One of our main goals is to do our part to chip away at the the things that divide us. We believe that people are much more alike than we are different but we allow our differences to separate us. We think that if people are given topics to think about (including how other people live, how they're affected by the things we say and/or do and the taboo subjects that make us cringe or laugh) then we are a step closer to bridging the divide.
On April 24, 1867, the Ku Klux Klan held its first national meeting in a bid to organize and build structure among their many disparate often groups. In 2013, one hundred forty six years later, the klan still exists.
On Wednesday I spent the entire evening surfing through Ku Klux Klan affiliated websites. I read their literature, watched videos, and scanned through a ton of pictures. … [Read more]
Earlier this month, my wife and did the three and a half hour trek from Virginia Beach, Virginia to our nation’s capital to see the annual Cherry Blossom Festival (in case you haven’t noticed from her articles, she has a penchant for all things Japanese). While exiting the Smithsonian along Constitution Avenue, we got to see something we don’t normally see in our sleepy little town: an old-fashioned organized protest.… [Read more]
“And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
I can remember April 4, 1968 as though it were yesterday. … [Read more]
According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), almost a quarter of adult Americans suffer some type of diagnosable mental illness in a given year.
They also state that mental disorders are the leading cause of disability in the US and Canada.
And that 45% of people with a mental disorder suffer from more than one mental illness at a time.… [Read more]
Yesterday was International Women’s Day. Looking at the events and purpose of the day, I now propose we men take a sensible step back from the underarm-applied testosterone supplement bathroom mirror world view of our receding hairlines to reflect on some still unfinished business. In this country, we need a renewed push for the still unenacted Equal Rights Amendment.… [Read more]
The stock markets soar and the rich get richer, but the middle class has lost ground and the poor live in stagnation. For many, the “American Dream” is nowhere in sight. Teachers, cops and other civil servants have seen their salaries erode before their own eyes as they struggle to try to fulfill a dream rigged by the powers that be.… [Read more]
A conservative gadfly said that what America needs is a “White History Month” She stated that white men have greatly contributed to make America the greatest and most powerful country on the planet and they should be celebrated – just as African-Americans are celebrated for their accomplishments during the month of February.
There is nothing wrong with honoring the accomplishments of white men.… [Read more]
Perhaps there was no greater lightning rod in the President’s State of the Union Address this past Tuesday than the following statement:
Tonight, let’s declare that in the wealthiest nation on Earth, no one who works full-time should have to live in poverty, and raise the federal minimum wage to $9.00 an hour…let’s tie the minimum wage to the cost of living, so that it finally becomes a wage you can live on.… [Read more]
I love award shows. Love them. I love the red carpet, the fashion, the gossip, the shots of celebrities when they don’t know they are on TV at that exact moment. I love that even with the delays and memos about dress codes, no one is ever really sure what loose cannon celebrity is going to do the next stupid thing.… [Read more]
The brutal gang rape of a young woman in India in late December hit humanity like a tsunami in the world of human rights. Media around the world has been following the case and headlines keep coming on a daily basis updating on the status of the accused arrested and charged with rape and murder. One of the many women writers who wrote about the causes underlying such heinous crimes against women in India is Sweta Srivastava Vikram who asked the question Who to Blame in an article published in early January.… [Read more]
I was born to a middle-class, white, married couple in 1978 in a safe, conservative town in Michigan. My parents are still married almost forty years later, and they still live in the home I grew up in, and they still have good jobs – and because they are smart with their money, they are comfortable.… [Read more]
Due in no small part to the attacks in New York on 9/11, the 2004 Madrid Train Bombings and London’s ‘7/7’ subway bombings in 2005, Muslims, particularly Arab Muslims, have come to personify the threat of backwards, violent, foreign “otherness” for much of the western world. Islamic fundamentalism, both state sponsored and otherwise, is a legitimate concern as there’s no question that the treatment of women, non-Muslims and members of rival sects or ethnic groups in countries governed by Shari’ah law is often problematic.… [Read more]
As the New Year unfolds before us, we find ourselves falling off one rock and headed down toward another. We’re a bunch of Rockhounds, really, with an excellent collection going. While we’re busy arguing about the Fiscal Cliff, however, there are other dramas unfolding around the world.
Across East Asia there have been huge political changes following several important national elections this year.… [Read more]
Democracy, loosely defined as for the people by the people, has long been a fantasy of developed countries for the Middle-East and North Africa. Though it would be heart-warming to think that this goal is purely altruistic, this is not the case. There are economic motives to consider amongst many other variables which contribute to the pressing desire to spread democracy.… [Read more]
Police officers shoot and kill an unarmed black man. We’ve all read and heard this script ad nauseam, to the extent that when it resurfaces we are no longer surprised; we’re immune to a certain degree, but still distraught. It has played out verbatim so often we know the outcome. The accused officers will be suspended pending an investigation.… [Read more]
On September 23, 2011 Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas presented UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon an application for full membership. In the application President Abbas wrote, “the State of Palestine affirms its commitment to the achievement of a just, lasting and comprehensive resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on the vision of two states living side by side in peace and security.”
On cue, the Israeli Prime Minister retorted stating the bid would not succeed and called on leaders throughout the international community to oppose the effort.… [Read more]
In all the armed services, the rank before one wears stars on his or her collar is that of Colonel. It’s also customary shorthand to call the next lower grade, that of Lieutenant Colonel, simply ‘Colonel’.
The all-volunteer force has been with us for forty years. The men and women serving did it of their own volition, which I hope everyone remembered over a week ago on Veterans Day.… [Read more]
War – this red sign of human madness – is raging once again in the conflict-laden Gaza area as Israeli military offensive allegedly targets anti-Israel militants hiding there. But reports from international media reveal that innocent blood is being spilled too as collateral damage. No doubt Israel’s offensive is condemnable and the excuse of targeting militants is lame because no innocent lives must be lost – whether they are Israelis, Palestinian, or of any other nationality.… [Read more]
Heading in to work recently, I turned on the radio (yes, just a good old-fashioned FM car radio—I’ll bet you didn’t know those were still in use!) and caught the news mid-story. This is what I heard:
(Interviewee) It was great, the first time I vote for the American president. It’s very amazing, and I’m honored.… [Read more]
It is hard to look at the picture with this story published yesterday on Al Arabiya News: a five-year-old Saudi Arabian girl struggling to get her last breaths in a hospital in Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh. She was reportedly tortured to the extreme by no one else than her own father. Laama died of the wounds, with broken arms and a fractured skull; her father murdered her.… [Read more]
