Project 21: New Visions

Ironically, for a presidency allegedly ushering in a post-racial America, the actions of the White House indicate the Obama Administration considers political manipulation of race to be a practice that's too big to fail. During his recent commencement address at the historically-black Morgan State University, Attorney General Eric Holder said about comments by Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling and embattled Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy: "These outbursts of bigotry, while deplorable, are not the true markers of the struggle that still must be waged, or the work that still needs to be done." Holder implied Klansmen still lurk in the ...
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Before same-sex marriage became the chief focus and the courts made it an easy-to-accomplish goal, civil unions were the refuge for legal homosexual partnerships. Civil unions are defined as a civil or registered partnership that is legally recognized by governments as something that is similar to marriage. After the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013's U.S. v. Windsor struck down the Defense of Marriage Act's federal definition of marriage as "a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife," state laws and constitutional amendments enforcing the primacy of traditional marriage have fallen like dominoes. But gay men ...
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It's hard to find truer words than those of Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Rolf M. Treu. In his recent ruling that California's teacher tenure laws violate the California state constitution, Judge Treu stated such laws cause "the potential and/or unreasonable exposure of grossly ineffective teachers to all California students in general and to minority and/or low-income students in particular." The case, Vergara v. California, brought by students asserting discrimination from pro-teacher tenure protections, is hailed as a modern-day Brown v. Board of Education because of its sweeping potential. In all but three states and Washington, D.C., teachers in ...
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While many Americans were distracted by the controversy over a taped private conversation between a billionaire and his mistress, some very scary news from the Bureau of Economic Analysis went largely unnoticed. According to this federal agency's report, the U.S. economy grew at a paltry 0.1 percent (annualized) during the first quarter of 2014. While the implications of this economic news are important and quite upsetting, the press nonetheless seemed to focus more intently on the protests against Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling's racial musings and his subsequent ban from the NBA while relegating this dire economic warning to ...
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Self-defense. Private security. Police-community unity. These are the three pillars that comprise my strategy for successful anti-crime activism. Notice that none of these three suggestions require blessings from on high (or low) from the bureaucrats who often are either indifferent or hostile toward citizens who are seeking safer streets, especially if those concerned citizens happen to be residents of the inner city. In my opinion, "hood crime" is too often deceptively used as a cash cow by what I call "white power liberals." They don't talk very much to the black activists who live in dangerous neighborhoods, but they nonetheless do ...
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At the recent annual convention of Al Sharpton's National Action Network, President Obama said his political opponents are "pass[ing] laws to make it harder, not easier, to vote." It was another attempt by the President and his supporters to energize their base — in this case, African-Americans — through scare stories they hope will move masses to the polls in November. Claims over whether voter ID and other polling place protections are intentional attempts to suppress minority voters generally supportive of liberal politicians continue to garner headlines. Historic attempts to suppress votes cannot be denied, but there have been numerous ...
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After he has made such a spectacle of himself in professing that voter protection laws are unnecessary, it was unsettling for Al Sharpton to publicly hug a convicted perpetrator of vote fraud at a public event. Yet, there was Sharpton -- hugging Melowese Richardson on March 20. At a rally promoting a referendum to amend the Ohio state constitution to make it easier to register to vote, expand valid identification and guaranteed early voting, he didn't run away from Richardson, who recently served eight months behind bars for voting multiple times. She effectively stole the votes of innocent, law-abiding Americans ...
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As soon as someone mentions BPA (bisphenol A), I recall the glasses and glass containers our family now uses to replace the plastic containers that previously populated our cupboards. Like many moms, my top priority is keeping my kids safe, so I was concerned about BPA in the past. When the media began reporting BPA might be toxic, we replaced the plastic products and other things in our home thought to contain BPA. It turns out now that much of the fear surrounding BPA is unnecessary. Over the years, my fears were allayed by proclamations by the federal Food and ...
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Afghanistan is not, as the media calls it, "America's longest war." In reality, that is the government's "War on Poverty." In 1986, President Ronald Reagan bluntly said, "poverty won." After 50 years, we're still losing the War on Poverty. The percentage of people living in poverty isn't much different from when President Lyndon Johnson committed us to this war. Right now, over 50 million people — 15 percent of Americans — are living in poverty or dependent on some form of government handouts. It's not that government never helped anyone rise out of poverty, but chronic mismanagement and depressing results ...
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 Americans are now at the tail end of the most dreaded season of all – tax season. Unfortunately, many people may not be thinking properly about their taxes at all. I have a friend whose knowledge of tax policy is second-to-none. He's also experienced the highs and lows of our current economic insecurity. Armed with this wisdom, he recently explained to me how too many Americans aren't assessing their tax burden how they should. For many, taxes are withdrawn through deductions on every paycheck. That's often not enough, and another lump sum is due on April 15. It can be ...
