Welcome! This is an unapologetic, agenda-free zone. Just commentaries on current events that’ll move you to think, laugh, rage, and even cry.
I hate taking selfies. But I finally caved, and ended up being happily upstaged by the image of Papa Renty. He’s a Black founding father too many want to whitewash from history. iPINIONS explains the backstory behind my new profile pic. Read more on Substack: https://ipinionsdaily.substack.com/p/my-new-profile-pic-says-more-about Read more.
On Wednesday, Major League Baseball (MLB) finally acknowledged the remarkable achievements of players from the Negro Leagues by incorporating their statistics into its historical record. It’s about time! This groundbreaking decision elevates legends like Josh Gibson, now the all-time Major League batting champion, and Satchel Paige, who is third all-time for a single-season ERA. It’s… Read more.
Based on legal reasoning, precedents, and the justices’ sworn representations, the Supreme Court has no legal reason to end Affirmative Action in college admissions. But it had no legal reason to end a woman’s constitutional abortion rights. Yet the Court did so anyway. Mend, do not end, Affirmative Action Those arguing to end Affirmative Action insist… Read more.
Patrice Lumumba was the first prime minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo. But his martyrdom has made him as much the face of Pan-Africanism as MLK’s has made him the face of Black civil rights. This is why even I can appreciate the “closure” the return of Lumumba’s remains represents for his family. Never… Read more.
Related commentaries: Juneteenth… Read more.
In my July 12 commentary, “Folks, If Crime Stats Begin Rivaling Covid Stats, Trump Wins! So Shut Up, AOC!” I denounced Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for condoning looting as a way for people to get food to eat. After all, we see looters time and again fleeing with non-edible items like TVs, computers, smartphones, jewelry, designer… Read more.
Capitalizing the B when referring to Black people might not seem like a big deal. However, when editors at The New York Times, USA Today, and the Columbia Journalism Review all make a big deal of their change in style, it’s certainly worthy of comment. Here is how the Times announced and rationalized its (belated)… Read more.
Juneteenth and reparations for slavery Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. It stems from slaves in Galveston, Texas, not being informed of their emancipation until June 19, 1865. That was two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation took effect on January 1, 1863. What about reparations? The US House of Representatives… Read more.
For years, CARICOM leaders have been demanding billions in reparations from the British government for slavery. For just as long, I’ve been trying to disabuse them of their legally, politically and morally unsustainable demands. I tried in such commentaries as “The Fatally Flawed Demands for Reparations for Slavery,” February 16, 2007, and “CARICOM Demands for… Read more.
The media are lauding President Francois Hollande for announcing that France will finally right one of history’s greatest wrongs by forgiving what remains of Haiti’s “independence debt.” In an address at the opening of the memorial and cultural centre in Guadeloupe on Sunday, Hollande said Haiti’s debt of US$81.2 million will be cancelled… Haiti, which became the world’s… Read more.
