Category: OPINION

The state of Maryland faces a stark choice with respect to its treatment of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). A federal court recently ruled that Maryland’s educational policies are unconstitutional and violate the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause because they deprive its four HBCUs of academic programs that are unique, high demand and high […]

By chance I watched the NFC Championship football game at the home of a friend and former college football player, Vaughn McKoy. Of course, it was Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman who stole the show. Sherman’s infamously aggressive post-game interview triggered a debate over the appropriateness of his comments. For two Black men watching the […]

During a January 12 Meet the Press segment, Maria Shriver unveiled “The Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nation Pushes Back from the Brink.” Her analysis outlined in graphic detail how dramatically American families, the workplace, and the role of women have changed during recent decades. We all have a personal stake in the challenges that working […]

“Art is a weapon in the struggle of ideas, the class struggle.” —Amiri Baraka With the Jan. 9 passing of the prolific poet, playwright, essayist, and critic Amiri Baraka, one of the literary giants of the 20th century was called home. Along with offering condolences to his wife, children and family, we remember the 79-year-old […]

As I watched President Obama deliver his stirring eulogy for Dr. Nelson Mandela during the former president’s memorial service here in Johannesburg, I was struck by a mélange of competing emotions—each one battling for supremacy, each one struggling to anchor me within its reality. Pride and nostalgia, but also a profound sense of loss, disappointment […]

It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon. The streets of South Tel Aviv were teeming with people. We first saw a very large wedding party heading towards a park. We then saw hundreds of young men hanging out, socializing, walking, and sometimes just looking for something to do. The shops were closed on this Jewish Sabbath […]

Last Friday, I gave the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day speech at the University of North Alabama in Florence. I was glowingly introduced by my niece, Rachel Gandy, who is a senior at UNA. I told the audience that having grown up in segregated Tuscaloosa, Ala., how satisfying it was to see “the […]

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates isn’t the first political appointee to analyze the work of an administration he served, even if that administration remains in power. In 1999, while President Bill Clinton was still in office, longtime staffer and confidant, George Stephanopoulos wrote of his disenchantment with his political mentor after the Monica Lewinsky story […]

TriceEdneyWireService — During the period of December-January of each year, the holidays speed through in rapid succession, leaving little time for measured thought and peaceful contemplation. First, comes the joy of Christmas and the associated effort to demonstrate our love of friends and relatives with the lavish gifts. This is followed by the hope that […]

Children are not little adults. Adolescents are not the same as adults. We’ve known this for years. The research showing that their brains are still developing is clear. Although young people act on impulse, they have the ability to positively change and have a productive future. That’s why it’s outrageous that in the 21st century […]

The 50th anniversary of Lyndon Johnson’s declaration of a war on poverty brought long overdue attention to his commitment. Today, with one in five children in America still raised in poverty, an accounting is vital as part of a renewed commitment. But largely absent from the debate around the war on poverty is any sense […]

As we mark 50 years since President Lyndon Johnson committed our nation to ending poverty in our country, President Obama is once again calling upon us to overcome “the defining challenge of our time.” All of us are being affected, he observed, by “the dangerous and growing inequality and lack of upward mobility that has […]