Category: OPINION

Over the years, I often have reminded my children that, for our family, Labor Day can never be just another holiday. I tell them about A. Phillip Randolph of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car porters and their role in bringing about the integration of the U.S. military and the movement for civil rights – and […]

My vocation denies me the privilege of participating wholesale in death-denying American culture. Only those in the medical professions, law enforcement, and the funeral industry are as intimately acquainted with death as the clergy. I cannot pretend that people don’t die; nor can I pretend that people aren’t supposed to die. Our culture idolizes the […]

As I read Reverend Lamar’s opinion piece (“Sex, Not Same-Sex Marriage, Should Be Topic of Debate”), my heart sank. For, while reading about the hypocrisy of the black church in America from the distance of my office in South Africa, I was reminded painfully of just how tragic are the ties that seem to bind […]

The primary goal of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C. this week is to highlight the sharp contrast between the policies of President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, his Republican opponent. In the past, political conventions were used to count delegates to determine each party’s respective presidential nominee. That has changed in recent years, […]

Let’s face it: Marriage for gay and lesbian couples is often perceived as a White issue. Yet, there are thousands of African Americans – our brothers and sisters, cousins, neighbors, and co-workers – who are gay, in committed relationships, and want to marry. My own cousin had to go to Canada to marry the man […]

I felt the spirit of Dr. Aaronnette White guiding my fingers for this column. A couple of weeks ago, Aaronnette died suddenly at the premature age of 51 years. A rape survivor and a respected psychology professor, she was a fierce warrior for the reproductive rights of women, particularly African-American women. During her brief stint […]

As Republicans gather in a noisy, made-for-television convention designed to promote their presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, principled citizens in Pennsylvania and other “Voter ID” states are quietly working to overcome the latest assault upon our fundamental right to vote. I offer this contrast for your consideration some 47 years after Aug. 6, 1965, that historic […]

Every time I see a march or rally, I think of the rally of all rallies: the 1963 March on Washington. Forty-nine years later, there is nothing that equals that march in results. These days folks march to make a point, but back in the day, we marched to get legislative action. Shortly after the […]

I played tee ball as a youngster. I recall vividly a teammate who crushed the ball off of the tee with the bases loaded. And this is where it all went downhill. As the ball sailed into the gap between the second baseman and the centerfielder my teammate ran from home plate to third base. […]

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has been carefully trying to put some distance between him and running mate Paul Ryan’s radical budget proposal but he has a major problem – his plan would make even deeper cuts than the Ryan plan. A careful analysis of Romney’s plan by the Center on Budget and Policy […]

Mitt Romney, the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee, seemed to bask in the “boldness” of his VP choice of Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.)–the chief fiscal ideologue of the Republican Party on Capitol Hill – for all of 48 hours before the former Massachusetts Governor returned to being the quintessential quivering politician he has always been. On […]

Black people are disappearing like tears in the rain. Each of these lives lost produces a new story – almost a new story everyday – that the media usually ignores. There are too many to speak on individually, but the sum total can’t be ignored. One story that encapsulates this phenomenon is the murder of […]