Christine Phan believes people should understand that reports of tensions between Black and Asian Americans, and suggestions that anti-Black sentiment is rampant among Asians, are grossly exaggerated, a distraction to obscure a nefarious agenda.
I recently wrote that there is a rational explanation for the rabid, white supremacist, fascist behavior of MAGA Republicans.
There is an age-old question, one skirting both science and perception, which asks whether a tree falling in a forest makes a sound if there is no one around to hear it.
Well, folks asked for it, so they got it. Authorities in Alabama have filed criminal charges against Carlee Russell, the woman who confessed to fabricating a story that she was kidnapped after stopping to check on a toddler she saw walking on the side of an interstate highway.
“Either the United States will destroy ignorance or ignorance will destroy the United States.”
Former Congressman William Clay warned the nation about Clarence Thomas back in 2015. But we knew well before his book, “Clarence Thomas: A Knight in Tainted Armor” was published that this was no knight in shining armor.
Once again, because of where America stands today on the ever-present issue of race, the following reflections are offered from the first two paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence, signed July 4, 1776. First, the preamble, which still has much bearing on where we stand today as a nation:
The Barber: Besides providing the place for it, I think I know what my role is in this conversation. Our esteemed counsel explained to us to why lawyers need a theory of the case when they to go court, so here’s my rhetorical question: Socrates, why do Black people need a political “theory o…
Whether it is a lost portion of the civil rights movement, a reason to celebrate Juneteenth, or just another part of African American history, what you’re looking for is almost always the last place you might search.
President Biden’s overly conciliatory comments regarding House Republicans’ reactionary draconian debt ceiling proposal led to one of my recent columns. I addressed the structural flaws of the American system of governance.
As cities, states and our nation face many political, economic, and social challenges, who we vote for in upcoming elections carries monumental importance.
Like many across St. Louis, I’ve grown more concerned about the widening gap in health care infrastructure; we’ve seen the number of beds available and care options for communities across Missouri, both in the City and in our rural communities, dwindle.
Since 2017, firearm-related injuries have been the most common cause of death from injury among youth in America. Sadly, St. Louis leads the nation for firearm injuries of children.
“I'm not a member of any organized political party. I’m a Democrat.”
Kim Gardner’s announcement of her resignation was a communal gut punch to supporters. She then left the office on May 16, 2023, not on June 1 as she first announced.
The Missouri legislative session is drawing to a close. Those of us who were suited up as the People’s Warriors are resigned to waiting until the end. When the smoke clears, we can start counting our legislative casualties and assess the loss of political ground.
The St. Louis Board of Aldermen has started a new chapter in governmental and political history St. Louis. For the first time, 14 Alderpersons were sworn in as the board dropped from 28 members. The change was long overdue.
There is a majority view in this country that supports a women’s right to choose. Despite this compelling fact, last year the U.S. Supreme Court did the unthinkable. It struck down Roe v. Wade, a landmark decision made by a SCOTUS of a wholly different character in 1973. The latest ruling on…
Barbershop (Young Brother): What’s up everybody! Hey Socrates, if you and the brothers wouldn’t mind, I wanna know if I can impose on you to get some feedback on something I’m trying to process?
The one thing I will not accept or acknowledge is that age has rendered me incompetent.
March marked the third anniversary of the nation shutting down schools and issuing stay-at-home orders because of COVID-19 and its variants.
America is in a transition period. That is not debatable, but whether we’re experiencing the death throes of a worn out, depleted white hegemony masquerading as a faux democracy or the birth pangs of an emerging multicultural, multiethnic, pluralistic society struggling to be born is unclea…
Several weeks ago, a co-worker of mine at KSDK “5 On Your Side first chatted with me about something I have often thought about during my journalism career.
Isn't it marvelous how the St. Louis American has grown and prospered over our lifetimes??
One score ago, St. Louis American Publisher Dr. Donald M. Suggs provided me with a platform to opine on the Illinois political scene from the pages of this award-winning publication.
Barbershop: We know you’re not done Socrates but you need to hit the pause button so we can summarize what you’ve said and make sure we’re on the same page...
