As measured by quantity and depth of media coverage, President Obama’s recent trip to three African countries—June 26-July 2—did not amount to much.
Category: Opinion
Posted inPractical Politics
Standing against the falsification of African history
In Sunday’s Los Angeles Times, a professor Zimmerman, from an East Coast institution, wrote a rather startling article. In it, he said homosexuality “was endemic in Africa” before European colonialism bedeviled it. Endemic means constantly present and widespread.
Posted inCounting the Cost
The minimum wage for the least and left out
It seems that the term “poverty” has been sidelined from our national discourse, even though 15 percent of all Americans and 26 percent of African Americans experience poverty.
The Fair Labor Standards Act was signed on June 25, 1938, 75 years ago, so perhaps this is a good time to explore the roots of the minimum wage and why its establishment remains important.
Posted inPractical Politics
Practical Politics
There are two issues in this week’s column: one local and one national. The first, briefly stated, is where are the trees they promised? Has anyone paid much attention to the Crenshaw/King corridor lately? It was promised by the city authorities that the permanent trees along the right-of-way for the movement of the space shuttle to Exposition Park would be replaced.
Posted inCounting the Cost
If you don’t like disparities, try equality
Last week I attended a “think tank” conversation with leaders of the Rodham Institute, a newly established center at George Washington University that is dedicated to reducing health disparities in Washington, D.C. This is an important effort, because D.C. is such a divided city.
Posted inPractical Politics
Blacks once rode athletics to political credibility
Throughout American history, military valor and athletic showmanship have been utilized by African Americans as weapons for cultural respect.
Posted inPractical Politics
Could Republicans be contemplating impeachment?
In 1998, two years into his second term, the Republican majority in the House of Representatives voted articles of impeachment against then-president Bill Clinton. He was accused of perjury and obstruction of justice, in connection with the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal in the White House.
Posted inCounting the Cost
How Big Brother uses data collection
When George Orwell wrote the novel “1984,” he envisioned a character, a real or imagined “Big Brother” who was a know-all, see-all, omnipotent and elusive presence that intruded into lives because he could. Those who knew about “him” were told that they did not exist, but in many ways, Big Brother may not have existed either. The omnipotence had taken on a life of its own.
Posted inCounting the Cost
The uneven recovery
Although the overall unemployment rate still exceeds 7 percent, and the official Black unemployment rate is greater than 13 percent, there are some who insist that there is a robust economic recovery in progress.
Posted inCounting the Cost
Federal contracting promotes inequality
On May 21, I had the opportunity to testify before a Congressional Progressive Caucus meeting on the fact that federal dollars drive inequality by paying contractors who pay too many of their workers very little.
