Commentary, articles and essays from Dr. Julianne Malveaux
By Julianne Malveaux — Hurricane Dorian has drowned the Bahamas and devastated the coasts of North and South Carolina. There are trillions of dollars worth of damages, and communities that it will take years to rebuild. The fury of this hurricane, some say, is unprecedented, with winds measured at 130 miles per hour at their fiercest. Dozens of lives have been lost – at least 30, as of this writing,…
By Julianne Malveaux — The event promised to be one of those last-gasp of summer events that would raise a little money for a good cause. The young woman who called to tell me about it promised that I’d meet interesting people, enjoy excellent wines and that the cost of attending was modest. “We aren’t charging anything this year, ” she said rather breezily. “But please bring school supplies.” Her…
By Julianne Malveaux — I cannot overstate my tremendous admiration for Rev. William Barber. Our connection goes back to North Carolina when I was the President of Bennett College, and he led the state NAACP. His daughter, Sharrelle, graduated from Bennett in the spring before I assumed the Presidency and as student body president, she served on the search committee that selected me. So he’s a friend of long-standing. In…
By Julianne Malveaux — Have you ever been hungry? Not the missed-a-meal, wanna overeat hungry, but the stomach-churning, bout to steal a loaf of bread hungry. Not the luxury of choice, but the sheer desperation of not having eaten for so many hours that food is nothing more than a memory. A dictionary describes hunger as “an uneasy or painful sensation from lack of food.” Synonyms include starved and starving….
By Julianne Malveaux — The US House of Representatives passed the Securing America’s Fair Elections (SAFE) Act in June by a nearly totally partisan vote of 225-184 in late June. Only one Republican voted for legislation that would mandate paper ballots, increase election security, and create safeguards to prevent foreign interference in our elections. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) opposes the legislation and won’t even allow it to be…
By Julianne Malveaux — President Barack Obama and his team masterfully designed an economic recovery from the George W Bush-induced Great Recession of 2008. The man who now leads our country inherited the Obama recovery and claims credit for our robust economy whenever he opens his mouth. There are signs that the ten-year expansion is slowing, and that our 45th President may be squandering the gift President Obama gave him….
By Julianne Malveaux — One hundred years ago, starting on July 27 and for thirteen more days, Chicago was engulfed in violence. White mobs wantonly attacked Black people, and Black people fought back. It started when a Black teenager, swimming in segregated Lake Michigan, drifted to the “wrong” side of the lake. Whites stoned him, and he drowned. The Chicago police refused to take action, even though the white man…
By Julianne Malveaux — Mary Turner was lynched on May 19. 1918 because she dared raise her voice. Her husband, Hayes Turner, was among 13 people lynched in two weeks in and around Valdosta, Georgia. The lynchings took place because one brutal white man, who was known to abuse workers so severely that he was only able to attract workers by getting them through the convict labor system, beat the…
By Julianne Malveaux — The Malveaux family and about 200 guests celebrated my mom’s ninth decade on the planet on May 5, 2018. Her birthday was in February, but both logistics and quirkiness contributed to the selection of date. She wanted friends to come, and she didn’t want weather drama. As her birthday fell in Lent, she didn’t want a big celebration then. So we festively gathered to celebrate a…
By Julianne Malveaux — The first week of July produced a somewhat positive Employment Situation report. While the unemployment rate ticked up just a bit, about 224,000 new jobs were created, nearly three times as many as were created in the tepid previous month. There was, of course, the Administration crowing about the strength of the economy, and with wage growth on the rise, an impassioned outsider might agree that…
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