News & Commentary
Defeating HIV / AIDS: The Perpetual Achievement of the Impossible
February 21, 2012By Dr. Maulana Karenga
As we marked this National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, we could not avoid noticing that the issue of HIV/AIDS has become less urgent on the country’s agenda, that one of the once most vocal and active racial groups now has sufficient government monies, medicines and means to move on to advocate for other things, while real and potential Black victims are left to fend for themselves and make do or die on the remaining meager resources. For this is the way power and race work in this country and the world, in spite of self-deluding post-racial prattle and misconceptions about negotiation instead of struggle, and transactional trade without the power of an engaged people.
Indeed, it is the way the imperial and powerful imposed the category of “race” as opposed to “people” on us and the world, assigning peoples different human worth and social status and …
Market for Disrespect
January 30, 2012Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has one hell of a nerve. In an image that has gone viral, she put her finger in President Obama’s face, apparently lecturing him about something or other, making her the pure picture of arrogant disrespect. Apparently, she has learned from the best of the marketers. Before her finger-wagging diatribe, her book Scorpions for Breakfast was ranked 285,568 on the Amazon list. By the time she finished promoting and defending her disrespect, with appearances on Fox News and other networks, the book rose from its lowly perch to be ranked at 21 by Thursday and at 15 by Sunday. And, you know, I almost bit by buying the book myself, figuring that I ought to read about something I’m going to talk about. But Kindle lets you “sample” and the sample was not impressive. And Amazon lets you browse parts of the book. Also unimpressive. At …
Life Lessons of History: Our Ancestors of Ancient Egypt
January 29, 2012At the center of our celebration of our history is recognition of the fruitful resources it offers us in both learning and life and our conscious commitment to pay rightful hommage to our ancestors, those unbuckling bridges of righteous, resistant and resourceful men and women who carried us over troubled and treacherous waters and gave us the foundation and framework to go forward and flourish. Here it is important to realize that our history and the awesome legacy our ancestors left us do not begin in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia or even New England, but in ancient Africa, home of the elders of humanity and the fathers and mothers of human civilization. In this regard, Cheikh Anta Diop has taught us the importance of recovering and reconstructing the legacy of ancient Egypt, Africa’s premier classical civilization, in order to “reconcile African and human history, create a new body of human sciences …
WHO GETS FOOD STAMPS?
January 23, 2012Newt Gingrich is playing racial politics and he is playing to win. First he says that black children should get jobs as janitors (why not suggest they get the same consulting contract he did at Freddie Mac – I’m with Mitt Romney here, what did Gingrich tell Freddie Mac that was worth more than a million dollars). Then he says that he wants to tell the NAACP that we should demand jobs, not food stamps. He so bristles at Fox commentator Juan Williams that he gets a standing O in South Carolina. And he has repeatedly described President Barack Obama as a “food stamp” President. It’s race baiting, pure and simple, and few have called him on it.
The true food stamp story goes something like this. In 2006 just 26.5 million Americans received food stamps. By 2011 the number had spiked to more than 45 million people. This has …
African Americans Lose, While others Gain
January 18, 2012The unemployment rate is falling for the third month in a row, and in December about 200,000 private sector jobs were created. The monthly unemployment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicated that unemployment has declined by six tenths of a percentage point since August. Already, some economists are saying we can expect another decline next month.
I am surprised, however, at the very tepid language that the Employment Situation report uses to describe the increase in African American unemployment. A rise of .3 percent among African Americans, the second rise in as many months, is described as having “changed little”. It has changed enough so that while some are celebrating gains, African Americans are losing. Indeed, the African American unemployment rate increased from 15.5 to 15.8 percent.
Black women, it turns out, are losing more than most. While the unemployment rate for adult African American women, at 13.9 …
What is the State of the Dream?
