The Race and Social Policy Research Center at Virginia Tech, which I direct, recently held its seventh annual Combating Racial Injustice Workshop. We examined one of the continuing areas of injustice—the so-called juvenile justice system. Despite a drop in overall arrest rates nationally, black youth are still twice as likely to be arrested as white … [Read more…]
He would be very active and pushing others to join him, on the same issues he was fighting at the time of his death–the three major evils as he called them: the evil of racism, the evil of poverty, and the evil of war. In this time of the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s … [Read more…]
Many people are preparing to observe the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King. As we do so, let us remember his actions and his words in 1968, “I choose to identify with the underprivileged. I choose to identify with the poor. I choose to give my life for the hungry. I choose … [Read more…]
Sports fans are in the midst of March Madness, the time of year when the NCAA crowns its men’s basketball champion with a tournament filled with emotion, euphoric victories, and heart-wrenching defeats. It certainly is a mad time. Please excuse me while I discuss another particularly mad aspect of March Madness. March Madness is big … [Read more…]
Fifty years ago, the Kerner Commission, President Lyndon Johnson’s blue-ribbon committee, diagnosed the racial problem of America and offered a carefully considered prescription. But the patient (the United States) did not take the medicine. After precisely answering President Johnson’s first two questions about the riots of the mid-1960’s—What happened? Why did it happen?—the Commission considered … [Read more…]
Last week, the local Roanoke Times published the following long editorial about one of my favorite heroes, Barbara Johns. Please read. Editorial: America’s most successful teen activist was a Virginian Mar 1, 2018 Douglas High School in Florida kicked off the predictable cycle of responses — liberal calls for action, conservatives call for thoughts and prayers, … [Read more…]
Previously I wrote about the mathematics and physics genius, J. Ernest Wilkins, Jr., who worked on the Manhattan Project. The Manhattan Project, one of the most important scientific projects of the 20th century, led to the development of the atomic bomb, which ended World War II. There were 14 other African Americans involved in this … [Read more…]
As we join the chorus of people trying to push more African Americans into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields of study let us not assume that African Americans have not pursued these fields in the past. More than a few have done so, and some have performed with significant distinction. One such person … [Read more…]
Septima Clark took her project on the road throughout the south, conducting workshops and training teachers. The late Guy Carawan, the white Highlander singer who did more than anyone to make “We Shall Overcome” the anthem of the movement, often said the most important thing he ever did in life was to be Septima Clark’s … [Read more…]
Septima Clark played one of the most essential, but little-recognized, roles in the Civil Rights Movement. Known as the “queen mother” of the Movement, she was literally “freedom’s teacher.” Clark developed citizenship training programs that enabled thousands of African Americans to register to vote and to link the power of the ballot to concrete strategies … [Read more…]