Category: Guest Commentary

In the aftermath of LAPD’s latest abuse scandal, a video taped beating of an unarmed, surrendered Black man, it is time to take on this illusion that LAPD has, somehow reformed itself, simply because it has had a change of “head” three times in the last ten years – when in fact, LAPD has had…

National Security Advisor Dr. Condoleezza Rice, a classically trained pianist and devout Christian, has been a popular spokesperson for the Bush Administration. When speaking at the 51st National Prayer Breakfast last year, she shared an anecdote about her experience as a pianist for a Black Baptist church in California: “At this church the minister would…

We are prophets of a future not our own.” And so we work today for sanity in a world gone mad. My few words today are about the work required by the Golden Rule: Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you. Be a good steward of people and of the earth.…

One of the gains of the civil rights movement was to make displays of blatant racism unacceptable. Although still a problem, overt discrimination is generally deemed inappropriate in mainstream society. Unfortunately, this progress in race relations has corresponded with a move towards a “colorblind” ideology; the notion that race is no longer an issue in…

Stratford High School in Goose Creek, South Carolina, could be as infamous as Columbine High, evoking images of terror in the hallways of a public school as chilling as the Colorado school’s day of infamy in April 1999. On November 5, 2003, local police conducted an early morning, commando-style drug raid at the request of…

With my office, library and meditation room located on the second floor of our home, on any given day I move up and down the steps twelve to twenty times. At the top of the landing is an exquisitely framed, late 19th century, mint condition lithograph of Francois Dominique Toussaint L’Overture. My brother Leonard rescued…

Many Americans remember the old McDonald’s commercial that had us all hungry for “two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, and onions on a sesame seed bun.” When you felt compelled to purchase one of those concoctions, did you feel as though you had just bought a product similar to the factory-produced computer that…

The US News & World Report rankings are out, and Law professors are dashing to find out how their schools rank, so this is a good time to issue an alert: It is not intentional, in your face, “we don’t want Blacks” in our law school, kind of discrimination. No, it is that hard to…

My son and I are of differing opinion as to how people achieve their success or status in the world. As with many parents, I am constantly on his case about finishing his education and “making something of himself’.” I mean he does all right in retail sales for himself. Young single Black Man, working…

Whenever this issue of contemporary or preferential treatment for the Negro is raised, some of our friends recoil in horror. The Negro should be granted equality, they agree; but he should ask nothing more. On the surface, this appears reasonable, but it is not realistic. For it is obvious that if a man is entered…