Independent since 2002 Issue No. 1102 Week of November 7, 2026 Get the free email dispatch →

Category: Commentary

Commentary

Quote to Ponder: Iroquois Prayer of Thanksgiving

By The Black Commentator Guest Commentator

We return thanks to our mother, the earth, which sustains us. We return thanks to the rivers and streams, which supply us with water. We return thanks to all herbs, which furnish medicines for the cure of our diseases. We return thanks to the moon and stars, which have given us their light when the sun was gone. We return thanks to the sun, that has looked upon the earth with a beneficent eye. Lastly, we return thanks to the Great Spirit, in Whom is embodied all goodness, and Who directs all things for the good of Her children.

Thanksgiving Prayer from the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Nation

Continue reading 1 min

Commentary

Thanksgiving: The National Day of Mourning – Text of 1970 speech by Wampsutta An Aquinnah Wampanoag Elder

By The Black Commentator Guest Commentator

This is a time of celebration for you - celebrating an anniversary of a beginning for the white man in America. A time of looking back, of reflection. It is with a heavy heart that I look back upon what happened to my People.

When Frank James (1923 - February 20, 2001), known to the Wampanoag people as Wampsutta, was invited to speak by the Commonwealth of Massachusettsat the 1970…

Continue reading 9 min

Cover Story

White Nationalism and Antisemitism by the Ideological Right in America

By Dr. Elwood Watson, PhD Guest Commentator

Racially coded messages - welfare queens, crime, forced busing - were widely disseminated by the Reagan campaign, which was also enormously successful in garnering the religious right’s fierce support.

Acerbic acrimonious verbal exchanges that have dominated sizable segments of the conservative right over the past several weeks demonstrate little, if any signs of abating. When…

Continue reading 5 min

Commentary

Flexing Our Economic Muscles

By Dr. Julianne Malveaux, PhD Editorial Board

We’re tired of being told patriotic duty looks like over-stuffing shopping carts. Consumerism is not freedom. Conscious spending is.

Every year, corporations expect us to line up, log on, and lose our minds for Black Friday. They expect us to stretch our budgets, drain our…

Continue reading 4 min

Commentary

Do Not Overrate the November Election Results

By Dr. Elwood Watson, PhD Guest Commentator

although Democrats have done well in special elections all year, the party still faces considerable challenges.

Despite the recent surrender among several democratic senators to end the government shutdown on November 9th, the chattering classes are still abuzz about the political results…

Continue reading 7 min

Commentary

When They Cry “Communism”: The Politics of Fear and Mislabeling

By Dr. Julianne Malveaux, PhD Editorial Board

Democratic socialism is not a threat to democracy; its democracy fulfilled. It means that freedom should extend beyond the ballot box to the workplace and the marketplace.

Now that Zohran Mamdani is the mayor-elect of New York City, expect the slings and arrows aimed at him to intensify. He has been called everything…

Continue reading 5 min

Commentary

Police Brutality in America

By Dr. Elwood Watson, PhD Guest Commentator

The death of Black Americans at the hands of law enforcement has become so commonplace and routine that many of us who are Black have managed to become simultaneously outraged and psychologically numbed.

Some degree of belated, if not entirely total, justice prevailed on October 29th when former officer Sean Grayson, who shot and murdered Sonya Massey was found…

Continue reading 6 min

Commentary

Environmental Injustices

By Dr. James Jennings, PhD Editorial Board

it is these recent, spiteful federal actions and dictates that are are illegal and contradictory to the U.S. Constitution and a plethora of laws and judicial decisions and regulations established, and reaffirmed, over decades.

Note: This commentary is the opening Presentation by James Jennings to the Convening: Environmental Justice and Housing Equity: Building Power for Communities, on behalf of Alternatives…

Continue reading 8 min

Commentary

Endorsing Harris Was Dick Cheney’s Finest Hour

By Dr. Julianne Malveaux, PhD Editorial Board

When Cheney endorsed Kamala Harris, he reminded Americans that patriotism is not defined by party, but by principle.

Dick Cheney, who died this week at age 84, was one of the most powerful and controversial figures in modern American politics. The former Vice President…

Continue reading 5 min

Cover Story

Paused Government, Postponed Future: What America Loses in a Shutdown

By Dr. Julianne Malveaux, PhD Editorial Board

when Congress turns governance into a game, it’s not abstract for Black families - it’s a direct hit to their economic security.

For millions of Americans, the federal government isn’t an abstraction. It’s a paycheck, a housing voucher, a student loan payment, a disaster relief check. When the…

Continue reading 5 min

$ $ Contribute $ $