This moving and profound portrait serves as a fitting biographical tribute as well as a piercing, often painful recount of African American history from slavery and the Civil War to the Jim Crow era, the Civil Rights movement and beyond. By Syreeta McFadden, The Atlantic — One of my white teachers in high school insisted that Toni Morrison would be confusing to me as a reader. So I approached the…
The reggae icon would be embarrassed by his country’s attempts to rebrand a disastrous ideology. By Keston Perry, The Nation — The island nation of Jamaica holds a special, almost spiritual significance for many people of color, as well as for anyone concerned about advancing equality and justice in the world. It is the birthplace of the Rastafari movement, reggae, dancehall—and democratic socialism before it became popular in the United States.…
By Dr. Maulana Karenga — Usually when we want to confront and discount America’s founding myth of creating a democracy of free and equal persons, its hypocritical and high-hype claims…
There is no doubt that concentration camps are in operation on US soil once again. By Brett Wilkins — Concentration camp (noun): a place in which large numbers of people, especially political prisoners or members of persecuted minorities, are deliberately imprisoned in a relatively small area with inadequate facilities, sometimes to provide forced labor or to await mass execution. – Oxford English Dictionary Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has ignited a…
By Henry Louis Gates, Jr. — We’ve all heard the story of the “40 acres and a mule” promise to former slaves. It’s a staple of black history lessons, and it’s the name of Spike Lee’s film company. The promise was the first systematic attempt to provide a form of reparations to newly freed slaves, and it was astonishingly radical for its time, proto-socialist in its implications. In fact, such…
By Dr. Julianne Malveaux — Should Meharry Medical College, a Historically Black College (HBCU) established in 1876 in Nashville, have accepted $7.5 million from Juul Labs, the controversial e-cigarette company…
The growing competition between Washington and Beijing for influence offers opportunity and perils. By Mac Margolis, Bloomberg — In his recent swing through Latin America, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had some stern words for regional leaders about Chinese bearing gifts. “Malign practices,” “predatory loans,” envoys toting “bags full of money” to bribe officials: Such were the hazards of consorting with the would-be mandarins of the Americas, he said…
By Joshua St. Aimee, St. Lucia Star — At a press conference in Saint Lucia last October, Sir Hilary Beckles, Vice Chancellor of the University of the West Indies (UWI),…
July 1st Edition of Vantage Point Topics African Americans and Africa: A New Book What is Your Fourth of July to Me? The Frederick Douglass Alternative 4th of July Guests…
By Dr. Julianne Malveaux — I was honored to have been asked to provide testimony at the House Judiciary Committee hearings on H.R. 40, the legislation that would establish a commission to study reparations and recommend remedies to Congress. It is relevant legislation that has been a long time coming. It is important to note that the bill does not “cash the check,” as Dr. Martin Luther King challenged when…
By Earl Ofari Hutchinson — At first glance, Trump’s assertion that Blacks won’t and shouldn’t vote for 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden because he backed the 1994 crime bill…
Photo: Dr. Ron Daniels with Dr. George Fraser, President of Fraser Nation and AU Ambassador H.E. Arikana Chihombori-Quao at the Power Networking Conference in Houston.