Category: OPINION

“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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

There was a lot of talk around the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington last week that Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream remains unrealized. The march, of course, was for jobs and freedom, and commentators and activists alike rightly noted that much work remains on both counts. The Supreme Court this summer struck the […]

In April of this year, I was asked by Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government to share my thoughts on the upcoming 50th anniversary of Dr. King’s seminal “I Have a Dream Speech” at the Lincoln Memorial, August 28, 1963. Just as Americans of all backgrounds will share our nation’s destiny, I observed, we must […]

The current tracking of Congress’ popularity shows that only 15 percent of Americans approve of the job Congress is doing. Now, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) struck another tone deaf moment at a political fundraiser in Idaho when he warned that when Congress returns in September, he will lead Republicans in holding up the government’s […]

(Originally published August 26, 1983) We marched in 1963 to redress old grievances and to help resolve an American crisis. That crisis is born of the twin evils of racism and economic deprivation. They rob black and poor people of dignity, self-respect and freedom. They impose a special burden on blacks who are denied the […]