US Opinion and Commentary

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Showing Archived Posts

Donald Trump’s Dangerous KKK Game

Posted March 3rd, 2016 at 3:43 pm (UTC-4)
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The truth is Trump himself is probably not a hardcore racist. Instead, he is something worse than a racist. He is a racial opportunist… he has figured out a way to use racists to advance his quest for power. And in doing so, he is playing with the worst kind of fire.

Still Reaching for MLK Jr.’s Dream

Posted January 18th, 2016 at 1:41 pm (UTC-4)
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Despite electing a black president – Barack Obama – not only once, but twice, racism in America persists. With a slew of smartphone videos showing policemen reaching for their guns during confrontations with African-Americans, who end up dead, it is undeniable that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s vision of equality remains unrealized. Has there been progress? Yes. There’s an African-American man in the Oval Office. There are laws in place. There is Jay Z, Cornel West, Toni Morrison and Oprah, just a few of countless prominent and celebrated black Americans who are thriving economically, who are influential and adored. There is also Freddie Gray, Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland. There is the chilling Dash-Cam video of Laquan McDonald being shot 16 times by a Chicago cop, a video that was only released by authorities long after the event. In response, the “Black Lives Matter” movement sprung to life, controversial and criticized just as Dr. King was so many years ago.

For Shame, Chicago. Why Have You Not Fulfilled King’s Dream?

Posted January 18th, 2016 at 11:16 am (UTC-4)
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The police brutality, lack of opportunity and diminished hope that the civil rights leader talked about during the March on Washington have become ingrained in Chicago’s cultural landscape, creating a flawed legacy of divisiveness that threatens our future.  

Dear White America

Posted December 30th, 2015 at 7:50 pm (UTC-4)
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If you are white, and you are reading this letter, I ask that you don’t run to seek shelter from your own racism. Don’t hide from your responsibility…. Being neither a “good” white person nor a liberal white person will get you off the proverbial hook.

2015 in Review

Posted December 30th, 2015 at 2:12 pm (UTC-4)
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As 2015’s final minutes tick away, it’s gives us a chance to look into the mirror to see what we are leaving behind. Many philosophers have noted that history tends to repeat itself. Terrorism. Gun violence. Racial tensions. Religious differences. Politics. The environment. So we reflect on the events and trends of 2015 in hopes of identifying patterns, learning from the mistakes of the past and building on its successes to take on many of the same challenges in 2016.

Tamir Rice Protests Must Be Peaceful

Posted December 29th, 2015 at 10:30 am (UTC-4)
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We are not Baltimore. We are not Ferguson. We are Cleveland, and so far, we have shown the world how to protest without injury or harm to property. When those other cities burned, the violence achieved nothing. Innocent people were hurt and the schism widened between the police and the communities they serve.  

What Whites Don’t Know About Racism

Posted December 1st, 2015 at 11:45 am (UTC-4)
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When more than half of blacks and a third of Hispanics report that they have experienced unfair treatment in public places at some point just in the last month because of their race, for whites to deny the seriousness of racism in America is to say, in effect, that folks of color are hallucinating, irrational […]

The American Left’s Hypocrisy on Muslims

Posted September 18th, 2015 at 3:39 pm (UTC-4)
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Ahmed Mohamed appears to have been treated outrageously. After all, all he did was build a clock. But now the Left’s false-moralist brigades are using Ahmed as a pivot to portray America as an inherently racist, ignorant nation.

Three Things Obama Can Do for the Black Community

Posted September 1st, 2015 at 6:06 pm (UTC-4)
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One thing is sure despite all the challenges from a gridlocked, partisan, and quasi-racist Congress: Obama got things done…. But black and progressive Americans also say that more can be done before Obama leaves office in January 2017.

Remembering Civil Rights Icon Julian Bond

Posted August 17th, 2015 at 12:39 pm (UTC-4)
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The death at age 75 of Bond, a towering civil rights leader, comes at a moment when America is revisiting its history of racial inequality all over again. A new movement, #Black Lives Matter, has been born amid a series of deadly incidents involving white cops and African Americans. One observer hoped that Bond’s legacy would result in a new generation of young leaders filling the void he leaves behind.

Black Churches Burning

Posted June 30th, 2015 at 9:55 am (UTC-4)
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In the week following the murderous rampage in which nine black parishioners were shot and killed at a church in Charleston, S.C., a series of mysterious fires at African-American churches across the South has revived the specter of racist violence against a core institution of the black community.

An Uncomfortable, Yet Unavoidable, Debate

Posted June 22nd, 2015 at 3:04 pm (UTC-4)
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With the shooting of nine African Americans by Dylann Roof, an avowed white supremacist, the nation’s unresolved and tormented history of racism has emerged. It remains a controversial hot-button topic: painful, hard to talk about and even harder to stop. But observers are increasingly calling for a movement to banish it.

South Carolina Church Massacre: Hate Crime or Terrorism?

Posted June 19th, 2015 at 12:58 pm (UTC-4)
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The killing of nine people at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston by a young white man has thrust gun control and racism front and center once again in America. Among the many pained questions being asked is whether or not the shooting should be defined as a hate crime or an act of terror.

Anti-Bias Training for Police Is Just a Start

Posted May 11th, 2015 at 2:49 pm (UTC-4)
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Here’s some bad news: You’re a little bit racist. Probably sexist, ageist and classist too. It’s not your fault, though; we all are.