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Issue: 277

May 15, 2008

Commentary

The Future of Foreclosures – Smoke and Mirrors

By Lloyd Wynn Columnist

If there is any lingering doubt about the state of the US economy, the Federal Reserve Chairman cleared that issue up May 13, 2008, in a speech to an Atlanta Fed conference. Chairman Ben Bernanke said, “financial markets remain unsettled” and “far from normal”. Contrast Bernanke’s statements with pronouncements by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and…

If there is any lingering doubt about the state of the US economy, the Federal Reserve Chairman cleared that issue up May 13, 2008, in a…

Continue reading 4 min

Commentary

Juan Crow in Georgia

By Roberto Lovato Guest Commentator

[This commentary was originally published in The Nation.] Justeen Mancha’s dream of becoming a psychologist was born of the tropical heat and exploitation that have shaped farm worker life around Reidsville, Georgia, for centuries. The wiry, freckle-faced 17-year-old high school junior has toiled in drought-dry onion fields to help her mother, Maria Christina Martinez. But…

[This commentary was originally published in The Nation.] Justeen Mancha’s dream of becoming a psychologist was born of the tropical heat and exploitation that have shaped…

Continue reading 20 min

Commentary

On Hillary: “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going, I’m Stayin’, and You’re Gonna Love Me” Clinton – Unapologetically Young, Black and Female

By Jasmyne Cannick Columnist

Obama is my candidate and believe it or not, he has said and done some things that have upset me, like disavowing the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright, but never once did I consider skipping the election or supporting the enemy. Was I disappointed – yes. A bit pissed off – you betcha. But, crazy enough…

Obama is my candidate and believe it or not, he has said and done some things that have upset me, like disavowing the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah…

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Commentary

Unpaid Debt=Anger – Think Piece

By Wilson Riles Columnist

African American culture is a wondrous, life-saving, reactionary construction to slavery and discrimination. African American culture is forged in the “manifest destiny,” “chosen people” expression of cultural oppression; that is from where black cultural intensity arises including the prophetic tradition of the Black Church. Black culture offers black mental survival. It is different from the…

African American culture is a wondrous, life-saving, reactionary construction to slavery and discrimination. African American culture is forged in the “manifest destiny,” “chosen people” expression of…

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Commentary

Bubba in the Backyard: The Politics of Race and Gender in Campaign 2008

By T. S. Aschenge Guest Commentator

Let me locate for you the space from which I am speaking. During slavery, a Black man’s desire to make a strike for freedom was often rationalized and even seriously argued in the courts, as some sort of mental disorder or disease. ‘What in the world could be much better than what they have here?’…

Let me locate for you the space from which I am speaking. During slavery, a Black man’s desire to make a strike for freedom was often…

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Commentary

I Am BLACK Not black – A Poem

By Kingsley

We let them plant in our soil We let them rule our spirit We let them play with our soul But one thing we managed to do, Was to take out their plants but We forgot the roots That is why they claim To have discovered us But the question is; Who discovered them? They…

We let them plant in our soil We let them rule our spirit We let them play with our soul But one thing we managed to…

Continue reading 2 min

Commentary

The Virgin Maryam of Surah – Student Writers’ Corner

By The Black Commentator Guest Commentator

As-salaam alaykum wa ramahtullah wa barakatuh jianim and extended community, The Virgin Maryam of Surah 3 and 19 is discussed in the New Testament in the Book of Revelations of the modern Bible. I don’t know how many books of the Injl had been gathered at the time of the Prophet Muhammad (salallahu alaihi wa…

As-salaam alaykum wa ramahtullah wa barakatuh jianim and extended community, The Virgin Maryam of Surah 3 and 19 is discussed in the New Testament in the…

Continue reading 4 min

Commentary

Sabotage, Division, or Sedition

By Brother Bede

With all respect to Obama’s Philadelphia speech in March – truly an excellent piece of oratory – the senator from Illinois is responsible for at least two serious weaknesses which had nothing to do with Wright – his soft-jingoism in aligning himself with Israel and disregarding the truly catastrophic consequences of US policy both for…

With all respect to Obama’s Philadelphia speech in March - truly an excellent piece of oratory - the senator from Illinois is responsible for at least…

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Commentary

Weapons of Mass Distraction: Mind Control, Zombification and the Neutralizing of Black People – Student Writers’ Corner

By The Black Commentator Guest Commentator

It is not a startling claim, to state that black folks are living in a society that is antithetical to their independence. Nor is it strange news to assert that this repressive society has successfully taken over the control-vault that drives and directs the minds of black people. This diabolic mechanism is not new to…

It is not a startling claim, to state that black folks are living in a society that is antithetical to their independence. Nor is it strange…

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