Project 21: New Visions

America doesn't need immigration reform.  America needs border enforcement. No matter how supporters try to spin it, the Senate's immigration reform legislation is little more than an amnesty bill for those who have blatantly broken the laws of our nation. America shouldn't legalize people who broke into our country under the guise of being hard workers willing to do work our people won't.  Our nation needs its legal citizenry to stop whining, begging, blaming and making excuses for themselves and get to work. There is no acceptable reason the President and Congress can use to justify rewarding those here illegally ...
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  Liberals are Doubting Thomas for No Real Reason by Darryn "Dutch" Martin In the eyes of retired Brooklyn Law School professor Henry Mark Holzer, U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas is one of the most brilliant legal minds to ever sit on the federal bench. It's not a feeling shared by liberal academics, the mainstream media or the modern civil rights establishment.  They've spent over 15 years dragging the black conservative's name through the mud. A big reason why Justice Thomas enrages them seems to be because he bases his decisions on the original text of our Constitution ...
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  Gun Ownership Becoming a Capital Idea by Deneen Borelli (bio) For years, Shelly Parker faced intimidation and harassment from the drug dealers and gang-bangers who roamed her neighborhood.  Already frustrated because the police never did enough to make her feel truly safe, she was further dismayed by the fact that she could not own a gun to protect herself. Parker is a resident of Washington, D.C., where gun ownership has been a crime. Unwilling to just give up, Parker's tenacity resulted in action that may mean Washingtonians can exercise their constitutional right to own a gun for the first ...
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Comments considered to cross the line of good taste recently have led to a surprisingly large number of firings among radio hosts and staff. Most notable was Don Imus's April firing from CBS Radio and MSNBC after he called the Rutgers University women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos." The outrage from Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and others quickly got the veteran broadcaster fired. But Imus was not the only one: As the Imus controversy raged, Gary Smith of WSBG in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania was fired when he made "I'm a nappy-headed ho" the "Phrase that Pays." In May, CBS Radio fired Jeff ...
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Why Father's Day Saddens Me by Darryn "Dutch" Martin (bio) As the product of a single-parent home, I always have mixed feelings when Father's Day rolls around. What could I understand about the importance of fathers when my own formative years were shaped by the absence of one? Much has been written about the negative effects of fatherlessness on black children, and I definitely have some insights to share on how important fathers are and how misguided government policies undermined black families - including my own. Historically, the black family was strong and intact. Even in the worst of times, ...
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A Rational Response to an Irrational Act by B.B. Robinson, Ph.D. (bio) Recent events put Don Imus' neck on the chopping block for broadcasting a statement - which you already know and which I will not repeat here - about members of the Rutgers University women's basketball team. Imus willingly acknowledged - after the fact, of course - that his statements were offensive.  In his words, he was "way out of line."  It eventually cost him his job.  Comic actor Michael Richards was similarly remorseful after his racial tirade caught on tape at a comedy club last November that cost ...
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Chavez Commemoration Craves Consensus it Lacks by Joe Hicks This past March marked the 80th anniversary of the birth of the late farm labor organizer Cesar Chavez, and some members of Congress are pushing legislation that may someday lead to national monuments, historical designations and maybe even a holiday honoring him. In written congressional testimony, Representative Hilda Solis (D-CA) said her bill calling for a government study of sites related to Chavez and his United Farm Workers (UFW) labor union was "a critical took in the honor and recognition that both Cesar Chavez and Latinos deserve."  She further stated: "It ...
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Black Liberals Need To Stop The Double Standard by Akindele Akinyemi (bio) Radio host Don Imus's reputation and career quickly went downhill. Imus recently made the bad decision to describe the Rutgers University women's basketball team as "rough girls" with "tattoos," adding, "That's some nappy-headed hos there."  Imus's executive producer Bernard McGuirk described them as "hardcore hos" and compared the game to "the jigaboos vs. the wannabees" - apparently referring to the Spike Lee film "School Daze" that addresses intra-racial divisions at historically-black colleges.  Imus sports announcer Sid Rosenberg added: "The more I look at Rutgers, they look exactly like ...
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  Subprime Mortgages:  A Case of Back to the Future by B.B. Robinson, Ph.D. (bio) Are you living "the American Dream"?  More importantly, are you able to pay for it? According to Census Bureau figures, almost 70 percent of American households owned their own homes in late 2005.  Almost half of black households were included in this group. But there is an unsettling problem related to this positive news.  Among these homeowners, more than half of them also earned less than the median household income.  With housing prices skyrocketing, this has forced many to rely on "subprime" lenders. Subprime mortgages ...
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It's Black History Month again. Time to break out the tributes to Martin Luther King, go downtown to listen to bad poetry and look at bad art about the struggles of black folk, belt out a chorus of "We Shall Overcome" and sit through endless "celebrations" and TV shows about the "African American experience." If I never see another "special" about Ku Klux Klan cross burnings or black and white film footage of firehoses mowing down black people in the streets, it'll be too soon. The man who laid the foundation for Black History Month was an educator and historian ...
