http://www.thedefendersonline.com A civil rights blog promoting informed discourse on issues of race, justice, equality and democracy. Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:01:39 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/03/01/one-on-one-barack-obama-vs-scott-brown-in-the-gym/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/03/01/one-on-one-barack-obama-vs-scott-brown-in-the-gym/#comments Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:32:14 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=12478 Mark Lassiter If Scott "Downtown" Brown and "The Big O" (with a sincere apology to Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson) consider practicing for their charity game together, they cannot violate party boundaries or be seen in public. Their clandestine practice session would sound something like this.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/03/01/one-on-one-barack-obama-vs-scott-brown-in-the-gym/feed/ 3 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/29/obama-race-and-representation/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/29/obama-race-and-representation/#comments Fri, 29 Jan 2010 22:06:43 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=12138 Manning Marable Early on in their deliberation process, the Obama pre-campaign group recognized that most white Americans would never vote for a black Presidential candidate. However, they were convinced that most whites would embrace, and vote for, a remarkable, qualified Presidential candidate who happened to be black.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/29/obama-race-and-representation/feed/ 2 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/22/reflections-of-a-black-pioneer-two-cases-of-integrative-leadership/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/22/reflections-of-a-black-pioneer-two-cases-of-integrative-leadership/#comments Fri, 22 Jan 2010 22:53:17 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=12022 Clifton R. Wharton, Jr. The unprecedented election of President Barack Obama has provided a dramatic spotlight on the issues of race in America. One aspect of significance is that it represents an important step in the process of racial integration in our nation. His election was the result of the collective decisions by a multi racial and multi ethnic electorate. Both as a U.S. Senator from Illinois and as President, Obama has been what might be called an "Integrative Black Pioneer."]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/22/reflections-of-a-black-pioneer-two-cases-of-integrative-leadership/feed/ 1 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/22/the-missed-opportunity-of-a-lifetime/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/22/the-missed-opportunity-of-a-lifetime/#comments Fri, 22 Jan 2010 21:38:35 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=12011 Leslie Proll When President Obama took office last January, hopes were high that the right wing’s long stronghold on the federal courts had come to an end. LDF and other civil rights advocates were eager for a new day when fair and impartial judges would once again be nominated and confirmed in large numbers.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/22/the-missed-opportunity-of-a-lifetime/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/22/obama-at-year-one/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/22/obama-at-year-one/#comments Fri, 22 Jan 2010 21:31:02 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=12014 John Payton A year ago, we could barely contain our excitement as we contemplated a historic achievement. Barack Obama had won a decisive victory. There was widespread enthusiasm for his Presidency. Right after the election, Gallup reported that 68 percent of the public was proud that Obama was President. His choices of Senator Hillary Clinton to be Secretary of State, of Eric Holder to be Attorney General and of Robert Gates to remain as Secretary of Defense were well received. His Inaugural speech was brilliant. We were looking forward to acknowledging and confronting fundamental problems that have plagued our society for decades.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/22/obama-at-year-one/feed/ 2 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/20/is-tiger-woods-african-american-of-course-not/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/20/is-tiger-woods-african-american-of-course-not/#comments Wed, 20 Jan 2010 17:56:31 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=11870 Janet Singleton In my mind Tiger Woods is a multiethnic, polysyllabic, whatjamacallit, just as he said. “A Cablinasian.” He called himself that in a 1997 appearance on Oprah and disappointed some black people. But I have no problem with that, particularly now. It’s just that the controversial Vanity Fair magazine cover posing Tiger as “thuggish” and therefore presumably blacker, we are invited to consider that issue once again.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/20/is-tiger-woods-african-american-of-course-not/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/11/harry-reid-no-apology-necessary/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/11/harry-reid-no-apology-necessary/#comments Mon, 11 Jan 2010 23:50:50 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=11829 Karen Hunter GOP chair Michael Steele made the rounds this weekend calling for, among other things, the resignation of Senate Majority Leader Democratic Harry Reid for comments that Reid made about Barack Obama while he was making his historic run for president.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/11/harry-reid-no-apology-necessary/feed/ 2 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/09/15/presidential-medal-of-freedom-sidney-poitier/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/09/15/presidential-medal-of-freedom-sidney-poitier/#comments Tue, 15 Sep 2009 18:25:31 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=10182 George Alexander Last month, President Obama awarded Poitier, the first African American to ever win an Academy award for best actor, with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian honor.  