Happy Birthday to Me! — For in the story of Jesus, believers found kinship and a promise. Jesus was a god made mortal, a wrongly captured man who endured torture and violent death. Forced migrants [black African American slaves] already knew what it was like to journey into a grave. …

She Wouldn’t Even Say George Floyd’s Name — Killer-cop Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 270 months, or twenty-two and one-half years, in prison for the murder of George Floyd. However, all experts agree that with “good behavior,” he will likely spend no more than fifteen years behind bars. Today’s (June 25) sentencing hearing opened with “victim impact statements”…

In 1976, after finally winning his first Grammy for “Best Album,” folk songster Paul Simon gave one of the most astounding acceptance speeches of all time. After thanking his fans, his producers, fellow musicians and singers, musical engineers… and even his parents, he then said: “But most of all I…

The First One was the 400-Year-Long War and Not Quite Total Extermination of Native Americans — Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please. They do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing, already given, and transmitted from the past. The tradition of all dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brains of the living. And…

…On ‘Black Friday’ — The most marvelous, unbelievable thing about Black people in America is that they exist. Every imaginable monstrosity that evil can conjure has been inflicted on this population, yet they have not been extinguished. — Michael Harriot, Four Hundred Souls — A Community History of African American, 1619–2019, eds. Ibram X…

But re-instated order still does not go far enough. — Now comes word that a New York appellate court has finally reinstated the “very limited” gag order disallowing Donald Trump and his attorneys from publicly mentioning the judge’s principal law clerk’s name or position in the ongoing $250 million civil fraud trial against Trump. The Messenger reports that that gag…

In all of its history, only the 1960’s surpassed the 1860's as America’s bloodiest decade. — Friday, November 22, 1963, for those of us of a certain age, is the date seared into our childhood memories like no other. For weeks, President John Kennedy’s murder, live and (for those who could afford it) in color, was endlessly played out on our Zenith, Philco, and Motorola “combination”…

And there is only one reason why — You can’t tell by just lookin’ which white folks got that racist crap in ’em. So, until they show you that they don’t, you assume that they all do! — Willie Lee Dyer, my mother, 1915–1991 In an article published by Rawstory.com, senior editor John Stoehr expresses both incredulity and…

Judge jails him immediately despite his disability. What about Trump? — Vitali GossJankowski (34) was convicted earlier this year of insurrection and rioting charges for his role in the January 6, 2021 failed coup d’état against the US government. Today, October 30, 2023, GossJankowski was dragged out of court and into Washington, D.C.’s jail ahead of his sentencing because he violently…