Category: OPINION

Congressman Elijah Cummings As a practicing attorney for two decades, I learned that clear factual evidence was my most powerful ally in achieving justice. It does not surprise me, therefore, that greater access to the facts in the death of Staten Island’s Eric Garner led towider public disagreement with the grand jury’s failure to indict […]

Lee A. Daniels We live in a era when humankind seems awash in war-driven atrocities. Men, and in some instances, boys – for this is, overwhelmingly, a matter of the sins of males – who once lived within the boundaries of decency have dedicated themselves to committing crimes of shocking depravity. Whether driven by tricked-up […]

Kim M. Keenan Selma. For those of a certain age, the word Selma is evocative of a time when people stood against insurmountable odds. It is an ever-lasting illustration of why the right to vote must never be taken for granted. People of all colors bled and died so that we might exercise that quintessential […]

Shirley A. Jones Everybody loves a birthday or anniversary celebration, right?  So, guess who is turning 40 years old in 2015? Blacks In Government (BIG) is! Yes, BIG was established in 1975 (incorporated in 1976) by a small group of Black federal employees at the Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) Department in Rockville, Md., to […]

Marc Morial “You may be shocked by these words coming from me. But on this pilgrimage, what I have seen, and experienced, has forced me to rearrange much of my thought-patterns previously held, and to toss aside some of my previous conclusions. This was not too difficult for me. Despite my firm convictions, I have […]

As if we needed any more evidence, President Obama’s recent meeting with members of the Congressional Black Caucus revealed a deep-seated hostility toward the plight of struggling Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). According to Lauren Victoria Burke’s Black Caucus blog, CrewOf42.com, “President Obama was critical of Historically Black Colleges and Universities during a meeting with […]

Blacks in America tend to reject Republicans; now Blacks in that party are rebuffing each other. William Reed Raynard Jackson recently publicly aired grievances with the Republican National Committee (RNC), its outreach staff and their methods and practices.  A Black Republican, Jackson has “had it” with certain factions in his party and will be “staying […]

LeConté J. Dill Nearly 40 years ago, a metaphor or fable, if you will, about “upstream-downstream” was created by healthcare practitioners to better explain and argue for the value of preventative health care measures. The fable describes a group of community members standing near a river who witness someone drowning. Some of the community members […]

“NBC Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams has finally admitted that he had incorrectly asserted that a helicopter he traveled aboard in 2002 while reporting on the Iraq War in 2003 was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, forcing an emergency landing. “This was a bungled attempt by me to thank one special veteran and by extension […]

Eddie Bernice Johnson Dr. Carter G. Woodson, the Harvard trained historian who brilliantly birthed the idea that led to the celebration of Black History month, believed that all people regardless of their race, color or national origin should study and embrace the history of Black people in the United States. His belief led him to […]

George H. Lambert Jr. As president of a regional affiliate of the National Urban League, I sometimes have to step back from daily business to reflect on the legacy of the organization and the courage, intelligence and creativity that lay the foundation that my staff and I stand upon. Black History Month is the perfect […]