I always feel inspired and elated, but also challenged and chagrined, at some of the celebrations of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday. There are those, too many folks, who want to sanitize Dr. King and turn him into a dreamer. Too many only quote the part of his “I have a dream” speech that talks about character content and skin color. Too few remember that in the same speech he said, “We have come to the nation’s capital to cash a check, and the check has been marked insufficient funds.” Dr. King was an economic populist, an anti-war activist, as well as a classically trained theologian. Too many put emphasis on the latter, without acknowledging the former.
That’s why each year, I am excited to receive the State of the Dream report from United for a Fair Economy. This organization does great work in talking about the wealth gap, …
Let the Games Begin
Most Americans have been enjoying the holiday haze since House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) folded and allowed the two-month extension of unemployment insurance and the Social Security tax cut, and other key matters. Indeed, if the French take the month of August off by law, we almost do the same in the period between Christmas and New Year. Except for retail establishments that support the great American pastime – shopping – few businesses got substantive work done in the last week.
Now that Kwanzaa and New Year’s Day have past, the games will begin again. The House of Representatives is back January 17, and the Senate returns on January 23. House Republicans will be hell-bent on finding ways to pay for the legislation passed on December 22, and Boehner, whose humiliating concession to President Obama had to irk him, will probably be ready to rumble when he returns to Washington.…
Are Fredom Riders Seeds Bearing Fruit?
January 10, 2012Are Fredom Riders Seeds Bearing Fruit?
By Julianne Malveaux
Fifty years ago this month, the Freedom Rides began. While the Supreme Court ruled that segregation in interstate commerce, including bus terminals, was illegal, the laws were not being enforced. Because the law failed to act, people of conscience, courage and determination acted instead.
Resistance to desegregation was such that those who got on busses risked their lives. The Freedom Riders, who were both African American and white, were arrested and attacked on
the bus route. Anniston, Alabama was an especially violent site of attack, where the local Klan
and other residents, some still dressed in their church‐going finest, were allowed to beat
Freedom Fighters without police interference. The plan seemed to be that there would be an
initial attack in Anniston, and a second attack in Birmingham. Someone attempted to burn or
bomb the bus that transported Freedom Riders.
As Freedom Riders …
We Have to Raise the Debt Ceiling
We Have to Raise the Debt Ceiling
By Julianne Malveaux
A recent Gallup poll found that 47 percent of all Americans oppose raising the debt ceiling. Only 19 percent support raising the ceiling past its current $12.1 trillion dollar limit. The remainder of us say we don’t know enough about the debt ceiling to have an opinion.
That’s part of our problem. More of us know about Arnold Schwarzenegger’s baby mama drama than about our nation’s finances. And more of us are actually interested in the sordid drama than in a decision that may ultimately affect our nation’s financial health. Of course, most of us have no dog in the Schwarzenegger mess, and all of us are impacted by these budget decisions. We have no choice but raise the debt ceiling, and House Speaker John Boehner (R‐OH) is insisting on draconian budget cuts as the price for Republican acquiescence to increase the debt ceiling. He wants cuts …
History Hostages
History Hostages
By Julianne Malveaux
History belongs to she who holds the pen. When the lion is writing, he ate. When the prey is writing (but she didn’t survive) she was eaten but also offered a valiant fight. We celebrate our holidays and milestones through the lens of those who won the war, not through the lens of those who mattered, who fought, whose footprint on history is only neglected because we didn’t hold the pen.
So last week we celebrate Memorial Day, a day when we lift up our nation’s veterans. Our veterans are men and women who fought for the right to fight, but few want to tell that story. Mary Frances Berry and John Blassingame inspired a collection of essays that I edited on “The Paradox of Loyalty”, which speaks to the ways that a country that turns its back on black folk also expects us to …
- Defeating HIV / AIDS: The Perpetual Achievement of the Impossible
February 21, 2012 - Life Lessons of History: Our Ancestors of Ancient Egypt
January 29, 2012 - Dialoging With DuBois On History: Preserving Memory, Maintaining Culture
February 4, 2012
Other News & Commentary
June 17th Forum
Ending the War on Drugs
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