Since the first part of this conversation, I’ve been letting your thoughtful comments simmer in my mind. I’ve got more to say, but we’re moving tomorrow and I want to give this conversation the full attention it deserves. So, I promise we will pick it up on Monday.
But in the meantime, please think about and [...]

Several months ago, Topsoil Columnist Andrew Padula submitted a piece triggered by TI’s gun insanity. It was a good post, but in it Andrew made the observation that increasingly, there were two kinds of people in America. Beyond black and white or brown, there were those who were striving, adhering to the law and doing [...]

A wonderful friend of mine keeps trying to convince me to go to Denver with him to attend the Democratic National Convention. You see, he is an intimate of some of Hillary Clinton’s most major donors and passionate supporters. He promises that if I go, he’ll bring the “lawn chairs” and we will have front [...]

Does this look like Barack Obama to you? A German manufacturer thinks so.

Does this look like Barack Obama? A Utah Couple thinks so. Or thought so. And they think “he’s so cute and cuddly.” TheSockObama doll, not Barack. Well, maybe Barack; they don’t say. But as of today they have stopped selling their odd lil’ [...]

Black In America- A CNN Investigation-Airing July 23rd &24th
On July 23rd and 24th, CNN will present “Black in America” a six-hour look at the role race plays in the lives of many black Americans. From CNN:
Black in America: The Black Man, Wednesday, July 23, 9 p.m. (two hours)
Perhaps the most misreported group in America [...]

In one Detroit neighborhood, a local Dollar Store has become the anchor for revitalization of a community.
DETROIT — The dollar store has always played an integral part in the economic footprint of city neighborhoods. But the Soultown Super Dollar Stretcher has quickly become the anchor for a grassroots community development that has grown to [...]

*UPDATE: Jack and Jill Politics has a very different take on this.*
*UPDATE: More from DailyKos*
As a black man Barack Obama has to walk a very thin line. As discussed on NPR News and Notes, it will be hard for Obama to maintain a Presidential posture while still being the “magical black friend” that some voters [...]

These images are viscerally offensive. But they were not created by those you would expect. The second photo appeared on the cover of a Georgia newspaper. The first illustration was created by a liberal, white blogger at Daily Kos named ONECITIZEN - trying to make a point. This is unsettling because I expect violent, [...]

I’ve taken the first steps to become more involved in protecting our democracy. I will be a polling place supervisor during California’s June 3rd election. My day will begin at 5:00am and go until about 10:00pm. In all I’ll be paid about $170 for time, which includes the two-and-a-half hour training session I went through [...]

Tomorrow, the National Association of Letter Carriers will do their part to Stamp Out hunger in the richest country on the planet. All you have to do is place non-perishable food in a bag by your mailbox and the letter carriers will take it away. Make sure your post office is participating first. You can [...]

While I was a producer for ABC News, I had the great fortune to travel around the country and sit in countless living rooms in small towns and in big ones. I’ve had people use the word n—er to my face in conversation just as their biracial, clearly adored grandchild ran into the house. Running [...]

Well it’s proved true again. Be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it. I’ve never backed away from any opportunity to inspire or engage in dynamic often uncomfortable discussions about race in America. Obviously, that’s why I started this blog more than a year ago. Rev. Jeremiah Wright is now catapulted [...]

Congress is poised to take 16 million books out of the hands of 4.6 million poor children. We must stop them from doing that.
For the past two years I have had the privilege of giving out new books to some of the poorest children in the most blighted communities in Los Angeles at Christmastime. [...]

In the winter of 2004, a source first told me that the Federal government had sanctioned testing an AIDS vaccine on mostly black and Latino foster children ages 1 month to late teens. I did not believe it. When finally convinced that it was true, I sobbed openly as we walked through the park. I [...]

The live discussion on race that followed “Meeting David Wilson” was an uneven exercise. I was disappointed to hear overly simplistic assessments of the problems facing black urban communities and vague proposals for institutional remedies. But how to move forward?
Fellow blogger K Myles has written an exciting post that not only considers the historical context [...]