When Dr. Martin Luther King envisioned the Poor People’s Campaign in 1968, he envisioned all kinds of people descending on our nation’s capital, bringing demands to federal agencies.
Category: Opinion
Posted inPractical Politics
Practical Politics
On the day the 115th Congress convened, Jan. 3, long-serving Rep. John Conyers, the author since 1989 of a bill dubbed H.R. 40 (in memory of the 40 acres and a mule concept) re-introduced a new version of his legislation.
This new version, officially entitled a “Commission to Study Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act,” more explicitly cited the legislative goal of the proposed bill as the creation and funding (up to $12 million) to create a federal commission to study and consider a national apology and proposals for reparations for the institution of slavery in the USA.
Posted inCounting the Cost
White women can’t speak for me, so I will support the women’s march
“Ain’t I A Woman,” railed Sojourner Truth, “I have ploughed and planted and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain’t I a woman! I could work as much and eat as much as a man—when I could get it—and bear the lash as well. And ain’t I a woman? I’ve bourne 13 children and seen most all sold off and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain’t I a woman.”
Posted inPractical Politics
The politics of bad-mouthing everything
Reports recently have decried how bad things are in the USA because of the Obama administration. That description flies in the face of obvious facts. Let’s count some of the ways.
Posted inCounting the Cost
How Americans lost faith in everything and found Donald Trump
Professor Deva Woodly teaches political science at the New School for Social Research in New York. During a recent talk, she shared that trust in our nation’s institutions is at an all-time low. That is, perhaps, why the man who currently holds the title of president-elect was able to prevail in the November election over someone far more qualified. Using Gallup Poll data from June 2016, Professor Woodly noted that the military is our nation’s most trusted institution—73 percent trust them, while our Congress is the least trusted with only 7 percent support.
Posted inPractical Politics
Practical Politics
In public school education, Ethnic Studies courses are the new rage, particularly in California.
While the rest of the country seems to be content with its stunning lack of cultural literacy, given we’ve had a successful POTUS for the past eight years who is decidedly African American with a distinctly African American family, California, as it is known to do, has leaped out front.
Posted inPractical Politics
Practical Politics
On October 1, 2016 (American Heritage Day), in Charleston, S.C., in a little-noticed ceremony, the U.S. Postal Service dedicated its sixth and most permanent celebration of the African American holiday called Kwanzaa. Hosted by the MOJA Art Festival at Marion Square, U.S. Deputy Postmaster, Ronald Stroman, dedicated the U.S. Post Office’s Kwanzaa Forever stamp. Forever stamps remain equal in value to the current first-class mail, 1-ounce price.
Posted inCounting the Cost
Trump won the election, but White supremacy won’t win forever
I began election night with exuberance. I was among the many who forecast a Hillary win. The only disagreement among my circle was how big the Hillary rout would be. I thought she’d get at least 300 electoral college votes, and hoped that she’d thump Trump by getting as many as 340, holding him to less than 200 electoral college votes. However, the tables were turned and Trump was the one doing the thumping, with the electoral vote count estimated to be 290 to 228 (at this writing, final counts were not in).
Posted inPractical Politics
Practical Politics
For those among us who are hard core “never count us out until the last bell sounds,” or “the last second ticks off,” here’s something to chew on.
Even though Mr. Trump has already had a first transition-of-power meeting with outgoing President Barack Obama, and has already started picking his new presidential staff, officially, it ain’t over yet.
Posted inCounting the Cost
After Nov. 8—State of the Black World
I’m writing two weeks before the November election, writing and praying that Election Day comes sooner than it is supposed to. I did my early vote thing so that I could, if necessary, drop into battleground states like Virginia, North Carolina or Florida to do my bit to get out the vote. And I’m hoping that voters will do the right thing and elect Hillary Clinton. But as I wrote, I know that there is the possibility (not probability) that Mr. Chump will prevail.
