Oscar H. Blayton
Stories this photo appears in:
Commentary: Joe Biden Needs to Go
If we do not learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it. On July 30, 1864, more than 16,500 Union soldiers were aligned against only 9,500 Confederate seditionists in Petersburg, Virginia. In addition to its greater numbers, the Union had the element of surprise on its side.
Speaking of Reparations
To many Americans, “reparations” is a dirty word when applied to Black folks. Numerous obstacles are thrown up, like so many stone walls surrounding European castles, when it comes to discussing reparations for losses suffered by African Americans due to slavery, segregation and institutional racism.
Queen Tiye's Kitchen
“The kitchen don’t lie” was a saying I heard often during my childhood. In the 1950s in my part of Virginia, Saturday evenings saw a lot of African American sisters finish washing the dinner dishes and place a hot comb on top of the stove and begin to “do hair,” getting ready for Sunday service.
Are American Classrooms Producing Mass Shooters?
Let’s face it. With all the mass shootings in America today, it is difficult to tease out the various motivations that prompt murderers to unleash their automatic weapons on unsuspecting and innocent individuals they do not even know.
Speaking of Theories...
Marcel Verdier’s 1840s painting, “Punishment of the Four Stakes/Pegs in the Colonies,” depicts an enslaved Black man, staked naked and spread-eagle face down on the ground as he is whipped by another enslaved man, while a white planter, joined by his wife and infant child casually look on. This painting speaks to the power of the white man and the helplessness of the Black man. This painting initially was created for an exhibition in Paris, France, in the mid-1800s. But the exhibition jury rejected it because it was thought that its harsh theme would offend the colonial ambassadors in Paris at the time. It now hangs in a museum in Texas.
Cheap Labor
When I wonder why there is so much contention in America, I consistently run into impenetrable walls of illogic.
Being Black Can Cost An Arm and a Leg
COVID-19 is not the only epidemic plaguing America’s Black community today.
The Silent "White" in AMerica
On a recent Sunday broadcast of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” viewers witnessed a classic example of the decoupling of people of color from notions of America.
Serving America: In What Context?
In 1735 when the French colonists of Louisiana pursued the Natchez War against Native Americans, they mustered free and enslaved African Americans into two military companies that came to be known as the Corps D'Afrique.
Stop "Othering"
I wondered how long expressions of empathy would continue to be front and center in the minds of Americans following the hate-fueled multiple murders of Asian women in and near Atlanta, Georgia.
White Rage
LBJ was right, but wrong. When President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, he said of the Democratic Party, “We have lost the South for a generation.” However, President Johnson’s estimate of the damage done to his party in the eyes of white America was too optimistic. No Democratic candidate for president of the United States has won a majority of the white vote in the North or the South since 1964.
Cops Who Hate
America can no longer stick its head in the sand to avoid seeing the serious flaws in the culture of American policing.
Clueless Joe
Black folk have a real dilemma building up over the 2020 elections like thunderclouds over the Midwestern plains.
Don't Expect Fair Elections in 2020
The African American journey through American history can be summed up in two words – UNJUST and UNFAIR.
From the moment we first set foot on the North American continent, we have been subjected to atrocities both great and small. Armed with a culture of white supremacy bolstered by their religion and world view, Europeans seeking to create empires spanning the globe built their dream with the lives and labor stolen from Africans and other peoples from around the world.
A Matter of Life and Death
All oppressed people know this feeling. Tevye expressed it best in “Fiddler on the Roof” when he said there are times “when our hearts lie panting on the floor.”
It Couldn't Be Clearer
History will flay the skin off Nancy Pelosi’s legacy. This prediction may seem harsh, but the current Speaker of the House, as the leader of the House Democrats, is creating a problem that we will not be able to easily correct.
