Uncategorized
-
Home Court Disadvantage
When John McCain and Barack Obama face off this evening in the second of three presidential debates, it will be like nothing we’ve seen before in this campaign season. For 90 minutes, the television tit-for-tat, the rapid-response surrogate operations, and the e-mail alerts and reminders will take a back seat in what is sure to…
-
So Long, O.J.
With the conviction and likely long-term incarceration of O.J. Simpson, the United States penal system is putting together one heck of a football squad. The team behind bars could rival the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC West on any given Sunday. Imagine Michael Vick at quarterback, Rae Carruth at wide receiver, Lawrence Phillips and Maurice…
-
Wall Street in Black and White
The offensive new vogue in cable TV talking points goes something like this: Wall Street is melting down because the government forced banks to make loans to poor people—especially poor minorities. They claim that the entire weight of the global financial collapse rests on the shoulders of unqualified poor, minority borrowers who got loans as…
-
Death of Black Radio
Black radio was once among the most influential engines of political and economic power for African Americans. Today it remains an important source of news and inspiration for black audiences. But thanks to new ratings technology being introduced this week, black-owned radio may be embarking on a fierce fight for its very survival. For decades,…
-
Expectations Game…Wink Wink
She winked. He smiled. They each played to their strengths and side-stepped their weaknesses. Neither one lost. But the question of who won last night’s one and only vice-presidential debate, is an entirely more complicated question that rests on the more intangible and variable measure called expectations. The extent to which the candidate could meet…
-
Biden's Night
John McCain is likely wiping sweat from his brow and sighing with relief after the vice-presidential debate. But Barack Obama is smiling from ear to ear and with good reason. Sure, the pundits will say there was no “knock-out.” They will say Gov. Sarah Palin held her own. Both of these statements have a sufficient…
-
No One Saw a Thing
The South is the bathroom of American history. Saturating the otherwise picturesque rolling landscapes is the oppressive stench of a history of lynching, bloodcurdling beatings and African-American bodies burned and ruthlessly mutilated. This is the room that America doesn’t want visitors to see. Keep this door shut because if opened, threatening to spill out is…
-
A Knicks State of Mind
Growing up in Chicago then Dallas in the ’60s and ’70s, I always wondered why New Yorkers felt some sort of “claim” on basketball. Yes, the New York Knicks won the title in ’70 and ’73 with a rare display of savvy and teamwork, but even as an adolescent I knew that the sport was…
-
Channeling George Wallace
Geraldine Ferraro was a far better qualified candidate than Sarah Palin. But the Alaska governor does have one thing in common with the first female vice presidential candidate for a major political party: the ability to tap into a noxious strain of populist resentment that has been one of the most powerfully corrosive forces in…
-
Poll Position
Noxubee County, Miss., occupies a special place in American political history. The abusive power of the county’s storied political machine isn’t so remarkable, nor is the fact that a corrupt black Democrat built it. Plenty of jurisdictions have, through the ages, boasted the same ugliness. Noxubee’s distinction is that this tiny, majority-black town is where…