This is the Fifth Anniversary edition of The Black Commentator, and we at BC salute you, our readers. You are a very special group of people.

We know you are a special group, because we picked the first 20,000 or so of you, based on your political activism and influence, as we prepared to launch the site on April 5, 2002. Most of the rest of you were introduced to us by extremely intelligent friends and co-strugglers. Without a doubt, BC is blessed with the smartest audience on the Internet – people whose opinions shape the views of many others. You are the catalysts for change; we are simply here to assist as you contemplate how to effect these changes.

Many of you are even more special to us because you have become BC Paid Subscribers. You understand the importance of providing financial support for BC and we thank you sincerely. If you have not become a BC Paid Subscriber, please click here now and do so. A subscription is $50 per year. Those who have contributed more than $50 and did not choose to remain anonymous may be found on the Friends of BC Page.

If you can't afford $50, but wish to make a contribution of any lesser amount, either one time or on some regular basis, please click here and fill out out the form that fits your choice.

If you can't afford to make any financial contribution at this time, please click here to request a Complimentary BC Paid Subscription. A Complimentary BC Paid Subscription gives you all the functions of a BC Paid Subscription. We have never refused a request for a Complimentary BC Paid Subscription; it's there for anyone who finds our $50 annual fee a burden. We appreciate your readership, and the way so many of your have recommended BC to others

All BC subscribers - paid and complimentary - have access to the following archive and search pages of our publication:

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Past Issues

Guest Commentators

Think Pieces

Cartoons

As a special incentive/birthday present from us to all those who have yet to become BC Paid Subsribers, we have unrestricted the above pages this week. We've unlocked them. We've opened them up for your perusal. Take a look around; there is a wealth of information in the 224 issues of BC.

Ours is a political mission – as is yours. The twin evils of corporate dominance over civil society and racial oppression – and the ghastly horror of war – leave no room for ambivalence about the duties of decent citizens who are also journalists: they must fight the powers that be. Oppression and exploitation are objective realities, not questionable notions to be carefully balanced by lies. Liars and thieves have no rights that honest men and women are bound to respect. There was a time when such values were nearly universally understood among African Americans who called themselves journalists. No more. Now, for far too many, journalism has become simply one more route to individual upward mobility, devoid of social obligation and contemptuous of truth.

BC was conceived as a tool to to be used in the righteous struggle for economic and social justice and peace. The journalist’s mission should be to provide a framework of facts and analysis that serves one's fellow humans. The journalist’s unique calling is to warn his or her co-humans of impending dangers, or inform them of emerging possibilities for progress. All else is pretense, self-serving, and dishonest.

So covetous are our antagonists, they are now attempting to devour the American state.

The threats multiply, and require a vigorous, much more aggressive journalism. Most importantly, what is necessary is an all inclusive leftist journalism that defends the interests of African Americans, the people of the African World and the people as a whole, rather than African American luminaries who are increasingly on the payroll of the enemy.

We will continue to try our best to be that voice.

Click here to contact the BC Publisher and staff.