I am so blessed to be surrounded by incredible Black women in my life, and I know it is because that sense of pride and comfort with talented and caring women began in my home.
Recently, I’ve had the honor and the pleasure of being in the lives of 90-ish year-old Black women. We’re all related by blood. Three of the women are biologically related; the others share the ancient blood of an African people running through our veins. What I’m learning about their lives …
We can divide history into decisive events and defining moments.
When Bill Lee donned a cheerleader uniform, fake pearls and a wig as part of high school senior year antics, he probably didn’t think the goofy costume would come back to bite him. But, more than 40 years later, the now governor of Tennessee is at the forefront of efforts to ban the innocent…
Near the end of Black History Month, I watched a Netflix documentary on Bill Russell, “Bill Russell Legend.” I’m lifelong fan of the game and the NBA, and I saw and remember everything in the documentary from the early 1960s on - I mean everything.
I can always tell when the East St. Louis mayoral elections are on the horizon. As a columnist who covers East Boogie’s poli-tricks, my inbox, DM, voice mail and mailbox becomes flooded with rumors, innuendos, propaganda and last minute opposition attacks every four years.
Black history is the undeniable history of this country, its people, actions, triumphs, and atrocities. Yet, Black history is deemed “controversial” by people like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, institutions like the College Board that attempt to water down curricula, and those that press for ou…
Peniel Joseph calls it the Third Reconstruction. His latest book of the same name chronicles the cyclical and violent white backlash to Black progress in this country. You can see the highly coordinated, racist strategy being carried out across the country now—just as it has been in previous…
A fork in the road is a metaphor for a deciding moment in life or history, when a choice between presented options is required, and once made, the choice cannot be reversed. The chaotic nature of America in this moment is present because America is at that metaphorical fork in the road and t…
Nearly 25 years ago when the Coalition Against Police Crimes & Repression formed, one of its three demands was that police officers must be recruited from the communities they served.
The Conviction Integrity Unit, established by Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner in her office, flagged the Lamar Johnson case in 2019. The case illustrates two maladies that afflict American jurisprudence.
With just a little more than a month into the new legislative session, there is still time for Missouri lawmakers to change direction and focus on issues that are important to many Missourians.
After constant pressure from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and other right-wing conservatives, the College Board kicked off Black History Month by stripping down its African American Studies Advanced Placement course.
In September of 2022 at the City of St. Louis’ annual Funds Committee meeting, I introduced the Banking for Economic Equity (BEE) Scorecard, which establishes Economic Justice accountability standards for banks that do business with the City of St. Louis. The Funds Committee, made up of the …
I normally think of my columns as independent of one another, but occasionally I realize I’ve written a series of columns that individually stand alone but could also be considered variations on the same theme. I’d like to extend the themes of a couple of recent columns to really emphasize h…
I’m always amazed this time of year, MLK Birthday celebrations, that a man as articulate as Dr. King, who spoke so eloquently on his own behalf, and with voluminous documentation of what he thought, we-Black Americans when we pause to honor his life and work, reference so little of it. A Bla…
The Honorable David C. Mason made the wise decision last month to allow Lamar Johnson’s hearing to be livestreamed.
Some historians mark the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s murder as the end of the civil rights movement. Over an arc of 14 years — from the 1954 Brown Decision to King’s death in 1968 — the nation attempted to address its racial caste system.
You may be familiar with the Winston Churchill quote about democracy being the worst form of government except for all the others. But there’s another, often-overlooked, quote by Churchill about democracy, “The best argument against Democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.”
There is an early scene in the 1987 movie, “The Untouchables” when a tough street-tested Chicago cop, Jim Malone (Sean Connery) is explaining in church to FBI agent Elliot Ness (Kevin Costner) about how to take down Al Capone. The existential question that Malone puts to Ness about Capone is…
For nearly a half century Black Democrats from East St. Louis have owned the IL District 114 House Seat.
I’ve written about the importance of judges a few times over the last year. And every time I do, I realize that many people have never met a judge. Or they have, but it was at a time when they’d rather have been anywhere else. So the idea that judges are on my mind as something to celebrate …
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