Category: Commentary

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968 I come to this magnificent house of worship tonight because my conscience leaves me no other choice. I join with you in this meeting because I am in deepest agreement with the aims and work of the organization which has brought us together:…

Our January 9 commentary “No Draft, No Peace: Rangel and Conyers are right,” endorsed universal national service, as proposed by Reps. Charles Rangel (D-NY) and John Conyers (D-MI). “By immunizing 95 percent of American families from the immediate consequences of war,” we wrote, “the militarists have purchased consent to use the armed forces as they…

“I will continue to do exactly what I’ve been doing,” said Kane County, Illinois prosecutor Meg Gorecki. “I will not let one moment in time, which I don’t believe was well reasoned and well thought out, to change a process and a system that has worked.” “One moment in time” spared the lives of 163…

The week began in high anticipation and, for most politically conscious African Americans, great anxiety. George Bush was once again wallowing in Mississippi mud, his U.S. Court of Appeals nomination of Charles Pickering up for a second time before the Senate Judiciary Committee. History seemed about to march backwards on affirmative action, as Bush prepared…

Black Congressmen Charles Rangel (NY) and John Conyers (MI) are correct in advocating a return to universal military service. In the 30 years since the last young American was drafted, the U.S. has constructed a volunteer military machine that is disconnected from the life of the nation, a foreign legion-like force to which whole sectors…

Our illustrated character The Right Rev. Dr. Greedygut made his debut in last week’s issue, but it is evident that many readers have known him all of their lives. He’s the preacher who is always ready with a biblical justification for his own enrichment. The Republican faith-based offensive, captained on the Democratic side by Connecticut…

For the true thief, there can never be “ill gotten gains” or “an embarrassment of riches.” What’s to be embarrassed about? says George Bush’s face, looking ever so slightly confused just above the eyes. Then the smirk gets smirkier, a few new crinkles of satisfaction signifying that Bush’s rock-hard greed is infinitely stronger than the…

This article was first published by RaceWire, ColorLines magazine Cynthia Davis, a senior at Bell High School, lives in the city of Cudahy, part of the southeastern part of Los Angeles that has one of the densest concentrations of Latino working poor west of the Mississippi. Last year, after some class discussion about the inherent…

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. – Mark 12:40 George Bush is a hypocrite in the Biblical sense of the word. He holds aloft the ideals of community service, then brings down his arm to…

Since our inaugural issue, April 5, The Black Commentator has warned that the Right is determined to invent an “alternative” African American leadership. This sophisticated strategy of subversion and cooptation was the brainchild of the Milwaukee-based Bradley Foundation, which has played the leading role in formulating the Republican Party’s domestic social agenda. Welfare “reform,” private…