Many years ago, I worked at the Bureau of the Census. There, working with demographic data, I was keenly aware of the characterizations of race and ethnicity. I kept the definition of a “Negro” in my desk drawer –any person with one-sixteenths Negro blood (ancestry) was a Negro. I often talked about the problematics of … [Read more…]
With March Madness basketball upon us, it is past time for me to write about my late friend, John McLendon, one of the greatest basketball coaches of all time. Coach has received many honors. But the greatest honor is probably that the Coach of the Year award for all college basketball is the John McLendon … [Read more…]
Why are Governor Youngkin of Virginia and other Republicans pushing the anti-Critical Race Theory (CRT) boogeyman so hard? CRT is one explanation of structural racism, especially laws’ part in maintaining that racism. Several reasons for the outcry against it come to mind; however, let us key on just two—politics and history. First, the opponents attacked … [Read more…]
When eight-year-old Sheyann Webb’s father asked her what she wanted for her birthday the next day, she replied, “I want you and mom to demonstrate with me tomorrow.” Many of our thoughts are on voting rights as Republican legislators are curtailing these rights with substantial assistance from the U.S. Supreme Court. In contemplating this end … [Read more…]
Putin’s aggressive war against Ukraine is causing many countries, organizations, and individuals to choose sides. Choosing sides, the vaunted Metropolitan Opera, which will give a concert for a Ukrainian cause on Monday night, has parted ways, for at least two years, with the leading diva in the opera world, Russian Soprano Anna Netrebko. “It is … [Read more…]
The Electoral College is an unnecessary burden in elections in America. It keeps gumming up the works. In U.S. presidential elections—but not in any other elections–the winner is determined not by who wins the most votes nationwide but by who wins a majority in the Electoral College, with every state having an elector for each … [Read more…]