I only watched it once, because it was too excruciating to view. That moment when Louisville guard Kevin Ware leaped, very high, to block a shot by Duke basketball player Tyler Thornton, and landed in a way that broke his right leg in two places. I turned my head in...

In the men's locker room after Bikram Yoga class this morning I overheard two men discussing these very rough economic times, in spite of reports that employment is on the rise. They asked "Where?" and "For whom?" One of the men in particular was very upset. Turns out he is...

Detroit '67, the riveting new play by Dominique Morisseau, is a period piece, then again it is not. Set in Detroit in 1967 with white residential flight and street rebellion and violence as the backdrop (plus the thick and ugly tensions between police and community), this slice of America could...

Dear K:

I hope you read my short letter with an open heart and mind, even though you do not know me. I've heard about your situation and wanted to personally reach out to you, because I believe in you, and because I believe in the potential and possibilities of...

My mother once said to me that a liar is a thief. She meant that if a person lies to you, then they'd steal anything from you: your money, your heart, your belief.

As we've watched the strange narratives of Lance Armstrong and Manti Te'o unfold these past few days,...

"Babies. He killed babies." That was the text message that blasted its terror from my iPhone into the sudden numbness of my mind when I first learned of the terrible mass shooting at that Connecticut elementary school. Babies, as young as kindergarteners, murdered, just because they were there. Nearly 30...

Might it be, as my mother said to me on this ugly, sinful day,
That the world is on its last go-round?
Hijacked wild birds strip the sky of its innocent morning breath
Steel towers crumple like playing cards on an uneven metal table
Unrehearsed screams...

A friend and I were going back and forth about the opening day midnight showings of the new Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises. Both of us are huge Batman fans dating back to our childhoods, and we were feeling the rush of excitement tied to what promises to be...

"Frank Ocean say he gay...."

That is what I heard a group of teenagers say the other day, here on the streets of Brooklyn, New York, when it came out that Frank Ocean had revealed a past love affair with a man. There was no judgment in that...

I am a father. I did not know that I was one, but I am. Not even sure when it happened but, alas, it is a reality for me now. I did not ask for it, nor was it planned. And, to be brutally honest, I scratch my head and...

The east end of Richmond, Virginia is a community rich in people, but depressingly poor otherwise. It's like every other inner city in America. It is strikingly similar to the impoverished section of Jersey City, where I was born and raised. Just as in the days of Jim Crow, the...

Slow suicide is the term I've used for years to describe those individuals who are incredibly unhappy in their own lives, in their own skin, and do things to destroy that life, to destroy that skin. Whatever the race or culture of that person is immaterial; it doesn't matter if...

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Dear Mayor Bloomberg:

I was awakened in the wee hours of this morning by texts and calls from friends and associates distraught that Occupy Wall Street protestors were being forcibly removed from Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan. Even more troubling is that you chose to make...

My brothers:

I've wanted to write this open letter to all of you for a long time. That is because I am not only a huge admirer of what you do as sportsmen but also because I care, and I am deeply concerned about the state of Black male athletes...

There is yet another great and bloody gash on the soul of America right now, because we allowed a state-sponsored killing of a potentially innocent man to occur in our name, on our watch. Fellow Americans, we must end the uncivilized and inhuman act of the death penalty, of killing...

"To take a life when a life has been lost is revenge, not justice." -- Desmond Tutu

Unless something God-like and miraculous happens, Troy Davis, 42, is going to be executed tomorrow, Wednesday, September 21, 2011, at 7 p.m., by lethal injection at a state prison in Jackson, Georgia.

At this stage in my life, and for the rest of my life, I make it my business to obey the laws of my city and state, and of this country, always. That is because I am a community and political leader, and because I feel that we leaders need...

Might it be, as my mother said to me on this ugly, sinful day,
That the world is on its last go-round?
Hijacked wild birds strip the sky of its innocent morning breath
Steel towers crumple like playing cards on an uneven metal table
Unrehearsed screams...

"I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people." -- PRESIDENT FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT

"Uh, I pledge allegiance, uh, to all the scramblers/Uh, this is the Star Spangled Banner" -- JAY-Z, "Made in America," featuring Kanye West and Frank Ocean

As we Americans finish...

Ashley Judd is a very courageous woman. I am not referring to her work as a global ambassador for YouthAids, or her efforts to end poverty and sexual violence in underdeveloped nations overseas, or even her journey here in America as an actress, mother, daughter of a country music star,...