Category: The African World

A writer friend of mine, Nicholas Powers, just sent me the draft of a very good op-ed he is writing. In it, he makes reference to the depression-like conditions that Black America faces in the current economic crisis. For some reason, Powers’ article triggered the following thoughts. The election of Ben Jealous as president of…

In the context of the criticisms that many of us have of the Obama administration for what it has not accomplished, for its advance of a corporate agenda and for the unacceptable compromises it has made with the Republicans, there is something that I have seen few progressives address. To borrow from a comment offered…

It happened and received very little attention. Shortly after Libya’s Col. Qaddafi finished a radio address, a NATO airstrike killed Qaddafi’s son, Saif Al-Arab and three of Qaddafi’s grandchildren. Is this what is supposed to happen in a no fly zone? In case you did not notice, they were not flying at the time of…

COINTELPRO 101, produced by Freedom Archives. Click here to order. I read The Autobiography of Malcolm X when I was 13 and realized at that moment that I needed to be an activist for social justice, and particularly in the cause of Black Freedom. I was almost simultaneously moved and inspired by the politics of…

Nader Hashemi and Danny Postel, Editors, The People Reloaded: The Green Movement and the Struggle for Iran’s Future , Brooklyn, New York: Melville House Publishing, 2011, 440 pp. Nader Hashemi and Danny Postel have produced one of the most interesting, informative and timely pieces of work on Iran that I have seen in some time.…

As April 4th approaches I cannot but think of the work and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King. On April 4th this year there will be the standard remembrances of Dr. King on the 43rd anniversary of his assassination. There will also be demonstrations taking place across the country initiated by labor unions and their…

I have to admit it, and I do so publicly, that I was wrong. I did not believe that the USA and their European allies were going to attack Libya. Please do not misunderstand me: I was clear that the USA and its European allies were quite capable of carrying out the attack and I…

New York Congressman Peter King’s hearings regarding so-called Islamic radicalism in the USA have raised some interesting questions, once again, about how one defines “terrorism.” It was as recently as 2009 that a Department of Homeland Security report came out specifically addressing the rise of domestic, homegrown, right-wing terrorism in the USA. The Republican Party…

When I moved to DC from Boston I went to open a checking account at a local bank. I brought a cashier’s check from my bank in Boston to deposit. I naturally assumed that with a cashier’s check that I could immediately access my funds. The customer service person disabused me of that. She informed…

So, let’s be clear: it’s not about the budget. As the facts have emerged in the 2011 Wisconsin crisis with Governor Scott Walker’s move against public service unions, it is not about Wisconsin lacking funds. There is no credible way that Walker and his clique can argue that eliminating a worker’s right to collective bargaining…