Independent since 2002 Issue No. 1102 Week of November 7, 2026 Get the free email dispatch →

Issue: 3

May 16, 2002

Commentary

Hard Right Cash Defeated in Black City – This Time Ultra-Conservative Favorite Cory Booker Loses in Newark, New Jersey What city will be the next target of the right wing’s New Black Strategy?

By The Black Commentator Guest Commentator

Black America dodged a bullet, May 14. The national ultra-conservative network, after committing resources that only billionaires can muster, failed in its first serious effort to intervene directly in intra-Black electoral politics. Their champion, 33-year old first term Newark Councilman Cory Booker, lost his bid to unseat 66-year old Mayor Sharpe James, 53% to 47%.…

Black America dodged a bullet, May 14. The national ultra-conservative network, after committing resources that only billionaires can muster, failed in its first serious effort to…

Continue reading 7 min

Commentary

How to Spot a Black Trojan Horse Don’t allow the enemy into your house A Letter from Harvard’s Dr. Martin Kilson

By The Black Commentator Guest Commentator

Dr. Martin Kilson, Guest Commentator When Cory Booker emerged as a real contender for Mayor of majority Black Newark, New Jersey, some African American intellectuals sounded the alarm. Among them was Harvard’s Dr. Martin Kilson, a research professor of political science who was the first African American to be granted full tenure at the college,…

Dr. Martin Kilson, Guest Commentator When Cory Booker emerged as a real contender for Mayor of majority Black Newark, New Jersey, some African American intellectuals sounded…

Continue reading 6 min

Commentary

Condoleezza & Geraldo: A Fine Pair As we used to say, they’re both “a credit to their race”

By The Black Commentator Guest Commentator

FROM: Co-Publisher Glen Ford TO: Our Readers Re: Condoleezza & Geraldo Dear Reader: It’s as good a time as any to gauge how Condoleezza Rice is measuring up to her Image Award. Ever since the televised presentation back in March, lots of us have wondered how NAACP executive director Kweisi Mfume had come to the…

FROM: Co-Publisher Glen Ford TO: Our Readers Re: Condoleezza & Geraldo Dear Reader: It’s as good a time as any to gauge how Condoleezza Rice is…

Continue reading 10 min

Commentary

Reparations, Part One The True Value of Some Land and an Animal Today’s Blacks could have inherited powerful advantages over foreign-born whites, if only

By The Black Commentator Guest Commentator

“Out of the lands thus confiscated each liberated slave who is a male adult, or the head of a family, shall have assigned to him a homestead of forty acres of land, (with $100 to build a dwelling), which shall be held for them by trustees during their pupilage.” –Congressman Thaddeus Stevens, speaking to the…

"Out of the lands thus confiscated each liberated slave who is a male adult, or the head of a family, shall have assigned to him a…

Continue reading 12 min

Commentary

The Living Wage Movement: A New Beginning Bread, Power and Civil Rights in 19 Languages A force for change sweeps the nation

By The Black Commentator Guest Commentator

In the streets of the megalopolis that stretches from the Chesapeake Bay to New York Harbor, janitors chant, “Puedo si” (Yes, I can!), demanding decent wages to clean the office towers of the New Economy. On the West Coast, home care workers celebrate their hard fought victories in a score of languages. In majority Black…

In the streets of the megalopolis that stretches from the Chesapeake Bay to New York Harbor, janitors chant, “Puedo si” (Yes, I can!), demanding decent wages…

Continue reading 23 min

Commentary

A Statement on the Events of September 11

By Cynthia McKinney U.S. Congressperson (D-GA)

Rep. Cynthia McKinney’s Statement On The Events of September 11 On March 25, Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney appeared on a public radio program in Berkeley, California. She shared her thoughts on the September 11 bombings, including her belief that some U.S. agencies had prior knowledge that attacks were planned. McKinney pointed out that individuals and…

Rep. Cynthia McKinney's Statement On The Events of September 11 On March 25, Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney appeared on a public radio program in Berkeley, California.…

Continue reading 5 min

$ $ Contribute $ $