Category: OPINION

In the Baltimore region, and across America, job growth remains the most important issue on people’s minds. We have evidence that our economy is improving, but it also remains painfully clear that we have much more to do — both nationally and right here in our own community. In my neighborhood, we are aware that, […]

With the economy once again playing such an important role during this election cycle, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the March unemployment numbers on April 6 amidst great anticipation and perhaps uneasiness. The final numbers showed an 8.2 percent overall jobless rate, a slight drop from the 8.3 percent rate in February, leaving room […]

Every parent raising Black sons knows the dilemma: deciding how soon to have the talk. Choosing the words to explain to your beautiful child that there are some people who will never like or trust him just because of who he is—including some who should be there to protect him, but will instead have the […]

Ward Four has everything to lose, if Muriel Bowser is not defeated. Bowser has received nearly $ 300,000.00 in campaign contributions, for the April 2012 Primary. This is a huge sum of money for a ward race. Most of her opponents haven’t raised a tenth of what she has raised. The Ward Four Primary race […]

IT’S HIGH TIME, PAST TIME AND OUR TIME… to elect the first African American candidate to the United States Senate from Maryland! One could practically count on one hand the number of African Americans who have served in the U.S. Senate! We represent 12 percent of the American population – yet we have 0 black […]

All of last week, I was in Sanford, Florida, pursuing justice for Trayvon Martin. I listened to community concerns about the Sanford Police Department, and rallied with Trayvon’s parents and 30,000 others in Sanford, a town with only 50,000 residents. As a son, father, brother and uncle, the loss of another young black man in […]

“Diverse democracies depend on diverse people who know and respect each other.” John Payton Over the past century, the most powerful force behind America’s on-going struggle for equality has been an outstanding group of civil rights attorneys. Imagine where we would be today without lawyers like Charles Hamilton Houston – “the man who killed Jim […]

I’m incredibly saddened by the passing of John A. Payton, head of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Our nation has lost a brilliant warrior for justice, and I’ve lost a dear friend and colleague in the movement. I first had the pleasure to meet John during the Clinton era. What I most remember about him […]

Led by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, we are fighting back against Republican-sponsored voter identification laws and other voter suppression schemes that – left unchallenged – could deny millions of Americans their fundamental right to vote this year. All who love America and our democratic system have an important stake in the outcome of this […]

Last week I joined Rev. Al Sharpton and the National Action Network on the march from Selma to Montgomery. I am one of the 40 percent of Americans who are independent of both the major parties. Back in the days of Ross Perot, the media called guys like me “angry white men.” Along the route, […]