Forgive student loan debt
By the time you read this, millions of college students will have graduated and be looking for jobs. Many will be going on to grad school and millions suddenly will be faced with paying off college loans or contemplating obtaining …
Charity no substitute for justice
In his speech the night before his murder, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. repeated the Biblical parable of the Good Samaritan who stopped and helped the desperate traveler who had been beaten, robbed and left half dead as he journeyed …
The black-on-black murder myth
Conservative blogs, websites, newspapers and pundits are at it again, screaming that young black males are killing each other with abandon in city after city. They repeatedly toss out the supposedly raging murder violence in Baltimore, Chicago and New York …
‘Equity and Excellence’ needed
All across the country, people are gathering to observe an annual academic rite of passage — graduation. In a scene that will be played out countless times during this season of celebration, family and friends will dutifully take their seats …
Changing the face of currency
Let’s do this. Put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill. It’s time for the face of this nation’s currency to catch up with the great changes this country has undergone since the end of the Jim Crow era. Putting the …
Restore justice, peace
The frequent and serious fights which in recent years have broken out among middle and high school students present a cause for alarm and distress. In some cases, absolute cruelty has been displayed. One wonders why so many young people …
Million Man March 20 years later
On Oct. 16, we will commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Million Man March. In the subsequent two decades black Americans have experienced great triumphs, tragedies and tribulations.
Felony record shouldn’t be red flag forever
I was released from prison approximately three years ago, but my past has stifled any and all progress. I have served my time, but I feel as if I am still being punished.
Legalized torture of prisoners
Freddie Gray is neither the first nor will he be the last person to die in police custody. According to a 2011 report from the U.S. Department of Justice, 4,813 people died in police custody between 2003 and 2009 (the …
The criminalization of poverty
The recent U.S. Department of Justice report on police and court practices in Ferguson, Mo., put a much needed spotlight on how a predatory system of enforcement of minor misdemeanors and compounding fines can trap low-income people in a never-ending …
First Lady tells Tuskegee to ‘rise above’
I hope people who attended Tuskegee University’s commencement May 9 got First Lady Michelle Obama’s message. I hope they paid more attention to what she said than how some news media organizations portrayed the First Lady’s speech to graduates of …
Police reform needed now
“There is no crueler tyranny than that which is perpetuated under the shield of law and in the name of justice.” – Charles de Montesquieu, “The Spirit of the Laws,” 1748 A tragic déjà vu is playing out in communities …
No better time to end racial profiling
Freddie Gray, 25, was racially profiled and then chased down by Baltimore police officers. He subsequently died as result of police action taken after what the mayor called an unjust arrest. But the Gray tragedy is not an isolated case. …
Federal act requires reporting of deaths while in police custody
Re “Help from high court,” April 23-25 edition: While your editorial was enlightening and informative, it did not really do justice to the point of the editorial — unnecessary deaths while in law enforcement custody. Yes, the traumatic death of …
An unexpected partnership
When Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake stepped before a bank of microphones last Saturday for a hastily called news conference, she was surrounded by people she credited with helping keep this city calm during a weeklong protest over the death of Freddie …
