Rev. Gregory Seal Livingston

Mayor Rahm Emanuel never has to work another day in his life. It is well-known that the mayor is a millionaire many times over. Personally I don't begrudge him his success. New York Mayor Bloomberg is exponentially wealthier. The difference, however, between Emanuel and Bloomberg is significant. No one reaches...

Wednesday the City Council voted to approve Mayor Rahm Emanuel's new protest ordinance. The controversial ordinance was greatly opposed by many Chicago residents as these new measures threaten to rob citizens of their civil liberties, most notably our right to free speech and our right to congregate peacefully....

The one-year anniversary of the Gabriel Giffords shooting is bittersweet. While Congresswoman Giffords' strong and spirited recovery is an inspiration and a lesson to us all, this anniversary is also a time to remember the six others who lost their lives, as well as a time to look seriously at...

Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was recently sentenced to 14 years in prison after being convicted on several corruption charges. Blagojevich is just one of many political figures who have been tried and found wanting in the state of Illinois. In 2007, former Illinois Governor George Ryan began serving a...

In the last 10 years, the Chicago Public School district has closed nearly 50 schools. Last week thousands of Chicago families were stunned to learn that more closings and 'turnaround' treatments are in store for their schools.

Some schools are outright closing (such as Julia C. Lathrop and Walter...

"Y'all gon' make me lose my mind up in here, up in here!" Those are the lyrics of rapper-almost-turned-preacher DMX. Lifted from his hit single 'Party Up', I find them quite fitting as we wade through this summer of blood in Chicago. The local headlines blare the shooting death of...

August 28, 1955 - Emmett Till is murdered in Money, Mississippi.

August 28, 1963 - Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., gives his "I Have A Dream" speech in Washington D.C.

August 28, 2008 - Barack Obama accepts the Democratic Presidential nomination in Denver, Colorado.

This is another bloody summer...

Is there discrimination at the World Bank? I had no notion of this until my African colleagues made me aware. Reading over the information provided to me, I was shocked at the dreadfully low number of black employees and job candidates. Here's a statement by the World Bank's own 'Team...

My parents died six months apart. Grief has become my new companion. When you've experienced major loss in your life good people try to comfort you with the assurance that grief is a process. The idea being that all processes have a beginning and an end. Don't misunderstand me, I'm...

Wednesday morning Mayor Daley, School Superintendent Ron Huberman, Police Superintendent Jody Weis, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Father Michael Pfleger were in a members-only breakfast club meeting that came about because of black youth violence in Chicago. Wow!

When...

The moment -- pop culture. Popular culture has shoved Obamaism, uprisings, wars, health care and gainful employment out of the public's consciousness and off the airwaves. Pop music. Popular music -- the poetic, lyrical and melodious spirit of pop culture. Pop culture is too readily critiqued as superficial and shallow....

II Samuel 12:23
"But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me."

These are the words of King David after the death of his infant...

I was watching Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi on one of the cable news shows. Seeing him brought to mind Ted Koppel and Nightline; also his regal father, the Shah of Iran; and of course the Iranian Hostage Crisis.

Iranian blood money and snobbery maintain the prince's title -- but today's...

On the front page of the June 15th edition of the Chicago Tribune are the words, "Hunger doesn't go on summer break." Of course this is referring to Chicago Public Schools being out for the summer. The article raises the question as to where will the 84% of Chicago Public...

For the millions of American children who are living below the poverty line, escaping the cycle can seem impossible.

Statistics show that children from poor families are more likely to drop out of school before attaining their high school diplomas -- and that individuals without a high school diploma...