Category: OPINION

My birth at the end of July 1967 makes me a child of the naksa, or setback, as the Arab defeat during the June 1967 war with Israel is euphemistically known in Arabic. My parents’ generation grew up high on the Arab nationalism that Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser brandished in the 1950s. But we […]

The Emancipation Proclamation made it legal for African Americans to free themselves by helping to save the Union in the American Civil War. Abraham Lincoln wrote that his Proclamation was “warranted by the Constitution upon military necessity.” It was necessary to secure the help of America’s African descent population in order to save the Union, […]

My father told me I could do and be anything I wanted to be, if I dreamed and worked hard enough for it. I took these words to heart, despite growing up in the Jim Crow era in Marlboro County, S.C. Today, too many children in Marlboro County and throughout America are not being taught […]

Two nights ago, President Obama delivered his annual State of the Union address and, as usual, he declared the state of our union is good. No president has ever said anything differently. Every president is only going to put the best face on the state of affairs in our country. But, the state of our […]

“Freedom has always been an expensive thing. History is a fit testimony to the fact that freedom is rarely gained without sacrifice and self-denial.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Last Monday, the nation celebrated what would have been the 82nd birthday of the 20th century’s great drum major for justice Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. […]

(TEWire) – In the wake of the State of the Union Address there is likely to be much partisan conversation about the direction of our nation. President Obama will address the economy and jobs, and Republicans will talk about the health of the economy, and about cutting budgets in their rebuttal. Citing growing deficits, both […]

In the early morning hours of Oct. 15, 2010, Ali Mohammed was chased from a U Street bar by an owner and four employees, allegedly because he threw a brick through a window – a window that had been punched in 90 minutes before by someone else. They caught Ali in the middle of a […]

This month, Jaime and Gladys Scott walked out of prison 16 years after they first entered. Their double-life sentences were criticized as indicative of the egregious sentencing in our criminal justice system, and their release by Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour was hailed as a long-overdue victory for justice, as well as an example of a […]

I was stirred deeply by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1963 when I, a 13-year-old Jewish boy in Brooklyn, saw his televised speech at the March on Washington, where he said: “…when we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every tenement and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we […]

Columbine High School. The Washington, D.C. sniper.  Northern Illinois University. Virginia Tech. Red Lake Indian Reservation. Chicago school children. And now, Tucson, Ariz. In dramatic ways, shooting deaths have horrified, mesmerized and confounded Americans. Yet, an increasing number of people say it is more important to protect the rights of citizens to own guns than […]

Last week, Americans watched as the new Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives began a concerted effort to destroy one of President Obama’s signature initiatives – The Affordable Care Act. We need to be clear about all that is at stake. Every senator and representative has been educated about the mortal consequences of […]

“Not only will we have to repent for the sins of bad people; but we also will have to repent for the appalling silence of good people.” – Martin Luther King, Jr. Milestones in our lives, such as birthdays and anniversaries, automatically propel us into a state of reflection. We look back and take inventory […]