shooting rampage at the Navy Yard, when 13 people and the alleged gunman, Aaron Alexis of Ft. Worth, Texas, were killed, was yet another a stark and painful reminder for those of us who live, work and play in the “DMV” region that we live at Ground Zero and tragedy can strike without whisper […]
Posted inEditorial
Former D.C. Councilman Frank Smith Rallies for D.C. Statehood
Now what? Now that the marching is over, the fond memories relived and a king’s dream revived, how to generate and sustain a renewed movement for justice, jobs and freedom? This is the burning question facing African Americans today who must turn fondness for the past into faith and action for the future. “I don’t […]
Posted inEditorial
Sharing the Freedom Soapbox with D.C. Statehood
When she was a couple of months shy of 16, Lea Adams ’s father, Joel, a rare African American who carried the rank of U.S. Army colonel, took her to the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. In 1988, as a single parent, she took her 11-year-old son, Joel II, to the 25th […]