Let Them Eat Flakes: Inflation, Nutrition, and Reality
March 7, 2024
Remember the parable of the blind men and the elephant? As each approached an elephant and tried to describe it, they came up with wildly disparate answers.
Breaking News
- LACMA Showcases ‘Imagining Black Diasporas: 21st-Century Art and Poetics’ Exhibit
- Sheenway School and Culture Center — Educating Youth to Lead the Future Over 50 Years
- Record-Breaking Hate Crimes Against Black Angelenos on the Rise
- Los Angeles Rams and LAPD Spread Holiday Cheer with Annual Sleigh Ride
- Heather Hutt Sworn-in as Councilwoman for L.A.’s 10th District
- Visit Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza for Holiday Photos with Santa
- Homeless and Their Advocates Speak Out in New Film, ‘WE, the Vulnerable of LA’
- The Congressman Wore Sneakers: An Evening With Hakeem Jeffries
- Brotherhood Crusade Honors SEIU President April Verrett at 2024 Pioneer of African American Achievement Award Dinner
- Chargers Thwart Divisional Foe on Thursday Night
- No. 18 UCLA Men’s Basketball Defeats Prairie View A&M 111-75
- Athletes in $2.8 billion college lawsuit tell judge they want to create a players’ association
- Cal, UNLV Inspire La Tijera Students at Day of Play
Julianne Malveaux
Reparations Rising with Robin Rue Simmons
December 16, 2021
The Honorable John Conyers, who represented Detroit in Congress from 1965 until 2017, introduced HR 40 every congressional session from 1989. He worked to get cosponsors for the legislation for nearly thirty years, but not even the entire Congressional Black Caucus would cosponsor.
The New Multiracial America
September 16, 2021
People who once hid their mixed-race identity or felt pressured to choose one identity or the other, now feel free to embrace the totality of their identity.
What A Difference A Day Makes
February 18, 2021
The symbolism was stunning, but it was far more critical that President Biden hit the ground running, and he did. He signed 17 executive orders, reversing some of the most onerous declarations of his predecessor. He dissolved the 1776 Commission, an odious truth-erasing propaganda body charged with developing “patriotic education.” Replete with lies, peppered with quotes by Dr. Martin Luther King and Abraham Lincoln, neither of whom would have cosigned the report, the previous administration had the utter audacity to release this madness on Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday holiday. One of the final slaps in the face from the deranged “leader.”
Exhale. Inhale. Roll Your Sleeves Up
November 26, 2020
Kamala’s win is a “dancing in the street” victory for Black women, for all women, for our nation.
Adding Fuel to the Fire of Our Pandemics
September 24, 2020
Forty-five fanned the flames of fear and uncertainty about COVID-19 with false comments about the virus. First, he said it was going to go away, and that it was no more severe than the flu. Then he suggested a drug, hydroxychloroquine, that has proven to be ineffective. Then he “jokingly” suggested Lysol or bleach to cure the virus.
The Homelessness Crisis – We Are Better Than This
March 12, 2020
There are half a million people, mostly men, mostly white, but way too many African Americans. African Americans are 13 percent of the population and 40 percent of the homeless. The homeless are primarily concentrated in California, New York, Florida, and Texas, but you can find them in almost any community. Two-thirds of the homeless are sheltered on a given night, but a third are sleeping on the streets, on park benches, in alleys, under awnings. To quote the late great Congressman Elijah Cummings, “we are better than this.”
The Pernicious Power of Patriarchy
February 27, 2020
If we women were honest, we would say that we have all cosigned patriarchy in the interest of keeping it moving. We have deflected the sexist comments that come our way, even as we cringe from them. We smile at men that we abhor because they may have decision making power in their hands. We dress up or dress down depending on the occasion and the way we have to play the game. We know the system is slanted against us, we know we still have to play, and we decide when we choose to blow the whistle, a whistle we could blow every single day.
COMMENTARY: What Do the 2019 Elections Mean for 2020?
November 22, 2019
While Democrats scored some gains, the Mississippi governor’s mansion is still in Republican hands. Mississippi has the largest concentration of Black people – 39 percent – of any state, but African Americans remain underrepresented among elected officials in Mississippi.
Will You Answer the Call for Moral Revival?
September 5, 2019
In embracing and expanding the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Revs. Barber and Theoharis have asked Presidential candidates to consider a debate that focuses exclusively on poverty. Many have agreed, but others have not gone on record. With more than one in five African American families living in poverty, and wages relatively stagnant, a national conversation about poverty is more than overdue.
A Tale of Two Graduations
June 20, 2019
“…while the students are demographically different, one can hope that the call to “practice humanity” is one that will be heeded. It is, perhaps a sign of the times, that graduates have to be urged to practice humanity, but so much of our world is inhumane, placing profits over people, that the admonition is appropriate.”
How Strong is Our Economy?
May 9, 2019
“How strong is our economy? It is undoubtedly stronger than it was a year ago, but it’s not as strong as some claim that it is. Labor market weaknesses and inequality are of particular concern to African Americans. Companies are hiring, but they aren’t hiring enough African Americans to close the unemployment rate gap.”
James Byrd’s Killer Didn’t Deserve the Death Penalty
May 2, 2019
Killing is wrong. Killing Black people because they are Black is even more wrong. Lynching Black people is exponentially wrong. So why was I opposed to the state-imposed killing of John William King, the despicable murderer of James Byrd, Jr.? I happen to think that there are worse things that can happen to you than death. The now 44-year old King could have gotten a sentence of life in prison and lived miserably there for the rest of his life. In some ways, death is salvation for him. Imagine being relatively healthy with nothing to look forward to? Just sitting there, in jail, surrounded by the Black people your white supremacist self purports to hate. That might be torture worse than death.
Don’t Mess with Max: Mnuchin Madness
April 18, 2019
Mnuchin is really above his Peter Principle as Treasury Secretary in any administration but 45’s. And those birds of a feather stick together because they share values and shady self-serving morals. Mr. Mnuchin boldly requested government planes to facilitate his honeymoon, is taking his cues from the man who has turned the Presidency into a profit center, operating government on a “pay-to-play” basis with possibly Russians, Saudis and who knows who else.
Let’s Clamp Down on Tobacco and Vaping Product Access for Young People
March 21, 2019
Nearly half a million people die every year from complications from smoking. About a tenth of them never put a cigarette to their lips – they die from exposure to second-hand smoke. Death from tobacco is, according to the Centers for Disease Control, the leading cause of preventable death. But too many people, enticed by advertising, think that smoking is so “cool” that they embrace it. And the tobacco industry spent more than $9 billion on smoking advertising, or about a million dollars an hour.