Politics

  • The Unfiltered, No-Holds-Barred Election Live Blog and Prayer Circle

    We’ve finally made it: Election Day 2016 is here. Unlike the previous two national elections, when we anxiously awaited the sure election of the black president, today feels different. It feels like the bus ride home after your teacher called your parents when you acted up in school, or the good night kiss after a first…

  • Although It’s Still Hard for Some to Accept, African LGBTQ Rights Are African Human Rights

    While the citizens of the United States decide their nation’s direction Tuesday, the 193 members of the United Nations also have an important vote: The U.N. is dealing with a serious human rights concern involving the human rights of LGBTQIA people versus the sovereignty rights of Africans to handle their own internal affairs on their…

  • It’s Election Day; You Know What to Do

    Today is the election, and like millions of other African Americans, I’m headed to the polls to cast my vote. I can’t really say who I’m voting for, but let’s just say that I’m voting for a woman, and her party symbol is a jackass donkey. But wait; you say you’re not gonna vote? Why?…

  • 7 Ways to Stay Safe and Sane This Election Day

    This Election Day kind of feels like the day you’re scheduled to get your wisdom teeth pulled: You’ve gotta do it, and it’s gonna hurt, but you’re not sure how much it will hurt. For better or worse, we’re gonna have a new commander-in-chief-elect by the end of the day. Here are seven ways to…

  • Maybe if the Black Left Were Trump Supporters, Democrats Would Put Some Respect on Their Names

    Over the course of this farce of a presidential campaign, we have seen mainstream media outlets and politicians seek to analyze and understand white people who support Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. What drives them? What incites them? What brings them to the polls and why? We’re all expected to be so fascinated, as if…

  • An Open Letter to Woke Young Brothers

    Shout out to all the woke young brothers who’ve stood up in response to the injustices we’ve seen too frequently these past years, like when the lives of Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Jordan Davis, Dontre Hamilton and Sandra Bland and too many tragic others were lost needlessly with callous impunity. I hear from many of you from time…

  • This Election Comes Down to 1 Thing

    In one day, most of you will cast a vote for who you want to serve as the next president of the United States. By now you likely have been inundated with articles, commercials and personal appeals to do your part as both a citizen in this democracy and a beneficiary of the people who…

  • 4 Ways the FBI Director’s Election Ambush Was White Male Privilege at Its Best

    Black folks know all about the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It’s a history dipped in the ongoing harassment, surveillance and unmitigated unconstitutional destruction of black life and leadership. And so, the eleventh-hour, October-surprising relaunch of one of the fakest political scandals in recent memory wasn’t unusual behavior for the agency. Former Washington, D.C., Mayor Vincent…

  • Ben Carson: Donald Trump’s New Deal for Black America Begins With a Good Education

    Donald Trump often says things that many people believe to be true but dare not say. He did it again recently by saying that nobody needs to tell African Americans in this country that the old New Deal from the Democratic Party isn’t working for them. Trump made the simple but accurate observation that in…

  • Show Up on Nov. 9, Too

    The first time I ever saw a voting booth, my father carried me on his hip, letting me punch the ballot and wear his “I Voted” sticker home with pride.  In every election since my 18th birthday, I have performed some combination of our family’s traditional tasks, supporting registration and participation efforts, educating myself on…