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Sharpton Conference Spawns a Black Agenda
Lord knows various people have had the chutzpah to try to define and articulate a “black agenda”. And they have generally fallen short, not only in that endeavor but also in executing what they do come up with. Perhaps the most successful gathering of intellectuals, lawyers and policy makers took place in 1935 when the…
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President Obama May Not Get What He Wants on the Supreme Court
They don’t always get what they want, but I’m hoping that President Barack Obama sticks to his values as he nominates a new justice to the U.S. Supreme Court. That appointee would replace Justice John Paul Stevens, who has announced that he is retiring in June. Here are a few examples of surprises to presidents…
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Slow Down, Mr. President
Mr. President, you have spent so much time courting—here at the street level we call it sucking up to—Republicans who will never come around to your side on major issues, including offshore drilling or a climate change initiative. As a candidate, you were the environmentalist superstar, opposed to offshore drilling, while Sarah Palin, your opponent’s…
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Charlie Rangel Wants One More Round
Charles Rangel , the more-or-less former chair of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, says that he is seeking reelection to a 21st term. This is despite the ethical investigations that led him to leave a perch from which his Harlem constituents and others expected him to achieve so much – and despite a…
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A Cautionary Tale for Black Journalists
Gerald Boyd came this close to being on top of the world at the New York Times when he was named managing editor in 2001. In a taxi ride with his wife, Robin Stone, on his way to the Times’ midtown office from ”our newly renovated and decorated brownstone,” he turned to her, smiled and…
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Rangel Officially Enters the Race
To no one’s surprise but to quite a bit of ennui, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) has officially announced that he is running for a 21st term in Congress, representing upper Manhattan. His announcement rally, like voter turnout in the district, was not overwhelming. It did attract Gov. David Paterson, an under-fire lame duck son of…
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Why Aren't More Blacks in the Audience at Broadway Plays?
Several plays that have been wooing audiences and critics alike and with particular interest to black folks are up for a record number of Tony Awards. So how well is Broadway—or Off Broadway, for that matter—doing in terms of attracting blacks? About 75 percent of Broadway theatergoers are white, though according to the Broadway League,…
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Rangel Defiant
You might not know it from his reaction after the U.S. House of Representatives announced plans to pursue formal charges against him for ethical violations, but Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) is in a heap of trouble. “This may sound corny,” he told reporters, “but at long last, sunshine has pierced through this cloud that’s been…
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Black Power: Brooklyn Represents?
Once upon a time, the ultimate concentration of black political power in Brooklyn lay in Weeksville, a strategically planned village of free black property holders that began in 1838 in what is now Bedford-Stuyvesant. “Weeksville was created to be a political base,” says Jennifer Scott, director of research at the Weeksville Heritage Center. The settlement…
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The Once and Future Black Press
When it comes to black-oriented news media, we have a mixed bag: There is the kind of buzz that was created in 2007 by college-student blogs, e-mails and text messages alerting the nation to a major injustice in Jena, La., where six black youths faced felony assault charges stemming from a fight with a white…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