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Is America seeing a resurgence of segregation? It's not a reinstitution of race-specific water fountains or separate-but-equal accommodations, but a self-segregation among black youth that could cripple upward mobility. It's a variation on the fear of "acting white." In 2004, a relatively unknown politician named Barack Obama said society should "eradicate the slander that says a black youth with a book is acting white." Now our President, who appears to be very concerned about employment and class issues, might mention that associating with white people as he and many other successful blacks have done all their lives is not a ...
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As "law of the land," ObamaCare has already fundamentally changed American health care. Despite the partisan bickering and disastrous rollout, government has successfully inserted itself between doctors and patients — controlling everything from doctors' treatment options to patient choices about coverage. A group effort including the Obama Administration, liberal lawmakers, insurers, hospital companies and the pharmaceutical industry broke the doctor-patient relationship. But free-market alternatives remain to re-establish it and fix our health care woes. While politicians focus on winning at all costs, a transfer of health and of wealth has begun. A two-tier system is evolving. It consists of those ...
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Peggy Noonan, the former Republican speechwriter, recently authored a column the Wall Street Journal titled "Incompetence." She highlighted examples of how Obama staffers "don't have a background in executing" the policies the President seeks to articulate. Rather, Noonan wrote, "they have a background in communicating, but not in doing." Of course, an Obama supporter might say Noonan is a partisan conservative. Despite her resume, however, Noonan gave Obama a chance in 2008. Back then, Noonan wrote a "case for Barack Obama, in broad strokes" in which, among other things, she suggested Obama "shows good judgment in terms of whom to ...
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Quite often, fellow African-Americans hear me criticize President Obama and ask me why I hate the President. I reject the premise of the question. I don't hate President Obama, but I do strongly dislike his policies and the divisive tone he has set for his presidency and our nation. Unfortunately, in the Obama era, disagreement with the President's policies for conservative, small government reasons automatically makes one a "hater" or racist. Noted Black progressives such as Tavis Smiley and Professor Cornel West, however, can call Obama a "Rockefeller Republican in blackface" or a "global George Zimmerman" with barely a peep ...
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Blacks must become multilingual. I'm not saying that black folk should learn a second language such as Spanish or Chinese — although the fact that Hispanics are the dominant minority and China is ascending economically might make knowledge of these languages a handy skill. No, it's not as much about how things are being said but about what is actually being said: what message the words convey. The new language, for some, will be both a novel way of speaking and a new way of thinking. I believe blacks need to learn to speak above and beyond the language of ...
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Contrary to popular liberal belief, Black Americans don't speak with one voice. It was the same California blacks who, in 2008, voted for both traditional marriage and Barack Obama — the man who helped craft a U.S. Supreme Court that overturned the popular vote for California's Proposition 8. Past polling from Gallup, Pew and the General Social Survey show large numbers of blacks in America self-identified as conservative while also supporting lawmakers who walk rigid liberal political lines, and who often campaign with language steeped in race. This obsession with race must stop. Black America must become "multilingual" — setting ...
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In a speech this past February, Attorney General Eric Holder said Americans need to reconsider the punishment that convicted felons lose their right to vote. While some states have means for felons, usually those convicted of non-violent crimes, to regain their voting rights, Holder said, "an estimated 5.8 million Americans — 5.8 million of our fellow citizens — are prohibited from voting because of current and previous felony convictions." Holder claimed 2.2 million African-Americans, or nearly one in 13 African-American adults, cannot vote because "[t]hese laws, with their disparate impact on minority communities, echo policies enacted during a deeply troubled ...
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Older siblings often provide useful insights. That's why I wasn't surprised when my older brother recently provided some about young black men attending college on athletic scholarships. My brother would probably not describe himself as a conservative, but this particular wisdom is infused with conservative principles. He began by asking a simple question: How many black students currently attend college? According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), about 3.1 million black students were enrolled in colleges and universities in 2011 — the latest year such numbers are available. His second question: How many of those are male? According ...
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Every February, we are kindly reminded of the contributions of black Americans in the past. We reflect on the bravery and courage of Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman, who through the process of abolition liberated many and validated the cause of freedom. We embrace the legacy of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks, who braved the hostility of racism and bigotry to pave the way for many to access the American Dream through their own dreams of equality and justice. Black history is rich with many such stories of heroism, but it is far more than a ...
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My fellow Americans of all colors and creeds, I have a proposal that probably will offend some and comfort others. It is offered in the spirit of fulfilling the guiding American principle that you see on your money: E pluribus unum — out of many, one. I propose that we rename the annual February observance known as "Black History Month." My suggestion for a new name is "American History Month." Historian Dr. Carter G. Woodson founded its precursor, "Negro History Week," in 1926 at a high point of open racism against American blacks. It is unquestionable that we blacks, as ...
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