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Issue: 93

June 3, 2004

Cover Story

Bill Cosby’s Confused Notions of Responsibility

By The Black Commentator Guest Commentator

Bill Cosby has some nerve talking about “personal responsibility.” On May 17, with no warning, the 67-year-old multimillionaire comedian ambushed three venerable Black organizations – the NAACP, the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, and Howard University – fatally disrupting a gala celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Brown desegregation decision. Cosby drew from…

Bill Cosby has some nerve talking about “personal responsibility.” On May 17, with no warning, the 67-year-old multimillionaire comedian ambushed three venerable Black organizations – the…

Continue reading 6 min

Commentary

Labor Media Could Learn from Black Media

By David Swanson Guest Commentator

Few would dispute that the corporate media do a better job of persuading their consumers to support corporate policies than the labor media do of persuading their readers to support political policies and politicians that benefit workers. Of course, few have any idea what I even mean by “the labor media.” Unlike what was meant…

Few would dispute that the corporate media do a better job of persuading their consumers to support corporate policies than the labor media do of persuading…

Continue reading 8 min

Commentary

Freedom Rider: Wanted – Black Millionaires

By Margaret Kimberley Guest Commentator

There aren’t a lot of rich black people. This obvious no-brainer was presented to the reading public as though it was a great revelation. Only the New York Times can get away with making an obvious statement, miss its true importance, plaster it on the front page and then act as though they have made…

There aren’t a lot of rich black people. This obvious no-brainer was presented to the reading public as though it was a great revelation. Only the…

Continue reading 5 min

Commentary

e-Mailbox: Black church sexually challenged and more

By The Black Commentator Guest Commentator

A new politics is taking shape in the U.S., one that will attempt to pick up where the decapitated civil rights struggle failed (and feared) to tread, more than three decades ago. This New Urban Politics “will be an essentially Black-led (and increasingly Latino-oriented) movement,” we wrote in the fourth edition of our series, “Wanted:…

A new politics is taking shape in the U.S., one that will attempt to pick up where the decapitated civil rights struggle failed (and feared) to…

Continue reading 15 min

Commentary

Lethal Weapons: Guns, Gangs, Politicians & Preachers

By Harold Bell

D. C. Police Chief Charles Ramsey was recently heard saying on talk radio, “We need more than prayer to bring closure to these senseless acts of violence in our city. We can’t pray our way out of this.” I am a sixth generation Washingtonian. I grew up in historical Mount Airy Baptist Church, located at…

D. C. Police Chief Charles Ramsey was recently heard saying on talk radio, “We need more than prayer to bring closure to these senseless acts of…

Continue reading 7 min

Commentary

The Acholi of Uganda Face Starvation and Genocide

By Peter Okema Otika

There is a serious genocide being committed against the Acholi people of northern Uganda. Hundreds of the Acholi are dying everyday. Children are abducted, women raped, schools closed while the population starves. The situation is unbearable. The Acholi need your help, and they seriously need it now. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have preoccupied…

There is a serious genocide being committed against the Acholi people of northern Uganda. Hundreds of the Acholi are dying everyday. Children are abducted, women raped,…

Continue reading 7 min

Commentary

Terror Town

By The Black Commentator Guest Commentator

This article originally appeared in ColorLines Magazine. With the live broadcasts of the 9/11 commission hearings over the past few months, the nation has finally begun to see a serious reckoning of the Bush Administration’s counterterrorism policy. As important as it is, the debate stirred by Richard Clarke and Condoleezza Rice’s testimony has only scratched…

This article originally appeared in ColorLines Magazine. With the live broadcasts of the 9/11 commission hearings over the past few months, the nation has finally begun…

Continue reading 4 min

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