Category: OPINION

Dear Editor: Other than Thanksgiving and Christmas, the 4th of July is perhaps the most celebrated national holiday. Families go on picnics, visit beaches and parks, and watch fireworks. However, for many veterans, Independence Day takes on a different meaning. To those who served in the armed forces, often fighting to preserve our freedom in […]

Every day in Maryland, I fight against injustice and work towards the empowerment and advancement of all people of color. I speak to families in the African-American community here in Baltimore and across the state and know firsthand the barriers our children face when it comes to meaningful educational opportunity and access to good jobs […]

Last month, President Obama reminded us that we all have a personal stake in the outcome of November’s federal elections. The president fairly and accurately dissected the two competing visions advanced by Republicans and Democrats as to how America can best grow our economy and pay down our national debt. I recommend that every American […]

LOS ANGELES- Rodney Glen King’s apparent accidental death at age 47 has prompted a flood of media punditry about the legacy of a life rife with misfortune. It was young Glen, as he was called, who had discovered his father’s body in the family bathtub. Rodney Sr. reportedly drank himself to death when Rodney Jr. […]

Now that Romney is the de facto nominee for the Republican Party, I have been reflecting on the state of the presidential race as it enters the final stretch. As a political strategist, I understand the necessity to run to the right during the Republican primary and then migrate to the center during the general […]

The most conservative Supreme Court in the past four decades is poised to overturn the already limited affirmative action provisions in the next term, which begins in October, unless good sense visits one or two of them and they vote in favor of student body diversity. Since Bush-appointed justices John Robert and Samuel Alito have […]

WASHINGTON (NNPA) – Highly-respected media and entertainment executive William G. Tompkins, Jr. has been name president and chief executive officer of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, a federation of more than 200 Black-owned publications. NNPA Chairman Cloves Campbell, publisher of the Arizona Informant, said Tompkins was selected from an impressive field of candidates screened by […]

Rodney King would be the first to tell you that he was no Martin Luther King, Jr. or Malcolm X. His lifelong bout with alcohol and drugs – battles that he always seemed to lose – and frequent run-ins with police did not qualify him for icon status. Yet, that’s what he achieved in 1991 […]

Do you believe Black people should work together in support of one another? Do you believe that Black people should better utilize more of our $900 billion-plus annual aggregate income to start and grow businesses? Do you believe Black people should share our information and experience with one another to build a brighter future for […]

I am often honored during June of each year by the opportunity to speak at graduation ceremonies. These remarks are among my favorite duties for I know just how much many of these graduates have been forced to overcome. There are lessons for all of us in these annual rites of passage – the commendations […]

(June 14, 2012) I am not a friend of Julius Henson. Most often, Mr. Henson and I have been political enemies. I have not seen him or spoken with him for several years. But today, I wish to express my view that what is happening to him is unjust and a threat to democracy. I […]