Micheal Cottman commentary

If you’re Black and applying for a job in the mostly all-white town of Hoschton, Georgia, you may want to reconsider: The Mayor doesn’t want you. According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Mayor Theresa Kenerly told a member of the City Council she yanked the resume of Keith Henry from a group of four finalists “because […]

The New York City Fire Department is dealing with racists within its ranks. A white firefighter is under investigation this month after he shouted a racist and sexist insult at a Black female emergency medical technician while she was assisting residents in need, according to The New York Daily News. The woman filed a formal […]

Add Kevin Moore’s name to the growing list of unsuspecting black people who are becoming victims of racial profiling in public areas for no apparent reason. A neighbor called police on Moore, a Black firefighter in Oakland, California, as he was conducting a safety inspection, dressed in his official firefighter uniform and carrying his city-issued […]

It happened again — and the pattern of racism in public spaces continues. Here’s the troubling, consistent behavior: There are some white people who are looking for a reason – any reason – to call the police on innocent Black people in parks, on streets and in coffee shops across America. But this most recent […]

Dr. Windell Davis-Boutte, a Georgia dermatologist, is a self-described hip-hop “dancing doctor” — in the operating room. But her days of grooving with surgical instruments may be over for good. It’s not exactly clear what Dr. Davis-Boutte was thinking but authorities said her dancing and rapping during surgery, singing while wielding a scalpel over half-dressed […]

More than 500 African-American women across America are running for public offices in 2018, perhaps the largest number of Black women ever to compete for elected positions in one year. Black women – Democrats and Republicans, incumbents and neophytes  – are vying for federal, state and local seats from coast to coast. For years, African-American […]

“I love a good cry” – Poet Nikki Giovanni Twelve years ago, I sat in a classroom at Virginia Tech and watched poet and educator Nikki Giovanni inspire a group of black male students, all college football players who had dreams of ascending to the NFL. Giovanni was teaching the young men humility, patience, how […]

President Donald Trump, in his first State of The Union address, claimed he wants to unite America, but his speech on Tuesday further divided an already racially-polarized nation. Trump has shown his disdain for immigrants and people of color during his first year in office and Tuesday Trump was consistently intolerant in his approach to […]

Darryl Chamberlain was determined to create a youth orchestra come hell or high water. In these uncertain times, where public school budget cuts are impacting African American students perhaps more than ever before, Chamberlain, a history teacher in Kansas City, Missouri, began thinking out of the box. I’m glad he did. Chamberlain wants to change […]

“We are not afraid. You will not divide us.”—Unite the Right. White supremacists are scrambling to find lodging in Charlottesville, Virginia for their rally on August 12 — but Airbnb says there are no rooms available for racists. I commend Airbnb for their bold stance: The global housing rental company is sending a strong message […]

“I think as I get older …I’m going to need to take—play a key role in kind of integrating swimming into inner city communities a lot more.” – Reece Whitley If you haven’t heard of Reece Whitley, it’s only a matter of time. Towering at 6 foot-8, the 17-year-old swimmer who slices through water with […]

Tatyana Hargrove is scarred, angry and hobbling on crutches. Hargrove, 19, from Bakersfield, California, said she was harassed by police at gunpoint, punched in the face by cops and bitten by a snarling police dog in an odd case of mistaken identity: Police said they were looking for a large, bald man who was suspected […]