By Herb Boyd
Special to IBW
There is a lot of merit to the rumor and rave that “12 Years a Slave” is the best film ever made on the long, dark night of bondage, but as Les McCann once sang “Compared to What?”
Like many Americans my sleep was troubled last night, troubled by the ghosts of past injustices, a feeling given fresh currency by a late-hour not guilty verdict from Sanford, Florida that freed George Zimmerman in the shooting death of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin.
“Farther On Up the Road” is classic Bobby Blue Bland, but this song was initially recorded before his tenor voice gave way to that distinctive growl or “squall,” as…
Spending a morning with Congressman Charles Rangel is to be in touch with a diversity of the Harlem community from a breakfast at Sylvia’s where he was one of several…
At the close of the introduction to his breathtaking study Black Athena, Martin Bernal stated that “the political purpose of Black Athena is, of course, to lessen European cultural arrogance.”
In a recent issue of The Nation, Editor and Publisher Katrina vanden Heuvel was effusive in her praise of Public Advocate Bill de Blasio’s plan to combat income inequality.
The “Old Gray Lady,” The New York Times, appears to be miffed that it was not the recipient of the leaks from whistleblower Edward Snowden, now on the run in Hong Kong and promising to fight extradition.
By Herb Boyd & Elinor Tatum
One of the most important revelations Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had even before he delivered his famous “I Have A Dream” speech—and what he deemed a shortcoming of the civil rights movement—was the failure to give economics a more pivotal role in the struggle for freedom and justice.