Politics

Lately, I’ve had the most spirited debates with my students and friends, and I always come away feeling like the loser. I, for argument’s sake, draw a straight line between Barack Obama’s White House aspirations and the embarrassing spectacle of Clarence Thomas’ Supreme Court confirmation. As soon as I dare utter “Thomas” in the same…

During the 90s, Washington, D.C. was Murder Capital of America. And I had about a half dozen friends murdered. The killings were not odd actually, for the times; however, these young men were middle-class black boys, who did not grow up in housing projects or rough, violent neighborhoods. Guns became so real back then, carrying…

Although I didn’t think it was possible, the latest Don Imus controversy is almost as ridiculous as the first one. Imus recently made an off-hand remark on his radio show about Adam “Pacman” Jones’ string of arrests, noting that “Pacman” was black. “There you go,” he said. “Now we know.” Some people chose to infer…

It looks like Barack needs our help. The Obama VP search team lost senior Democratic strategist Jim Johnson after revelations that he received favorable lending terms from Countrywide. Since neither of us are getting any special rates on credit and lending, we can weigh in on the running-mate choice with clear consciences. Here’s our analysis…

If you want clues to how this year’s presidential election will be fought, look no further than this past week’s Meet the Press on NBC, where the GOP telegraphed its aggressive messaging offensive and Democrats, as usual, sought to play at the smug intersection of fairness and above-the-fray. The entire show, like most political reporting…

Is America ready to elect a black president? We’ll find out in November. Barack Obama’s candidacy poses an unprecedented sociological experiment. Everything about us, including how far we’ve come toward the creation of the more perfect union in which people are judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin,…

President Barack Obama kicks off the Father’s Day weekend with a string of events designed to “begin a national conversation on responsible fatherhood and healthy families,” according to the White House.  Much like first lady Michelle Obama’s March celebration of women’s empowerment, the day of bro-mance hits eight Washington-area nonprofits that mentor young men, and…

At age 93, John Hope Franklin remains a formidable force in the world of African-American history and scholarship. He wrote what is considered a core text in the field of African-American studies. From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans, first published in 1947 and now in itseighth edition, is still considered the definitive…

At two minutes before noon on Thursday, June 18, 2009, 146 years after Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation and 150 days after a black man took the presidential oath of office, the United States Senate, in a unanimous voice vote, apologized to African Americans for slavery and the racial discrimination during the Jim Crow era. It’s…

Since the race for the Democratic nomination has drawn to the end, many pundits have begun to ask how the choice of a vice president might help to repair the damage inflicted on the party as a result of the long contest. The Clinton camp has promoted the idea of an Obama/Clinton ticket that can…