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Home Issue: 173

Issue: 173

March 2, 2006

Cover Story

Andy Young – The Shameless Son

By Bruce Dixon Editor

Black History Month 2006 ended on a jarring note. Andrew Young, a former member of Dr. King’s inner circle at SCLC, who went on to serve three terms in Congress, a stint as UN ambassador and two terms as mayor of Atlanta before cashing out his Freedom Movement chips for a lucrative career as an…

Black History Month 2006 ended on a jarring note. Andrew Young, a former member of Dr. King's inner circle at SCLC, who went on to serve…

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Commentary

Freedom Rider: Bush’s Arab Cronies

By Margaret Kimberley Guest Commentator

Democrats and Republicans both know how to appeal to the great mass of ignorant Americans. Bigotry is always a winner for politicians. It keeps them from having to do their jobs, and aids in covering their wrong doing. The group that it is now most acceptable to hate and fear are Arabs. All Arabs have…

Democrats and Republicans both know how to appeal to the great mass of ignorant Americans. Bigotry is always a winner for politicians. It keeps them from…

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Commentary

Bruce’s Beat

By Bruce Dixon Editor

We hear a lot about A. Phillip Randolph and Bayard Rustin and Ella Baker and James Foreman and especially about Martin Luther King every February. The names of Malcolm X and Garvey and Paul Robeson and W.E.B. DuBois are dusted off and thrown around, along with those of Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Frederick Douglass, Henry Highland…

We hear a lot about A. Phillip Randolph and Bayard Rustin and Ella Baker and James Foreman and especially about Martin Luther King every February. The…

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Commentary

Radio BC: Iraqi Chickens Come Home to Roost

By The Black Commentator Guest Commentator

The rulers of the United States seem to make the same mistakes, every time. They empowered the Pakistani government, which created the Taliban that took over Afghanistan, and provided a haven for Osama bin Ladin. That same government’s nuclear scientist, Mr. Khan, then proceeded to spread the technology of proliferation around the globe. George Bush…

The rulers of the United States seem to make the same mistakes, every time. They empowered the Pakistani government, which created the Taliban that took over…

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Art: Life Is A Song

Art

Art: Life Is A Song

By The Black Commentator Guest Commentator

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Guest Commentary

Why Is Tavis Smiling? And Why Are We Watching?

By Leutisha L. Stills Guest Commentator

Every year, radio/tv commentator Tavis Smiley holds a forum that brings together “the best and the brightest” African-Americans from academia, political, economic and health care, to hold panel discussions on what’s wrong with Black America, and how we Black Americans should go about fixing it. This is a good gesture, if we truly believe it…

Every year, radio/tv commentator Tavis Smiley holds a forum that brings together "the best and the brightest" African-Americans from academia, political, economic and health care, to…

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Commentary

Think Piece: Booker T. vs. DuBois – Retrospective on the Washington/Duboisian

By Dr. Martin Kilson Editorial Board

I commenced Part I of this article by reflecting on the generic question that engaged the small sector of leadership and intelligentsia personalities available to African-Americans at the dawn of the Emancipation Era after the Civil War. Namely: “How do you lead the formerly enslaved Negro American?” I then proceeded to delineate the core ideas…

I commenced Part I of this article by reflecting on the generic question that engaged the small sector of leadership and intelligentsia personalities available to African-Americans…

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Guest Commentary

Notes on Political Education

By Jonathan Scott Guest Commentator

In assessing the political right’s performance over the last twenty years, different conclusions can be drawn. Based on the most basic facts, the right has failed in every area except one. This single success, however, as the right’s continuing dominance attests, is the most important in any struggle for political power: the steady production and…

In assessing the political right's performance over the last twenty years, different conclusions can be drawn. Based on the most basic facts, the right has failed…

Continue reading 21 min

Guest Commentary

Letter to Shani Davis: Show ‘Em Your South Side

By Roger Brown Guest Commentator

On February 18, Chicago native Shani Davis won the 1,000-meter speed skating competition at the Winter Olympics, becoming the first African-American ever to win the gold medal for an individual event in the games. What followed was the kind of slap in the face that has become an all-too-common smudge in the area of race…

On February 18, Chicago native Shani Davis won the 1,000-meter speed skating competition at the Winter Olympics, becoming the first African-American ever to win the gold…

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