Rights and Democracy
Higher Education’s Complicity in the Trayvon Martin Tragedy
The immediate response to the verdict in the George Zimmerman trial on my campus was a mixture of outrage and frustration. A reaction of this kind isn't surprising at a historically black university, especially here at North Carolina A&T State University. I'm a...
Why I Granted Bradley Manning a Presidential Pardon
In another America — where democracy reigns and government respects freedom of the press, protects privacy, and honors whistleblowers — Bradley Manning would receive a presidential pardon. After campaigning for the presidency last year, I was asked by my supporters to...
By George, You Don’t Get It
There I was, sitting at my desk and looking out of the window — you know, writing — when my wife came in and plopped down a newspaper article in front of me. "Read that," she said with a cruel twinkle in her eye. It was an article on Detroit by George Will, one of my...
Unfit to Print
What's the hottest trend among men who have it all? Buying islands and Picassos is out. Buying newspapers is in. We're not talking about subscriptions here. All self-respecting billionaires should own at least one newspaper, preferably a big one. Within a single week,...
The Bully Party
If our government were a card game, the American people would surely have realized by now that they're playing with a marked deck. The Republicans are cheating. In the 2012 elections, Democratic candidates for House seats collectively won about five percent more votes...
Actually, It Is About You
Unless you're a politician or a star athlete, the news of the day is rarely about your life. But sometimes, the media is buzzing quite specifically about you. Are you part of that conversation? Nope. That kind of treatment is reserved for people who lack political...
Building an Underclass of Workers
You've probably heard that America has millions of undocumented immigrants. Maybe one of them lives next door to you. Or there's one lurking on your roof. Or another lying nearby on the beach. My kids go to school with undocumented immigrants. They play on the same...
Swerving to the Right
The Supreme Court rulings that made marriage equality a reality for many same-sex couples and struck down an Arizona law that made it harder to register to vote were important civil rights victories. But, they obscure our highest court's rightward shift. Consider...
When Personalized Becomes Predatory
What do you think of when you hear the words “internet surveillance”? If you’ve been following the news, you might be thinking about the National Security Agency’s PRISM spying program. Or maybe you’re recalling debates about the age-old battle between security and...
Merger Equality at the Supreme Court
