Last week, the Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty is unconstitutional for those who commit the horrendous crime of raping a child, not resulting in the death of the victim. It is a decent step in the right direction, but way short of outlawing capital punishment altogether, which is unequally carried out in the […]

By Daniel Zeno
Towards the end of the Civil War, the United States government created the Freedmen’s Bureau to assist former slaves. The government promised former slaves the opportunity to buy or lease 40 acres of unoccupied lands that had been confiscated by the Union. They also promised to loan the ex-slaves […]

Well-known filmmakers Clint Eastwood and Spike Lee have been battling this week over the portrayal, well, actually, the non-portrayal, of Black soldiers in some of Eastwood’s war films.
The heated exchange between the two escalated after Eastwood bluntly responded to Lee’s recent complaint that two World War II flicks Eastwood directed — “Flags of our […]

By Keith Rushing
If voters elect Barack Obama to become the nation’s first African American president in November, the expectations for progressive change will be higher than they have been in decades – especially where matters of race and poverty are concerned.
Since the late 1960s, the nation has […]

Congress is considering a bill for the first time that bans flavored tobacco — some forms of flavored tobacco. On the target list are such flavors as strawberry and chocolate, along with several other candy and spice flavors, which are used to attract young smokers. I give anyone props who cares enough about the health […]

By Keith Rushing
It’s a momentous day, a great day, for those of us who seek a fairer and more just America. Last night, for the first time in the 232 years since the United States was founded, an African American man appears to have become the nominee of a major political party, having garnered the […]

On May 1st, a front-page story in The New York Times ran with the headline, “Fewer Latinos in U.S. Sending Money Home – Study Sees Immigrants in Economic Distress.” My immediate thought was, ‘economic distress’ – really, is that it? Nothing else is adding to the ‘distress’ undocumented workers are facing?
 
I didn’t think about the […]

By Imani Josey
The CNN network stationed itself on historic Howard University’s campus last week, advertising for its latest eye-brow raising series “CNN Presents: Black in America.” Having also visited other historically black colleges and universities, CNN representatives set up shop in front of Cramton Auditorium in an effort to nab firsthand accounts from passing […]

Sean Bell, a 23-year-old Black man, was killed in a hail of gunfire outside a seedy strip club in Queens on Nov. 25, 2006 — also his wedding day — as he was leaving his bachelor party with two close friends. Today, three detectives were acquitted of all charges in the 50-shot killing of the […]

In the aftermath of Barack Obama’s recent speech on race, conservative commentator Pat Buchanan has launched a diatribe against black complaints about racism. Out of the many absurdities I have heard since the speech, the one I am having a hard time getting over, and decided I could simply not ignore, was a commentary […]