In the 240-year history of the United States, four African American men have presided as the chief executive of a state or commonwealth. Only two were elected in their own right – Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, in 2006, and Douglas Wilder of Virginia, in 1989. David Paterson of New York was elevated to the office upon the resignation of Eliot Spitzer in 2008 ... read more »

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, close to 1 million adults report attempting to commit suicide and 800,000 people die due to suicide every year worldwide. It has also been reported that calls to suicide prevention hotlines have doubled since 2014.  Why is this?  The answer to this question is complex.  There is no one answer. ... read more »

Every industry trends toward digital transformation. The Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a human race disaster according to some and Ted Kaczynski: ‘dubbed the unabomber,’ sent a series of mail bombs to university and airline officials; evaded the FBI for over 18 years; captured in 1996; a child prodigy entering Harvard University at 16, graduated, earned a doctorate in mathematics at 25; assistant professor at the University of California, Berkeley, quit in two years, abandoned an academic career retreating in isolation 1969 to a small cabin primitive lifestyle in Lincoln, Montana. ... read more »

Harding, like all our moral teachers, rightly cautions us to be measured and moral in our quest and constant striving ... read more »

She shared her life to the fullest and we too are blessed that she passed our way ... read more »

“This is a discriminatory state law that is antiquated and almost equates to the laws that discriminated against racial minorities decades ago when they were required to pay a poll tax in order to vote…” — Sheila Jackson Lee ... read more »

What is exciting about the Black political excellence is that it also represents a generational changing of the guard. ... read more »

When you ask people if they believe in God, you’ll either get a yes, no or maybe. Many people like the idea that someone or something greater than ourselves is watching over us, ... read more »

Race matters in the United States, and virtu­ally throughout the world. Throughout U.S. history, race and racial conflict shaped and reshaped the categories into which all identities were classified. Since its beginning, the ra­cial struggles at the heart of U.S. society created the nation’s politics and cul­ture. Winnant argues that although race matters, it is as problematic a concept today as ever. He calls the current period one of “uni­versal racial dualism.” ... read more »

“It is confidence in the men and women who administer the judicial system that is the true backbone of the rule of law.” — Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, 531 U.S. 98, Bush v. Gore [Dissent], December 12, 2000 ... read more »

But if there is any legacy or uplifting lessons left by the 60s, it is that we must resist these new forms of unfreedom and falsification of history and continue to wage struggles of liberation on every level of life. For these struggles are clearly the indispensable way we understand, free and fulfill ourselves and the aspirations of our ancestors.  Indeed, these are struggles demanded by our inherent right to freedom, our natural need for justice and our irrepressible longing for a liberated life. And it is a struggle for and longed for life that yields ordinary and special spaces in which the human spirit is nurtured and constantly renewed, and we and other human beings know ourselves as sacred and at the center and subject of every day and hour of history we make. ... read more »

Kofi Annan made his transition in August. The seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations, he worked up from the lower ranks (starting at age 24) of the international organization, to serve as head of peacekeeping operations, and four years into his term as UN Secretary-General, earning the Nobel Peace Prize. ... read more »

President Trump led the outcry against the protesters, slurring any player who takes a knee as a “son of a bitch.” The league owners panicked. One result was that Kaepernick — one of the most talented quarterbacks in a league that suffers a shortage of skilled players in that position — found himself locked out of a job. ... read more »

When I think about faith, I can share the faith I had to have while my mom and I were homeless. We had to rely on faith as our daily food. ... read more »

If you could choose one artist to embody the African American experience of the 20th century, it would have to be the incomparable Miss Aretha Franklin. ... read more »