In less than 10 months from now the final countdown to the next national elections in the United States will be begin. The future of America and to a large extent the future of the world will be at stake. During the next year there will be millions of new young voting age persons that will have to be registered to vote and mobilized to go out to the voting polls across the nation.
The City of Chicago, like many other political jurisdictions and sub-divisions is facing difficult economic and social times. There are budget deficits, revenue shortfalls, high unemployment, crumbling infrastructures, high crime rates, drug use, underperforming schools, violence, problems with pensions, healthcare needs, growing senior populations, immigration issues, job creation needs and other great challenges.
Now that the dust is settled on the midterm madness, and President Barack Obama has successfully convinced the press that he has his mojo back (even if the polls are still catching up) during the lame duck session, we can begin looking at what really will matter once the ball drops and 2011 begins: the presidential election of 2012.
President Barack Obama may have an excellent resume when it comes to attempts at bi-partisanship with the GOP but he seems to have an entirely different effect on his own party’s unity. Obama’s become a surprisingly polarizing figure within one of the most unified and consistent bastions of political power in the African American community: The Congressional Black Caucus.
As we approach the Christmas season this year, it is important for African Americans and others to stress the necessity for freedom, justice, equality and peace in our communities across America and throughout the world. A “Black Christmas” should mean that this will also be the season for African American empowerment and stronger financial sustainability.
In the weeks since the “shellacking” of the November 2 election, there has been much talk that the economy will turn around and, indeed, is on the mend. Both pundits and expert economists are saying the economic indicators are better. The recession is over, according to these indicators, and it is unlikely that we have a double dip recession. The stock market has done well this year. So why is the unemployment rate so high?
Right now there are millions of Democratic and Progressive voters who think that the world is coming to an end. The Republican sweep of government, which was much more substantial than most press reports are truly presenting, has left all too many people thinking that we’ve reached a nadir in American politics. Believe it or not the results of Tuesday’s elections are not entirely bad, unless you are a partisan Democrat. If you’re simply an American citizen this might be a sign that real progress is going to be made, at least on the national level.
Now that the mid-term elections are over and the politics of exaggeration appear to be catching less national attention, it is past time to focus on the economic condition and plight of 50 million African Americans. The devastating economic disaster of the Bush years has a lingering negative economic effect on everyone in the United States, especially for Black Americans.
There was something heady in the air on January 20 2009, so heady, hot and special that I barely felt the bracing cold as I sat outside to watch our President take the oath. There was hope was in the air and it was filled with high energy. There were pronouncements that this was a new, post-racial era. And even as I shared high hopes and high energy, I was skeptical of any post-racialsim. You see, in the same month that the first African American was inaugurated as President of the United States, another African American man, an unarmed Oscar Grant, was executed by transit police officer Johannes Mehserle who said he mistakenly shot his gun instead of his taser in Oakland, California. Grant, who was unarmed, handcuffed, and the father of a baby girl was pronounced dead on January 2, 2009.
For Republicans, the November 2 midterm elections were about 2012, not 2010. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made that clear in a speech to the Heritage Foundation. He said, “…The fact is, if our primary legislative goals are to repeal and replace the health spending bill, to end the bailouts, cut spending and shrink the size and scope of government, the only way to do all these things is to put someone else in the White House.”
Last Tuesday’s election results have far-reaching implications for the nation’s response to the AIDS epidemic and other health related issues in Black America. While the national media has focused attention on the “Tea Party” movement, most Republicans elected to Congress were mainstream conservatives. Yet all share a common political platform of deficit reduction, extending the Bush-era tax cuts, and hostility toward President Obama's signature legislative achievement: health care reform. These realities jeopardize the progress we've made so far toward ending the AIDS epidemic in Black communities and improving general health outcomes for Black people. They underscore the urgent need to reinvigorate our efforts to compel the nation’s decision-makers to address a health crisis that isn't going away.
Television and movies often tell white viewers where to get stereotypical advice from. You’re facing a confict? Ask the quiet Asian shopkeeper around the corner from your house. Need financial advice? Ask the neurotic Jewish guy from accounting. Need advice about love and sex? Ask your overweight, sassy Black female friend or jive talking Black friend who works in the stockroom. Of course that leaves out certain people, if you’re a Black woman seeking relationship advice where do you go? Apparently the Brittish Broadcasting Company.
