On the night of Jan. 11, 1989, near the end of a 21-minute farewell address, President Ronald Reagan asked the television audience, “How stands ‘The City’ on this winter night?” The City—a reimagined America based off highly controversial pioneer John …

Will Donald Trump have Chicago to kick around anymore? That question, an update of Richard Nixon’s memorable farewell to news reporters as he dropped out of the California governor’s race in 1962, came to mind on the heels of some …

As a record number of pilgrims representing all walks of life filled the streets of Rome to mourn the death of “The People’s Pope,” history will indicate the fiercest critics of the Francis Pontificate were American Catholics. This should come …

As President Trump’s polling takes a tumble 100 days into his second term — and Dick Durbin, the Senate’s second-ranking Democrat, announces his retirement, a very old hit tune by Ethel Waters comes to mind: “There’ll be some changes made.”

His Holiness Pope Francis made his transition on the morning of after Easter Sunday, after he delivered an Easter blessing from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, and after he toured St. Peter’s Square in his popemobile. His doctors had …

As an international music icon, James Brown emerged as one of the founding fathers of funk with a musical style that often profoundly influenced R&B, jazz, and rock.

Kafkaesque. One hears that word a lot in discussions of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Or, for lowbrows like me, “The Twilight Zone” might be the pertinent reference.

An onslaught of executive orders from President Donald Trump aim to restrict how and what educators can teach America’s children.

In 2024, four women held the rank of four-star general or admiral. One year later, in 2025, there are none. This is just one example of how individuals and groups who believe in social equity and fairness are embroiled in …

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that directs Vice President JD Vance to eliminate “divisive narratives” and “improper ideology” from Smithsonian museums, educational and research centers and the National Zoo.

The last living link of my family’s story of origin in antebellum Southern Virginia died at age 105 a few years ago.

Soon, April 22 will mark the 55th anniversary of Earth Day. The power of those 20 million voices that came out on the streets that first Earth Day led the United States to create the Environmental Protection Agency and the …

Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch and other staff members at the Smithsonian are upset, and they have every right to be. The Smithsonian network spans 21 museums and has become one of the latest presidential targets through an executive order titled …

Lately Elon Musk has been looking like a good candidate for Washington's unofficial "So Sorry to See You Go" award. We used to hand it out annually on "The McLaughlin Group," among other deliberately dubious honors, as a snarky salute …

Describing my 2017 appointment as a faculty member, the University of Virginia dubbed me the school’s “first” hip-hop professor. Even if the job title and the historic nature of the appointment might have merited it, the word was misleading.