Category: OPINION

The American Dream lives! It’s the current American reality that’s become a nightmare for millions upon millions whose lives, occupations and economic stability once seemed to embody it. A new survey released Thanksgiving week by the Washington Post and the Miller Center, a nonpartisan, public policy-focused affiliate of the University of Virginia, offers fresh evidence […]

“In America today, college is available to everyone prepared to move forward in life,” Dr. Claudio Prieto, then Assistant U.S. Education Secretary, once observed. “For minorities like us, there are still barriers to obtaining an education, but with hard work, those barriers are manageable….” Most of us would agree. Yet, for Americans of color, acknowledging […]

Today’s politicians and many economists seldom, if ever, discuss the concept of full employment. It appears that capitalist economies promoted by these politicians and economists are incompatible with full employment. However, full employment is necessary for improving standards of living in capitalist economies. Full employment is where everyone or nearly everyone wanting to work at […]

Just as the holiday season begins, when the thoughts and actions of some focus on compassion for others, we could be about to witness the government’s forcing the poor to go hungry – the product of political horse-trading in Washington that has erased a critical portion of the already-meager subsidy the federal food stamp program […]

The Christmas season provides an excellent opportunity for Africans in America to engage in a season of resistance. The corporate retail establishment in this country is heavily dependent upon this season for consumers to participate in a frenzy of buying to buttress their bottom line. The unofficial kick-off of the “shop until you drop” season […]

“Bullying is a form of aggressive behavior in which someone intentionally and repeatedly causes another person injury or discomfort. Bullying can take the form of physical contact, words or more subtle actions.”  American Psychological Association When 12-year-old Rebecca Sedwick jumped to her death from an abandoned concrete plant tower on Sept. 9 because of bullying […]

As we watched the parades and listened to the speeches on Veterans’ Day, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel offered perhaps the most consequential insight about America’s continuing bond with those who have gone in harm’s way to serve our country. “The United States is now winding down the longest period of sustained combat in our […]

The U.S. Gross Domestic Product (the value of all goods and services in the economy) figures show GDP per person is $53,211. That’s per person, not per family. Those figures also show we annually spend $2,797 per person on food. That’s $233 per person a month. After netting out imports, we sell nearly $14 billion […]

Miami Dolphins players Richie Incognito and Jonathan Martin have dominated sports news in recent weeks, but for all the wrong reasons. Supposedly, Martin was “bullied” by Incognito to the point that Martin left the team indefinitely. Each plays on the offensive line, stands more than 6 feet, and weighs more than 300 pounds. Incognito has […]

Christmas is without a doubt one of my favorite seasons of the year. I am always blessed with an abundance of family, friends, and yes, food. There is no reason to cut back on family and friends, but we can’t let the holidays be an excuse to lose our minds and over indulge in food. […]

Two decades ago, as a young organizer in Mississippi, I learned that there are only two types of temporal power: organized people and organized money. I also learned that in a democracy, the people can win every time—but only if we are organized. Today, when I reflect back on my half-decade at the helm of […]

The reason students are encouraged to avoid CliffsNotes is because in their haste to report the summary of assigned readings they may miss important themes, nuanced characters, and layers of meaning that are typically understood only with a full reading of the entire text. This caution is equally apropos about the rulings of federal courts. […]