Of Tea Partiers and New Black Panthers

Okay, it took me a minute to understand what this kerfuffle was all about.  Apparently, there is a New Black Panther Party and they intimidated black people into voting for President Obama in 2008, so says the Tea Party.  Of course, I didn’t know defending the voting rights of African Americans were their specialty.   And [...]

South Carolina on My Mind: Alvin Greene

South Carolina politics provide the richest commentary on the unthinkable. The June 8th South Carolina primary have left the Democrats in a conundrum. South Carolina Democrats have been quick to dump on Alvin Greene, a candidate that seemed to emerge from under a rock to become the Democratic Senate nominee to face Republican Senator Jim [...]

Reflecting on The Moynihan Report

Sometimes the truth ain’t pretty. And we can’t ignore it or dismiss it just because we don’t like the messenger. Such was the case with the infamous Moynihan Report several decades ago. The report detailed what would become of the black community should the traditional black American family life continue to deteriorate. Columnist Clarence Page [...]

Why Does Bill Maher Get A Pass?

I don’t care if you’re well-meaning, think you’re cool or hip, or are a flaming liberal.  This is unacceptable and the silence in the response to Bill Maher’s rhetoric is deafening!  I guess everyone would have been cool if Bill Maher said what Glenn Beck did about President Obama’s daughter too.  Someone explain to me why [...]

Racial Wealth Disparities Report Underscores Immediate Need for Civil Rights Intervention

Hmm, as much as I find the study disheartening, I do not agree on Reverend Jackson’s diagnosis of the problem, nor the solution. I wish it was as simple as enforcing civil rights laws. That in no way goes to problems associated with poor education, poor life choices, and unfortunately, poor leadership. A new study [...]

Africans and the Slave Trade

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. writes in last week’s New York Times about the dirty little secret of the role of Africans in the slave trade: How did slaves make it to these coastal forts? The historians John Thornton and Linda Heywood of Boston University estimate that 90 percent of those shipped to the New World [...]

Black Tea Partiers

Tim Wise from Cosmic Navel Lint imagines what would happen if Tea Partiers were Black: Imagine that hundreds of black protesters were to descend upon Washington DC and Northern Virginia, just a few miles from the Capitol and White House, armed with AK-47s, assorted handguns, and ammunition. And imagine that some of these protesters —the [...]

A Black Republican Opines on Confederate History Month

Black Republican Deana Bass gives her perspective on Confederate History Month in Virginia: On most days, I’m proud to be associated with the conservative movement and have no problem with the Republican label. I’m proud to champion issues like school choice, tax relief, defense of the unborn and defense of marriage. But on days like [...]

White Men Can’t Jump – March Madness Stereotypes

I’ll admit.  I’m not following NCAA March Madness.  I glance at a game or two but haven’t engaged in bracketology, or Barack-etology, for years.  But I stumbled across an interesting sports column written by CBS Sports’ Mike Freeman on emerging and growing stereotypes of white players in the tournament.    According to Freeman: Saint Mary’s [...]

Race-Talk: Putting this Year of “Firsts” in Perspective

Written by Race-Talk’s Kira Hudson Banks. I know the Oscars happened a week ago, but I’m still nagged by some of the larger implications of the event. The general controversy has been covered here and elsewhere. What I would like to do is highlight the limited scope of people of color throughout the history of [...]

Next Page »