Not surprisingly, embattled Bishop Eddie Long turned to the Bible to defend himself against charges by four men who filed suit last week in which they charged that as teenagers, Long showered them with money, expensive gifts, cars, and international travel to entice them into having a sexual relationship with him.
As a new academic year starts, children around the country are going back to school and settling into new classes. Meanwhile, parents, educators, policy experts, and politicians are gearing up again to monitor and measure student learning—and preparing to ask the hard questions about whether or not the children in their care are getting the best possible education.
The 2009 poverty numbers were released last week, and things are a lot worse than many economists thought they would be. The poverty rate jumped up a full percentage point, from 13.2 to 14.3 percent. This means that one in seven Americans live in poverty, 4 million more than a year ago. This is the third year the level of poverty and the number of poor Americans has risen.
The 2009 poverty numbers were released last week, and things are a lot worse than many economists thought they would be. The poverty rate jumped up a full percentage point, from 13.2 to 14.3 percent. This means that one in seven Americans live in poverty, 4 million more than a year ago. This is the third year the level of poverty and the number of poor Americans has risen.
On Friday, Ron Walters, Ph.D., professor of political science at the University of Maryland passed away quietly after a long battle with cancer. While perhaps not nearly as famous to the mainstream as Cornell West, Skip Gates or Michael Eric Dyson, Walters was for many African American academics, politicians and me, personally, an inspiration and a shining example of the responsibilities one carries along with their education.
In light of the new school year where over 400,000 cps students returned with the perception of hope, educational advancement, safety and security, and a safe passage initiative funded through a federal grant totaling at least $30 million dollars, it still seems that some youth continue to ascribe to destructive and deadly behavior.
The documentary “On The Frontline: Taking Back Our Streets,” produced by brothers David and Derek Grace of Grace Boyz Productions, focused on youth, gang and gun violence that has continued to plague primarily the black and brown communities of Chicago and what can be done to reach some attainable and realistic solutions.
Last year I wrote a piece entitled “Glenn Beck is my Kind of Revolutionary” which received a lot of attention precisely because I argued against conventional wisdom at the time and took a few well organized shots at Beck at the same time. A year ago, when Glenn Beck was ascending to his television peak the liberal left was borderline apoplectic about his rise to power.
Back in March, I delivered a speech to an NAACP Freedom Fund banquet in my home state of Georgia. I drew on my personal life story to urge poor people, white and black, to pull together and overcome racial divisions. We have to understand that our struggle is against poverty and against those who are blocking our path out of poverty.
The federal court ruling to overturn the California voter supported same sex marriage ban initiative, Proposition 8, has set the stage for a major shift in American culture. The case of Perry v. Schwarzenegger challenging California’s definition of marriage as between a man and a woman will be appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the die has been set.
In late July, both President Barack Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan spoke to the National Urban League’s Centennial Conference about what the President called “an issue that I believe will largely determine not only African American success, but the success of our nation in the 21st century — and that is whether we are offering our children the very best education possible.”
Just when you think you’ve heard it all, you find out that you haven’t. It is difficult to process in a time of tragedy how some can politicize the moment. The Gulf Coast Region of the United States is encountering another disaster of monumental proportions. It’s not from a natural disaster created by an act of God like Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The people of the Gulf are suffering from a man-made disaster created by an act of greed.
Although the NAACP and Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network have enthusiastically endorsed Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, two key legal groups have so far refrained from endorsing the former Harvard law dean amid questions about whether she would be a strong civil rights advocate on the court.
“The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and free laborer.”
Most news stories about a new study showing that 22 percent of Black male newlyweds and 9 percent of African American females marry outside their race neglected to report another major finding: When whites, Hispanics and Asians decide to marry outside their group, African Americans rank last in their choice of mates.
Despite widespread global condemnation of Israel's decision to attack a flotilla of boats carrying unarmed civilians attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Srip, U.S. officials have refused to publicly criticize Israel and the American media has reported the conflict through what one media monitoring group called “Israel's Eyes.”
