Project 21: New Visions

Having played high school football, I know trash-talking is all part of the game. Getting into the opponent’s head can give a team an advantage. Fans do their part with chants. But everything should be civil and not taken beyond the confines of the stadium. But recent events have turned high school football fields into racial minefields. One Wisconsinfootball game was disrupted when a Cudahy High School player allegedly called the Brown Deer High School quarterback the n-word. In California, San Clemente High School fans allegedly used the n-word and other out-of-line taunts against players and cheerleaders from Lincoln High ...
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It’s hard to justify the term “Jewing” someone down as anything but offensive. I know. I’ve tried. A friend of mine once created an exclusive Facebook group called “Us Them Down.” We considered it satirical and somewhat safe since everyone in it was Jewish.  We were laughing at ourselves but still felt a little unsettled by the term. What’s more unsettling is when politicians use “Jewing down” matter-of-factly and justify it. In New Jersey, Trenton City Council President Kathy McBride recently told her colleagues during an private meeting that the reason a legal settlement was so affordable was because the ...
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Although voting is an important privilege for every American, it is of particular importance to black Americans. A key part of the civil rights movement was ensuring that every citizen, regardless of race, could cast a ballot. Activists faced poll taxes, death threats and the outright destruction of their ballots as they labored to secure representation at the polls. An entire section of the Project 21 black leadership network’s recent “Blueprint for a Better Deal for Black America” is dedicated to “restoring the right of self-determination of black America,” warning of modern-day threats to voting rights. Today, black citizens still ...
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It’s a popular theme—from Thomas Malthus to Paul R. Ehrlich to Thanos of Avengers fame: Only drastic action will avert catastrophe. We must consume less, accept less, be less. We’re warned in ever more strident terms that we must act now or in 12 years (or 10 years or 18 months) there will be devastating consequences. That’s the message of the G-7 as it met in Biarritz, France, and it’s the message of every Democratic presidential hopeful who will meet in Houston for a debate in September. One of those candidates, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, unveiled his answer to the looming ...
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The New York Times recently launched the “1619 Project”—an initiative that, by the paper’s own admission, “aims to reframe the country’s history, understanding 1619 as our true founding, and placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of the story we tell ourselves about who we are.” But, this project seems more like an attempt to reshape the public’s view of U.S. history to inflame racial tensions by mischaracterizing the country as inexorably tied to slavery and irredeemably racist, and tying the ills and anxieties of the present to events that occurred roughly ...
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Protesting once meant something. It had value in and of itself. It once was a highly-valued strategy of thoughtful, goal-oriented individuals that desired to spark change, not only in the minds of men, but in their hearts. Think of Martin Luther King, Jr., or Gandhi: their brand of protest was nonviolent in its exhibition, but aggressive at its core. Why? Because there was a demand for reformations in their particular countries. They saw evils being done and knew that civil rights were being violated. (Undoubtedly, civil rights are essential to the citizen, if the country where they reside considers itself ...
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President Trump recently promised that "America will never be a socialist country" -- at least not while he's in office. But some members of his administration didn't get the memo. The Department of Health and Human Services still plans to impose socialist, European-style price controls on advanced drugs administered through Medicare. The proposal would tie Medicare's drug reimbursement rates to the average prices paid by governments that impose price controls on medicines. HHS officials hope their scheme will reduce pharmaceutical spending here in America -- and force other developed nations to foot more of the bill for drug research and ...
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Five years ago, a small town by the name of Ferguson, Missouri, got national attention for the wrong reasons. The media flocked to the area after a police shooting, which resulted in the death of an African American young man by the name of Michael Brown, took place. When the story hit the airwaves and began to take off everywhere, it brought the attention-grabbing issues of racism and police brutality to the forefront of the American consciousness yet again. However, this town, located in the Greater St. Louis metropolitan area, faced other issues that included economic development and economic empowerment ...
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Passing new gun control laws and labeling President Trump a white nationalist who inspires acts of terrorism are a waste of time. They will not address the root causes of the anger and disaffection that fueled recent acts of violence against racial, political and religious minorities. This issue is far more complicated than our leaders have grasped. This is evidenced by the reckless accusations and misguided approaches many of them have made while sowing seeds of division. It is our leaders and their inability to lead that places our nation at its greatest risk, and we’re not just talking Donald ...
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Conservatives shouldn’t be so hasty to fall into the same political trap as the conservative black senator from South Carolina. When Senator Tim Scott said President Donald Trump used “racially insensitive” language in a recent tweet – presumably directed at freshman Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley, aka “The Squad”) – he played into the liberal strategy designed to stifle the reforms and progress of the Trump Administration by stoking dissent and chaos. Even though some blacks lived through the era of being told to “go back where you came from” or “go back to Africa,” ...
