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Home Issue: 343

Issue: 343

September 24, 2009

Cover Story

The Conversation America Won’t Have on Race

By The Reverend Irene Monroe Editorial Board

If we resided in a post-racial society then William Faulkner’s words uttered in the 20th century would not ring true in this century-“The past isn’t dead and buried. In fact, it isn’t even past.” With the election of Barack Obama as this nation’s first African-American president many of us had hope we could finally close…

If we resided in a post-racial society then William Faulkner’s words uttered in the 20th century would not ring true in this century-"The past isn't dead…

Continue reading 5 min

The African World

Whither ACORN?

By Bill Fletcher, Jr. Editorial Board

Sometimes an organization is faced with a crisis of such proportions that it calls into question its integrity and relationship with the public. In the corporate world, one can think of the airline ValuJet which, after the disastrous crash into the Everglades of one of its planes, so lost the confidence of the public that…

Sometimes an organization is faced with a crisis of such proportions that it calls into question its integrity and relationship with the public. In the corporate…

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Commentary

Caster Semenya: An Unlikely Challenger of Sexual Binary and Beauty Images

By Jamala Rogers Editorial Board

The South African runner made international headlines when she won the 800 meters in a record-breaking 1 minute 55.45 seconds. Caster Semenya’s victory was eclipsed by claims that she was really a male and therefore had an advantage over her female competitors. Accusations of jealousy quickly came from family and friends; charges of racism came…

The South African runner made international headlines when she won the 800 meters in a record-breaking 1 minute 55.45 seconds. Caster Semenya’s victory was eclipsed by…

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Commentary

Racism & Reaction Must be Confronted

By Carl Bloice Editorial Board

David Brooks ought to go running even more often; maybe take a different route sometimes. A couple of weeks ago the New York Times columnist was doing his usual Lincoln Memorial to the Capitol and back trek when he encountered a bunch of “tea party” people demonstrating and “carrying ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ flags, ‘End…

David Brooks ought to go running even more often; maybe take a different route sometimes. A couple of weeks ago the New York Times columnist was…

Continue reading 9 min

Commentary

In Praise of Eduardo Galeano’s Mirrors

By Dr. Lenore J. Daniels, PhD Editorial Board

-Big Thunder – Algonquin Last spring, at the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s gift to U.S. President Barrack Obama is a copy of Eduardo Galeano’s book, Open Veins of Latin America, (Las Venas Abiertas de America Latina). The Guardian, April 189, 2009, reported the incident: “A classic work in left-wing…

-Big Thunder - Algonquin Last spring, at the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s gift to U.S. President Barrack Obama is a…

Continue reading 11 min

Color of Law

America Needs A True Revolution Of Values

By David A. Love, JD Executive Editor

As you probably heard, the Values Voters Summit was recently held in Washington, DC. What exactly is a values voter, and who exactly decides on the definition of a values voter? In the Orwellian world of conservative-Republican-Christian-fringe doublespeak, the goal is to confuse, obfuscate, distort and deceive. Concepts are intentionally misnamed to suggest a completely…

As you probably heard, the Values Voters Summit was recently held in Washington, DC. What exactly is a values voter, and who exactly decides on the…

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Commentary

On Obama’s Empire, The Media, Class, and Color: Time To Fight Back!

By Larry Pinkney Editorial Board

Our backs are not merely up against the wall; we are being steadily plastered inside of it. The corporate self-described ‘news’ media of this nation continues its insidious polemical war of disinformation, distraction, and omission against the unemployed, the working poor, and the masses of every day people nationally and globally. The Obama/Biden/Rahm Emanuel administration,…

Our backs are not merely up against the wall; we are being steadily plastered inside of it. The corporate self-described ‘news’ media of this nation continues…

Continue reading 6 min

Commentary

You Have Only the Right to Remain Silent – Let’s Try Democracy

By David Swanson Guest Commentator

We welcome David Swanson as a BC columnist. We have publishing his writings a number of times in the past and look forward to what he will be writing in the future. This first column by Mr. Swanson is the first of three excerpts from Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect…

We welcome David Swanson as a BC columnist. We have publishing his writings a number of times in the past and look forward to what he…

Continue reading 11 min

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