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Right to register and vote is not a partisan issue
The right to vote, Dr. Martin Luther King taught in his famous “Give Us the Ballot” address, is one of the “highest mandates of our democratic tradition.” Democracy is founded on the right of citizens to decide via popular, free and fair elections who should represent them. Across the world, the U.S. champions democracy. Yet at home the right to vote is embattled.
Pell Grants Needed for Low-income Students
Nuts. There may be fancier words to describe Donald Trump's latest lunacy -- but just plain "nuts" is most accurate. The president decided, overnight, that he wanted the United States to go "back to the Moon, then Mars." To help pay for it, he called on Congress to cut an additional $1.9 billion out of the funds designated to pay for Pell Grants -- the grants that help students from low-income families pay for college. For those children, for the country, for our future, this is just simply nuts.
NFL’s Depression-era Ban on Black Players Lingers On in the Owner’s Box
The National Football League season opened last week with a full slate of games. On the field, extraordinary athletes of all races and backgrounds competed with the same set of rules. Yet, it is worth noting that this has not always been the case — and that the legacy of discrimination has yet to be redressed.
Jesse Jackson: Police Reform Won't Be Easy
As the worldwide demonstrations continue two weeks after the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis policeman, the question is whether outrage will lead to real reforms? Fundamental reforms would begin with ending the "qualified immunity" of police, curbing the militarization of police forces, transferring funds and functions to social agencies, imposing residency requirements and finally making lynching a hate crime.
Scientific Community Must Reach Out to Ensure African Americans Gain Confidence to Get Vaccinated
On Friday, I received my first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. I was honored to be accompanied by Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, the brilliant African-American viral immunologist who is a rock star in the field of immunology science.
In NFL, Equality Needed On the Field and Off
The National Football League season opened last weekend with a full slate of games. On the field, extraordinary athletes of all races and backgrounds competed with the same set of rules. Yet it is worth noting that this has not always been the case -- and that the legacy of discrimination has yet to be redressed.
Assault On Right to Vote Comes From Home-grown Reactionaries
This past weekend, we once again gathered in Selma, Ala., to commemorate "Bloody Sunday," the March 7, 1965, march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge that was savagely put down by police.
Ocasio-Cortez Under Fire -- Because She's Right
The big guns are out for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the charismatic first term legislator from New York.
UAW Auto Workers Will Get a Fair Deal Only If They Fight for It
Five days ago, 12,700 United Auto Workers Union (UAW) workers walked out in the first strike wave against the Big Three automakers – GM, Ford, and Stellantis (the company that took over Chrysler). Every worker in America – union and non-union, young and old, female and male, Black, brown and white – has a stake in this strike. At issue is not simply whether autoworkers can gain a living wage, but whether this country can begin to rebuild a middle class and curb the extreme inequality that undermines our economy and our democracy.
The Janus Case and The Continuing Attack On Workers
On Monday, the Supreme Court heard arguments in the case of Janus v. AFSCME; a ruling is expected in a few months. The case is the culmination of a concerted right-wing attack on the unions of teachers, police officers, firefighters, nurses and other public sector workers.
65 Years After Brown v. Board of Education
This week marks the 65th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, the unanimous Supreme Court decision that outlawed apartheid in America, declaring segregated schools "inherently unequal" and unconstitutional.
Remembering Brown v. Board of Education
Last Sunday marked the 66th anniversary of the landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision, Brown vs. the Board of Education. The Brown decision addressed consolidated issues from four different cases involving racial segregation. The issues emanated from Kansas, South Carolina, Delaware, and Virginia. The unanimous opinion of the court was written by Earl Warren, Republican President Dwight Eisenhower's newly appointed chief justice. The Court declared that forced segregation of public-school children violated the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and was therefore unconstitutional.
Donald Trump's Broken Promise to the Vulnerable
Of all of Donald Trump's broken campaign promises, none is more cruel than his broken promise on health care.
Republicans Once More Defending Extremism in Defense of Their Views
The inmates have taken over the asylum in the Republican Party. In the party that once prided itself on being pro-military, one wingnut senator is blocking the confirmation of hundreds of senior military officials, including the secretaries of the Navy, Army and Air Force.
SCOTUS Guarantees That Poor Women Will Suffer
In their decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the six right-wing judicial zealots on the Supreme Court scorned legal precedent and mocked history to deprive women of equal citizenship under the law.
Trump and His Big Lie Pose A Clear and Present Danger to Our Democracy
The Jan. 6th committee hearings have shown how Donald Trump sought to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, which he lost. But Trump’s efforts are far from the most serious threat to our democracy. Across the country, Republicans have spread Trump’s Big Lie that the election was stolen, and used it as a weapon to justify a range of restrictive legislation that makes registration and voting more difficult, and gives partisan officials greater scope to overturn the results of elections where they don’t like the result. Worse, these efforts have been bolstered by a series of Supreme Court decisions – written by activist right-wing judges – dating back long before Trump that undermine free and fair elections in the United States.
The American Plutocracy Gets Its Immoral Tax Bill
"I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep forever."
Voter Suppression Alive and Well in Arkansas
The Solid South used to be Democratic. Today, the Solid South is Republican. What happened? President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Public Accommodations Act on July 2, 1964. As a result, South Carolina's Dixiecrat segregationist senator, Strom Thurmond, switched parties in September and vowed to lead fellow Dixiecrats to the Republican Party.
Trump's Erratic Foreign Policy Is Putting America at Risk
In his campaign, Donald Trump promised that "we're going to start winning again." In office, he has defined winning largely in military terms. His budget decimates the State Department while adding billions to the Pentagon. He boasts that he's delegated decisions on force levels abroad to the Pentagon. Secretary of Defense Mike Mattis recently announced that 4,000 more troops would be sent to Afghanistan. Four thousand more troops won't produce a "win" in Afghanistan. The president has it wrong. America's military is already the best in the world. But for America to "start winning," we need more smart diplomacy, not more smart bombs.
Gang of Five Justices Ignore Law, Will of Elected Representatives
We are witnessing an astounding attack on democracy by the five male right-wing majority of the Supreme Court -- "black robed rulers," Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan called them, "overruling citizens' choices" in a series of 5-4 decisions.
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