Comments here at All About Race are moderated. Which means they have to be cleared manually. So if I am not at the computer for an extended period of time and your comment doesn’t show up, it’s just logistics. Sometimes repeat visitors’ comments appear automatically, sometimes they don’t.
Conversation is fearless, but I will not be abused and I make no apologies for that. If you cannot speak with me respectfully and specifically our dialogue will not involve many exchanges.
I will be away from the computer until late this …

Fellow State of the Black Union 2009 panelist, blogger and new friend Lenny McAllister is hosting a Live Web Chat on AOL Black Voices/Blackspin today and tomorrow.
I encourage – everyone – to hop on over, jump in and get your conversation on.
Live Web Chat on AOL Black Voices/Blackspin
Tavis Smiley’s State of the Black Union 2009 “Accountable – Making America as good as its promise” will be broadcast live on C-Span tomorrow. Our blogger’s panel, I will be one of the moderators, will be streamed Viewable ONLY online …

In getting ready for my role as blogger panelist at “Tavis Smiley’s State of the Black Union” this Saturday, I’ve just participated in one of the most frank, wide ranging and invigorating conversations on the state of ‘Black America’ that I can remember having. As a guest on my friend Kevin Ross‘ Blogtalkradio show, I hashed it out, no holds barred, with Kevin and fellow blogger Lenny McAllister – both black Republicans.
Listen to the Kevin Ross show on Blogtalkradio.
Kevin, Lenny and I will be blogger panelists on ‘Tavis …

Here’s what appeared in the New York Post today:
As the Chairman of the New York Post, I am ultimately responsible for what is printed in its pages. The buck stops with me.
Last week, we made a mistake. We ran a cartoon that offended many people. Today I want to personally apologize to any reader who felt offended, and even insulted.
Over the past couple of days, I have spoken to a number of people and I now better understand the hurt this cartoon has caused. At the same time, I have …

Ah ‘the race card.’ That phrase pops up in almost e-v-e-r-y thread having anything to do with racial discussion these days. I have some very strong ideas about the way it is being used, but I will hold those for a future post.
In the meantime, I am asking YOU who use the phrase or have very strong reactions to the phrase ‘race card’ to share your interpretation of what it means exactly.
Please speak up and as always please speak freely on this one. This issue is very important to …

I do not think that the New York Post should have issued any apology for the controversial cartoon they firmly defended just a couple of days ago. I would rather the editors be honest about their point of view, hold their position and move forward; deal with the consequences head on. With its namby pamby rubber stamp "to those who were offended" wording, the Post’s mea culpa appears mostly concerned with quieting the ever louder reaction to Delonas’ cartoon and blunting any negative impact to the paper’s bottom line. Under …

I would not call us a “nation of cowards” as Eric Holder did. I think it is too harsh and too sweeping of an assessment. But, the truth is that we don’t talk about race in the most productive or honest ways. When we’re face-to-face, Americans don’t generally talk about race in a manner that would lead us toward building bridges instead of exploding them. We either fume silently or bully with accusation. That is why I created this All About Race site two years ago, and why I am …

Political cartoonists inhabit sacred space in a free democracy. Political cartoonists must be free to express themselves without a filter or none of us are. But that carte blanche does not trump my rights, as a reader, to voice my opinion of the perspective that’s presented. I felt the now infamous New Yorker cover was misguided and I think Sean Delonas’ cartoon in today’s edition of the New York Post fails to do anything more than make light of a tragic incident, ignore the history of the NYPD’s involvement in …

I believe there will come a time when skin color will be a non-issue in terms of how human beings classify themselves in America. Ancestry may still be a factor in how people treat each other at first encounter, but almost nothing will be known about a person by looking at his or her skin because we will all be closer to some rich shade of tan – lighter than most black people and darker than most white people. Nature will handle this evolution over the next many …

So, I’ve just accepted it. Holidays would barely be noticed these days if not for time off and the now expected store sales that go with them. Throwaway, over-sized, newspaper pages bark up the bargains to be found at after Thanksgiving sales, after Christmas sales, Independence Day sales, Presidents Day sales and now, in a true nod to equality, Black History Month sales!
But…erm…this latest effort highlighted by Gawker, was not exactly what I was expecting from a grocery store. Here it is:

Now I want to say right off the bat …

by Andrew Padula

Etta James, you go girl! You may have dissed me and probably just about everyone else to ever come within one hundred yards of you. You display no couth and little class. But, if you throw down and beat the crap out of Beyonce, you do so with my blessing.
About a dozen years ago, I played the St Louis Blues Festival and this was a biggun’. Artists performing included the likes of Wilson Pickett, Percy Sledge, Rufus Thomas, etc. etc… and Etta James. The …

Here’s my beef. If you equate every perceived transgression in the world with the worst of the Nazis or the Klan then we can easily become desensitized to the horror of the acts actually committed by these organizations. As a dog lover, and proud Mama to two rescued, mixed breed, furry children, PETA sure as heck has ‘harshed’ my mellow when all I was trying to do was enjoy a little canine shenanigans. Here’s what happened:
The animal rights group, which every year stages a protest at the Westminster Kennel Club …

A South Carolina state senator has proposed making mandatory a state holiday honoring Confederate war dead. Senator Robert Ford, who is black, believes that such a holiday would help to improve race relations by inspiring a fuller understanding of history. Here’s what’s going on:
Democratic Sen. Robert Ford’s bill won initial approval from a Senate subcommittee Tuesday. It would force county and municipal governments to follow the schedule of holidays used by the state, which gives workers 12 paid days off, including May 10 to honor Confederate war dead. Mississippi …

Are the winds of change finally shaking up the notoriously leaden NAACP? Yes…well, maybe. NAACP President Ben Jealous is stating that the core mission of the NAACP will shift from civil rights to human rights.

According to the Associated Press:
(Jealous) sees the NAACP’s mission shifting from pushing for civil rights enforcement to basic human rights, like education and health care.
For example, Jealous said, when the Supreme Court issued its landmark 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which struck down segregation in public schools, the goal was access to educational …

Today I’ll mix it up with two other bloggers on NPR’s ‘News and Notes’ program. I fully expect host Tony Cox to put us through our paces discussing a broad range of topics.
If you can’t tune in, I will post the audio link here once it’s available.
Here are some of my past appearances on ‘News and Notes’ in case you’d like to check them out:
11/26/08 Roundtable: Bob Jones Apologies For Racist Policies
11/4/08 Decision 2008: Reporting From The Precincts (Videoblog) – Farai Chideya speaks with blogger Carmen Dixon and …