by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley

“Like ACORN, Sherrod was victimized by a Democratic administration which revels in its willingness to assist the right in throwing its own people under the proverbial bus.” Yet, even when the media narrative shifts to sympathy for Sherrod, it trivializes her heroism, just as it diminished Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to a “dreaming preacher whose fondest wish was to see black and white children join hands and sing ‘Kumbayah.’”

by Anthony Monteiro

Corporate media (and corporate academia) appear to have anointed Peniel E. Joseph as the emerging Black scholar on Black Power and its aftermath – which is cause for dismay. Joseph “‘liberates’ Malcolm and Kwame from the events and ideas that shaped them and their own philosophical reflections upon them. At the same time he frees himself to do what he wishes with their legacies.”

From the established civil rights organizations like the NAACP to legions of elected Democrats and preachers and even people like our good friends at Color of Change, the main activity these days is an endless circling of wagons around the president, defending him against the flood of racist bile that spews daily from the likes of Fox News, the Tea Partyers and naysaying Republicans.  But is that really where so much of our energy and creativity should be going?  Aren't there other urgent matters more deserving of the attention of black America's political leadership, our pastors and spokespeople and self-described activists?   Matters like black mass incarceration, record unemployment, and the sinking of vast resources into multiple wars abroad?  

by Paul Street

The author’s problem with African American reparations is that some of the demands seem to stop with the demise of Jim Crow. “Why stop with the 20th century?” Racist crimes that cry out for repair are constantly committed in the United States. “The very distinction between past and present racism ought to be considered part of the ideological superstructure of contemporary white supremacy.”

We all love and respect our ancestor and freedom fighter Frederick Douglass. But in the 21^st century, nobody is trying to imitate his haircut or wear his 19^th century clothes. So why is 21^st century black America still stuck with Frederick Douglass's political strategy, 140 years later? And how's that old stuff working out for us, anyway?

by Linn Washington, Jr.

In South Africa, pride over national soccer recognition combines with outrage that the poor are having to defer their needs for the sake of the global show. Apartheid at times seems to be only a legalism away. “Some people fought with rocks and guns. Some fought with music and poetry. Some fought with football.”

by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley

For Black America, it is the worst of times, but a kind of collective insanity leads African Americans to believe they live in the best of times. A Pew Research Center study shows Blacks are the most upbeat on the economy of any major group, despite being the group most negatively affected by the economy. The root cause of the delirium: Obama.