Category: OPINION

Richard Rowe The frustrations resulting from structural racism, poverty and increasing social and emotional inequities were ignited April 25, 2015 in response to the death of Freddie Gray while in the custody of the Baltimore Police Department. This death seemed to be the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back. What ensued were several days […]

Elijah Cummings As Americans pause in reflection during this season of our Thanksgiving, most of us would consider our families and health as the blessings that we most value.  This insight about our core values helps to crystalize why the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) is fast becoming an accomplishment of historic proportions. Last year, nearly […]

Lawrence W. Rodgers Since the civil rights movement, there has been a major thrust within social justice movements to change the hearts of the dominant culture with the hope of those changed hearts changing the environment. It is time to let go of the language of changing hearts and, instead, embrace a language of organizing […]

Ivan Crump Forget rebuilding Baltimore. If rebuild just means repair or patch up, that’s not good enough. We shouldn’t be aiming to return to what we were but to be greater than anything we recognize. For that to happen, we have to do a better job of looking out for each other. We must adopt […]

Marian Wright Edelman “If you were to look down upon the world today, you would see a world divided by wars and natural disaster…you would think there is little hope…Even though there is a lot of bad in the world, we have to believe there is more good. We have to believe in tomorrow.” -Jonathan, […]

James Clingman On Dec. 3, 2015, the Collective Empowerment Group (CEG), formerly known as the Collective Banking Group (CBG) of Prince George’s County and Vicinity, will celebrate a milestone achievement: Its 20th anniversary. The CEG was established in 1995 by 21 churches in response to discrimination and mistreatment by banks, some of which had financed […]

Lee A. Daniels Ben Carson is in serious political trouble, as his wacky and right-wing views on numerous issues draw more scrutiny and critical pieces of the “inspirational” back story he’s been telling for years get exposed as “fabrications.”  A looming question now is what more of the political games of truth and consequences regarding […]

George E. Curry Writing under the headline, “Police lives matter too,” Chicago Tribune Columnist John Kass summed up the sentiment – and mass hysteria – surrounding the supposed Sept. 1 murder of a policeman in a bedroom community 50 miles north of Chicago: The killing of Fox Lake police Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz had nothing […]

Dr. E. Faye Williams TriceEdney — A wise sage once said, “A lie can run around the world before the truth has gotten its shoes on.”  Assessing the performance of Republican presidential candidates inthe current campaign,” I can only assume that those responsible for their coaching used that quote as foundation for their last preparation […]

Elijah Cummings Higher education transformed my life.  It was an opportunity that, working together, we can make available to everyone in our community. In this Information Age, it is not surprising that the average annual earnings for an individual with a college degree are 60 percent higher than those of high school graduates.  Yet, despite […]

The beginnings of Tessemae’s All Natural are rooted in one simple reality. Mothers will forever be looking for ways to get their kids to eat healthier. As the mother of three wild boys my mother was in constant pantry protection mode trying to manage the soda, candy, and potato chip in take. And she’ll tell […]

Dr. Ken Morgan Will there be a new university on North Avenue and Warrick called “UB-Coppin?” The University of Maryland System (USM) is working on it. Here’s the down and dirty. Federal Judge Catherine Blake’s ruling October 7, 2013 found that the state of Maryland’s  higher education system poorly addressed ending the segregationist programs. These […]