Project 21: New Visions

Amina Lawal is going to die. Amina is the 30-year-old Nigerian woman sentenced to death by stoning. Her unforgivable "crime" was to have a baby out of wedlock. Her lawyers hint the pregnancy may be the result of a rape, but the baby's father faces no rape or adultery charges. Sharia (Islamic) law says either he must confess (unlikely, under the circumstances) or four men must testify against him. So far, no one has stepped forward. The Regional Court in Katsina State, Nigeria (where Amina lives) has ruled that as soon as her eight-month-old baby girl - Wasila - is ...
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After his party's defeat in the 2002 elections, Democratic House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (MO) resigned his congressional leadership post. A more liberal colleague - Nancy Pelosi (CA) - succeeded him, but not without a challenge from Harold Ford, Jr. (TN). Ford, an African-American, represents a new breed of politician. Only 32 years old, he was born after the passage of the Civil Rights Act. He recognizes America's past injustices, but doesn't let them cloud his judgment on present-day issues. He epitomizes the growing ranks of moderate and conservative black politicians. You'd think Ford's quest for his party's top congressional ...
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When one imagines liberal environmental activists, the stereotype is one of tie-dyed followers of the Grateful Dead. These days, environmental activism is big business. Well-paid heads of green groups more likely choose Bruno Maglis over Birkenstocks. But some of the policies they promote hurt minorities, and lead you to expect them to wear the white robes of a Ku Klux Klansman. Environmentalists want "smart growth" restrictions on development to keep "urban sprawl" from gobbling up America's precious open spaces. But only about five percent of our nation is currently developed, while smart growth essentially creates a new form of segregation ...
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It's been over a year since the tragic events of September 11, 2001 and life is not back to what once passed for normal. Maybe it never will be. Maybe it shouldn't be. Maybe normal is what got us into this mess in the first place. Some talk about making September 11 a national holiday, but I don't think we should because Americans don't like being reminded of their failures. It's simply not in our national identity. Americans love winners, hate losers and that's all there is to it. And, make no mistake, 9/11 was a failure. Thousands of ordinary ...
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When it seems black cinema is preoccupied with excusing the worst elements of the African-American experience, "Barbershop," has taken the novel approach of celebrating its best elements. It features a lively and very likeable cast exchanging intelligent dialogue in an entertaining story with a message. Yet, it is controversial. In the movie, rapper Ice Cube is a surprisingly nice fit as a family man and struggling business owner. Other cast members range from female rapper Eve to Cedric the Entertainer, who conspire to deliver uplifting messages about the value of self-respect, personal responsibility, entrepreneurship, community, family and diversity. Barbershop communicates ...
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Entertainer Harry Belafonte recently made some vicious, vile and disparaging remarks about Secretary of State Colin Powell during a San Diego radio interview. Belafonte made a belittling and mindless comparison between Powell and a slave who lived in the plantation house and curried the master's favor. Clearly implying Powell was such a slave to President George W. Bush, he said a slave had to be a willing lackey and serve his master's whims if he wanted to continue living in the plantation house. He continued his acidic diatribe by making the assertion that the Bush Administration was not diverse. Belafonte ...
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Terry McAuliffe, the Democratic National Committee Chairman, puts the "P" in partisan. As attack dogs go, he's the pit bull that Democrats believe they need to lead their party. When he rails against President George W. Bush, corporate corruption and the economy, if you're like me, you stand back a few feet from the television so you don't get hit by the foam and lather he's spewing. But it seems that his tofu for you and steak for me routine is wearing thin - and that's just what his own supporters are saying. Notwithstanding his in your face approach of ...
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Being both black and conservative, I know I'm a minority within a minority. Since liberals claim to embrace diversity, one would expect them to be ready and willing to hear my point of view. My treatment at a recent liberal event, however, made me pause to question the truth of liberals' alleged commitment to diversity. Former President Bill Clinton, a good example of why I am conservative, recently visited my home city of Portland, Oregon for a Democratic Party fundraiser. It was held at a downtown hotel and was well attended by an eclectic group of supporters. I was stationed ...
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In the national effort to eliminate infectious diseases, African-American children are being left behind. The statistics are grim: vaccination rates in the African-American community are among the lowest for any demographic group in the country. Simply put, our kids are at serious risk for contracting deadly diseases that can easily be prevented. It's urgent that parents and the public and private health communities join together to raise the rates as the school year begins. As a pediatrician who treats children every day and an advocate for appropriate health care in the African-American community, I know first-hand how valuable vaccinations can ...
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Being born in Washington, D.C. and having spent most of my life in the Washington area, I know one gets numb to - and even expects - a certain level of sloth and ineptitude when dealing with city officials. The sort of sloth of which I speak is by no means unique to our nation's capital. In part due to the District's notorious reputation, however, bureaucratic malaise seems to reach new lows. After reading about lacadaisical "7-11 cops" in a recent issue of the Washington City Paper, I wasn't looking forward to going to the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) offices ...
