Commentary

Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan is a much better man than I am. Farrakhan hasn’t filed a lawsuit for slander against the producers of the television movie “Betty and Coretta” or against executives of the Lifetime Network, but he could. The film debuted on Lifetime last Saturday night. It repeated Sunday afternoon and twice […]

Look at any major city in this country plagued by violence and drugs and I’ll show you a city devoid of something that has nothing to do with more law enforcement, security and guns. That something that’s missing is hope. You can throw all the money, programs and political promises in the world at the […]

Zora Ball, a 7-year-old prodigy, is the youngest person to create a mobile video game. She’s in the first grade – and she’s black. Zora is a high-tech kid in a high-tech world who is already a serious inventor in a competitive global marketplace. The brilliant youngster from Philadelphia applied her math skills to design […]

As we bask in the ascension of President Obama to his second-term, it’s easy to feel positive and giddy about the future of this country and black people’s possibilities in it. Especially since a Mitt Romney victory would have meant a Tea Party takeover and four years of backlash for us even daring to use […]

I’m weary of writing about young black children being gunned down in the prime of their lives; senseless shootings after silly arguments that result in gunfire and a trail of tears. On Thursday, it happened again: a 14-year-old student was shot outside an Atlanta middle school and another student was arrested by police. Atlanta police […]

Is this the same NAACP that passionately backed President Obama’s health reform law? You know the law that stresses prevention as well as treatment? The one that, for many people, covers screenings for chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease – maladies that disproportionately plague black people? The one that also covers counseling for […]

Three signs that the end might be near: 1. Al Roker was actually doing the weather this morning, 2. The Los Angeles Clippers have a better record than the L.A. Lakers and 3. on the topic of lifting the ban of women serving in combat in the U.S. military, I actually agree with conservative former […]

I truly hope Rihanna knows what she’s doing. Rihanna, a victim of domestic violence, is back with Chris Brown three years after Brown was arrested for assaulting her. Brown, 23, still has two years of probation to serve for his felony assault conviction. In case you forgot the dramatic story line, here’s what happened in […]

I witnessed an incident on a flight this weekend that reminded me how often we fail as a society, regardless of race or economic level, at defending and honoring our elders. In a time ruled by technology, where productivity and profit come to those that can move the fastest; and in a day and age […]

Debbie Halvorson is a white Democrat, a staunch supporter of The National Rifle Association, and an ex-congresswoman who desperately wants to represent the majority-black district vacated by former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. And she could win. Some black Democrats initially considered Halvorson a longshot candidate, but in politics anything is possible and now folks are […]

It’s  been a long journey for Mary Young. She’s been on this earth for 91 years. She was born in the 1920s, during the time when racism and jealously drove white mobs to destroy a black business district in Tulsa, Okla., that was known as the Black Wall Street. She was born during a time […]

NAACP President Benjamin Jealous has a bold suggestion for President Barack Obama: Appoint an African American woman to the U.S. Supreme Court. “He still has several more appointments, and we expect that we’ll see at least the same diversity that we saw the first time around,” Jealous told POLITICO. “What we’re hoping to see is […]