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South Carolina's Leading Its People Down a Dead-end Street
South Carolina's James Louis Petigru was a Civil War-era lawyer, judge, congressman, and most notably the attorney general who opposed South Carolina's use of nullification of federal laws and, after Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860, opposed state secession. He famously quipped, after learning that his state had seceded from the Union, "South Carolina is too small to be a republic and too large to be an insane asylum."
Democracy in Peril
Our democracy is in peril, but we the people can preserve it. The Senate Intelligence Committee last week startled the nation with a democracy shaking report entitled "Russian Efforts Against Election Infrastructure."
Face the Truth to Move Toward Reconciliation
If we don't know the whereas, the therefore doesn't make sense. Witness the ovens in Auschwitz and Treblinka, and then you can understand the creation of Israel.
Jeff Sessions Is Creating a Department of Injustice
As Donald Trump nears the end of his first 100 days, media commentary focuses primarily on how little he has achieved in comparison to other presidents. It's a mistake, however, to discount the threat that the Trump administration poses to our fundamental rights. His attorney general, former Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, is a case in point.
The Right to Vote Is Fundamental to Any Democracy
The right to vote is fundamental to any democracy. Protecting that right -- and making it easier to exercise it -- ought to be a priority across partisan lines. Instead, in states across the country -- particularly in the five years since the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act -- it has become a pitched battle.
President Donald Trump Succeeds in Trashing Civil Rights
The reviews of Donald Trump’s first 100 days have generally focused on his failures, flip-flops and follies. We’ve heard a lot about what he’s failed to achieve, but far too little about what he is intent on doing.
Trump's Damaging Start
The reviews of Donald Trump's first 100 days have generally focused on his failures, flip-flops and follies. We've heard a lot about what he's failed to achieve, but far too little about what he is intent on doing.
Hope Must Drive Turnout in Mississippi Race
Now Mississippi must decide - between the future or the past, between coming together or dividing even more. The special election for the U.S. Senate seat on Tuesday is reportedly a very close race. Much will depend on who turns out to vote.
John Lewis, a founding father of American democracy
When John Lewis left us, editorials and columns paid tribute to his leadership, his courage, his moral example. The praise was well deserved. A broader context helps understand his true contribution.
Trump Gives Putin a Free Pass
Russian President Vladimir Putin came late to the Helsinki Summit with Donald Trump on Monday and spoke first at the news conference afterward. He handed Trump a soccer ball from the World Cup, but he clearly walked away with the trophy for the World Cup of politics, largely because Trump, in a bizarre and unprecedented performance, kept scoring own goals on Putin's behalf.
The 2020 Census, Stand Up and Be Counted
A new report should raise alarms about the upcoming 2020 census. According to the Pew Research Center, the good news is that the overwhelming majority of Americans are aware of the census, and over eight in 10 say they are likely to participate. The bad news is that nearly one in four blacks, young people, and lower income people and one in five Hispanics are uncertain or reluctant to participate. If not changed, that could have truly negative impact on the most vulnerable.
Voter Suppression a Social Injustice and Civic Indignity
In this critical election, Americans are busting all records for early voting and voting by mail. Yet, over 700,000 Americans have the right to vote but many are denied that right not only in this election, but in every election. An average of 746,000 Americans is held in local jails, most of whom have not yet been convicted of a crime or are held only for minor offenses.
Selma, the Birthplace of Modern Democracy in America
This weekend, political leaders from across the country gathered in Selma, Alabama, to commemorate "Bloody Sunday," the 1965 march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge where peaceful demonstrators, attempting to cross the bridge, were violently driven back by Alabama State Troopers, Dallas County Sheriff's deputies and a horse-mounted posse wielding billy clubs and water hoses to savage the crowd. The horrors played on TV sets across the country generated a national outrage that provided the final impetus for passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
Civil Rights Will Suffer Under Sessions
Donald Trump's first three weeks in office have left Americans reeling from what Republican speechwriter Peggy Noonan called his "cloud of crazy." His cabinet nominees seem intentionally perverse: an education secretary who has no clue about public schools; an energy secretary who wanted to eliminate the department; a treasury secretary from Goldman Sachs who ran a home foreclosure factory.
White Churches Have Moral Responsibility to Stand Up
In 2019, we will commemorate 400 years since the first 20 slaves were transported by ship from Africa by white slave traders and landed in Jamestown, Va.
Has America Come Any Closer to King's Dream?
Last weekend marked the 53d anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's assassination. Over half a century. Has America come any closer to his dream?
We Can't Afford to Let Hate and Lies Win Again
When Payton Gendron, an 18-year-old white teenager opened fire on shoppers in the Tops supermarket in Buffalo, N.Y., on Saturday, he knew exactly who he was aiming at - African Americans. Ten were murdered and three wounded in the attack, 11 of the victims were Black.
The true meaning of Christmas
In this last week before Christmas, millions of people across the world are preparing to celebrate. Families will gather; music will be in the air. Christmas has become a holiday, a time for exchanging presents and cards, for seeing friends and family. It is a commercial bonanza, with people straining their budgets to buy gifts, and merchants rolling out bargains to lure people to spend more. For too many, it is a difficult time, particularly for the cold and hungry, those separated from families, those alone or imprisoned or sick.
Injustice of Emmett Till's murder resonates to this day
"The wheels of justice turn slowly, but grind exceedingly fine," goes the saying. For the brutal killing of Emmett Till in 1955, just how fine those wheels will grind remains to be seen even to this day.
It Is Time for Congress to Act to Defend Free Elections
Jan. 6, 2022 marks one year since the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol, incited by a president voted out of office by the vast majority of the American people. What is now clear is that Donald Trump and his tong of zealous aides and complicitous right-wing legislators were deadly serious about overturning the results of that vote and keeping Trump in office. They failed but have since launched a systematic campaign in states across the country to make it possible to succeed the next time.
