OpEd

Anthony Asadullah Samad, Ph.D.  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Apr 14 2011

Between the Lines

Last week, we got to see how the big boys play the old childhood game of chicken. You know, that game of dare with your friends where you’d risk life and limb, usually by standing in front of a car, or an on-coming train or holding a lighted firecracker/cherry bomb until just before it exploded, to prove no point at all other than maybe you were a bigger fool than the person you were playing with.

David L. Horne, Ph.D.  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Apr 14 2011

Practical Politics

During this 21st century, particularly during this Decade of the African Diaspora, and the 2011 International Year of African Descendants, there are still those who do, and those who keep saying what they’re going to do; those who bring it and deserve to be praised, and those who just want to be praised yet bring nothing beyond hot air. We know that it takes all kinds, but the real evaluation is whether anything positive actually gets done and how sustainable it is.

David L. Horne, Ph.D.  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Apr 7 2011

Practical Politics

“Where do we go from here?” a student recently asked me. “We could rest on our political laurels, you know. We do have a few chocolate faces in the window panes.”

Anthony Asadullah Samad, Ph.D.  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Apr 7 2011

Between the Lines

This week was supposed to be a landmark occasion in the evolution of contemporary African American thought. A new release on the life and death of an American success and race tragedy, published by Viking (Penguin Group) and written by author, columnist, scholar Manning Marable, called “Malcolm X: Life of Reinvention,” sought to refine and re-clarify the life of one of the most polarizing figures of the 20th century, El Malik Shabazz—forever to be known as simply Malcolm X.

Anthony Asadullah Samad, Ph.D.  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Mar 24 2011

Between the Lines

The decision to elevate the assault on Libya and its leader, Muammar Gaddafi, has some very chilling forecasts for normalizing relations with Muslims in America. Libya is involved in a civil war for which no vital American interests are at stake. Libya only controls 2 percent of the world’s oil, of which the United States is not highly invested. The destabilization of Libya now threatens the stabilization of the whole Middle East region. Yet the United States can’t resist invading another Muslim nation.

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.