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

Executive Editor

David A. Love, JD

JD

David A. Love, JD - Serves BlackCommentator.com as Executive Editor. He is a journalist, commentator, human rights advocate, a Professor at the Rutgers University School of Communication and Information based in Philadelphia, a contributor to Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019, The Washington Post, theGrio, AtlantaBlackStar, The Progressive, CNN.com, Morpheus, NewsWorks and The Huffington Post. He also blogs at davidalove.com. Contact Mr. Love and BC.

633 pieces

Color of Law

Scholar and Educator Octavius Catto

By David A. Love, JD Executive Editor

As a political and civil rights leader, he engaged in civil disobedience to bring about equal access for African-Americans on the Philadelphia trolley car system - a century before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man, as part of the Montgomery Bus Boycott organized by Martin Luther King and others.

A full century before the Civil Rights movement, and 150 years before the present-day movement for racial and social justice, there was Octavius Valentine Catto. His…

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Color of Law

Deacons for Defense: For the Times Nonviolence Could Get You Killed

By David A. Love, JD Executive Editor

racial justice activism was dangerous, risky, life-threatening work when you were trying to change society and crazy angry white men were rolling up on you with guns and Lord knows what else. And very often, the armed vigilantes and the police were one and the same.

But Black people have been down this road before. Decades earlier, even before the Black Panthers, there was an important chapter in the Civil Rights Movement…

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Color of Law

States Are Underfunding Land-Grant HBCUs, but What Can We Do About It?

By David A. Love, JD Executive Editor

States consistently meet the one-to-one funding requirements for predominantly white 1862 land-grant colleges and often exceed them, even as they defund 1890 HBCUs in the same state.

Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are severely underfunded and lacking in resources compared to their white counterparts. HBCUs find themselves in a paradox as they…

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Color of Law

Bayard Rustin, Forgotten Leader of the Movement

By David A. Love, JD Executive Editor

Rustin believed that while he should obey the law, he was compelled to follow the will of God when the will of the state conflicted with God.

“I believe in social dislocation and creative trouble.” – Bayard Rustin (1912-1987) During LGBT Pride Month and every other time of the year, let us praise…

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Color of Law

Black Leadership Can’t Behave Like White Leadership With a Black Face

By David A. Love, JD Executive Editor

it’s not so wonderful when Black leaders channel that same kind of energy toward progressives who are fighting for the community or who accept contributions from special interests who are fighting against the interest of Black people.

Some in the Black community do not want to hear about any criticism of Black politicians, but here it goes. This is about transparency and accountability…

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Color of Law

Malcolm X at 100 and the Movement for Black Lives

By David A. Love, JD Executive Editor

pleading to America for equal, just and fair treatment has been an elusive proposition for African-Americans.

May 19 marked the 100th birthday of Malcolm X, the man who articulated a message of racial justice that made him far ahead of his time.…

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Color of Law

Textbooks Are Whitewashing Black History

By David A. Love, JD Executive Editor

When children are taught certain things and conditioned in specific ways about history, society and culture, this is how practices, policies and institutions are perpetuated.

As America has a reckoning over its legacy of racism and enslavement and the telling of history, along comes a story that should outrage us all,…

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Color of Law

Green Spaces Are the Key to Restoring Our Bodies, Minds and Souls

By David A. Love, JD Executive Editor

Children and adolescents with exposure to nature benefit from increased physical activity and fewer health problems, a more positive mood and emotions, and lower psychological stress.

We must consider getting back into green spaces to restore our wellness. The stressors of daily life - whether financial, social, racial or otherwise - take…

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