The Secretary of Consumer Affairs would lead a department designed to ensure that middle and working class Americans have a voice at the table against the noxious by-products of capitalism that frequently harm people.

Lewis took the time to make an 11 year old's birthday super special. It was extremely generous and I'm happy to share the story with you!

Barack Obama ran on change. That change is from the hard right, neo-con ways of the current administration. That means that the new president has a mandate to enact a liberal agenda. That's right, I said it. The "L" word: LIBERAL.

Jackson is laying the foundation for his new role.

"President Barack Obama" is a wonderful accomplishment, but his election does not mean that America has overcome its racial past or current racist predilections.

If the gods are merciful, tomorrow night we will know whether Barack Obama will be our 44th president of the United States . . . . or not. In pondering whoever the next president will be, a few thoughts come to mind:

It's funny how a true crisis betrays conservatives' real understanding of economic policy.

Choosing a running mate is a cold, hard strategic decision. It's not personal. It's business.

At this point, there is no way that Hillary Clinton can win the Democratic nomination. She knows it. Barack knows it. Even the press have gotten to the point where they have admitted it: Tim Russert, NBC's preeminent political personality acknowledged as much on Tuesday night essentially saying "It's Over". I agree. Yet she continues . . .

I guess Hillary and others have asked "why didn't Barack leave" Wright's church? Well, the better question is "what does what Rev. Wright say have to do with Barack"?

Spin is spin. Math is math. Sit down Hillary.

At the chance of shocking many of you who have followed my commentary and writing here over the last year or so, I felt I had to do as some of our members have counseled me. I had to ignore my heart and emotions and choose a candidate who most closely matches my perspective on the issues and who I think has the best shot at doing the most for African America.

How black folks can support Hillary after watching her campaign use Barack's blackness against him is absolutely beyond me!

To be sure, voting is not the means to establish a black nationalist, or self-determined, future. By definition, it is not a mechanism of fundamental, structural change. But, one can simultaneously hold more revolutionary objectives while also supporting things that make real, incremental progress on a day-to-day basis. The two positions are not contradictory.

At the most important time for the party, the DNC chose a no name, black state legislator, who's previous background and acclaim was as a community organizer and civil rights lawyer, to bring the message of the entire Democratic Party to the country and, ostensibly, to propel Kerry toward the White House. Really?

To be sure, class conflict within African America is something that is nonsensical and counterproductive under any circumstance. It has always served our enemy more than it has served us. But - if fingers must be pointed, the House Slaves probably weren't generally the doting sycophants that Malcolm described.

Clinton running on her experience is akin to Bush Swift-Boating Kerry. It's all about political positioning and fiction. It is a position devoid of truth and integrity. What experience does Hillary Clinton have?

Here's my quick and dirty agenda for my fantasy candidacy for president.

Your dutiful forum leader reveals his shocking experience with performance enhancement drugs!

Thoughts on the 40th anniversary of Carl Stokes election as mayor of Cleveland.

I don't write this to be critical of anyone - particularly those who, no doubt, will be in the forefront of fights for African America going forward. I just look at the march in Jena and wonder what else we should have done? What else would Glaude have us do if not undertake an age old form of peaceful protest and civil disobedience?

I've thought about this before, of course, but the absence of any kind of monument to African American slavery is just absolutely glaring. It's like walking into a McDonald's and them not having any hamburgers, or taking a long flight to Hawaii and finding that there were no beaches.

He graduated at the top of Harvard Law School and rejected salary offers of hundreds of thousands of dollars at the most prestigious firms in the country to organize black folks in the hood of Chicago and to practice civil rights law. He had the choice to be in a corner office in a plush high rise somewhere and instead chose to help black folks vote. What comparable expression of commitment to black people has Hillary demonstrated? Ever?

I saw Vitamin Water's new TV ad with their new pitch man - none other than 50 cent. The ad had 50 conducting an orchestra that started out playing Beethoven and ended up with the string arrangement from 'In Da Club'. It was a fairly entertaining spot, but as a marketer at heart, it had me seriously scratching my head and wondering what the folks at Glaceau (VW's corporate parent) were thinking.

The standard attack on the idea of universal healthcare is that it will be "socialized medicine". Well, to someone who has NO healthcare, I'm sure that sounds pretty darn good!

Thoughts after the 'All American Debate' at Howard University.

Isn't it funny how people who don't even know who the vice president is are crying about citizenship for undocumented workers?

As I watched the documentary it hit me that it would take someone with the universal stature of Nelson Mandela to really galvanize us toward a common purpose. Nelson Mandela could do it.

To a young boy who profoundly loved and admired his grandfather – these letters were like tablets from heaven! To a grown man who has an even greater respect for his grandfather and all that he represented in life, they are even more precious to me now! Whenever life gets me down or I doubt my place or purpose in this world, these letters instantly refocus and uplift me.

To be clear, Gangsta Rap is not about art, or about an honest expression of our culture. Gangsta Rap is about exploitation. It's about exploiting African American culture. It's about exploiting African American artists. It results in the sacrifice of a generation of our youth who have bought into the mellifluous but narcotic and necrotic messages that do us harm.

All of this protest against Imus will be worthwhile only if it primes the pump for greater and more important action against those higher up the corporate food chain responsible for far greater offenses - not just against a team of women but an entire community of people in this country.

I guarantee you if African America was plopped down in the middle of, say, Russia - we would be the most unified community on the planet!

Let’s be clear about something: as much as we may love Bill, we don't owe him (or his wife) anything.

African America’s mantra may not be “Never Forget”, but the impact of greater awareness about reparations, as well as a better understanding of the way in which some Americans today benefit from the institution and how some are damaged by it, make it such that the issue will not simply disappear on its own.

America loves to revel in hip hop imagery and violence - just as long as it's in two dimensional form on their TV screens and doesn't breach the fragile membrane of their reality.

Is Barack the real thing or is he a political and cultural apparition - appearing with the objective of lulling African America back into political complacency?

Reviews of "He Talk Like A White Boy: Reflections on Faith, Family, Politics, and Authenticity" and "Waiting 'Til The Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America"

We will probably never know what occurred that night at Duke. Whatever happened, I pray that the sister receives justice and that she is being handled fairly. More than anything, she deserves not just the benefit of our doubt, but also our support.

Let's see, military experience, diplomatic skill, bi-partisan appeal, and stature. Is there anyone out there who can fit that bill?

There would to be so much greater moral power and integrity to an anti-abortion position that called itself "pro-life" if it supported policies and programs that were universally focused on helping people – throughout the range of stages of human life – as opposed to merely focusing on conception.

Political conservatism has never offered African America even one ounce of pragmatic benefit. It may currently prop up the mis-aligned psyches of some of our damaged brothers and sisters, but with all of the hype out there – its important to be crystal clear about what it is and what it isn’t.