Category: The African World

Organized labor has vanished, as if it were part of the story line of a science fiction novel. Labor Day 2008 came and went and…nothing. I searched through the newspaper…nothing. I looked at the TV schedule…nothing. It was as if there is not and never was anything called organized labor. You may be saying that…

Probably like many of you, I have found myself reflecting on Senator Obama’s choice of Senator Joseph Biden as his Vice Presidential running mate. From the standpoint of campaign strategy, I must say that it was a brilliant decision. Obama, sensing his own vulnerability on matters of foreign policy – in mainstream circles – picked…

In important respects there are several different “Nelson Mandelas.” For many of us who were active in and around the anti-apartheid support movement, Nelson Mandela became the face of the South African liberation struggle. This was true not only for activists, but also for much of the rest of the sympathetic world. In this respect…

The awareness of the shenanigans of the 2000 and 2004 elections has led to a very broad-based mobilization around what is being called “Voter Protection.” Unions, community-based organizations, and other non-profits have enlisted in this battle, one which starts with increasing public awareness of the dangers of voter disenfranchisement. Further involvement in this work is…

I remember reading of the origin of the term “Pyrrhic victory.” It came from a battle in which Pyrrhus, the King of ancient Epirus, won a victory over the Romans at such a terrible cost, that he and his forces were ruined. Robert Mugabe has been declared the victor in the Zimbabwean elections. The elections…

It feels like every few months there is a need for an outcry against a possible US or Israeli attack on Iran. For a few moments, the drum beat of war recedes only to emerge again with the same rationale: Iran is allegedly a threat to the USA and to world peace. I thought that…

Among left-of-center Black activists, in the face of this crisis there is confusion, if not disarray. Some people are pinning all of their hopes on a Barack Obama victory in November as laying the foundations for turning the tide on this situation. Others, in discounting both the Obama campaign and a possible Obama presidency, are…

It is said that one cannot argue with success, but in this commentary I will challenge that proposition. Despite being the presumptive Democratic Party nominee, there is something about the Obama candidacy that has been nagging at me. A lunch meeting with a woman friend of mine, followed by listening to a commentary by journalist…

But growing up I never heard about Deir Yassin and all that it represented. So, at the ripe old age of 15 I stumbled across information about a phenomenon that we would now call ethnic cleansing; and it was ethnic cleansing carried out at a monumental scale by Zionists against the Palestinian population immediately prior…

Clearly there are many other areas where we need the active leadership of the NAACP, but let me end by saying that being of a post-Baby Boomer generation gives you an advantage and a challenge over your predecessors. On the one hand, you are less likely to fall into nostalgia for the old ways of…