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Maya Angelou Wasn’t Just a Writer—She Inspired Generations
On Saturday Maya Angelou’s homegoing will offer a chance to reflect on one of the less-often discussed aspects of her panoramic legacy: that of a radical political intellectual who indelibly shaped the times she lived in. The wealth of memorials and tributes honoring Angelou in the aftermath of her May 28 passing have acknowledged the…
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When It Comes to Bowe Bergdahl, Obama’s GOP Critics Are Hypocrites
According to his critics, President Barack Obama can’t seem to do anything right. But the latest example of Obama-hate syndrome is truly bizarre, since it was triggered by the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the only American prisoner of war in Afghanistan, something that would normally elicit bipartisan cheers. But with Obama as commander in…
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‘Case for Reparations’ Explains How America Must Come to Terms With Its History
Social media is buzzing over Ta-Nehisi Coates’ remarkable essay, “The Case for Reparations,” recently published in The Atlantic, and his appearance on legendary journalist Bill Moyers’ Moyers & Company, in which Coates distills the ways in which American history has distorted our understanding of contemporary race relations. White supremacy, he reminds us, is as integral…
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Malcolm X Always Spoke Truth to Power, No Matter the Cost
The anniversary this week of Malcolm X’s 89th birthday offers us the context to reflect on the life of the man whose activism continues to reverberate around the world. After a youth scarred by trauma, the man born Malcolm Little turned his seven years in prison into a world-class political and religious education. In the…
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Brown v. Board: With Resegregation, the Struggle Continues
This Saturday, May 17, marks the 60th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision that formally outlawed racial segregation in public schools. The case was heralded then, as it is now, as a watershed moment in American history. The culmination of a decadeslong and painfully tedious NAACP strategy masterminded by unsung…
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Honor the Freedom Riders by Completing Their Work Today
This week marks the 53rd anniversary of the Freedom Rides, one of the pivotal moments of both the civil rights movement and American history. Inspired by the sit-ins that had spread across the nation like wildfire the previous year, interracial groups of activists boarded buses and headed down interstate highways to the Deep South in…
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Black Success Can’t Change Warped Views Like Donald Sterling’s
Revelations of the Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling’s reportedly racist comments about African Americans shine light on contemporary race relations, where, frequently, the truth is only said behind closed doors. Sterling’s alleged remarks, about a female friend “associating with black people” was spurred by pictures that she posted to her Instagram account, posing with…
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Tufts Conference Examines Barack Obama and American Democracy
Some of America’s leading public intellectuals, scholars and activists gathered at Tufts University April 16-18 for the fifth annual Barack Obama and American Democracy conference. Michael Eric Dyson’s exhilarating opening keynote offered a rich intellectual and political framework for principled criticism of the Obama administration’s political and moral failures with a balanced appreciation of…
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Analyzing American Democracy In the Age of Obama
The fifth annual Barack Obama and American Democracy conference will convene at Tufts University this week. Sponsored by the university’s Center for the Study of Race and Democracy, the conference draws a community of scholars, activists and policy experts to debate, analyze and discuss the Obama administration’s impact at the local, national and global level.…
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How Race Factors Into Recent Supreme Court Rulings on Elections
Recent Supreme Court decisions on voting rights and political contributions have rescued the Republican Party from the brink of political oblivion and instead threaten to permanently undermine the very fabric of American democracy. The court’s 5-4 decision last week in McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission eliminated the aggregate cap on individual campaign donations. The ruling…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
