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Mama of Mystery
This isn’t the ordinary Five Questions for a Public Mama that I write periodically on my blog, Seeds. I don’t want to know how Lauryn disciplines her five kids, what it’s like being married to a Marley or where she buys her knit hats. I don’t want to know if she has a television in…
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We Down with GOP
As Rick Warren’s Saddleback presidential faith forum approached last Saturday, I ran to the store before it closed to pick up a few items. At the register, the conversation quickly turned from my purchases to politics. The problem with politics, the white male cashier said with more than a hint of cynical frustration, was politicians,…
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How I Became an Obama Delegate
My last foray into politics was in 5th grade when I lost what I’m sure was a rigged election for class president. I’ve been writing about black political issues since I was a college freshman. But aside from voting or organizing the occasional protest, I’ve never been involved in electoral politics. That was until March,…
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Stop Punking Out, Obama!
“For over a thousand years Roman conquerors returning from the wars enjoyed the honor of triumph, a tumultuous parade. In the procession came trumpeteers, musicians and strange animals from conquered territories, together with carts laden with treasure and captured armaments. The conquerors rode in a triumphal chariot, the dazed prisoners walking in chains before him.…
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Debatable Choices
In case you missed it, earlier this month, the Commission on Presidential Debates announced their picks to moderate the three presidential debates this fall. The chosen: NBC’s Tom Brokaw, CBS’s Bob Schieffer and PBS’s Jim Lehrer. So, in an election year in which race, gender and generational change have dominated politics and public discourse, the…
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It Breaks A Village
“You want it to be one way. But it’s the other way.” —Marlo —Hillary Clinton hasn’t crossed the Rubicon yet, but let’s just say that her advance team is fashioning a drawbridge and the plebes are being told to take shelter behind the city walls. Next week in Denver, Sen. Clinton and former president Bill…
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The Purpose-Driven Campaign
Who in the heck is Pastor Rick Warren, and how did he get so much clout? Where did he get the power—and gall—to dragoon Barack Obama and John McCain into his mega-church this past Saturday night and submit them to back-to-back, hour-long, televised grillings about their moral and religious beliefs? This is the kind of…
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Killer Stigma
Ainsley Reid is the face of HIV/AIDS in Jamaica. Smiling in a bright yellow shirt under the words “Positive Truly Positive,” Reid, 43, is part of a campaign on the island to raise awareness about HIV and fight the stigma and discrimination. On posters, billboards and television ads, he looks strong and healthy and is,…
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Tibet: Not Just for Olympic-Themed Protests
Activity in the Barkhor, a vibrant and bustling area in Lhasa, courses steady and strong like blood running through veins. I, on the other hand, needed red blood cells, any red blood cells, during my travels there. At 12,000 feet above sea level, the decreased oxygen in the air left me feeling car sick, hung…
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The Ties That Bind
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told us last weekend that America’s AIDS epidemic is 40 percent larger than it had believed, and that black America accounts for about 45 percent of new infections each year. If we’re only 13 percent of the population, how can that be? There’s no one simple answer.…