Opinion

The idea of changing the name of beautiful Lake Calhoun to Hubert Humphrey Lake has caused quite a stir in Minneapolis. Lake Calhoun is the largest and most beautiful lake in Minneapolis, a city known nationally for its beautiful lakes. The dispute arose when it was revealed that the lake was named in honor of […]

“A people without knowledge of their history and culture is like a tree without roots.” — Marcus Garvey In my eyes, the great Garvey was right on! Professor Mahmoud El-Kati teaches this, the Erasure Principle. Our Black history, traditions and language, our culture….our peoplehood, has been…erased. Even the history books in the finest educational institutions […]

Well, well, well. Would ya looky here. Golf fans done went and got theyself a genuine, for real cutie-pie White boy to fawn over and don’t need wannbe Tiger Woods no more. Tiger Woods — Mr. Don’t Call Me Black because I’m 1/32nd this, 8/16th that, and two kajillionths the other thing — is no […]

On my radio show or in my opinion column, a few people always want to bring up the old argument of the Bible promoting slavery to refute my argument using Bible verses against homosexual relationships. The Bible pushed freedom from slavery and providing methods towards survival. Nothing similar for same-sex relationships. Remember Moses? God did […]

Gentrification: “to convert [an aging area in a city] into a more affluent middle-class neighborhood, as by remodeling dwellings, resulting in increased property values and in displacement of the poor.” — Webster’s Dictionary “[Ideas] both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed, the world is […]

“You be the rainbow in the storms of life. The evening beam that smiles the clouds away, and tints tomorrow with prophetic ray.” — Lord Byron Since the devastating tornado that touched down in North Minneapolis on May 26, I now know more about tornadoes than I ever felt I needed or wanted to know. […]

More than folks realize was riding on the NBA championship series. In class society, everything, and I mean everything, counts. LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosch tried to break precedent, and the ruling class was not having it. So they sicced everything on the Big Three: their PR apparatus (big business media), envious sportswriters, […]

The basketball season has finally ended (with apologies to the Lynx who are just beginning), but it is hard to think of the game anywhere without the realization of how African Americans literally dominate the sport at all levels today. It has become next to impossible to conceive of a basketball game, either amateur or […]

“But suppose God is Black? What if we go to Heaven and we, all our lives, have treated the Negro as an inferior, and God is there, and we look up and He is not White? What then is our response?” — John F. Kennedy, Jr. I pose this to our esteemed elected officials for […]

At 8:30 am December 9, 1992, a long nightmare of terror began for Wylanda Williams as she answered a knock at her door in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Illinois. It was police, an Oak Park police officer and two Minneapolis police detectives, all part of the investigation into the murder of slain White […]

I always listen to conservative talk radio. Just in case slavery comes back…because Newt Gingrich or Sean Hannity will be the first to report it. That’ll give me a head start to make my way to the Canadian border.  I digress…. Political pundits are commending Sara Palin for being innovative, touting how much of a […]

By Rev. Irene Monroe CNN’s Don Lemon has penned a memoir titled Transparent that will come out in September. In writing his book, Lemon said, ”The decision to come out happened organically.” One of the motivating reasons for Lemon, 45, now revealing his sexual orientation is because of the suicide of Rutgers University student Tyler […]

Gil Scott-Heron: His name says it all. The man made history, an activist artist of singular consequence. Sly vocals, wry lyrics set to sweet music on electric piano forged a strong statement of Black autonomy. Hailing from Chicago, long popular on the Washington, D.C.-Baltimore scene, this dyed-in-the-wool original was part and parcel of the impromptu, […]

“Let nobody fool you, all the loud noises we hear today are nothing but the death groans of the dying system.” — Martin Luther King, Jr. Over 60 serious-minded people came together at 8 am, May 27, 2011, at UROC in North Minneapolis, andagain at 3 pm that afternoon, across the street at the Urban […]

Folks often wonder how racial stereotypes and misperceptions became so imbedded in the U.S. psyche. The answer of course is propaganda. This propaganda serves to keep folks divided and makes it easier for those who exploit us to continue to do so without concern about us regular folks coming together to demand our fair share. And the power structure […]

Every since the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the American medical apparatus has been an integral part of partisan politics. Within the political platform of each party is always a reference to improving medical performance for the people. Often the political party’s position on medical issues can make the difference in political wins or losses. […]

By Al Flowers Guest Commentator I didn’t need a tornado to tell me. Black people need Black institutions. African Americans, the descendants of slaves, are unique in the world, teaches Professor El-Kati. We are one of a kind, with a shared experience unlike any other in the world, brought to the shores of what is […]

THROUGH MY EYES By Ron Edwards The tornado that smashed its way through the northern part of Minneapolis on Sunday, May 22 unleashed what insurance companies call “an act of God.” This gives our dear leaders a chance to unleash Rahm Emanuel’s famously stated “never let a serious crisis go to waste,” using it for […]

VOICES OF THE VILLAGE By Lissa Jones “You’re not supposed to be so blind with patriotism that you can’t face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who says it.” — Malcolm X For 394 years (1617 to present), the American endeavor for democracy has demanded our blind patriotism. First, “democracy” stole our names. Then it […]

TRYING MY BEST By Frank Erickson I heard a stand-up comic ask, “How come no one reenacts the Vietnam War?” More than just funny, that is a quite profound question and observation. Maybe it is because with Vietnam, “war” lost a lot of its romance. It’s hard to romanticize Vietnam. It’s just a little too […]