practical politics

David L. Horne, Ph.D.  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Feb 21 2013

Practical Politics

As a recently retired and transitioned political warrior once confided to me, “We, as a people, must change the current political paradigm we operate in, or else accept the inevitable marginalization of our interests that will undoubtedly occur. We can only do that collectively, strategically and with consistency.”

That inexorably leads to the persistent question: does the California Black population need a Black political agenda? That is a perplexing, relentless question that needs to be addressed and addressed now.

David L. Horne, Ph.D.  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Feb 14 2013

Practical Politics

During the 40 years or so of the modern evolution of the Black Studies movement in America’s colleges and universities, we have made major progress in research, writing, teaching and authorship. We have also sometimes accepted the stories we’ve been too often told as true without critical examination. In fact, there is much to be said for providing people who have most often been taught and told relentlessly that they have no worthwhile history and contributions that they actually have much, much more than anyone knows.

David L. Horne, Ph.D.  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Feb 7 2013

Practical Politics

The modern reparations movement, which has been alive and lively in the USA since at least 1988, and even earlier in international circles, still breathes. It no longer invokes the fire and brimstone of the 1980s and ‘’90s, especially since Congressman John Conyers’ H.R. 40 bill, which has regularly been re-introduced in Congress as proposed legislation since 1989, is virtually dead now, and the Greenwood, Okla., court case—-sometimes called the Brown v. Board case of the reparations movement—was excoriated by the Supreme Court in 2007.

David L. Horne, Ph.D.  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Jan 24 2013

Practical Politics

Former Miami, Fla., Congressman Allen West shares more than a last name with Professor Cornel West.

Both were (are) quick-trigger character assassins who love the public spotlight. Both profess to be knowledgeable, experienced and wise men whose points of view are and should be important to more than one or two drunken heads in the local bar.

David L. Horne, Ph.D.  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Jan 17 2013

Practical Politics

This column is repeated from Jan. 12 last year.

There are those who still say the creation of America’s 10 national holidays in 1983—i.e., the kind that means post offices, banks, schools, and libraries close and federal workers get the day off—was a reparations gift of White guilt for the long years of making Black Americans suffer.

Perhaps.

Across Black America

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

California
San Diego college students and volunteers will carry out their sixth home restoration project on Wednesday, July 10 through Sunday, July 14. as part of the “Healing our Heroes’ Homes” (H3) program created by the nonprofit Embrace. The five-day effort will take place at the home of medically retired Marine Corps Capt. Sarah Bettencourt. Bettencourt served with many different units across the country during the Global War on Terrorism and developed a rare neurological disorder in 2008. With a focus to restore the homes of disabled veteran homeowners, H3 falls in line with Embrace’s mission to mobilize college-student volunteers and community members to serve less fortunate members of civilian and veteran communities. The project for the Bettencourts’ home includes kitchen and bathroom remodeling, building ADA-compliant disability ramps, widening their driveway to ADA standards, widening doorways and landscaping.
 
District of Columbia
The 2013 Smithsonian Folklife Festival will showcase its five-year community research project on African American identity with the program “The Will to Adorn: African American Diversity, Style, and Identity.” This multicity collaboration examines the history and culture of the aesthetics of African Americans. The festival will be held June 26-30 and July 3-7, outdoors on the National Mall between Seventh and 14th streets. “Whether we realize it or not, we are all dress artists. The way we compose our look is a creative expression of our ideas about who we are and who we aspire to be,” said Diana N’Diaye, program curator. “This program explores the diversity of African American traditions of style, but also teaches young people the importance of documenting their own culture and saving that information for themselves and future generations.”