Category: OPINION

In my fourteenth year of teaching in American schools, I’ve had many highlights. This spring, several of my former students met with President Obama. And this May, on National Teacher’s Day, I was invited to the White House. I was exhilarated. Unfortunately, my enthusiasm didn’t last long, as I parted with my colleague—Ms. Alicia Hudson, […]

George H. Lambert, Jr. Most of us know someone who’s been impacted by gun violence. Maybe it’s a neighbor’s kid who became the unintended victim of a shootout or a drive-by. Maybe it’s an old friend’s nephew who made a bad choice one night, and what might have been a black eye is instead a […]

Elijah Cummings As we continue to move forward toward the rebuilding of mutual trust and cooperation between our community and the police, we must not lose sight of this reality:  far too many of our neighbors are being harmed by the plague of violent crime. As we work toward bipartisan consensus on the issues of […]

Dr. E. Faye Williams, Esq., National President of the National Congress of Black Women Trice Edney — Unashamedly, I am a fan of most sporting events.  I find competitive tests of strength and skill compelling.  Most fans focus on events which hold the greatest popularity.  Football, basketball, soccer, and baseball all get fan and media […]

1199 press conference outside DC Superior Court for class action lawsuit for home health aides, Dec. 11, 2014. Photo: Jay Mallin jay@jaymallinphotos.com As our parents and grandparents age, many are choosing home care services. For some, it’s to get 24/7 care. For others, it’s to get assistance for a few hours a day with bathing, […]

Nicholette Smith-Bligen Potomac Preparatory Public Charter School (Potomac Prep) has made great strides improving the academic outcomes of all of its students. Since the start of the 2013-14 school year, Potomac Prep’s student population has remained consistent – an average of 400 students yearly. Amid the schools one-year turnaround initiative and significant challenges to retain […]

George E. Curry This season’s national college football championship has been decided, but no one knows how much longer we must continue to wait until the head coaching ranks are no longer largely reserved for White males, even those who have been failures at other schools.  Although Blacks were 53.4 percent of Football Bowl Subdivision […]

Lee A. Daniels Those who’ve wondered how, after the Civil War abolished slavery, America became – while a democracy in rhetorical terms – in reality an apartheid state should be paying close attention to the machinations of the Republican Party and the conservative movement.  They’ve been providing example after example of how democratic forms can […]

Dr. E. Faye Williams Trice Edney—In the last ten years, we have had tragedies resulting in more than 100,000 Americans dying as a result of gun violence.  Some in Congress have such little regard for life that they have chosen not to act to stop this violence.  They sit back and criticize and act as […]

Washington, DC – The National Black Church Initiative (NBCI), a faith-based coalition of 34,000 churches comprised of 15 denominations and 15.7 million African Americans calls on Mayor Rahm Emanuel to resign. NBCI’s President points to Emanuel’s lack of moral authority  as the reason he can no longer stay as leader of Chicago.  In this Sept. […]

Elijah Cummings During this holiday season when people of all faith traditions recommit ourselves to living our faith and forging a better world, we cannot help but reflect upon the lessons that we learned in childhood about the eternal dream for peace on earth and goodwill toward all of humanity. For me, these reflections are […]