Category: OPINION

A little more than a week after the murder of Troy Davis I am admittedly still reeling and healing from this latest barrage of barbaric brutality on Black people from the United States “Justice” System. “Troy Davis” is the latest chapter of terrorism in the collective memory of American Africans. If Carl Jung’s theories on […]

Is the subject “increase in poverty” discussed when lawmakers talk about furloughs, unemployment extensions, wage freezes, foreclosures, or jobs for inner city residents? I ask myself “What did they expect when there was a lack of viable solutions to tackle the unemployment or underemployment issue in the inner city? The U.S. Census Bureau released a […]

Since 1999, millions of Americans have received annual, detailed earnings statements from the Social Security Administration about their Social Security benefits.   These annual earnings statements are an invaluable tool that helps millions of Americans plan for their retirement. In March, the Commissioner of the Social Security Administration (SSA) announced that he would suspend the production […]

Earlier this month, the eyes of our nation turned briefly to those whom the Bible calls “the least of these.” The U.S. Bureau of the Census revealed that nearly one of every six Americans is now living in poverty. Based on data from 2010, the Bureau found that more than 46,000,000 Americans are now living […]

It is a critical time in America. The recession has been tough, especially for young Black Americans who are faced with bleak job prospects, exorbitant student loans and overwhelming hopelessness. With an unemployment rate for young Black males over 18 percent, young Black men are still hemorrhaging and the people we put in office to […]

We are reminded almost daily that President Obama’s favorable poll numbers are at an all-time low. While that is unmistakably true, that’s only half of the picture. Let’s first take a look at the numbers. A Gallup poll pegged Obama’s August monthly approval rating at 41 percent, the lowest of his administration. However, Gallup found […]

For many young women today, tucking cell phones in the bra has become a cool, hip way to have simple access to these essential devices. They can jog, drive, shop or sit in darkened movie theatres, quickly responding to tingled vibrations at their breast. Most of us have no idea that cell phones are small […]

Last week’s court order to execute Troy Davis on the 21st of this month represents the very worst flaw in our criminal justice system: the likelihood of putting an innocent man to death. If the state of Georgia moves forward with this execution, it will not only commit a grave violation of Troy’s human rights, […]

Recently, I joined Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and the local Howard Park Community as we celebrated what, in some other neighborhoods, would have been seen as a relatively mundane event. Along with local civic, religious and business leaders, we were taking the first tangible steps toward bringing a major, multi-service supermarket back into the neighborhood’s […]

Any compromise President Obama reaches with Congress will fail to significantly reduce Black unemployment unless the plan is crafted to address joblessness in the three industries where African-American workers are concentrated – government jobs, education and health services. According to a University of California-Berkeley Labor Center research brief titled, “Black Workers and the Public Sector,” […]

One of the most–watched videos on YouTube a few years ago showed the struggle of a water buffalo family and herd to save a child. It’s called the Battle at Kruger Park. It begins with a buffalo mother, father, and child meandering peacefully ahead of the herd unaware that a pride of six lions is […]

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was anything but an “arrogant twit.” Yet Dr. Maya Angelou called it entirely correctly when she said that one of the quotes engraved on the side of the new memorial to Dr. King portrays the man as a braggart, not the humble servant leader that he was. “I was a […]