MEDICAL RECORDS REVEAL ZIMMERMAN HAD BROKEN NOSE

Craig S. Keener, 05/15/12

Professor, Asbury Theological Seminary, and author of many books

Sometimes white people think that racism is a dead issue, because they do not experience it. Yet it is not wise to judge other people's experience based on our non-experience.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson, 05/15/12

Author and political analyst

The 2012 presidential election will be a nail biter. But even if it was a potential runaway for either Obama or Romney, the vice presidency would still be important. Obama knew it and picked Biden. McCain missed it and picked Palin. Romney won't miss this and will pick a boring white guy.

Kevin P. Chavous, 05/15/12

Attorney, author and national school reform leader

We can't wait for schools to get better while we continue to lose kids. We must act now by immediately implementing education reforms for kids in low-performing schools.

Rhonda Medina, 05/13/12

My parents believe in equality for all people. Not just equality in the areas that they don't care about but equality in areas that may make them a little uncomfortable. My parents did not evolve overnight, it came in small steps over time; fueled by people they met and struggles they shared.

Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, 05/09/12

CEO, Green for All

Staceyann Chin, 05/13/12

Author, 'The Other Side of Paradise'

Last year, on Mother's day, I found out I was pregnant. I can hardly believe it's been a year since that gleeful Mother's Day. Only a year later, and life is a completely different shade of tumbling. I have become the mother of a rather scrumptious little girl.

Kristen Howerton, 05/11/12

Blogger, Rage Against the Minivan

The experience of adopting has given me a unique perspective on motherhood, teaching me some new truths, and reinforcing what I believe to be true about parenting

Zach Stafford, 05/12/12

Writer, activist, and researcher

In those moments when my mom argued with other moms over the maternity of her children, I saw that no matter what I told her, no matter whom I became, she would always love me, and she would always fight for me. And she has done that.

Carl Jeffers, 05/11/12

Television political commentator, radio talk show host, lecturer, political analyst

Coming in the middle of a presidential campaign, the moral leadership aspect of same sex marriage will have to take a back seat to the discussion of the political impact aspect of the issue.

Lauren Brown Jarvis, 05/11/12

National Communications Director, New Leaders Council

Tavis Smiley believes America has the power to completely eradicate poverty amongst its citizens in a little as ten years. He questions how America could allow the dreams of its people to transform into a nightmare.

Dr. L. Toni Lewis, 05/11/12

Dr. L. Toni Lewis serves as the chair of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) healthcare division. As a family practice physician and a geriatrician, Dr. Lewis represents an authentic voice for SEIU's 1.2 million healthcare members.

The Affordable Care Act is the law that empowers nurses, doctors, and healthcare workers, who actually deliver care, to better manage care so patients have the best possible outcomes. Nurses will no longer be simply reacting to critical care situations.

Rebecca Wanzo, 05/11/12

Associate Professor of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Washington University

DOMA is not Jim Crow, but DOMA legislation is one of the principle moral and ethical issues of our time, and this is why it is important to name the specificity of this kind of harm.

Minister Leslie Watson Malachi, 05/10/12

Director of African American religious affairs, People for the American Way

In 2008, I heard too many pundits imply that African Americans would automatically vote for President Obama simply because he is black. Today, I'm hearing that the only thing that will drive us away from him is the issue of marriage for gays and lesbians. Both assumptions are offensive.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson, 05/10/12

Author and political analyst

Opposition to discrimination has always been a morally and politically right position for Obama, and that has included gender and sexual preference, not just racial discrimination. There was no doubt then that it was only a matter of time that Obama would finally say yes to gay marriage.

Lisa Belkin, 05/09/12

Senior Columnist on Life/Work/Family, Huffington Post

Like Obama, my children magnify and inform and give meaning to everything I do. And if I had the power to transform the debate on same sex marriage in this country, I'm pretty sure I would be thinking of my sons as I did so

DeAndre Roberts, 05/08/12

20-year-old activist from California

We're going through a second civil rights movement. Now, we've switched our attention from "negroes" and "whites" to "gays" and "straights."

Marcia Dawkins, 05/10/12

Visiting Scholar, Brown University

Some fans have launched a campaign to see that actor Jesse Williams gets cast as Finnick. This happens all the time in Hollywood. So what's the big deal? Well, to begin with the character's color, or lack of it, depending on how you see him, is striking.