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 BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon

It's not that hard to tell an honest people's intellectual from a brand name huckster. One is engaged in making and propagating brands, terms with no fixed meaning of their own crafted to evoke unanalyzed, but useful feelings in an audience. The other is about the business of helping clear the cobwebs, cutting through received wisdom and official deceptions, explaining how the lives of ordinary people affect and are affected by the lineup of social forces, and what we can do about it. A quick look at how Dr. Joseph treats the word “democracy” in his latest work illustrates which side of the divide he is on.

What if BP, the principal corporate entity responsible for the monstrous oil well rupture a mile beneath Gulf of Mexico were a human being, a flesh and blood person instead of a faceless transnational corporation? It's a fair and simple question, and the answers tell us a lot more about the world we live in.

by BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon

Arizona has virtually criminalized “being” while brown. Its new racist laws require police to profile and stop anyone who “looks like” an undocumented immigrant. Even police chiefs across the country, who know they cannot police communities that won't talk to them, are denouncing this racist, unjust and downright foolish law.

by BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon

The summary firing of tens or hundreds of thousands of inner city public school teachers in the Obama administration's race to privatize education will wreak havoc on the social and civic life of communities where those public schools are located. These teachers, skilled and highly educated, possess advanced degrees and are often the pillars of their churches and other local bodies. They are the foundation of whatever civic life exists there. Forcing them to go far afield in search of other employment, or adding them to the swelling ranks of the unemployed is the mother of all bad ideas.

by BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon

There are real fights and there are fake fights, engineered to distract attention away from the real deal. The shouting match between Obama's Dems and the Tea party Repubs is one of those fake fights. The health care legislation passed by the Obama Democrats is incomparably worse than anything they could have passed right after the presidential election, and significantly worse than anything Democrats could have passed at midyear 2009. The president and his minions have delayed as long as possible to guarantee the worst, not the best bill for patients, and the best deal possible for Big Insurance, Big Pharma and Big Medicine.