Recently, the U.S. Senate passed a financial reform bill by a vote of 59-39. Two Democrats crossed party lines, as did four Republicans to come up with the result. Now, the House, which has already passed financial reform legislation, and the Senate, will have to reconcile their versions of the bill.
I was among the many who were disappointed that President Barack Obama did not nominate an African American woman to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court. After all, there are six white men, two women - one Latina and one white - and a nominal African American man on the court. Why not an African American woman?
There was mild surprise when a small contingent of black tea party bloggers and writers screamed loudly that Georgia Congressman John Lewis made up that he was spit on and called the N-word as he left the Cannon office building across from the Capitol in the hours before the final vote on the health care reform bill.
Title I was created “to ensure all children a fair and equal opportunity to obtain a high-quality education.”
Although the National Urban League has been issuing the annual “State of Black America” report for 34 years, for some inexplicable reason, everywhere you look these days, some group is sponsoring a panel discussion titled the “State of Black America.”
Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig was effusive when for the second year he called on the baseball world to remember Jackie Robinson and his achievements.
A couple of years ago I was invited to be a guest on the Jesse Lee Peterson radio show to debate The Passion of the Christ. (you can find it on YouTube) I had written a piece arguing that the movie was a fraud for using white Spanish actor Jim Kaviezel to depict Jesus when historical images show him to be a black African or a dark skinned Middle Eastern man.
Solicitor General Elena Kagan, said to be President Obama's leading choice to replace Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, would be a poor appointment and would be unlikely to mirror Stevens' progressive voting record.
On April 1, a critical tool of empowerment was put in the hands of our communities – the official 2010 Census form. Along with voting, filling out your Census questionnaire may be the most important act of empowerment any citizen can do.
Michael Steele has bungled money and staff, regularly mugs and grandstands on network talk shows, brags about being hip, a street guy, and even complains that he, as President Barack Obama, is also subject to a racial double standard.
A couple of years ago I was in the passenger's seat driving with a group of friends to dinner. As is often the case when you are the only single man in a car full of single women, the conversation moves to dating, marriage and the inevitable “who do you think is good looking?”
Two recent decisions by school boards in North Carolina are local signs of a troubling national trend towards resegregation in public schools.
Some will notice that the title of this missive comes from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s speech, Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence, when he challenged the war then being waged in the name of global anti-Communism that conflicted with fighting the evils of racism, militarism and materialism at home.
“Repeal and replace” has become the battle cry of Sarah Palin and the bulk of Republican Senators after the passage of comprehensive health care reform. They're rousing fears, threatening those with health insurance that their costs and taxes will go up.
I was never moved when I saw those old Sally Struthers ads telling me I should support a kid in Africa. First, I was pretty young at the time and second it all seemed so far away.
There never has been a time when Black folks in America did not have an agenda, from when we tried to avoid captivity in Africa to be sent here, to when we were in the holes of slave ships, or on plantations planning ways to survive and to escape, or those of us today still trying to obtain the promised vestiges of freedom and equality.
Despite efforts to depict the so-called tea bag protesters as part of an independent political movement, new polling data reveal that approximately three-quarters of them are Republicans or lean toward the GOP and 77 percent of them voted for John McCain in 2008.
The World Economic Forum released its Global Information Technology Report last week, providing an analysis of the network infrastructures of 133 countries.
t's a good thing that the Democrats passed health care reform last week. While it will still take some time for the bill to wind its way through the government this passage will allow the president to finally pivot to addressing other issues facing the nation. Most pundits suggest he focus on the economy, but I have a better idea.
Everyone would like to believe that even if your boss's wife doesn't like you that it won't affect your performance evaluation. We also want to believe that if our best friend's husband owns a struggling Ford dealership that she won't be mad when we drive up in a new Hyundai. But deep down, we all know this is not the case.
As we see during this current recession, there is an inordinate amount of unemployment in the African-American community.
Boys don't drop out in the 12th grade. They physically drop out in the ninth grade, but they emotionally and academically drop out in the fourth grade.
