Category: Color of Law

Let us explore for a moment the notion that the Catholic Church is a safe haven for criminals” if not a criminal organization itself, or at least an organization whose leadership engages in criminality. Such a topic goes beyond the comfort level of some people because it is interpreted as an attack on religion, or…

On March 16, former Harvard student Brittany Smith was indicted for her alleged involvement in a campus shooting that left a man dead. Smith was charged with being an accessory after the fact in the May 2009 murder of 21-year old Justin Cosby. Specifically, Smith is accused of participating in a drug deal gone bad,…

Recently I read about Detroit’s new plan to scale back the city. With a substantial population decline over the years, and the effects of urban blight and abandoned buildings, the Motor City has a plan to downsize. Specifically, there’s a plan afoot to demolish the abandoned and unlivable parts of the city, and move people…

As the new Executive Editor of BlackCommentator.com, I would like to thank my predecessor for the leadership and vision he has provided to a crucial resource at a crucial time. I aspire to fill his shoes. And of course, my plan is also to continue writing the commentaries that you have so graciously read on…

The word disproportionality has been on my mind a great deal lately. The definition of disproportionality is the state of lacking symmetry or proportion; of being out of proportion, as in size, shape or amount; of being unequal. In order to better understand the concept of disproportionality, consider a punishment of ten years” imprisonment for…

When golf giant Tiger Woods made his public apology recently, he said he let a lot of people down. Personally, I cared very little about his personal dalliances and extracurricular activities. With an economic and political crisis afoot in this crumbling empire, it seems that this salacious celebrity gossip is nothing more than that—a media-created…

Sadly, it’s the sort of thing that happens on a regular basis these days. Someone, whether a disgruntled employee, a mentally unstable individual, a socially-awkward or obsessive person, you fill in the blank, goes on a shooting spree and exacts vengeance through the barrel of a gun. People express shock that this sort of thing…

When I heard that ten American missionaries are on trial for kidnapping 33 Haitian children and attempting to take them to an orphanage in the Dominican Republic, I, like most other people, was outraged. But I can’t say I was surprised. To be sure, the thought that some people, whether missionaries or traffickers, would take…

It is unfortunate that it took an earthquake to put the spotlight back on poverty in Haiti. To be sure, the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that leveled Port-au-Prince would have been devastating under any circumstances. But the people of Haiti had been suffering for years. The difference is that no one cared, because people often become…

In the George Orwell classic 1984, there is a state of perpetual war among the nations of Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia. The enemy is vague, and the battlefield is located in some elusive, distant land. The enemy could be Eurasia one day, and Eastasia the next, but that is really beside the point. The purpose…