Category: The African World

It was just a matter of time, and most Black people knew just that. At an anti-healthcare rally in Washington, DC, right-wing demonstrators associated with the so-called “Tea Party” movement verbally assaulted Congressman John Lewis. Calling upon him to vote against the healthcare legislation, they chose to use the “N” word in describing the Congressman.…

The Israeli government never ceases to amaze me. Since the election of President Obama they have been engaged in a game of chicken with the administration, attempting to ascertain whether there was anything behind the administration’s stated objective of achieving a just and lasting peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Vice President Biden’s recent…

I am stepping down as the Executive Editor of BlackCommentator.com. No, this in no way represents a political parting of the ways. For largely personal reasons I have decided that I need to alter my role. I will remain on the Editorial Board and I will continue to write for the magazine. I decided that…

Note: This is an address made to a gathering of more than 500 leaders from American Federation of Government Employees local unions and councils where policy issues are discussed. Bill Fletcher, Jr. is the Director of Field Services & Education for AFGE. The speech was delivered on Sunday, February 21st. Good afternoon and thank you.…

Either at the beginning of spring training or the beginning of the formal baseball season, the form of spring fever I experience is the need to write about Curt Flood. Curt Flood, the outstanding player for the St. Louis Cardinals, took the bold step of challenging the so-called “reserve clause” in baseball that kept players…

(Note: If you missed it on the BC Facebook and twitter pages, click here to read Bill’s commentary “Don’t deny peaceful protests in West Bank” on CNN.com) In the middle of one of the worst weeks of snow that the Washington, DC area has seen, Republican opportunists have begun crowing—again—about how climate change is an…

It all started sometime after the second Haitian earthquake. I was meeting with a long-time friend who asked me whether I had heard some remark that Danny Glover was alleged to have made. She had not heard the exact wording but she had been watching something on TV and heard a commentator speak of an…

The coverage of the aftermath of the two earthquakes to hit Haiti has been increasingly troubling, but not just for the obvious reasons. What is left of the Haitian government reports that 150,000 bodies have been buried, leading to the conclusion that the estimate of at least 200,000 dead is probably, and very unfortunately, accurate.…

After President Obama’s announcement of an escalation of the Afghanistan war, I received an email from an outraged colleague of mine. She was outraged not only with Obama, but also with me, given that I had been an advocate of critical support for then Senator Obama in his Presidential campaign. She called upon me to…

Do we need another column about the Haiti catastrophe? Probably not, but here it goes anyway. While watching the Haitian state collapse along with the buildings of Port-au-Prince; while watching the utter despair on the faces of thousands; while seeing the impact of being in Haiti in the expressions of US-based journalists covering the story;…