There have been lots of blogs, news articles and editorials commenting on the King Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. and the postponement of its official opening last week because of Hurricane Irene. August 29, 2011, The New York Times wrote an editorial captioned "Dr. King's...

Forty-eight years ago, I was standing approximately 15 yards behind Dr. King when he delivered his "I Have A Dream " speech on August 28th to a crowd of more than 250,000 people assembled at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial at the March On Washington For Jobs and Freedom....

Dr. Cornel West, author, professor of Princeton University, and TV and radio talk host Tavis Smiley have generated a lot of controversy in the media arising from their criticism of President Obama's leadership, or lack thereof. They are currently on nationwide "poverty tour" that will take them to...

The White House, Treasury officials and persons in the private sector who are now so publicly critical of Standard and Poor's for its downgrading of the creditworthiness of the US government are too late and off the mark. Anyone who takes the time to read the statement of...

A drop in the unemployment rate from 9.2 to 9.1% was a welcomed 50th birthday present for President Obama, along with the new agreement of the FAA and the Air Traffic Controllers approved by Congress. A second birthday present for the president would be for his speech writers to go...

Or is America merely experiencing the 21st Century's first successful Republican Party counter-revolution against an elected Democratic Party President? In either case, how did we get here?

The noted columnist Frank Rich, writing in the July 11, 2011 of New York Magazine, in an article captioned "Obama's Original...

Compromise yes; but an agreement to spending cuts, cuts that would impact Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, Without Any Revenues from closing tax loopholes for corporate jet owners, carried interest of hedge fund managers, and oil subsidies, NO!

Speaker Boehner's plan is a rejection of a balanced shared sacrifice approach...

At the hastily called White House news conference following the collapse of discussions with Speaker John Boehner on raising the debt ceiling and deficit reduction, President Obama rhetorically asked: "Is there anything that the Republicans can say 'yes' to?" Yes, there is: his resignation or re-election defeat.

If it were...

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion;...

During a three-day news cycle when Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees hits a home run, taking him into that special place of 3,000 hits in Major League Baseball, another earthquake occurring off the coast of Japan, several people traumatized by the acquittal of Casey Anthony in the death...

Wall Street and the auto industry bailout, healthcare reform, Iraq and Afghanistan, the "birthers," the Tea Party, Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, immigration, 9.1% (16% real) unemployment, "shellacking" 2010 Midterm Congressional elections, civil unions, same-sex marriage, al Qaeda, bin Laden, renewal of the Patriot Act, continued rising tide of home foreclosures,...

Canaries have been used to warn miners digging for coal underground of the danger of toxic gases. As long as the bird kept singing, the miners knew their air supply was safe. A dead canary signaled need for an immediate evacuation.

There are valuable "canaries," albeit, politically diverse, and in...

Last week was the 70th birthday of Bob Dylan, a.k.a. Bobby Zimmerman. His lyrics to "Blowin' in The Wind," like those from the Civil Rights anthem "We Shall Overcome," were the signature cultural statements of the Peace and Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s:

How many years can some people...

This piece is adapted from a speech Clarence B. Jones gave at the 35th Anniversary Dinner of the Harvey Milk Democratic Club on May 19.

Years ago, reasonable people and scholars believed that the Earth was flat and the center of the Universe. That was their belief system, at the...

In 1955 then-Senator John F. Kennedy wrote Profiles in Courage, a Pulitzer Prize-winning biography describing controversial political positions of leadership and integrity by eight United States senators throughout the Senate's history. The book profiled senators who crossed party lines and/or defied the public opinion of their constituents to do what...

The release by the White House of President Obama's "official" birth certificate was a poignant reminder of just how deep and pervasive racism remains in our nation.

Think about this: A sitting president has to "prove" to the nation that he was indeed born in America -- Hawaii...

During two of the most religious times of the year -- Passover for Jews, Easter for Christians -- shouldn't we pause and ask: When is some of the hatred and downright meanness that seems so prevalent in our political discourse going to end?

In a blog during Thanksgiving last year,...

April 4 is the 43rd anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., in Memphis, Tenn. This anniversary occurs against the background of other memorable past and current events: Last week's 40th anniversary of the founding of the Congressional Black Caucus, The National Urban League's Conference at Howard University...

Recently, I traveled to the UK and Glasgow, Scotland, in connection with a tour promoting my recent book, Behind the Dream -- The Making of The Speech That Transformed A Nation. My lecture at Oxford University, "Nonviolent Conflict Resolution -- Dr. King's Challenge To The 21st Century," included snippets of...

Potential shut down of the government as a result of the fight between Congress and the White House over proposed spending cuts and deficit reduction. Mexico's narco-terrorists still killing Americans with impunity. Libya in civil war; demonstrations continuing in Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, and now, Iraq; gasoline prices rising; and, 9%+...