After the March on Washington
The 1963 March on Washington was a pivotal moment for African Americans, a day when people joined to fight for jobs, peace and justice. More than 250,000 people traveled to Washington, coming by busses, trains, and occasionally planes.
Be an advance guard for jobs
In August 1963, as was the case 100 years earlier when the cemetery for the heroes of Gettysburg was dedicated, many speeches were delivered; but one stood out as a galvanizing moment to redefine and repurpose a movement.
Trayvon Martin case may not have the legal legs to stand on
Emotions still are running very high regarding George Zimmerman’s acquittal for killing Trayvon Martin. While frequently the federal government has stepped in when a state court has freed suspects in cases that seemed to be hate-crime-based, much more often, it ...
Russell Simmons, Harriet Tubman and the history of myopia
Every time I hear the voice of Russell Simmons, I hear a cool, clean, clear meditative voice, especially on Twitter where he drops his yoga knowledge in a reflective way. I guess he wasn’t folding his legs and saying a ...
A valiant fight for right in St. Paul
In my travels I have met many outstanding warriors. The late Arthur A. Fletcher and Parren J. Mitchell have cultivated the nation’s landscape in terms of economic empowerment.
Dropping the baton
Research shows that this generation of young people, no matter their race, are likely to do less well than their parents did. Shackled by a trillion dollars worth of student loans and a flat labor market, the New York-based Demos ...
Betrayal in Chicago
Like a typical American city, Indianapolis was a venue of mass discrimination against Black-owned construction business. I had been working since 1989 to change that.
Getting us out of the war on small-time drugs
President Barack Obama has already made history. Twice. He can rest on his laurels and just ride out the remainder of his second term without shooting for any more stars. After all, the stormy petrels of Washington will beat their ...
‘Stop and Frisk’: one victory against racial profiling
After a two-month trial featuring dozens of interviews and statistical analysis of nearly 5 million police stops, Judge Scheindlin concluded what so many already knew: New York City’s stop-and-frisk is an unconstitutional racial profiling program.
For Baca, a sixth term doesn’t make sense
Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca’s Aug. 6 response to the L.A. Times, in which he defends his record against the Times’ editorial encouraging him not to seek re-election to a sixth term, is one more example of the sheriff’s ...
How the golden years become tarnished
The elderly population is one of the fastest-growing population segments in the United States. How prepared are you for your golden senior years? Your latter years should be your best years. However, for many, it’s the opposite.
What is a living wage?
Workers at fast food restaurants recently demonstrated outside their places of employment, highlighting the low wages they receive and demanding more. They say twice as much, or $15 an hour, will provide them with a living wage.
Detroit: nowhere to go but up
It has been a long and rocky ride down the economic slope for the Motor City. The first time I moved to Detroit was 1974.
‘Father Hunger’: how his absence affects his daughters
In America’s families, much has been said about the effect on boys whose fathers are not around to help raise them, but Dee Louis-Scott, co-chair for the Black Family Technology Awareness Association’s Youth STEM Fair, says the consequences are very ...
The reparations issue is not dead
In the USA, with the election of Barack Obama, the Republican control of chairships in the current—and maybe future—Congress, the Black Farmers’ settlement, and numerous other small but significant adjustments in time, the reparations movement seems moribund, if not totally ...
