Black Politics

Jasmyne A. Cannick  |   OW Contributor
Aug 11 2011

It’s the elephant in the room

While I’d love to sit and argue about Black political viability in California, and discuss who’s running for what office in the aftermath of immigration and redistricting, but with the effects of California’s Great Black Migration I wouldn’t want to get ahead of myself. 

Instead, these days I find it much more important to ask Blacks if they’re planning to stay. It just seems that that’s the elephant in the room. And if they plan to stay, do they plan to vote even when there’s not a Black man running for president?

Anthony Asadullah Samad, Ph.D.  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Aug 4 2011

Between the Lines

Now that the national debt ceiling has been raised, and the country has averted economic catastrophe, it really is necessary to process and analyze what a small band of obstructionists have put the nation through.

This debt ceiling debate, usually a pro forma act of Congress, took on an ideology tone of huge proportions. Why is that? The last president, George W. Bush, raised the debt ceiling seven times without as much as a peep out of Congress. The federal deficit was spiraling out of control at that time, too.

David L. Horne, Ph.D.  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Aug 4 2011

Practical Politics

Africville, Nova Scotia, Canada, the original Eastern Atlantic settlement of the country, has been internationally famous since the Denise Allen speech at the Non-Governmental Organization portion of the World Conference Against Racism, Intolerance, Xenophobia and Other Forms of Discrimination in Durban, South Africa, in 2001. There, she introduced a large audience to the narrative of the broken promises and violent removal of people from land given to them by the British government back in 1781-82.

Anthony Asadullah Samad, Ph.D.  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Jul 28 2011

Between the Lines

The California Citizens Redistricting Commission (CCRC) will be voting on the final iteration of redistricting maps this week. These maps are supposed to reflect the demographic shifts in the state’s population following the 2010 Census.

David L. Horne, Ph.D.  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Jul 28 2011

Practical Political

OK, enough of this machismo bravado over money the United States of America already owes.

Here’s the skinny: if there is no miracle on Pennsylvania Avenue by or before Monday, Aug. 1, President Barack Obama will change the entire game by invoking the 14th amendment authority to always pay America’s debts. As commander-in-chief and the highest ranking elected official sworn to protect and defend this country, President Obama will cite this debt-ceiling crisis as a challenge to America’s national security interests, and take charge.

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.