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Let it be said at the outset of this piece: all opinions matter. In our country, no matter your status, level of infamy, or salary, you have the right to freedom of speech, which means you can voice your opinion anywhere and on any topic you choose. It has long been respected by some, or considered inappropriate by others, that celebrities speak out concerning politics and other greater societal issues. It should not be a surprise that many people will support the celebrity that has the values that are closer to their own. This is to be expected. It is ...
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The left overpromised. The president under-delivered. Before Donald J. Trump’s July 4 Salute to America, his foes described this event as, at best, a parade of partisanship, narcissism, racism, and divisiveness. At worst, they billed it as a pageant of despotism or a prelude to martial law. By 7:32 p.m., when Trump finished speaking at the Lincoln Memorial, he had reduced these hyperventilated warnings into flaccid windsocks. And those who had screamed from the rooftops looked like rejects from Klown Kollege. “President Trump is turning the 4th of July into a political spectacle,” Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., declared. Rep. Gerald Connolly, D-Va., ...
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In 2007, much like today, liberals were demonizing the president and looking at shoring up their base for the next major election. An issue dragged out of the political closet was the notion of paying reparations to blacks now for slavery dating back to before America’s founding. Here they go again. The vehicle then, as today, is a bill to set up a commission for studying the idea of a national apology for slavery and post-Civil War segregation as well as possible taxpayer support for reparations payments to black Americans. Back then, the bill was sponsored by Michigan Representative John ...
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In 2007, much like today, liberals were demonizing the president and looking to shore up their base for the next major election. An issue dragged out of the political closet was the notion of paying reparations to blacks now for slavery dating back to before America’s founding. Here they go again. The vehicle then, as today, is a bill to set up a commission for studying the idea of a national apology for slavery and post-Civil War segregation as well as possible taxpayer reparations payments to black Americans. Back then, the bill was sponsored by Michigan Rep. John Conyers. This ...
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Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez continues to bring news on what feels like a daily basis. This may be for good reasons, or for bad ones, depending on who you ask. She (and her political statements) are constantly the subject of articles and commentaries, including this one, because of the controversy surrounding the topics that she speaks on. Some of her most ardent fans may think her policies or stances are not treated fairly. However, many other individuals who disagree with her views see the importance of being as vocal as she is. She’ll continue receiving pushback against her socialist views as ...
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In these postmodern times, religious belief has continued to be on a persistent decline in terms of its popularity in society. To be specific, in western society, Christianity is the religion that is continuously in the spotlight for any number of reasons that cause debate. Although many Christian individuals still hold a major influence in society (especially in the United States), there are still tell-tale signs that Christianity, and those who are adherents of it, is leaving a bad taste in the mouths of the secular Left more and more. All things considered, this may be due to the Left, ...
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President Trump is frequently under attack from leftist Democrats and left-leaning Republicans who offer comfort to the President’s enemies by helping advance a false narrative about the President’s position on nationalism. A few weeks ago, Michael Steele, the former Republican National Committee chairman, shocked a number of Americans, including myself, by equating President Donald Trump’s silence about the case of Christopher Hasson – a U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant charged with planning a mass terror attack against leftist Democrats – as hidden sympathy for white nationalism. Steele’s accusation against the president feeds into the left’s narrative of Trump and his white supporters ...
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Within just a few short years, we might be saying, “Welcome to a Brave New America—a dystopian freak show of a world, where the capricious whims of a few control the lives of the many.” Picture it as a dark existence where faceless, nameless authoritarians are free to make decisions on your behalf and against your will. You have no recourse. There’s no one to petition, no one to object, and no one to stand on your behalf. This is the world being created, as tech giants and banks work in tandem with progressive advocacy organizations to exclude people from ...
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Although vaccinations are (and have been) commonplace in society for decades now, there is still a healthy debate over their necessity or if they are detrimental to children. The arguments typically come from those persons in the anti-vaccine movement regardless that research has shown vaccinations have overwhelmingly been a benefit. For most individuals who have been blessed with children, they can attest to the fact that any doctor’s office visit for a child not only includes measurements of their body, but “shots” given by healthcare professionals in addition to being checked out. Obviously, it is to check the child’s growth ...
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The freedom of the press is obviously important to a free society such as the United States. There is no doubt that our Founding Fathers felt it necessary to have this freedom placed in the First Amendment. The fact that there are (and there have been) so many publications and/or media companies expressing various views and concerns about any number of topics in our country (without any punishment) is a testament to this freedom. However, like with any freedom, the possibility for abusing it is always easy. This is why there will always be a need for every American to ...
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