Two Young Females Are Crossing the Street..

By now, we’ve all seen or heard about the video showing a police officer punching a woman in the face. It is ugly all around. But these women are not blameless. A Belle in Brooklyn has captured my thoughts exactly. There is no defending the actions of this police officer. But the incredible gall of [...]

What’s Making Me An Angry Black Woman Today

Violence and our Youth: The questions that come to mind after reading these news stories are: Where are their parents? Why aren’t they in jail? And, how inept can city government get?  Colbert King opines in the Washington Post on the recent killings in Southeast Washington, DC and the failure of DC government:   One of the [...]

DC Government Forgetting Who It’s Supposed to Serve

Colbert King shares the frustration of many: DC bureaucrats are more concerned with their jobs than the safety and care of its citizens.  King laments on the number of unsolved murders, unprocessed rape kits, and sub par education in the District: Official figures on unprocessed sex kits were unavailable. But Hughes reported that 60 percent [...]

Snitch Culture Claims Another Victim

I’m left speechless by this story reported out of Florida (CNN): From what the suspects and witnesses have told police, the suspect yelled, “He’s a snitch, he’s a snitch” and “pour it on him.” Another juvenile threw what police believe was rubbing alcohol on Brewer from a plastic jug and used a lighter to set [...]

Decay of the Black Family

After the outrage of the videotaped beating death of Derrion Albert reached a boiling point we are all looking for answers as to “why.” We’ve all heard the staid and stale excuses and solutions that we can recite in our sleep. We need more police. An increased presence with no clear direction can aggravate an [...]

The Murder of Derrion Albert: Sick with Grief and Anger

We’ve lamented before on the senseless and stupefying rise in violence and deaths of Chicago children. At a certain point it becomes mind-numbing and it’s hard to feel anything. But then another young brother with great potential and focus is slaughtered. Not by a hail of bullets, but viciously beaten and stomped to death as [...]

25 Years of Crack Sentencing

Twenty-five years ago this year, the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted for, and President Reagan signed, the 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act creating mandatory minimums and disparate penalties for crack cocaine offenses. In the twenty-five years since its enactment, the disparate sentencing, falling along racial lines, has created a groundswell of community [...]

Children Become Collateral Damage on City Streets

Mary Mitchell writes in The Chicago Sun-Times on the death of a 9 year old girl in Chicago.  Her father was the intended target and she has to pay for his sins with her life.  This is heartbreaking and shameful.  It happens every day and no one seems to care. I didn’t believe for a [...]

Chicago: Unsafe for Children

Much has been made about Chicago’s political corruption and the Chicago political “mafia” in Washington, DC given President Obama’s election. However, the story that isn’t receiving its due is Chicago’s uncontrollable homicide rate of teenagers in the city.    As CNN reports, teenagers are dying weekly on Chicago streets: So far this school year, 36 [...]

Unsafe in Your Own Home

If you are like me, you consider your home as your sanctuary, a place you can go and block out all of the world’s nastiness, renew yourself, and be at peace. This is especially true if you live alone. Everything is in its place. You have a certain comfort. You don’t realize how much that peace and comfort is fleeting, until someone comes and destroys it.