samad

Anthony Asadullah Samad, Ph.D.  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Feb 16 2012

Between the Lines

In this time of government contraction, municipal services reduction and fiscal scrutiny, Los Angeles County, the nation’s largest county, is undergoing a massive revision of its General Plan.

The General Plan represents hundreds of billions in resource allocation based on regional and local population growth forecasts that will take place over the next three decades.

Anthony Asadullah Samad, Ph.D.  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Jan 26 2012

Between the Lines

Watching a President of the United States give a State of the Union address is often like watching a peacock strut, its head jutting forward with each step, and its splayed feathers shouting, “Look at me. I’m tall. I’m beautiful. I have it all. I did it all.”

The president usually lists an embellished log of accomplishments and forecasts a list of unreasonable—if not unachievable—expectations. Then Congress comes back and peacocks what it has done. The president and Congress, like the peacocks, claim they can do everything but fly.

Anthony Asadullah Samad, Ph.D.  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Jan 12 2012

Between the Lines

This week is our annual King dance.

I call it the King dance because it’s the time of year when American society dances around the significance of Martin Luther King Jr. and his contributions to the evolution of American society.

It is really difficult to grapple with the compromising of the King legacy.

King was more than a day off work. King marched for social justice and economic equality. He didn’t march in parades. I never got the parade concept. What are we celebrating? The life of Martin Luther King Jr., you say.

Anthony Asadullah Samad, Ph.D.  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Jan 5 2012

Between the Lines

We’ve watched the Republicans drop-kick President Obama for months now… the ones in Congress, the pundits on Fox, the wannabe candidates (Palin and Trump), and the gonna-be candidates for the Republican nomination in the 2012 election.

Anthony Asadullah Samad, Ph.D.  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Dec 22 2011

Between the Lines

The madness we now call “holidays” takes on a different meaning in times like these, when you have people without homes and homes without people.

Instead of society focusing on what it should be focused on—rectifying greed run amuck, or putting a stop to the gamesmanship of a dysfunctional Congress—we instead preoccupy ourselves with another holiday that becomes more absurd than the last.

Across Black America

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

Alabama
Freeman A. Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will address the annual African American Business Council luncheon on June 28. Hrabowski, who is chairman of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Education Excellence for African Americans, has a national reputation for his work studying the performance of minority students in math and science. Hrabowski, named one of the 10 best college presidents in the country by Time magazine, was a child leader in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham in the 1960s.
 

Arkansas
The Liberty Counsel filed a motion and a brief in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas seeking to intervene on behalf of a Concepts of Life crisis pregnancy center to defend against a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights. The groups seek to impose a permanent injunction before the Human Heartbeat Protection Act goes into effect July 18. Liberty Counsel also filed a brief opposing the ACLU’s request for an injunction. The “Heartbeat” bill states that when a woman seeks an abortion at or after the 12th week, doctors must test for a fetal heartbeat before an abortion is performed and inform the pregnant mother that the child in her womb has a heartbeat. If a heartbeat is detected, a woman cannot have an abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, and if a mother’s life is in danger. “As we promised when the legislation was introduced, Liberty Counsel will defend this law without reservation for the people of Arkansas, born and pre-born,” said Matt Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. “No right is more foundational than the right to life. Without life, all other rights are irrelevant,” concluded Staver.