david horne

David L. Horne, Ph.D.  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Mar 3 2011

A modest proposal from the African Diaspora

Last week, in Pretoria, South Africa, the administrative capital of the country, there was a meeting sponsored by the South African government based on its 2006 mandate from the African Union to hold several conferences in and about the African Diaspora in order to identify what makes the Diaspora tick. This was all related to the AU’s 2003 invitation to the African Diaspora to come and join that organization to assist in unifying the African continent.

David L. Horne, Ph.D.  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Feb 10 2011

Practical Politics

This is either year two or year one of the Decade of the African Diaspora (DOAD), depending on how you are counting. For yours truly, and the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC) organization, which jointly declared the decade, it is year one. Last year, was the period of announcement and dissemination of information regarding the DOAD. Work not already begun, begins now.

David L. Horne, Ph.D.  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Jan 13 2011

Practical Politics

On Dec. 18, 2009, the United Nations General Assembly voted to approve 2011 as the International Year of African Descent (including the African Diaspora). This would coincide with the ten-year anniversary of the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Forms of Intolerance (WCAR) held in Durban, South Africa, in August-September 2001. That conference concluded with a 62-page document called the U.N.

David L. Horne, Ph.D.  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Jan 6 2011

Practical Politics

The Martin Luther King holiday is 25 years old this month. Not bad for a true product of American democracy at its ugliest and its best.

Remembering the loud, raucous, and sometimes racially vicious political war fought to get the holiday established, one is doubly honored to watch one of Dr. King’s movement progeny work his POTUS magic through a relentlessly dangerous minefield of negativity.

David L. Horne, Ph.D.  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Dec 23 2010

Practical Politics

In February and again in April, President Barack Obama met with significant elements of the African American community to discuss what Blacks saw as their most critical need, and how they could work together with the White House to improve the condition of African Americans in the country. He met with the NAACP’s Ben Jealous, the Urban League’s Marc Morial, and Rev. Al Sharpton.

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.