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I SHOOK HIS HAND! No, really, I did! Who would think a small business owner living in Jackson, Mississippi, would be shaking the hands of so many African-American legends that gave me the option to even be a small business owner in Jackson, Mississippi? Well, it happened while I was witnessing history with my very own eyes […]

One of the things the civil rights movement did best was stay on message with a central goal of ending Jim Crow segregation and racism. That message was delivered by the NAACP, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and of course the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) led by […]

Last week I was on vacation. Like so many of us do this time of year, I tried to take some time off to unwind hoping to be rejuvenated when it was time to return to work. That was hard to do. I could escape work, I could escape getting up before the crack of […]

Even though Howard Cosell once publicly referred to me as a “hanger on,” my days as part of the Champ’s camp were some of the most memorable. You can’t be that close to Ali without learning something about confidence, independence, diligence and excellence. Earning his respect, trust and friendship meant a lot to me. I […]

I have to confess that I haven’t seen the 2016 version of Roots yet.  But I don’t need to see it to defend the goal which is to present the atrocity of slavery to a new generation of TV viewers.  I’m sure there were a lot of black people in the 70s who didn’t want […]

Now that a police officer in the Freddie Gray case has been acquitted, the finger is being pointed once again at State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby. She’s been accused of “rushing to judgment” by charging the six police officers with homicide. It’s easy to look back now and analytically assess all the mistakes Mosby may have […]

This is the first graduation season in many years I haven’t done a HBCU commencement speech.  It’s been a busy spring for me though.  Along with two amazing trips to Cuba I just returned from the 17th Tom Joyner Foundation Fantastic Voyage Cruise. But in between those events, my world was rocked by the death of […]

There are some big problems going on in the country right now and we have the power to fix them. Gun violence, police brutality, and high unemployment disproportionately impact African Americans, and our young Black males in particular. At the same time, high school dropout rates are high and college enrollment for Black men lags behind […]

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College homecomings and encouraging studies about African-Americans graduating from high school being more likely to attend college than other races, was overshadowed recently by more school shootings and other violence on or near the campuses of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. According to a Nielsen study on the changing profile of Black consumers, 70.9 percent […]

It was so different back then. No Twitter, no Facebook, there weren’t even any smart phones.  So when news of the storm hit while we were taping our TV show in Los Angeles, we found out the old-fashioned way…on the news. We loved New Orleans, and all the cities on the Gulf Coast.  Since the […]

Protest Plus Policy equals Progress! Last week I received a huge honor, the National Urban League’s “Living Legend” award. The following week, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, and this weekend, we commemorated the shooting death of Michael Brown a year later. All three events reminded me that right never goes […]

Dear Rachel Dolezar: Here’s why I’m not going to let you and the media distract me from all the important issues Black America is facing right now. Because the story of you “passing” for black, no matter how twisted it is, has turned the national discussion away from matters of education, police brutality, health concerns, […]