Running for exposure
Twenty-four people are running for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States. From where I sit, at least half of them are only running for exposure, for the vice presidential nod, for cabinet secretary, to push a platform …
Disparity continues in homeownership
Nearly 90 years ago, Kelly Miller, a black sociologist and mathematician, said, “The Negro is up against the white man’s standard, without the white man’s opportunity.”
Citizenship question contrived
Civil rights groups and advocates for a fair census breathed a sigh of relief last week when the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the Trump administration’s “contrived” justification for adding a citizenship question to the 2020 Census.
'Show me the Tubmans'
When President Obama left the White House, he left a very positive image of what a president should be.
Poison hierarchy of human value
Months after Gov. Ralph S. Northam came under fire for the racist images on his 1984 yearbook page from Eastern Virginia Medical School, he remains in office, a battered and chastised public figure. But maybe this isn’t a bad thing.
Making mental health no longer stealth
We’ve seen Colin Kaepernick, LeBron James and others draw attention to challenges in our community. At the recent hearing on reparations, we heard from Danny Glover. We’ve also just heard from Taraji P. Henson on the subject of mental health.
A moral demand
I had the opportunity recently to participate in the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. Along with Jerry Paris, general manager of WPFW-FM 89.3, and the Rev. Graylan Hagler, I was invited to co-anchor the program carried …
Trump and trade
For Donald Trump, America First is increasingly translating into America alone. He apparently believes the United States is so dominant that it needs no friends.
Central Park Five: Harrowing, humanizing
Many know them as the Central Park Five, but filmmaker Ava DuVernay forces us to see the five wrongfully convicted men as individuals. Their names are names we must remember, as individual, courageous, principled black and brown men. They are …
Who represents black women?
I can’t remember a time in my adult life when I wasn’t working on justice issues on behalf of people in my community. I’ve worked for the benefit of women who shared my views and some who don’t. But it’s …
Black bodies creating white power
Almost every high school student in America knows about the compromise reached during the drafting of the U.S. Constitution resulting in enslaved people being counted as three-fifths of a person during the national census held every 10 years.
Ignorance, racism and a good book
Ignorance breeds racism. By ignorance, I don’t mean the lack of college or other educational degrees. I’m really talking about how some families teach their children to hate certain people based upon lies.
Distortions of our history
According to some historians, Afrodescendants first entered these United States in 1619 off the coast of Virginia. If we believe that narrative, Afrodescendants have been in this country for 400 years.
Free students from burden of college debt
The reaction — shock, joy, disbelief, euphoria — revealed the importance of billionaire Robert F. Smith’s stunning gift, when he announced unexpectedly that he would pay off the college debts of Morehouse College students graduating this year. His gift literally …
Why not eliminate the SAT?
The College Board, the organization that develops and administers the SAT, has developed a new “adversity score” to augment the widely used college admissions examination.