I couldn’t have felt more proud.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/09/15/presidential-medal-of-freedom-sidney-poitier/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/08/31/august-28th-remembrance-and-reflection-%e2%80%93-2008-1963-1955/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/08/31/august-28th-remembrance-and-reflection-%e2%80%93-2008-1963-1955/#comments Mon, 31 Aug 2009 21:09:57 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=10187 Ifa Bayeza Last Friday, August 28th, marked the anniversary of three pivotal events of the last half-century of American history—events which have brought black Americans from the neo-slavery they had endured since Emancipation to the next stage of the freedom struggle we face today.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/08/31/august-28th-remembrance-and-reflection-%e2%80%93-2008-1963-1955/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/07/11/black-press-white-house-decades-of-holding-the-u-s-president-accountable/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/07/11/black-press-white-house-decades-of-holding-the-u-s-president-accountable/#comments Sat, 11 Jul 2009 06:01:55 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=9059 Askia Muhammad Since President Obama’s election, the mainstream media has taken significant notice of the fact that black journalists, too, cover national affaits and that now more than ever, they’re being assigned to cover both the President and the First Lady. But, typically, that notice has omitted much, if not all of the “back story” – the history of black journalists among the White House press. Askia Muhammad, who covered Presidents from 1977 to 2007, fills in the gaps.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/07/11/black-press-white-house-decades-of-holding-the-u-s-president-accountable/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/06/16/toward-a-new-view-of-muslim-women/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/06/16/toward-a-new-view-of-muslim-women/#comments Tue, 16 Jun 2009 21:27:26 +0000 The Editors http://thedefendersonline.com/?p=8372 Nura Sediqe President Obama's words in his June 4 address in Cairo, Egypt have brought a refreshing change in the rhetoric that is commonly utilized when discussing women and Islam. They were only a few simple lines in a long and extensive speech addressing a variety of pressing policy issues, but for Muslim women like myself, there was a pause....while we were all thinking, "Did he really just say that?"]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/06/16/toward-a-new-view-of-muslim-women/feed/ 7 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/03/18/shelby-steele-the-bound-man-speaks/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/03/18/shelby-steele-the-bound-man-speaks/#comments Wed, 18 Mar 2009 20:51:50 +0000 The Editors http://thedefendersonline.com/?p=4853 Lee A. Daniels Little more than a year ago, in his slender volume, A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited About Obama and Why He Can't Win, self-described black conservative Shelby Steele, with glib assurance, told the world that Barack Obama couldn't possibly win the presidency. That bit of conventional wisdom was released with wonderful timing in January 2008-just as Obama was about to win the Iowa Democratic Caucus, electrifying the political universe and instantly making him the leading contender for the Democratic nomination.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/03/18/shelby-steele-the-bound-man-speaks/feed/ 3 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/02/13/that%e2%80%99s-black-love/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/02/13/that%e2%80%99s-black-love/#comments Fri, 13 Feb 2009 20:10:24 +0000 The Editors http://thedefendersonline.org/?p=3634 Nick Chiles and Denene Millner Effortlessly, wonderfully, Barack and Michelle have done something that a year ago we might have proclaimed impossible: they have demonstrated with no uncertainty that not only is black love still possible, it is ordinary.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/02/13/that%e2%80%99s-black-love/feed/ 1 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/02/03/political-art-and-photo-exhibits-at-the-schomburg-center/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/02/03/political-art-and-photo-exhibits-at-the-schomburg-center/#comments Tue, 03 Feb 2009 17:37:46 +0000 The Editors http://thedefendersonline.org/?p=3419 The Editors In honor of President Obama’s election and in tribute to several heroes and sheroes of the African-American struggle for freedom, human dignity and true democracy, The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is featuring two timely visual art exhibits.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/02/03/political-art-and-photo-exhibits-at-the-schomburg-center/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/01/27/beyond-words/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/01/27/beyond-words/#comments Tue, 27 Jan 2009 22:35:29 +0000 The Editors http://thedefendersonline.org/?p=3221 Stacey Patton When Barack Hussein Obama was elected our 44th president last November, I immediately began to think of a long line of heroic black ancestors whose blood, toil and sacrifices paved the way for this once "skinny kid with a funny name" to make history. In the midst of my joy, their names and faces surged to the forefront of my mind]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/01/27/beyond-words/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/01/26/here-come-the-obama-victory-books/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/01/26/here-come-the-obama-victory-books/#comments Tue, 27 Jan 2009 03:16:25 +0000 The Editors http://thedefendersonline.org/?p=3184 The Editors The first wave of what will undoubtedly be a flood of books exploring what propelled Barack Obama to his historic victory have now come rushing from the printing presses. Taken together, they seem to mark the likely boundaries of the territory those that follow them will traverse.