Metering is ON

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The Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., biography

The Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr., Founder and President of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, is one of America's foremost civil rights, religious and political figures. Over …

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Would today’s America let MLK have a job?

Would a young Martin Luther King Jr. be able to get a job in America today? Would one of the thousands who went to jail in support of Nelson Mandela? Or the brilliant kids at the center of Occupy Wall Street? Unless we begin to …

Young Americans  are under siege

Rick Santorum’s presidential campaign had one major effect: It exposed what has become known as the “war on women,” the Republican right’s opposition to contraception, family planning and the Lilly Ledbetter Equal Pay Act. Too bad Santorum decided to suspend his campaign. If he had …

Time to revive national civil rights commission

Prosecutors in the Trayvon Martin case — Trayvon was the young African American shot to death on the streets in Sanford, Fla., by a self-appointed community watch volunteer — have decided not to send the case to the grand jury, even while announcing the investigation …

School suspension policy in Chicago brutal, unfair

Trayvon Martin was shot to death in Sanford, Fla. He was there visiting his father while suspended from school. He was suspended last month after school officials claimed to have found marijuana “residue” in his book bag. No actual contraband was found; no arrest or …

Renew the movement  to fight for civil rights

We mourn Trayvon Martin, the young African American who, armed only with candy and a soft drink, was shot dead for the offense of “walking while black.” George Zimmerman, the vigilante who shot him, has not been arrested, apparently protected by Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” …

In hard times, democracy more important than ever

Is democracy a luxury good in America, discarded when the going gets rough? Apparently Michigan’s Gov. Rick Snyder thinks so. In Michigan, Detroit and other cities have hit the wall. The Great Recession has devastated city finances. Everyone agrees tough steps are needed. Snyder’s response …

We have to choose what kind of a people we are

Even while we see jobs coming back, the tsunami created by the Great Recession is hitting cities and counties with full force. Suffolk County, one of the largest New York counties, has declared a financial emergency. Stockton, Calif., a city of 300,000, is on the …

U.S. must expand, not suppress, voting rights

In Selma, Ala., on Sunday, I joined thousands of citizens marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, marking the 47th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, the 1965 march and police riot that helped spark the passage of the Voting Rights Act. The march was not a memory …

We can’t afford to reverse gains in campus diversity

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it would hear a case challenging affirmative action at the University of Texas, with the arguments scheduled for October, a month before the November presidential election. The conservative faction that stopped the counting of ballots in Florida …

Academy Award voters need diversity in script

This Sunday, nearly 40 million people are likely to tune in to see who captures an Oscar at the annual Academy Awards ceremonies. Winning the award can add millions to a film’s box office and supercharge the career of an actor, director, screenwriter or editor. …

Government health care OK for politicians, but not us

Republicans on the campaign trail denounce Obama’s health-care reforms as a virtual threat to the Republic. It’s “socialized medicine,” “a job killer,” “a government takeover of health care.” All the Republican candidates for president promise to repeal it, and Republican legislators are virtually united in …

Many are like Romney — ‘not concerned’ about very poor

Last week, Mitt Romney created a firestorm for saying that “I’m not concerned about the very poor.” Romney later explained that he “misspoke,” and that he’d said something “similar to that, but quite acceptable, for a long time.” The real problem isn’t that it misstates …

Challenge campaign of insults, slurs vs. Obama

Republican Gov. Jan Brewer insults the president with a finger-wagging tarmac rant in Arizona. As a result, sales of her book soar. American presidents have always been fair game for public criticism. But isn’t it past time that we challenge the campaign of insult, racial …

Gingrich plays Old South race card of a bygone era

The toxic message that drove Newt Gingrich to victory in South Carolina will drive our nation apart rather than bring it together. And it will spell defeat for him — and for Republicans if they choose to go that way. Gingrich’s campaign limped into South …

South Carolina shows how far we have to go

The Republican presidential primary in South Carolina captures the news, but too little attention has been paid to the state itself. South Carolina reflects the triumph of Dr. Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement: Its schools are desegregated; its public facilities open to …

The New South is legacy of Martin Luther King

New Hampshire’s primary grabs headlines today, but if history is any guide, the Jan. 21 South Carolina primary will play a far greater role in determining the Republican winner. Of that state’s population, 28 percent are African American, and could be a major factor in …

In Iowa, only offensive choices available

About 120,000 voters will make national headlines with the choices they make in the Iowa caucuses. Those who turn up will be disproportionately white, conservative, affluent and old. Conservative evangelicals will turn out in significant numbers. Their influence has been exercised before they even go …

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