Earl Ofari Hutchinson
OW Contributing Columnist

 Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His new book is, How Obama Governed: The Year of Crisis and Challenge (Middle Passage Press).

 
The Hutchinson Report
May 5 2010

Arizona dumped racial profiling back on the nation’s table

In an exclusive interview, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer’s official spokesperson, Press Secretary Paul Senseman, did not wait for me to ask whether Arizona’s hotly disputed anti-immigration law opened wide the floodgate to racial profiling. Senseman plowed right in and repeatedly denied that the law sanctioned racial profiling.

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The Hutchinson Report
Apr 28 2010

Obama can now pick a judge with a heart

In 2005, then-Illinois Senator Barack Obama was unequivocal. He said he wanted a Supreme Court justice with a heart. By that he meant someone who was not just a top legal scholar and rendered flawless legal opinions rulings, but who had real compassion for the needs and suffering of people. In a fiery senate floor speech on September 22 of that year, Obama hammered Bush’s high court pick John G. Roberts as being dismissive and insensitive to race and gender discrimination.

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The Hutchinson Report
Apr 21 2010

The two sides of Daryl Gates that I saw

The on-set camera crew and sound technicians had long since departed from the sound stage at KCBS-TV and the lights had dimmed but we sat there for what seemed like endless hours afterwards engaging in bare-knuckles, heated debate. At one moment my fierce opponent and at another moment my jovial associate was former Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) chief Daryl Gates. We were co-commentators for the station during the O.J. Simpson trial. On and off the set, we went at it on everything from the Rodney King beating, the L.A.

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The Hutchinson Report
Apr 14 2010

Why Michael Steele won’t go

Michael Steele has bungled money and staff, regularly mugs and grandstands on network talk shows, brags about being hip, a street guy, and even complains that he, as President Barack Obama, is also subject to a racial double standard. He has more detractors than any GOP leader this side of W. Bush, and that includes legions of Republican leaders. A handful of them publicly, and even more so privately, call for him to step down.  That won’t happen. There are good reasons why.

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The Hutchinson Report
Apr 7 2010

Obama makes it official: He’s African American

President Barack  Obama unequivocally and unhesitatingly made it official: He’s African American. That may sound silly and facile to say that but his checking the box “African American” on his census form did two things. It made meaningless the incessant chatter of whether Obama should be called “mixed race” or African-American. It recognized the hard and unchanging reality that race relations and conflict in America are still framed in Black and White.

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The Hutchinson Report
Mar 31 2010

President Obama now looks and acts like FDR

The comparison of then-Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama to the late President Franklin Delano Roosevelt at the height of the presidential campaign was hyped, overblown and made mostly to sell magazines, puff up TV pundit sound bites, and to be used by a few carried-away-with-themselves Democratic party campaign boosters. Though undoubtedly flattered by it, candidate Obama did not encourage the comparison to FDR.

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Across Black America

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.
 

Alabama
A mass meeting at the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Selma, Ala., will kick off a March 5 Bridge Crossing Jubilee featuring the original Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Freedom Singers and the president of Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Eric P. Lee. The Jubilee is a five-day event that will celebrate the 47th anniversary of Bloody Sunday and the victories of the voting rights movement. Organizers say that this year’s Jubilee is not just a commemoration but a recommitment to protect the right to vote. “For the past two years, assaults on immigrants, healthcare, worker rights and voting rights have soared to alarming heights. Consequently, the Jubilee, NAACP, National Action Network and the National Voting Rights Museum and Institute are sponsoring a series of workshops to address vital issues plaguing our nation,” said state Sen. Hank Sanders. The workshops will coincide with the all-day music festival at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge and all are encouraged to attend both events. The conference, featuring speakers from across the nation, is free to the public.

California
U.S. Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) will be honored by Loyola Marymount University’s African American Alumni Association on Saturday, Feb. 11, at 7 p.m., at the organization’s 10th annual awards dinner and scholarship fundraiser. Bass, who represents California’s 33rd Congressional District, will receive the organization’s Legacy Award for her pioneering achievements as an elected official and a community activist. LMU’s Legacy Award marks the association’s commitment to academic excellence and the spirit of community service. Approximately 6 percent of LMU’s student body is African American, and the university has been cited by the Education Trust as one of the most successful universities at graduating African American students. Proceeds from the awards dinner will fund scholarships for deserving students. Over the last 10 years, LMU’s African American Alumni Association has raised nearly $600,000 in scholarships for 185 students.

 

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