Watching little children play is such a joy.  I have two beautiful little grandchildren and the smiles and laughter that so innocently flow from their faces brings me such happiness.  Children have an innocence about them; it makes one wonder, what makes that end? ... read more »

The new Chief Justice, displaying considerable political skill and determination, the new chief justice succeeded in engineering a unanimous verdict against school segregation the following year. ... read more »

I am concerned about SB 793 as written.  Clearly, we need to be concerned about the growing use of tobacco products among our children and young people.  As a retired track and field athlete, specifically, the 400 meters, I am personally opposed to all types of smoking. ... read more »

Each time there is social upheaval, the corporations go on PR campaigns, promoting their concern for communities of color, and the millions of dollars they have set aside for community programs. It has been my experience that little, if any, of the resources actually reach relevant programs. As an arts advocate and administrator for the last 20 years, I’ve experienced promised resources go to established arts programs, but rarely to Black grass roots organizations, who are doing the actual work to lift the community. ... read more »

The inspiring rise of a new generation protesting against racial injustice is driving a new era of change in America, like the generation that emerged 60 years ago to build the civil rights movement of that time. ... read more »

The coronavirus has disrupted many aspects of our lives from causing a national health crisis to the havoc in our economy and the learning schedules of our children. One area that has cause for concern on many fronts is housing. ... read more »

Indeed, it is a clear and constant given that if we are to achieve real justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks and all the victims of this racist violent democracy called America, to paraphrase Min. Malcolm, then we have two interrelated objectives that must be achieved. They are: radically reimagining and rebuilding America; and sustaining the struggle on every level which will make this possible. And key to all of this is holding the ground we’ve gained, building on what we have and fighting fiercely to move forward, day by day, year by year and battle by battle until victory is clearly won. ... read more »

“We are the diviners of change!” proclaims Janaya “Future” Khan. Three thousand people … significantly young and Black … fill the massive concrete steps at Los Angeles City Hall, pouring out onto the sidewalk, into the street, extending the length of the block and into Grand Park. The hotter-than-July sun shines on the faces of Youth Vanguard members who just finished speaking about their recent victory in LAUSD – ousting police from school campuses and cutting their budget by 35%. ... read more »

Today, Americans are facing unprecedented times. We are in the midst of a global pandemic, our country has fallen into an economic recession, and hundreds of thousands are protesting police brutality and racial injustice. But there is another epidemic in this country that must be addressed, and it must be addressed now. ... read more »

The experience of Texas and Florida and Arizona in reopening suggests that it may not even be safe to reopen college campuses with thousands of students gathering together in dorms, classes, parties and bars, much less begin practices on a football field. ... read more »

Claim to be the birthplace of Memorial Day. Researchers have traced the earliest annual commemoration to women who laid flowers on soldiers’ graves in the Civil War hospital town of Columbus, Miss., in April 1866. But historians like the Pulitzer Prize winner David Blight have tried to raise awareness of freed slaves who decorated soldiers’ graves a year earlier, to make sure their story gets told too. ... read more »

This is a revisiting of an ongoing conversation beginning in 2015 about taking down symbols of oppression, especially Confederate flags, but also statues, murals and all public signs, symbols and celebrations of our domination, deprivation and degradation as a people and other people of color. My argument here, as then, is that these acts are necessary, but not sufficient, an important start, but not the end of the long, difficult and dangerous journey to a radical reconception and reconstruction of the source of these racist symbols, signs and celebrations, i.e., society itself.   ... read more »

On the northeast corner of Vermont and Manchester Avenues, a little over four acres of land have remained blighted and mostly vacant since the 1992 Civil Unrest, ... read more »

A June 29 U.S. Supreme Court split decision represents a major setback to both the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the consumers who have come to rely upon the agency. Since 2010, more than 25 million consumers were helped by the agency’s efforts that returned over $11 billion.    Although the case known as Seila Law v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, was argued on March 3 of this year, its origins date back to 2017 when Seila Law, a California-based debt relief firm, asked the CFPB to set aside a civil investigative demand (CID) that sought information to determine whether it was engaged in illegal debt relief practices.   ... read more »

The house is on fire and it is burning down, and it should burn down. ... read more »