U.S. Affairs

These are definitely not the best of times for Gloria Steinem and the “gender trouble” radicals in her flock.  read more »

The eruption of race in the current American presidential campaign has been a reminder of its volatility in American history and politics. The decision of Barack Obama to run for the Presidency has seen him transformed from an African American freshman United States Senator to a national figure whose political fortunes have become tied to the possible transformation of American political culture and its life.  read more »

"Are the legitimate political institutions of our societies in a position to redress even the most perilous situations by democratic intervention in the process of actual decision making, as traditional political discourse keeps reassuring us, despite all evidence to the contrary?"

István Mészáros

   read more »

By now it is old news that Africa's supposed lack of civilization, history, and culture was conjured up to justify the enslavement, and later the colonization of millions of Africans.  The venerable historian of Africa, Basil Davidson, summed it up best when he argued,

   read more »

I had promised myself that I would not write another piece on Obama because I don't care much for politicians and I care even less for American presidents. The possibility of having a black man in a white house in Washington DC hasn't changed my mind. However, I decided to betray myself when I belatedly stumbled upon Alice Walker's piece "Lest We Forget: An Open Letter to My Sisters Who Are Brave."

   read more »

In a recent article, Tarisha L. Stanley asked the question: ‘‘Can a mammy be a mammy if she builds girls' schools in Africa?'' This simple question captures the complex range of issues raised by Oprah's philanthropy.  read more »

"Stigmatizing the uncounted as backward, dangerous, etc., then, is the best way to ward off a more profound evil': the emergence of a popular subjective force that would be capable of opposing the sterility of comfortable self-perpetuation. . . .

Steve Corcoran  read more »

I met black America for the first time in 2005, after three years of living and teaching in America, and one year before I returned to Canada. The long journey to this eventful meeting started in my father's library in Isanlu, a small town in central Nigeria. I came of age in Nigeria as the locust decades of military despotism and civilian kleptocracy set in, destroying everything including what used to be known as the middle class.  read more »

After Iowa and New Hampshire the nation will now finally entertain the very real possibility of an African American president. Or rather, a president who happens to be African American.

   read more »

When I learned that the Reverend Dr. Jeremiah Wright was going to give a speech at Michigan State University on February 7^th, I spread the word to friends and colleagues I knew would love to hear Barack Obama's pastor speak. Of the half dozen or so people I mentioned his name to, none of them had heard of the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright, let alone his spiritual connection to Barack Obama. I prepared a question to ask Rev. Dr. Wright, but as it turned out, I did not need to ask the question. Such was the freestyle nature of the luncheon with Rev. Dr.  read more »

Good morning, Buenos Dias! I am Cathy Cohen and on behalf of the planning committee I want to welcome all of you to Race Sex Power: New Movements in Black and Latina/o Sexualities Conference. We all want to thank you for coming to what we believe is an historic gathering of artists, activists, academics, individuals, groups, and communities to discuss the intersection and manifestations of race, sex, and power in its many forms in Latina/o and Black communities.

   read more »

4 April 2008 marks the fortieth anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We still tend to focus our image of Martin delivering his "I Have A Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial, at the 1963 March on Washington, D.C. However, civil rights was not the only issue that divided America in the 1960s. By 1966, U.S. military forces in South Vietnam amounted to 184,000; by January 1969, 536,000 U.S. troops were stationed in that country. For black Americans, the war had a direct impact upon every community.  read more »

The over the top coverage of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and now Barack Obama's San Francisco gaffe, especially in the conservative media, signals growing GOP concern about the electoral implications of Senator Barack Obama's call for racial healing and reconciliation.

   read more »

On the 40th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., we would do well to remember an observation by the civil-rights organizer Ella Baker: "Martin didn't make the movement, the movement made Martin."

   read more »

Good afternoon and thank you for inviting me to speak with you today.

We gather on the eve of the 40^th anniversary of the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King. This is a moment when, across this country, there is renewed reflection on the life and work of Dr. King. One area that will more than likely gain little attention is that of foreign policy and international affairs.

   read more »

In the future we must become intense political activists. We must be guided in this direction because we need political strength, more desperately than any other group in American society. Most of us are too poor to have adequate economic power, and many of us are too rejected by the culture to be part of any tradition of power. Necessity will draw us toward the power inherent in the creative uses of politics. (Martin Luther King, Jr. - Black Power Defined - New York Times Magazine, June 11, 1967)

   read more »

Hongera! to Ndugu na Bwana Barrack Obama for delivering the historic Philadelphia speech on March 18, 2008. Its candid tackling of racism and of the injustices suffered by Africans in America refresh my hope that politicians are capable of giving their countries a reality check, rather than reducing themselves to flattering misguided egos all the way to the ballot box.  read more »

It finally came out, the predictable ogre of race and racism that has been stalking the US 2008 elections ever since Senator Barack Obama declared his candidacy and became a serious contender for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination following a string of overwhelming victories in the bulk of the 40 primaries and caucuses that have been held thus far.

   read more »

Maryland is the first state to pass the National Popular Vote (NPV) into law, and several others are right behind

   read more »

It has been a dazzling performance, historic in its possibilities:  a black man electrifying America’s imagination, pulverizing the ferocious Clinton machine, collecting electoral victories with deceptive and decisive ease, seemingly unstoppable on his amazing journey to the U.S. presidency. That is the political wonder that is Barack Obama.  read more »