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The famous economist John Maynard Keynes once remarked, "in the long run, we are all dead." True, but it is also true that - barring the failure of the Earth's systems - generations of our progeny continue on after we are gone. This essay has nothing to do with economics, but everything to do with humanity over the long run - especially the long-term preservation of African-Americans. How do nations and cultures survive in the long run? African-Americans will be the first to tell you that their patriarchs and matriarchs point to their faith as the root of their survival ...
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Black Americans won a significant victory when the Supreme Court recently ruled that a Cleveland school vouchers program created to help children escape from substandard schools was constitutional. The Ohio state legislature established the Ohio Pilot Scholarship Program in 1995 as a direct response to the failure of the Cleveland public school system. According to USA Today, public schools in Cleveland "fell short on every state standard for minimum acceptable performance in the mid-1990s." Students in the program receive scholarships to attend participating local private or suburban public schools. Parents can, alternatively, keep their children in local public schools but ...
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A recent segment of the Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor" discussed the large number of black kids born out of wedlock and raised without fathers. It's about time responsible journalists addressed the issues affecting America in an aggressive and well-informed manner. But I'd like to add some startling facts. The notion that we are still victims of slavery is a ploy designed to influence us and apologetic whites to support liberal causes such as expanded government. It's a bogus claim. Our ancestors recovered quickly from the despair of slavery. Communities were built, businesses were started and colleges were constructed ...
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According to some black academics and race warlords, "Ebonics" is derived from one of three potential sources: 1) an African language passed on among blacks, 2) a vocabulary derived from encounters between African slaves and Irish immigrants or 3) a new dialect created since the 1960s by young blacks to separate themselves from whites. No matter what the racial warlords may say, however, Ebonics is not a language. All it is is black slang. Ebonics somewhat parallels southern slang, probably because so many blacks migrated to other parts of the country from the south. But the race warlords and their ...
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Older black politicians are likely to identify racism as our nation's most important problem. Younger black elected officials, on the other hand, consider education the most pressing issue. While racism still exists, younger blacks aren't as pessimistic as older ones. A new report from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, aptly-titled "Changing of the Guard," details the generational differences among black elected officials. The change is a good thing. It's finally time for the younger generation of blacks - with their new ideas and energy - to step up and lead. Our community desperately needs the contributions and ...
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Homes of black heroes such as Frederick Douglass and Carter G. Woodson, where roofs leak and walls are collapsing, are historic landmarks located in our nation's capital that need protection. A still-operating grocery store and a boarded-up hardware store, however, are less obvious candidates for historic preservation. Yet some think these retail sites are historic landmarks. By doing so, they risk denying city residents basic goods and services which suburban residents take for granted. In their zeal to preserve everything they deem historic, preservation activists often fail to balance desires with a community's needs. Since many sites designated for preservation ...
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It's a great day for minority kids, children in the inner cities and for parents who desperately want to give their children a better education in a safer environment. It's a great day for parents who want the same benefits for their children enjoyed by the offspring of Jesse Jackson, Bill Clinton, our representatives and senators, the wealthy and many public school principals and teachers. It's the opportunity to choose the school where they want their children to go. On June 27, 2002, in the case involving Cleveland schools, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it is legal forAmericans to ...
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When the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled in favor of school vouchers, I believe the High Court understood that many poor children in America are not receiving their fair share in public education. Too many impoverished children, especially black and Latino children, are mired in public education systems that are separate, unequal and not competitive enough to provide them with real world experiences. For years, I've found the argument against school vouchers and parental choice astonishing. The primary concern guiding this opposition is that providing vouchers to parents to move their children to schools other than their local public schools ...
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Racism is blamed for just about everything negative involving blacks. The debilitating effect of this is that it doesn't afford us the motivation to look inward and work to find effective solutions to our race's problems. It's easier to just holler "Hey, look over yonder" than look right here. That's what is happening with the implication that racism is the reason for the disproportionate number of blacks in prison. Those who consider the fact that one-half of the murders in America are committed by blacks (mostly male and black-on-black) could easily conclude that blacks commit disproportionately high rates of other ...
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I've been cynical about Jesse Jackson for years, but a new biography about him - investigative reporter Kenneth Timmerman's Shakedown - left me totally shocked. Shakedown savages the first and most important Jesse legend: the claim that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. died in Jackson's arms. Statements by the late Reverend Ralph Abernathy (King's top lieutenant and chosen successor), former United Nations ambassador Andrew Young and King aide Hosea Williams indicate Jackson wasn't on the Lorraine Motel balcony on April 4, 1968. Abernathy, in fact, held King until the ambulance came. In the days after King's death, Jackson called himself ...
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