Category: OPINION

Dr. E. Faye Williams, Esq. TriceEdney – My life in California was punctuated by some of the best vocalizations ever recorded.  Among these were the songs recorded by the awesome group, “The Fifth Dimension.”  Although it was not their sole source, many of their more popular songs came from the musical, “Hair.”   Hair was […]

Cory McCray (left), Member Maryland House of Delegates (45th District) and Dorian Spence (right), Counsel for the Voting Rights Project at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law The suspension, or permanent revocation, of the right to vote is an often overlooked barrier to reentry for formerly incarcerated people. As our nation comes to […]

Elijah Cummings In my congressional work for the people of our region, I often must respond to challenges about Baltimore from some of my Republican colleagues. “You Black Democrats have been in control of Baltimore City for all of these years,” they observe.  “How did you let it get so bad?  It is your fault.” […]

Bonnie A. Sullivan You have a few criminal charges on your record that are causing havoc on your life. The charges are keeping you from getting a job, gaining credit or being admitted to college. If this sounds like your situation then you may benefit from the changes to Maryland’s expungement laws, which occurred in […]

John R. Hawkins III As we prepare to begin the summer season in earnest, just what is this holiday called Memorial day?  Who started it and why? Moreover, what might we consider deciding to do for ourselves in honor of those who paid the ultimate sacrifice – dying in service to our nation? We all […]

Dr. E. Faye Williams, Esq TriceEdney – I’m blessed to have the opportunity to lead a major national women’s group, the National Congress of Black Women (NCBW).  My personal desire has always been to facilitate the enhancement of the lives and opportunities for African-American women, women of color, and their families’ welfare.  Since my personal […]

George E. Curry May 17th marked the 62nd anniversary of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision outlawing so-called separate but equal public schools. As usual, the annual anniversary of the Supreme Court decision prompts reflection and an examination of the status of school desegregation in the United States.  The decision effectively superseded the […]

Christopher J. Peters On Tuesday, Donald Trump released a list of 11 “potential Supreme Court justices” he might nominate should he become president.  All those listed are current judges; all are relatively young; all have solid conservative pedigrees.  A few are counterintuitive choices, like the Texas Supreme Court judge who once publicly questioned Trump’s fitness […]

My biggest fear used to be dying and not being remembered. When I was little, I used to think that no one would notice if I was not around for long periods of time. Recently, that fear has shifted. My biggest fear now is living and having nothing to say through my poems and short […]

In 2016 there is a new F word causing controversy in schools. Students are allowed to say it, yet not many of them know exactly what it means. In some ways, this is more harmful than the original F curse word whose place it has taken. A student at a nearby all-boys school wrote a […]

Dear Commissioner Davis, We are eighth grade students from the Park School of Baltimore. We are doing a project called Advoc8. It is a project where we pick a topic and we feel we can make a change in. Our topic is police brutality. We are contacting you because you are the police chief of […]

Recently, I voted for Bernie Sanders as our next President. Talib I. Karim Why?  Well, I’m not a millennial.  I’m 40ish, a business law professor and CEO of a STEM nonprofit.  Yet, I support Bernie because he’s an underdog just like me. And how did I earn my underdog label?  The hard way: through a […]