Category: OPINION

“There’s something evil in our society that we as Americans have to work to try and eradicate…I would like you to put my trauma center out of business. I really would. I would like to not be an expert on gunshots. Let’s get rid of this. This is not America.” – Dr. Janis Orlowski, MedStar […]

As the more extreme House Republicans threaten Armageddon unless we agree to defund the Affordable Care Act (or, as we now typically call it, “ObamaCare”), the Affordable Care Act is already making a positive difference in people’s lives. We all know someone who now can obtain insurance, despite a pre-existing condition. As critical as this […]

We just proudly marched on Washington for the second time. Last week, we celebrated the 43rd Annual Legislative Conference of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. But if we are going to truly overcome the challenges that we face before the end of the 21st century, we have much work to do! Our forefathers and foremothers […]

In the modern civil rights era, no year stands out in my memory more than 1963. I was a sophomore at Druid High School in Tuscaloosa, Ala. and living in McKenzie Court, the all-Black housing project on the west side of town. After a life of second-class citizenship, I finally saw the walls of segregation […]

In office just nine months, Ted Cruz, the junior Republican Senator from Texas, has already established himself as that body’s most divisive force since the witch-hunting, 1950s demagogue, Joe McCarthy. A darling of the most extreme factions of the conservative movement, Cruz exemplifies what was obvious about the GOP’s fortunes since the Tea Party emerged […]

“The Federal Reserve Chairman is not only one of the most important economic policymakers in America, he or she is one of the most important policymakers in the world.”    President Barack Obama Welcome to the season of big decisions in Washington. In the coming days, President Obama will have to decide whether to order […]

I woke up this morning to an article in the New York Times whose headline read, “As Debate Reopens, Food Stamp Recipients Continue To Squeeze.” The piece details how several families in Dyersburg, Tennessee (the name of the town is not lost on me) struggle with all of the issues born out of chronic underemployment […]

You may wonder why someone who has advocated for the poor, the marginalized and the disadvantaged his entire career would veto the D.C. Council’s so-called “Large Retailer Accountability Act” (LRAA). But if you examine the bill closely, my decision makes abundant sense. Many reasonable people advocated passionately for the bill, and I met with them […]

These are the words of an 18-year-old who recently graduated from high school in a high-poverty neighborhood in the nation’s capital: “Where I live, which is Ward 7, everyone is the same . . . If you follow the crowd, you’re going to end up dead or in jail because that’s where most of them […]

Richard Cordray, Director of the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, tells the sad story of a man who, needing emergency car repairs, borrowed $500 from a so-called “payday lender.” After nine months of relentless payments, he had paid out $900, and he still owed another $312. That is an outrageous rate of return on a […]

Selma, Ala., the county seat of Dallas County, was a bastion of White supremacy in 1965. At the time, of the 15,000 potential Black voters, only 300 were registered. In response to chants of “We Shall Overcome,” by civil rights protesters, Sheriff Jim Clark wore a button on his uniform declaring, “Never.” That did not […]