Michealene Cristini Risley

Last week, Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson. A regular guest on Fox News, pointed out that the "greatest mistake America made was allowing women to vote." At this rate, I won't be surprised to see a national dialogue on revoking women 's driver's licenses sometime soon. The idea will...

Wake up, America! We have become far too complacent and trusting. We have been asleep at the wheel while our civil liberties are taken from us piece by piece. In only the past few years, Americans have suffered several egregious blows, with basic human dignities being stripped by our government....

Guilty as charged. I possess a vagina, but lack the will to become a baby factory for religious conservatives. One cannot ponder the issue without including a discussion of world population and the many children born in this world unwanted and unloved. Therefore, I am one of those who use...

In the wake of the Civil War, many newly freed slaves were struggling to try and establish themselves. Lacking many of the same rights, these African Americans were relegated to political purgatory. This was particularly true in ex-slave states, which refused to issue even basic human rights to black Americans....

I went to hear a dear friend, writer, and activist Kevin Powell speak to a sexual assault group at Stanford University this week. We have known each other since we shared a panel at the United Nations. Kevin is one of the premier voices in black America today. At Stanford,...

We have ALL failed the children in our world.

There is nothing worse in a community than the unexpected and shocking loss of a young child. A child of any age. For family and friends who lose a child, it's life's worst circumstance. For community members who may not...

A conversation with Health Science Consultant, Nancy Evans:

I have known Health Science Consultant, Nancy Evans for several years through our mutual interest in women's health. Nancy is best known for her work on environmental connections to breast cancer, including the documentary film "Rachel's Daughters: Searching for the...

Peter Godwin, author of The Fear, Robert Mugabe and the martyrdom of Zimbawe, is responsible for my sleep deprivation. Days of nail laden wooden planks, beaten buttocks and broken, irreparable limbs haunt me and I am in a fog. The truth of what he writes in his new memoir, a...

Imagine that you are in a country that allows the murder of a doctor that has provided abortion care. Or picture yourself living in a place where rape is qualified; you must have the physical proof in bruises to show that you fought back. Envision a child that is...

There, I said it. It's true. However, with the past few weeks hoopla and game-playing around the Arizona massacre, I did an experiment with the headline. I wanted to see if this resulted in more readers than usual. The truth is, Sarah Palin might be hard to tolerate with her...

The southernmost tip of the United States is Key West, Florida. Straight out from Key West, a mere 90 miles away, is the island of Cuba. The two countries are geographically so close. This short distance has been noted as significant on several occasions, including President John F. Kennedy during...

Did you know that most African children grow up without ever seeing or working with any books, that this continent has the highest percentage of illiteracy in the world and that by adulthood most Africans lose their ability to read due to lack of available materials?

Chris Bradshaw of...

I miss the Catholic Church. It's the not the archaic rules and the mantra of mortal unworthiness in weekly prayers but the community bonding and sweet rituals of the house of God. The experience floods my mind with memories of growing up in the Midwest with many of those happy...

As scary as it is to admit, I don't think Americans care much about violence against women and children. As heartbreaking as this statement is, particularly for a human rights activist -- I believe it to be true. Perhaps I am scared it is true. This past week we launched...

Our political system in the United States is not as invincible as the Titanic was once thought to be. The union is well on its way to the depths of the ocean. 310,273,690 of us are falling into the icy waters, and whether you are Black, White, Asian, or Native...

Today was a day that left a bittersweet flavor stuck to the roof of my mouth -- like the first gulp of fresh apple cider on a midwest fall day. There's still a little sunshine hitting the freshly picked apple trees but those days are almost gone. In that moment...

On April 18th, the 30th Anniversary of Zimbabwe's independence, there is little to celebrate. Average life expectancy in Zimbabwean is not much more than 30 years , food is scarce, cholera has occurred in epidemic proportions, and unless you are part of Mugabe's inner circle, life is almost unbearable. Last...

The brighter the light, the darker the shadow...Nowhere is this old saying more fitting than with Andrew Young's new book, The Politician, an explosive, sometimes sordid insider's account of John Edwards presidential bids and his affair with Rielle Hunter.

Although blogs and the mainstream media will blaze with the...

Freud got it wrong. Absolutely, irrevocably wrong. One of his controversial theories was that little girls "during the phallic stage of emotional growth develop 'Penis Envy', the desire to have their own penis." Freud states that when a girl discovers she does not have a penis, she feels disadvantaged. Freud...

If you read my blog at all, you know how much I write about the situation in Zimbabwe. Over the summer, a friend from one of the local bookstores passed me a galley of the The Last Resort, a memoir of Zimbabwe by Douglas Rogers. Rogers is a born and...