"We're talking about weapons that are made for war," said Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee. "An AK-47 is a Russian-made weapon that is made for war. An AR-15, which is an answer to the AK-47... these high-capacity [guns]... you can shoot 50 to 60 rounds within a minute. Within a...

We are shocked and saddened by the massacre in Aurora, Colo. But Aurora is part of a pattern, not an isolated incident. Two days earlier, 17 were hurt outside a bar in Tuscaloosa, Ala., when a gunman opened fire.

There is no safe zone.

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and...

The recent death of Rodney King reminds us of many things, not least of which is how important technology can be in the pursuit of justice. The videotape of the beating of King by Los Angeles police in 1991 challenged our nation to take seriously claims from communities of color...

African Americans and Latinos have suffered the most in the Great Recession. They were the first to lose jobs, and the last to find new jobs. They struggle with the highest unemployment, the greatest loss of personal wealth, the highest percentage of families losing their homes.

The calamity...

When young Americans come alive, they transform the possible. We saw that in 2008 when young Americans -- the millennial generation of 18- to 29-year-olds -- voted in large numbers (larger than the aging baby boomers), and overwhelmingly for Barack Obama. They cast almost one out of every...

There is a real drug war being waged on our border with Mexico. Drug cartels are clashing, U.S. agents on this side are struggling to keep the violence out of America, often without success, and the innocent are dying.

There is also a fake drug war being waged by Rep....

In a One Big Tent America, everyone deserves a fair chance to succeed.

We shouldn't trade in the legacy of the New Deal and Fair Deal for a Raw Deal. It follows from the Declaration of Independence that declared that "all men are created equal," expanded over time to include...

The attempt to commercialize and make popular more than 200 years of human degradation, where blacks were considered three-fifths human by our Constitution is offensive, appalling and insensitive. Removing the chains from our ankles and placing them on our shoes is no progress

For Adidas to promote the athleticism and...

Terror haunts the streets of our cities. Since 2008, more than 530 young people have been killed in Chicago. Almost four-fifths of these killings were in 22 African-American and Latino community areas on the city's South and Southwest sides.

Each year, across the country, about 7,000...

Chicago is girding for the opening of the NATO Summit on May 20. The ministers and heads of state will be greeted by a rich array of protests, marches, events and counter-summits. Security is already tight near the conference center, and tensions are building.

Why protest a meeting of U.S....

The defeat of French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Sunday's French elections provides a clear lesson to America. So does the fall of the conservative Dutch government, the rebuke of the British conservative government in local elections, the defeat of the establishment parties in Greece and the turmoil in Spain. Europeans...

Interest rates on subsidized government student loans are slated to double to 6.8 percent in July. That would add up to $1,000 to the burden of students dependent on loans to help pay for their education.

Not surprisingly, President Barack Obama has called on Congress to...

Trayvon Martin was shot to death in Sanford, Fla. He was there visiting his father while suspended from school. He was suspended last month after school officials claimed to have found marijuana "residue" in his book bag. No actual contraband was found; no arrest or citations were issued...

We mourn Trayvon Martin, the young African American who, armed only with candy and a soft drink, was shot dead for the offense of "walking while black."

George Zimmerman, the man who shot him, has not been arrested, apparently protected by Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law, which "authorizes" anyone to...

Is democracy a luxury good in America, discarded when the going gets rough?

Apparently Michigan's Gov. Rick Snyder thinks so.

In Michigan, Detroit and other cities have hit the wall. The Great Recession has devastated city finances. Everyone agrees tough steps are needed.

Snyder's response is what Canadian author and...

Even while we see jobs coming back, the tsunami created by the Great Recession is hitting cities and counties with full force. Suffolk County, one of the largest New York counties, has declared a financial emergency. Stockton, Calif., a city of 300,000, is on the verge...

In Selma, Ala., on Sunday, I joined thousands of citizens marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, marking the 47th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, the 1965 march and police riot that helped spark the passage of the Voting Rights Act.

The march was not a memory to the past, but a...

This Sunday, nearly 40 million people are likely to tune in to see who captures an Oscar at the annual Academy Awards ceremonies. Winning the award can add millions to a film's box office and supercharge the career of an actor, director, screenwriter or editor. According to the Academy's 2009-10...

Republicans on the campaign trail denounce Obama's health care reforms as a virtual threat to the Republic. It's "socialized medicine," "a job killer," "a government takeover of health care." All the Republican candidates for president promise to repeal it, and Republican legislators are virtually united in trying to do so....

Last week, Mitt Romney created a firestorm for saying that "I'm not concerned about the very poor." Romney later explained that he "misspoke," and that he'd said something "similar to that, but quite acceptable, for a long time."

The real problem isn't that it misstates Romney's...