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/01/26/here-come-the-obama-victory-books/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/01/22/the-many-ways-of-being-%e2%80%98there%e2%80%99/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/01/22/the-many-ways-of-being-%e2%80%98there%e2%80%99/#comments Thu, 22 Jan 2009 20:44:50 +0000 The Editors http://thedefendersonline.org/?p=3149 TaRessa Stovall Like my colleagues Stacey Patton and Mel Gagarin, I had gone to Inauguration ’09 in Washington, DC fully planning to send a steady stream of live blog blippets to chronicle the experience as it unfolded.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/01/22/the-many-ways-of-being-%e2%80%98there%e2%80%99/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/01/21/a-warm-greeting-and-a-cold-farewell/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/01/21/a-warm-greeting-and-a-cold-farewell/#comments Wed, 21 Jan 2009 17:00:59 +0000 The Editors http://thedefendersonline.org/?p=3115 Stacey Patton Amidst the outpouring of support and joy from the largest crowd ever to assemble for an inauguration, there was one striking moment of collective anger from the crowd. For those watching the ceremony on television or the Internet, that moment got drowned out by the playing of the brass band.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/01/21/a-warm-greeting-and-a-cold-farewell/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/01/20/poetry-of-change/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/01/20/poetry-of-change/#comments Wed, 21 Jan 2009 04:36:10 +0000 The Editors http://thedefendersonline.org/?p=3084 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/01/20/poetry-of-change/feed/ 1 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/01/20/i-blog-uration-insights/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/01/20/i-blog-uration-insights/#comments Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:29:21 +0000 The Editors http://thedefendersonline.org/?p=3068 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/01/20/i-blog-uration-insights/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/01/19/inauguration-dispatches/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/01/19/inauguration-dispatches/#comments Mon, 19 Jan 2009 19:30:36 +0000 The Editors http://thedefendersonline.org/?p=3043 Mel Gagarin Normally my job is to collect and share the news of the day. Seldom do I have the opportunity to go watch the news be made. Over the next day and a half I'll be submitting my first hand accounts of my trip and impressions surrounding and including the inauguration the of the 44th President of the United States of America.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/01/19/inauguration-dispatches/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/01/19/we-the-little-people/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/01/19/we-the-little-people/#comments Mon, 19 Jan 2009 17:19:19 +0000 The Editors http://thedefendersonline.org/?p=3025 Stacey Patton Two days before President-elect Barack Obama’s swearing into office, nearly two thousand children and their family members flocked to the Historical Society of Washington to attend the first ever “Children’s Inaugural Ball” and to remind us all not to forget that they are an essential part of “we the people.”]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/01/19/we-the-little-people/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/01/15/inauguration-diaries/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/01/15/inauguration-diaries/#comments Thu, 15 Jan 2009 18:01:20 +0000 The Editors http://thedefendersonline.org/?p=2773 Stacey Patton Today our nation’s capital was full of even more Obamamania as our first black president took the oath of office at the Capitol building. Yesterday’s New York Times description of the atmosphere here being a mix between Woodstock and the 1968 March on Washington was dead on.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/01/15/inauguration-diaries/feed/ 2 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/01/13/obama-win-ushers-new-communications-era/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/01/13/obama-win-ushers-new-communications-era/#comments Tue, 13 Jan 2009 18:31:30 +0000 The Editors http://thedefendersonline.org/?p=2730 Mireille Grangenois When a child grows up among neighbors who've never heard of his first name, let alone befriended anyone with such a moniker, being adaptable on issues of identity is about more than fitting in. It's a means of belonging and connecting.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/01/13/obama-win-ushers-new-communications-era/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/01/12/telling-histories-in-the-age-of-obama/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/01/12/telling-histories-in-the-age-of-obama/#comments Mon, 12 Jan 2009 16:16:02 +0000 The Editors http://thedefendersonline.org/?p=2708 Stacey Patton I joined fellow historians and a few scholars from other fields to examine the state of the historical profession, learn new methods of research and teaching, give recognition to pioneering and revisionist studies in various specializations, pore over thousands of recently published and classic scholarly texts featured at the grand book exhibit, network with other scholars, and figure out ways to make the historical enterprise better serve a broad and changing constituency – “we the people.”]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/01/12/telling-histories-in-the-age-of-obama/feed/ 0