Politics

Just before Barack Obama hit 100 days as president, I wrote a piece asking “What Happened to the Office of Urban Policy?” I had closely followed the formation of an Urban Affairs office —wondering if the office, intended to coordinate efforts at the departments of Energy, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, Education and the like,…

Never has a president so effortlessly dispatched an adversary as President Obama did last Saturday night, with his single-word “Whassup?” dismissal of RNC Chair Michael Steele and his self-proclaimed “hip-hop makeover.” By the time Steele jumped out of his seat to be “recognized,” the only thing missing from the scene at the White House Correspondents’…

NO: Radio Black Out: Performance Fee Bill Passes Committee HP: Bring the Beat(ings) Back! Obama to Revive Military Tribunals of Gitmoans AJE: Sri Lankan Gov’t: ‘We’ll Free Tamils from Tigers Provided We Don’t Kill Everyone in the Process’ BBC: South Africa Grants Dalai Lama Visa, Says ‘He’s Cool; He’s Solid.” WP: Brenda’s Got a Baby,…

If you missed Chris Matthews’ whacked-out tirade against affirmative action last week on his shoutfest Hardball with Chris Matthews, don’t worry. I’m guessing you’ll have plenty of opportunities to hear similar screeds in the weeks leading up to the Supreme Court’s decision in Ricci v. DeStefano, the affirmative action case involving promotions in the New…

NO: 9 Dead after Boat Carrying Haitian Immigrants Sinks BET: *Sigh* W. Va. Teen May Get Life for Shooting Pregnant Woman WP: Obama Wants Detainee Abuse Photos Taken Down, at least Not Tagged on Facebook NYT: Boy Scouts Trained to Fight Terror, Patrol Border; Fastest to Make Hitler Youth Quip Wins AA: Lead Diet? Same…

Nearly four years ago to the day, I sat in my childhood bedroom moments before my high school graduation imagining the glories of adult life. I aspired to live independent of my parents’ bank accounts and watchful eyes. My life, as I dreamed it, would be filled with a brightly colored wardrobe and overpriced accessories,…

When Amanda Fulwood accepts her well-deserved sheepskin Sunday at the University of Virginia, I’ll be the proudest father on campus. Since the day my daughter was born, I’ve dreamed of this moment, when I could look through teary eyes at her toothy smile and send her off to find a career and make her way…

ABC: Word to Norman Mailer: A ‘White Negro’ Sues Med School for Discrimination NYDN: Sex, Race Not Issues in SCOTUS Pick,Current Court Already Futuristic Like That OEN: Obama’s Education Budget a Mixed Bag for Pre-Post-Black Americans* TDN: RADIOOOOOOOO! Black Radio Stations Protest Fees Bill TWG: And Don’t Call Me George: The Principles and Productivity of…

One hundred and forty-seven years ago this week, with the Civil War raging around him, President Lincoln signed into law a bill that created the United States Department of Agriculture. He called it the “People’s Department,” in a tribute to the wide-ranging ambitions he held for it. Almost a century and a half later, the…

I am a descendant of Cherokee Freedmen, the former slaves owned by the Cherokees and a smaller number of free blacks who lived among the tribe before the end of the Civil War. So watching the PBS series We Shall Remain, which aired last month, I empathized with Native Americans and silently condemned the white…