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Where's the Title IX for Black Men?
Nationwide we are seeing a growing disparity between male and female students enrolling in college. This gender disparity is most severe in the African American community. Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have enrollment ratios approaching 65 percent female to 35 percent male. One would think that these schools would want to find creative ways…
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Lies and Consequences
Call it a comedy of editors. Looking back on the initial media blitz surrounding Love and Consequences, the auto-myth-ography by Margaret B. Jones (nee Margaret “Peggy” Seltzer), laughs come first, but anger comes hardest. Take last week’s 2,000-word New York Times profile about the author and her tall tale of gang life in South Central…
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From Jack Johnson to Eliot Spitzer
When a self-righteous crusader like Eliot Spitzer is caught with his pants down, a lot of onlookers might feel a tinge of glee to see such hypocrisy revealed. But the law under which he may be prosecuted, the Mann Act, is a relic that should give pause to anyone looking to hold Spitzer accountable in…
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Black Sexual Health: Condition Critical
As the nation pours over the dirty details of yet another political sex scandal, federal health officials this week quietly made some sex news that matters. A study discovered that more than one in four teenage girls has a sexually transmitted infection. And sadly, researchers found blacks once again hardest hit by a health problem:…
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Russia's False Choice
Russia had what may be generously described as an “election” recently, where the voters selected Dmitri Medvedev to succeed Vladmir Putin as president. Most observers and commentators agree, however, that the election was far from democratic and did little more than rubber stamp Putin’s chosen successor. Many have also argued that Putin’s aggressive style of…
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Eco-Soul Kitchen: The Rebirth Brunch
DERIVATIVE Equinox-Easter; Rebirth and resurrection are synonymous. Betsy-Katrina; Rebirth and resurrection are synonymous. —b. terry I bet you’re already thinking about this Sunday’s Easter dinner. Come on. Admit it. Visions are dancing in your head of succulent honey glazed ham surrounded by sweet, caramelized, roasted root vegetables; rich, creamy mac and cheese with a golden…
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My Son the Drug Enforcer
My middle son is a cold-hearted drug enforcer who brutally murdered a young man poised to leave a life of crime. His father and I couldn’t be prouder. Darrell, 22, has for two years played O-Dog on The Wire, the searing HBO series about life on Baltimore’s drug-strangled streets that ended last night after a…
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O-Dog Speaks. And So Nicely
Every so often, we all have an experience that completely changes our life. The Wire was mine. I still have trouble believing that I was blessed for two seasons to appear in one of TV’s most admired programs, a show that many college students like myself—and even Sen. Barack Obama—feel is the coolest on TV.…
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Postcard From Liberia
On my first night in Monrovia the rain pounds so hard on the tin roof of the house where I am staying, the sound is able to snatch me from a deep and jetlagged sleep. There is no rain like the rain in Liberia and I have heard it before, but this is February, the…
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Lifting the Lower Ninth
Conventional wisdom teaches us that historical fiction takes a while. It’s a process, much like the stages of grief. A culture must wade through the shock, acceptance, recovery and reflection of a particular incident in order to draw insight from hindsight. “Lower Ninth,” an original one-act torn right from the pages of recent history and…