Whenever there is a steady series of public questions being raised about the “power” of Black Americans, you should always first consider the motive and purpose of the questions. Such was the case recently when Richard Prince wrote a column, which was posted on The Root, titled: “Is The Black Press Still Powerful?” Of course the answer is “Yes, the Black Press in America is still powerful.”
Category: Opinion-OW
Posted inOpinion-OW
Crime and the City
I love crime. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m no ski-mask-wearing hoodlum crouching in the shadows of that alcove you’re passing, salivating to pounce and snatch your hard earned money. I like my crime on the page where it can be dissected and examined; hunting like a neural scientist with their electron microscope for the impulses that drove a person to do that crazy thing they did. That’s one of the reasons it wasn’t a stretch for me to utilize experiences gained as community activist to campaign in penning crime and mystery fiction. For real, life is ripe with material for hard-boiled stories. Certainly one of the richest loams for excavating these gems of corruption, double-dealing, bribery and more is Los Angeles and the Southern California region.
Posted inOpinion-OW
U.S. spending extraordinary amounts on ‘guard labor’
America’s gun culture costs lives and feeds our fears. Consider the most recent injustice in Florida, the verdict in the Michael Dunn case, and the most recent news about America’s “guard labor.”
Posted inOpinion-OW
To Be Equal
“You can’t allow 15,000 school boards to home bake their own little standards subject to their own political pressures and think we are going to have international competitiveness. We have to at least have some bare minimum core standards if our young people are going to compete.” Congressional Black Caucus member, Rep. Bobby Scott.
Posted inOpinion-OW
NAACP spends lion’s share of Image Award ad budget with non-Black media
What would W.E.B. DuBois do?
It is such an insult that the NAACP would disrespect the Black press regarding ad buys that it’s almost too shameful to write about, but I had to, it’s what we do.
Posted inOpinion-OW
Another Florida man gets away with murder
As we approach the second anniversary of Trayvon Martin’s murder in Sanford, Fla., justice again has been shortchanged in the Sunshine State. It was incredulous that George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watchman and wannabe cop, was found not guilty of murder after killing the unarmed Black teenager who had visited a nearby convenience store to purchase a bag of Skittles and a can of Arizona Tea.
Posted inOpinion-OW
Clarence Thomas lacks institutional memory
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is at it again. Whenever he opens his mouth about race, he displays a surprising myopia for a 65-year-old African American man who was raised in the Deep South during a segregated era.
Posted inOpinion-OW
Black History Month: needed now more than ever
“There is no more powerful force than a people steeped in their history. And there is no higher cause than honoring our struggle and ancestors by remembering.”
– Lonnie Bunch, founding director, National Museum of African American History and Culture
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Dr. King ‘turning in his grave’ over family greed
The children of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. sue each other—as well as loyal family friends—so often that you need a program to keep up with the court action. Bernice and Martin Luther King III sued Dexter because he failed to open the books of their father’s estate. Dexter, hoping to sign a $1.4 million book contract, sued Bernice, who administers their mother’s estate, for not sharing their parents’ love letters.
Posted inOpinion-OW
Judge to decide if Black Press will be treated fairly by tobacco firms
A “concerned” U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler is expected to rule next week on whether advertising she ordered major tobacco companies to purchase in order to correct their past false statements about the danger of smoking should be expanded to include Black media.