Politics

The pantheon of historic African-American leadership is full of brilliant and courageous individuals who sacrificed personal gain to enrich the lives of others. From Harriet Tubman and Nat Turner, to Ida B. Wells and Martin Delaney, Mary McCleod-Bethune and Frederick Douglass, all the way to Medgar Evers and Fannie Lou Hamer, black leadership has been…

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a man that was moved by the spirit to move a nation toward a better way of life. Dr. King was a man that used his connection to the Holy Spirit to dare to have the dream. At the same time, my fellow Americans, he also had action items, and…

America’s jobs crisis is hurting everyone. But for African-American communities, it’s a catastrophe. Unless America takes immediate steps to create jobs now—jobs where the people are—the damage will become even more entrenched, threatening generations of African Americans. So many of the communities we live in were in economic freefall before this recession even started. The…

An arresting Damon Winter photo of a Haitian child graces the cover of the Sunday New York Times. A boy of about 10 wearing a bright red, oversized Polo shirt is caught mid-stride by the camera, dashing through the streets of Port-au-Prince, eyes gazing purposely ahead, gripping a white plastic bag. The caption gives a…

Haitian-born hip-hop star Wyclef Jean has launched a vigorous defense of his foundation, the Wyclef Jean Foundation, also known as Yéle Haiti. The foundation was the subject of criticism  over the weekend after the celebrity web site The Smoking Gun published documents indicating that a large part of the foundation’s expenses have been payments to…

1492: Dec. 5, Columbus lands on a large island he names Isla Española (Spanish Island), later changed to Hispaniola. It is inhabited by Taino and Arawak Indians. 1503: First Africans brought to Hispaniola for labor after pleas from a Spanish priest who wants to save the Indians from extinction. 1592: Spanish governor executes Queen Anacaona,…

Somali terrorists tried to blow up Barack Obama’s inauguration. Internet yahoos threatened to “lay him out in a box.” He requested Secret Service protection for himself earlier than any presidential candidate in history. And on Christmas, the botched plane bombing by a Nigerian allegedly claiming al-Qaida affiliation exposed America’s security vulnerabilities like never before. Nevertheless,…

GOOGLE THREATENS TO EXIT CHINA Google says it may pull out of China after discovering attempts to hack into its accounts that may be linked to the Chinese government. The search company reported that “a primary goal of the attackers was accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists.” Officials say the attack on…

Leading into the 1960 presidential race, John F. Kennedy’s aide, Ted Sorensen, wrote that “assuming that his personal appeal, hard work, and political organization produce as before, Senator Kennedy will win in November, unless defeated by the religious issue.” Sorensen’s recognition then about the nation’s only Catholic president amounts to an inverse and clearly more…

I have carefully weighed the words of Sen. Harry Reid, the president’s gracious pardon and the hyper-partisanship on both sides in responding to this latest gaffe. And I have concluded that Reid should resign, but not for the reasons that are usually cited. Reid is the Democratic leader of the governing party in the United…