Barack Obama

Anthony Asadullah Samad, Ph.D.  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Jun 12 2009

On this day…in this time I, too, sing America

I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.
Tomorrow,
I’ll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody’ll dare
Say to me,
“Eat in the kitchen,”
Then.
Besides,
They’ll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed-
I, too, am America.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Jun 11 2009

The terrible price of being tagged a reverse racist

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich backpedaled from his reverse racist slur of Supreme Court designate Sonia Sotomayor as a racist. A defiant Rush Limbaugh didn’t. There’s a reason.

Anthony Asadullah Samad, Ph.D.  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Jun 5 2009

Black fear and white lunacy Psychological warfare on the notion of a black President

The notion of the first black President in the history of the United States has become very real over the past couple weeks. So much so that we are now beginning to see both Barack Obama’s opposition (in both parties) and the media engage in a very vicious and mean-spirited word-smithing that seeks to subtly unearth some of the worse memories in American history, for the purposes of invoking fear and lunacy on the eve of a historical occasion. Psychological warfare is a big part of politics.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Jun 4 2009

Devaluing a Black life: The murder of Marquis LeBlanc

Pomona is a quiet bedroom city near Los Angeles. Blacks make up less than 10% of the city’s population. Latinos make up more than 60% of the population. There are no Blacks on the city council and all the top police officials are White. Still, city officials generally pride themselves that the city is a relative haven of racial peace. Yet on the night of April 18 the city’s quiet and illusion of racial harmony was rudely jolted.

Cynthia E. Griffin-  |   OW Managing Editor
May 28 2009

Administration demands accountability of prime contractors

Los Angeles, CA -- Gene Hale is bullish on what President Barack Obama and his administration are doing for small businesses.

Hale, chairman of the Greater Los Angeles African American Chamber of Commerce (GLAAACC), said that in the first 100 days of the administration Obama has actually done something to potentially make life a little more lucrative for small firms.

Across Black America

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.
 

Alabama
Freeman A. Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will address the annual African American Business Council luncheon on June 28. Hrabowski, who is chairman of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Education Excellence for African Americans, has a national reputation for his work studying the performance of minority students in math and science. Hrabowski, named one of the 10 best college presidents in the country by Time magazine, was a child leader in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham in the 1960s.
 

Arkansas
The Liberty Counsel filed a motion and a brief in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas seeking to intervene on behalf of a Concepts of Life crisis pregnancy center to defend against a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights. The groups seek to impose a permanent injunction before the Human Heartbeat Protection Act goes into effect July 18. Liberty Counsel also filed a brief opposing the ACLU’s request for an injunction. The “Heartbeat” bill states that when a woman seeks an abortion at or after the 12th week, doctors must test for a fetal heartbeat before an abortion is performed and inform the pregnant mother that the child in her womb has a heartbeat. If a heartbeat is detected, a woman cannot have an abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, and if a mother’s life is in danger. “As we promised when the legislation was introduced, Liberty Counsel will defend this law without reservation for the people of Arkansas, born and pre-born,” said Matt Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. “No right is more foundational than the right to life. Without life, all other rights are irrelevant,” concluded Staver.