Politics
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Why Newt Gingrich Is Beyond Satire
Some of you may be wondering why it’s been so long since I wrote a satirical piece using my favorite character, Buckwheat, to make fun of the Republican presidential candidates. The answer is simple. As I’ve observed before, these candidates are more ridiculous than anything I could make up. They’re beyond satire, even for Buckwheat.…
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Take Back the Capitol: Lessons for OWS
“What are they yelling?” As I stood across the street from the first stop on the Take Back the Capitol march yesterday, away from the throng of activists, organizers and Occupiers from across the country, I watched as regular non-protesting people reacted, sometimes in confusion. Many of them looked incredulously upon the chanting crowd standing…
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GOP 'Turning the Clock Back to Days of Jim Crow'
During a speech on the House floor, the Hill reports that Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) lashed out at Republican lawmakers for pushing for new voter-identification laws that would disenfranchise black voters. “It’s no coincidence that a disproportionate number of these affected voters come from communities of color as well as the poor, the elderly and…
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The War on Black Voters
A curious phenomenon occurred in 2011. As if in concert, 40 Republican-controlled state legislatures introduced changes to their voting procedures. The laws read as minor tweaks and adjustments, and they vary from state to state, but they all have the outcome of making it harder to vote. Incidentally, the efforts have been strongest in battleground…
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Survey: Don't Count Out Minority Voters Yet
If the Republicans’ 2012 presidential election strategy rests on a perceived miasma of indifference toward President Obama by black and Hispanic voters, they may have to think again. A survey of black and Latino voters conducted by Brilliant Corners for New York University’s Women of Color Policy Network shows 90 percent of respondents saying they…
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Obama and Clinton to World Leaders: Stop Gay Discrimination
News One is reporting that President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton have issued a stern warning to world leaders about discrimination against gay and lesbian communities. They stated that the U.S. will use foreign assistance as well as diplomacy to back its insistence that gay rights are fully equal to other basic…
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Black Voters Told, 'Relax, Don't Vote'
Those who are still confused about why Republicans spend so much energy making it harder for people to vote should pay some attention to a case that concluded this week in a courtroom in Baltimore. There, the campaign manager for 2010 Republican gubernatorial candidate, and former Maryland governor, Robert Ehrlich was tried and found guilty…
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Who Cares Who Cain Endorses?
Does it really matter who Cain endorses? Rumor has it that he’ll endorse Gingrich, but “given his slide in the polls and unanswered questions he’s left behind, his endorsement will have minimal impact,” Karen Finney, a Democratic consultant and a political analyst for MSNBC, told BlackAmericaWeb.com Monday. “This is more about Cain’s ego than strategy.”…
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Obama Has Good Reason to Prefer Run Against Gingrich
In an appearance on The O’Reilly Factor, Fox News political analyst Brit Hume argued that current GOP president front-runner Newt Gingrich would be a dream contender for President Barack Obama because, well, he totes a trainload of baggage. Here is a partial transcript from Mediaite: “It seems clear they would rather run against anyone but…
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Your Take: HBCU Funds on Chopping Block
For weeks, HBCU presidents, students and supporters of historically black colleges and universities have been sounding the alarm, concerned that the deficit-reducing congressional “super committee” was targeting federal funding for HBCUs for drastic cuts. In the end, the super committee couldn’t agree on a list of cuts. Does that mean that HBCUs are home free?…