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Six years ago, I made a public plea for our community to achieve a set of goals that would move us further up the path toward full integration into American society.  I said at that time - and I still consider it to be true - that if full integration is the goal, then black Americans needed to make every effort to achieve this outcome to ensure our survival.    Consider the following quote from a New Visions Commentary that was published by Project 21 in February of 2001: Many in our modern civilization may find it adequate to "make it ...
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The "n-word" is perhaps the most emotionally-loaded term in the English language. Throughout its history, the n-word's usage was primarily meant to dehumanize, debase and dishonor African-Americans.  In the "good old days," the word was used by bigots with either contempt or patronization.  Its underlying meaning, however, was always the same. Increasingly, many African-Americans use the n-word as if to say, "Yes, we are worthy of dehumanization, debasement and dishonor and we're darn proud of it."  It's now even used to identify a friend or associate.  What they don't acknowledge is how they still might fire off that word during ...
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After visiting our nation's failing urban public schools, Oprah Winfrey felt frustrated.  In an interview with Newsweek magazine, she said:  "I became so frustrated with visiting inner-city schools in the U.S.  The sense that you need to learn just isn't there.  In America if you ask the kids what they want or need, they will say an iPod or some sneakers." While Winfrey's frustration was understandable if not commendable, more puzzling was her response.  She created the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls - in South Africa. This new $40 million institution features science and computer labs, a gymnasium, library, ...
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Some have said that Michael Richards's recent on-stage racist tirade indicated that America's racist past is not so distant. Some black leaders used it to drive the message that racism lies just beneath the surface of American life and that Richard's antics were a true indicator of the state of the nation's race relations. But, over the New Year's weekend, another incident occurred in the world of sports that stands as a strong counter to the claims that racism is still a prevailing force in American life. On New Year's Day, Boise State University and Oklahoma University squared off in ...
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Even though public school segregation was outlawed over 50 years ago, there are still lingering questions about the constitutionality of racial preferences that the U.S. Supreme Court must decide. Before the Court right now is a set of cases challenging to policies that limit enrollment choices because schools must meet government-mandated race-based admissions guidelines. In some public school districts, achieving a proper racial balance overrules parents' desire to choose the right school for their child. Instead of basing enrollment on need, quality and accessibility - as was envisioned in the Brown v. Board of Education decision - our government still ...
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As we marked our nation's annual commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., we received many reminders that it's time for America to remember the injustices he fought. Preachers preached special sermons, teachers had special lesson plans and politicians - coupled with the usual merchants of immiseration - gathered for photo-ops. All recalled that Dr. King fought for the freedom, equality and dignity of blacks. However, the marches, chants and choruses of "We Shall Overcome" were also carefully designed to omit the fact that much has already been overcome. While we overcame, there are still problems to conquer. But demagogues ...
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Many people ring in the New Year by making resolutions - goals they hope to accomplish over the course of the following 364 days. Some people lump "goals" into the same category as "dreams."  While both can be lofty, goals are what you strive for while dreams are less concrete and are rooted in simply hoping for something. That being said, dreams should not be discounted. Dreams are often the beginning of great things.  Dreams are integral to our collective history.  For instance, in the 1960s, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had a very famous and influential dream.  That dream ...
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It's common to believe more is better. More money. More fame. More power. While having more might be nice, isn't it better to be right? Being right and rich is much better than the alternative. Consider the benefits of being right. Even though soul great Luther Ingram once sang that "(If Loving You is Wrong) I Don't Want to Be Right," we know that anything metaphysical or concrete that is not rooted in moral and physical certitude is ultimately doomed. Take, for example, the periodic table of elements. Scientists can use a particle accelerator to force atoms into unnatural configurations ...
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There are several passages in the Bible suggesting that much is expected from those to whom much is given. One of the greatest gifts that God has given to his people on earth is the gift of good health. Like all gifts, however, competent stewardship is also required. Medicare was originally designed as a health care safety net for America's seniors. Launched in the mid-1960s, just a few years after America's first manned space mission, it filled a void in our society. Throughout most of human history, old age was often synonymous with chronic illnesses. Until the advent of Medicare, ...
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This past August 4, Lemuel and Julia Redd took their daughter Julianna shopping, but they bypassed the local mall and drove 240 miles from Provo, Utah to Grand Junction, Colorado. Julianna's parents never planned to take her shopping. Instead, it was a last-ditch attempt to keep her from getting married the next day. Julianna still got married, and her parents now face second-degree felony kidnapping charges. As odd as this all sounds, it's even stranger that our legal system seeks to punish the Redds while it remains perfectly legal for unrelated adults to take minors across state lines for invasive ...
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