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Those Who Do Nothing On Gun Control Fail Our Children
The United States is failing in what surely is the first duty of government -- protecting our children from threats that they cannot deal with themselves. Voters and politicians are failing our children.
The Mark of History Scars Tulsa
Memorial Day marks one year since the murder of George Floyd by the hands of the Minneapolis police. This week also marks the 100-year anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre - a brutal government-aided leveling of a prosperous African American community for which there still has been no accounting and no justice. Few even know about the massacre. It hasn't even been taught in the Tulsa public schools until this year. Although 100 years old, the massacre poses questions of justice and of decency that America cannot avoid.
Dr. King Called On Us to Express the Better Angels of Our Souls
Schools across the country celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Day today. At every level, students learn about King, the movement he helped lead and the teachings and legacy he left behind. There are dramatic readings of his words. Many schools show his historic "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial, a speech given before hundreds of thousands.
Putin's War Crimes Must Be Exposed
The mass graves of civilians murdered and mutilated in Bucha, Ukraine, are stark evidence of the horrors of war - and of war crimes. Putin's invasion of Ukraine - itself a violation of international law - raises a profound challenge to the world. How can a dictator armed with nuclear weapons be held accountable for the crimes of war?
A Royal Wedding That Affirms Truly Noble Values
Prince Harry of Wales, sixth in the line of succession to the British throne, will marry the American actress Meghan Markle on Saturday, with all of the ceremony and global hoopla that the British royalty inevitably attracts. Harry is the son of Charles, the Prince of Wales, and the late Princess Diana. What's notable about Prince Harry, however, is not so much the royal blood that he inherited, but the royal values that he has chosen to express.
Can America Break Its Gun Addiction?
Can America break its gun addiction? After mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, Southaven, Mississippi, Dayton, Ohio and Midland and Odessa, Texas, public demand for sensible gun reform once more soared. And once more, Republican politicians, led by Donald Trump, were intimidated into inaction by the gun lobby, led by the National Rifle Association. Remarkably, it was America's largest retailer -- Walmart -- that exhibited the courage politicians lacked.
Risking Lives In Endless Wars Is a Moral Violation and Strategic Failure
We just celebrated Veterans Day, paying tribute to the young men and women who have served our country. Across the country, families gathered at the gravesites of those who gave their lives. Veterans drank toasts to their fellow soldiers. In football and basketball stadiums, crowds offered a moment of silence for the fallen. The rituals are heartfelt, but far from complete. Too often ignored is the far greater number of lives that are lost not on the battlefield but at home, not from the enemy's guns but from our veterans' own hands.
Kavanaugh Showed Us Exactly Who He Is
Brett Kavanaugh is now a justice of the Supreme Court. He is there only because he is what he showed himself to be in the Senate hearings: a vicious, partisan operative utterly committed to a right-wing judicial activism that will inevitably lead to a constitutional crisis.
President Biden’s State of the Union
Joe Biden’s State of the Union will feature good news. He has much to report – record job growth, record low unemployment, inflation down, and new efforts underway to rebuild our infrastructure, move to renewable energy and start to bring jobs back home.
Jesse Jackson: First Concern in College Sports Should Be the Lives, Health of Athletes
Covid-19 isn't "disappearing," as President Donald Trump suggests; it is surging, setting new records in daily cases. The states that rushed to "reopen" the economy now are reversing course. Yet the NCAA still assumes that the college football season will begin at the end of August, and that mandatory practices will begin this month.
'Equal Pay, Equal Pay, Equal Pay'
As the exhausted and thrilled U.S. women's soccer team celebrated its victory in the finals of the 2019 Women's World Cup, the cheers of the crowd in the Stade of Lyon soon turned into a chant: "Equal Pay, Equal Pay, Equal Pay." Even as they fought their way to the fourth U.S. Women World Cup championship, the U.S. team were waging a battle -- in the court of public opinion and the courts of law -- for equal treatment in wages, working conditions and investment in the women's game. And if there is any justice or common sense in their employer, U.S. Soccer, they will be as victorious in the quest for equal pay as they were in their quest for the World Cup.
True Scandal In Puerto Rican Recovery Effort Is Trump's Dereliction
The scandals around in Puerto Rico's agonies are far greater than the bizarre contract to pay Whitefish Energy, a tiny Montana company from U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's hometown, $300 million to restore electric lines.
Biden Should Revive the U.S. Commission On Civil Rights
A new president takes office with the sense of possibility that comes with a new dawn. This is particularly true for Joe Biden, taking office after the divisive turmoil of Donald Trump's years in office. Biden inherits truly fearsome troubles -- among them the spiking pandemic, the collapsing economy, corrosive inequality, catastrophic climate change and entrenched structural racism. He stood up for Black Lives Matter and has promised a new day for civil rights, with particular emphasis on police reform.
Water crisis in Jackson reflects vicious neglect
In sweltering heat, 150,000 residents of Jackson, Mississippi, the state's capital and its largest city, now have no running water, after suffering under a "boil only" order for weeks. The last catastrophe came after extreme rainfall in Jackson swelled the Pearl River and swamped the city's outmoded water treatment plant.
The Case for 'DC' Statehood Is Clear
Last week, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 51, a bill that would make Washington, D. C., the 51st state of the union. It would finally end the denial of voting representation to its more than 700,000 residents, the majority of whom are black or brown.
Time for Biden to invoke the 14th amendment
So it has come to this. House Republicans are about to force the U.S. government to default on paying its debts – obligations that the Congress voted to make. They bluster that they will blow up the economy, tank the dollar, and destroy America’s good faith and credit unless they get their way – even as they are bitterly divided about what “their way” means. The stakes are unfathomable – and so it is worth being clear about what is happening.
Republican Chaos Fuels Threat of Government Shutdown
Unless warring factions of Republicans in the House of Representatives can come to their senses, the United States government will shut down next Sunday. Some may not notice – we tend to rely on government only when we are in need. But the impact – and the hurt – will be immediate – and will grow over time. Nearly a million federal employees will be furloughed and sent home without pay until there is a resolution.
History Cannot Be Unlived
Last Saturday, three African Americans were murdered by a 21-year-old white gunman at the Dollar General Store in Jacksonville, Florida, who then shot himself. The murderer was motivated, Jacksonville Sheriff T K Waters reported, by an “ideology of hate.” The shooting took place 15 months after 10 African Americans were murdered in another racially motivated shooting at a grocery store in Buffalo. Racial violence against Blacks has scarred America since the first slaves were forcibly shipped to America.
How We See the Past Reflects How We Live In the Present
Our history involves both hard facts and interpretation – the context in which the hard facts are presented. Interpretation inevitably is political and contested. How we see the past reflects how we live in the present and what we hope for in the future.
The Myths and Lies About Poverty
"The poor will always be with us," say the cynics. No doubt, some will always be wealthier than others. We wouldn't want to live in a society that forced all to be equal. But poverty isn't inevitable. The 30 million people in America who lived in poverty even before the pandemic when unemployment was at record lows needn't exist in that state.
