Have you ever wondered why February is Black History Month, the coldest and the shortest month of the year? Here is why. It was begun by historian Carter G. Woodson in 1926. At first it was called Negro History Week, and was observed during the second week in February in honor of Abraham Lincoln, [...]
Everything has its opposite. Black has white. Night has day. Hard, soft. Hot, cold. If there was a Martin Luther King Jr., there had to be a Malcolm X. Martin Luther King, history remembers. Malcolm X, history tries to forget. But each man in his own way dominated the times in which he lived. [...]
We measure time by years, but why not call them Christmases? (Doesn’t each year end with one?) Christmas is the joy at the passage of time, New Years the sadness at time’s demise. But whether we call it the feast of the Midwinter Solistice, Christmas, New Years or Kwanzaa, it’s about time. As autumn [...]
Think about it. You are about to embark, once again, on the impossible dream. You will try to buy a gift for everyone, in the belief that everyone will buy a gift, of at least comparable value, for you. Of course no such thing will happen. Many will not even get you a trinket, [...]
Most of us living in the Diaspora do not know which African ethnic group or groups we hail from. And so, when we honor and revere the Motherland, we tend to see it as a whole. As we evoke this naturally Pan African vision, we tend to focus on ancient Egypt. As the Hyksos [...]
The case of the Central Park Five looks like it is getting swept under the rug, again. Even as a documentary film is being released about the injustices done to five young NYC men wrongly accused of raping a white woman in 1989, coerced into making false confessions, convicted and forced to serve from [...]
Race, as we all know, simply does not exist. However, as we also know, many tend to act as if it does and discriminate against others based on what is perceived to be their “race.” This persistent prejudicial treatment tends to have real, long-lasting psychological and physical effects on those thus abused. This encourages [...]
There once was a country that was not perfect, no country is. But it had one of the highest standards of living in Africa, and it had that most valuable national commodity, stable rule. And it was at the forefront of unifying the African continent politically and economically. But then the regime was toppled [...]
It was hardly a surprise that Obama received 95% of the Black vote, or that he garnered 71% of Latino support, but 75% of the Asian vote! I thought they were supposed to be the “ideal minority,” the backhanded compliment that politicians, the media and demographers label Asian Americans with. They outperform all other [...]
. . . Barack Hussein Obama by far. Nonetheless, will he lose the election on November 6th? Before we tackle that sticky question consider this. Michael Jackson was once the most popular individual on planet earth, as was Jesse Jackson. Before that Muhammad Ali held that title in addition to the one he won [...]