Category: Opinion Written by Courier Newsroom

Tweet

by Richard Anderson

In the space of 15 years, I voted for two Black presidents: Nelson Mandela and Barack Obama.

My vote for Mandela was predicated on a history of personal oppression and hatred of apartheid and those who promulgated it. For me, Mandela represented a move from hatred to hope.

Fourteen years later, I voted for Barack Obama because his candidacy represented a personal vision of America I had always carried. This vision was not always vindicated by my experiences in the “land of the free.”

In many respects, being Black in America was not much different than being Black in South Africa. But I still hoped that this was the country where anything was possible.

More... Add new comment

Category: Opinion

Tweet

(REAL TIMES MEDIA)—The results came in last week and the cheering and recriminations have echoed throughout the political world. At the one year anniversary of Barack Obama’s historic election his party supposedly took a huge hit in the polls, losing governor’s races in New Jersey and Virginia. You couldn’t switch channels last week without seeing Republican Party chair Michael Steele crowing about his party being on the upswing and how this is simply the beginning of how the GOP is on the comeback trail for the 2010 mid-term elections. I wouldn’t go that far, the major gubernatorial races of 2009 are a mixture of local and very few national issues, and the real revolution that might hit in the 2010 mid-terms isn’t even being talked about.

More... Add new comment

Category: Opinion Written by Louis 'Hop' Kendrick

Tweet

Another election has come and gone and if you exclude the Obama election of 2008 the turnout in the Black community was deplorable. If I had my way it would be called criminal.

I am currently writing a book and in the second chapter I address the political situation in the Third Ward (lower hill) in the early 1950s and how it is so similar to conditions of Black voters across the city of Pittsburgh in 2009. At that period off time in the 15 districts there was one colored committeeman. The entire political leadership was White—the alderman, chairperson and vice chair, constable.

More... Add new comment

Category: Opinion Written by George E. Curry

Tweet

(NNPA)—After creating an imbroglio because he refused to perform a marriage ceremony for a White woman and a Black man, Louisiana Justice of the Peace Keith Bardwell resigned under pressure. However, his stated reason for denying the couple a marriage license is still perplexing: “There is a problem with both groups accepting a child from such a marriage,” he told the Associated Press. “I think those children suffer, and I won’t help put them through it.”
Let’s see, interracial children could suffer so much that one might become mayor of Washington, D.C. Another multiracial child might grow up to become CEO of the NAACP. One poor kid could develop into another Tiger Woods. And one, heaven forbid, might even become president of the United States. Each person holding those positions is biracial and they have “suffered” all the way to the top.

More... Add new comment