-
Obama Gets It
So the Cambridge police union wants an apology from President Obama and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick for calling out the Cambridge Police Department for mishandling Skip Gates’ arrest? That’s some priceless gall considering that the Cambridge Police Department called the event “regrettable and unfortunate” and recommended that disorderly conduct charges against Gates be dropped. It’s…
-
He’ll Always Have Paris
When Paris Katherine Jackson tearfully spoke those 26 words at Michael Jackson’s memorial service, she did more to humanize him than any other speaker at the service. But she also turned on their heads the uncomfortable public conversations Americans have been having these last two weeks about Michael’s complicated relationship with his blackness and black…
-
Get Over the Obama Marriage Fantasy
If you are one of the legions of people sick to death of all the commentary about the state of black male/female relationships told through the Obama Example feel free to bypass this essay. If you’re among those sick to death of seeing single, professional black women blamed for the sorry state of those relationships…
-
Hope For Haiti, Really
It was hardly noticed recently when the White House issued a statement by President Obama commemorating Haitian Flag Day, a holiday not widely noted by Americans. “The United States and Haiti share a deeply intertwined history and a long-standing friendship,” the statement said, noting the president’s “steadfast commitment to come to the aid of those…
-
My Mother, the Stealth Feminist
No one who knew my very traditional Haitian immigrant mother could have ever mistaken her for a feminist. Although she lived in the United States for four decades—enough time to learn a thing or two about women’s lib—she also was married for 57 years to my father, a traditional Haitian man with narrowly defined notions…
-
The New Black Manhood
Read the washingtonpost.com Live Online discussion on THE NEW BLACK MANHOOD with The Root’s Marjorie Valbrun. Many Americans have undoubtedly had an Obama Meltdown Moment by now. It’s that instance when the unimaginable hugeness of the past year, the past few months and the past few days suddenly hits you and you say to yourself,…
-
Are We Catholics Yet?
One seemed to have his destiny written for him at birth; the other methodically wrote his own. One had a cloistered upbringing that revolved around close family and powerful friends; the other lived an itinerant childhood and was a global student of life. One constantly questioned his place in the world; the other determinedly sought…
-
Step Aside
Nov. 24, 2008—The image of the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. standing on the lawn at Grant Park in Chicago, tears streaming down his face as he listened to America’s first black president address thousands of adoring supporters, is sure to be one of the iconic images of the historic election It was a poignant…
-
Ready to Rumble
Does anyone else think Sarah Palin deserves a smackdown? She has lately boasted that the “heels are on and the gloves are off,” but she knows that Barack Obama and Joe Biden would look less than gentleman-like and risk offending women voters, if they took her on using some of the tough talk and loaded…
-
All Together NOW!
The National Organization for Women’s recent endorsement of Barack Obama ordinarily would not be such a big deal. Even though the organization endorsed Hillary Clinton in the primaries, it makes sense that the group would channel its energy to the Democratic nominee. Still, with all the tension around gender and race that spilled over during…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
