Politics
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I’m a Young, Black Woman Running for Office. And I’m a Proud Democrat
In politics, getting even 60 percent of the vote is considered a landslide. But in the 2012 presidential election, 93 percent of black voters cast their ballots for President Barack Obama—politics doesn’t even have a word for that kind of margin. So it probably doesn’t come as a surprise that a young, African-American woman like…
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Obama Doubles Down on Vow to Eradicate ISIS
President Barack Obama doubled down on his vow to eliminate the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria—the terrorist group responsible for the recent beheadings of two American journalists—Wednesday during a press conference in Estonia. According to an Al-Jazeera report, Obama, using an alternative acronym for the group, issued this declaration: “Our objective is clear, and…
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Black America Needs Its Own President
Every so often, an incident symptomatic of deeper issues triggers a release valve for collective despair. The killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., sparked a movement much larger than concerns about the aggressive policing of black men. The marches and protests are a larger commentary about the economic and societal disenfranchisement of black people…
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We Want a Future Without Fergusons
Since the tragic police killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown, we have heard time and time again that his brutal death unearthed the pain of old wounds. But those wounds are anything but old. In Ferguson, Mo., and across the country, systemic racial profiling and nationwide police violence threaten the lives of African Americans—youths and adults—every…
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When the World Blows Up, Just Blame Hip-Hop
It was only a matter of time. A violent convergence of domestic and international events has us all feeling as if the world is falling off its axis. Headlines telling of rioters rocking Ferguson, Mo., are intersected with constant flashes of black-masked Islamic State marauders leaving bloody trails of decapitated heads as they pillage the…
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Before Holder Could Be Attorney General Holder, Obama Had to Be President Obama
After saying, two Fridays ago, that “President [Barack] Obama failed in his leadership to say what he really knows and has lived as a black man in America”; then saying, a week ago on Face the Nation, that the president “needs to step up to the plate and be responsible”; and writing, Friday, in the…
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Eric Holder Visits Michael Brown’s Parents in Ferguson
A night of relative calm fell over Ferguson, Mo., following U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s visit to the city, where tensions have run high since the killing of unarmed black teen Michael Brown by Darren Wilson, a white police officer. Holder, who was in town to be briefed on the Department of Justice’s federal civil…
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John Crawford Case: It’s Open Carry for Whites and Open Season on Blacks
While the attention of America—and the world, for that matter—is on the demand for answers about the death of an unarmed 18-year-old in Ferguson, Mo., I wanted to take a moment to discuss another officer-involved shooting that happened just four days before Michael Brown was gunned down. John Crawford III was shot in a Wal-Mart…
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Holder: DOJ Investigation in Ferguson Will Be Full, Fair and Independent
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will be in Ferguson, Mo., Wednesday to meet with community leaders and FBI agents to be briefed on the federal civil rights investigation into unarmed teen Michael Brown’s death. Penning a piece for the local newspaper, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Holder promised that the Department of Justice’s probe would be…
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Obama: Attorney General Eric Holder Will Be in Ferguson on Wednesday
President Barack Obama, back from vacation at Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, once again stood before the nation to address the racial tensions in Ferguson, Mo., as well as the tensions between law enforcement and the black community, saying that he has spoken with state officials and plans to dig deeper into the circumstances of unarmed…