When First Lady Michelle Obama decided to launch the "Let's Move" campaign to fight childhood obesity, she brought much needed attention to a crisis facing millions of children. It's a special concern for children of color because new research shows Black and Hispanic children are disproportionally at risk for nearly a dozen factors that increase their chances to be obese.
I had several New Year's resolutions for 2010. I would hit the gym on the regular, call family more often and not write ONE word about Tiger Woods until he returned to golf.
Is the passage of health care reform a foregone conclusion? At this writing, Democrats lack enough votes in the House of Representatives to pass even a watered-down version of the initial legislation because, on the left, there is opposition to the absence of a public option and because, on the right, there are objections to market manipulations.
There has been much ado about the very public feud television commentator, Tavis Smiley, is having with civil rights activist, Al Sharpton, over Tavis' criticism of Black leadership reportedly saying that President Barack Obama doesn't need a "Black agenda" after recently visiting the White House. It's caused a firestrom of controversy, and a revival of the annual State of the Black Union conference that Smiley had discontinued.
The comedienne, talk show host and actress Mo'Nique has become just the fifth African- American woman to win an Oscar.
Michelle Obama has now challenged Americans to deal with the growing problem of obesity in children. Childhood obesity has tripled in the last thirty years. Nearly one-third of US children are now overweight or obese; nearly one in three will eventually suffer from diabetes. In the African - American and Latino communities, the proportion is almost one in two.
There are a lot of reasons why people end up going to college. Sometimes it’s because you can put a ball through a hoop or run really fast, perhaps you’re just really smart, and in some cases someone else is paying your way.
The closing of Chicago-area building trade union apprenticeship programs is a major setback for jobless adults enrolled in programs to help them get into the unions. But the inability of new workers to get jobs could wind up hurting contractors across the region if insufficient numbers of minorities and women are in the pipeline to meet government participation requirements.
Recently, the Congressional Black Caucus held a press conference and stated they wanted more attention given to the dismal unemployment rates in our communities. This was a noble and very responsible move on their part. There is something else they can do that will directly address the problem. It is right before our eyes and the time to act is now.
When people talk about the "achievement gap" at-risk children face, they often think of it in terms that apply to school-age children-but that gap can start much earlier than most people might guess.
Joseph Andrew Stack’s decision to fly his plane into the IRS building in Austin, Texas last week is going to be interpreted along two main camps.
Time has passed since the Super Bowl and the glorious victory of the New Orleans Saints, but I find that I keep coming back to that game, and not for the reasons that you might think.
On March 15, the Democratic Central Committee will meet to choose a running mate for Gov. Pat Quinn in the November general election.
President Barack Obama's State of the Union Address is a testimony to the power of we: we, who dared to dream breaking the centuries-old color barrier at the White House was possible; we, who continue to fight for expanding voting rights; we, who battle tirelessly every election to maximize voter participation and minimize voter intimidation.
The votes are counted and the voters have spoken. Actually, the voters have yawned. They were under-whelmed by the collection of candidates that were on the ballot yesterday, and the turnout numbers tell more of a story than any election strategy or campaign ad.
The state of America's union is stark. The economic collapse triggered by the bursting of the housing bubble continues to take its toll.
It is rare to come across a story so heinous, disturbing and utterly baffling that you bypass your usual emotional reactions.
I don’t know when they decided to put Thanksgiving on a Thursday. It seems such an odd day, especially if you don’t have the Friday off. You eat like a crazy person, and then you have to go to work the next day, noticeably sluggish and laden with leftovers.
Chicago Public schools went through the past few years with a businessman Arne Duncan in charge. Duncan’s business acumen did little to improve school performance and student achievement. However, he did close some underperforming schools and accepted a few more charter schools, but overall the schools aren’t better or very safe.
Technology supposedly says a lot about your station in life. i-Phones are for folks who like a lot of bells and whistles while Blackberry’s are for the serious businessman. Macs are for cool urbane techies while PC’s are for stodgy old office drones. New research shows that being a Myspace or a Facebook person says a lot about you, too. I’m a Facebook guy, and according to recent studies that makes me a snobby middle class white kid.
| Subscribe to our weekly newsletter |