Author's Info Blog

So I’m conversing with a man about voting and how serious of an effect it has on our community. He says that I am part of the reason we live in the conditions in which we do (poor housing, minimum wage jobs, not enough jobs, even crime). He goes on stating how I instigate what goes on in our neighborhoods by not participating in electing the mayors, governors, judges, and city council men/women that have our best interest at heart. I laughed when he said “our best interest at heart”. Sorry to say, but I have never voted and as long as politics remain the same I will never place a ballot. The candidates running for these offices do and say what needs to be done and said to secure that position of power. If you have no money to attend the expensive fund-raisers or sponsor their campaigns… who are you?...

Quentin, I read your article on Eurocentrism. I hope others will read it as well, and will share their thoughts with us. I am sure that many wonder why you are so aggressively fighting Eurocentrism here in the United States. I admit I asked myself this question, and my first reaction was to think your article dealt with it from a racial perspective, although you use the term “non-Europeans” and that confused me.Yet the more I thought of it, the more I came to realize that the picture is bigger than we think and it does not only affect black people. It’s not even limited to the United States. I agree that European white supremacy is a business, but is it, ultimately, about color? And who in Europe is the creator of Eurocentrism?I don’t know how much it is known here about the part of the world where I am from...

         Walter Washington, Marion Barry, Sharon Pratt Kelly, Anthony Williams, Adrian Fenty. The one thing all of these people have in common, the have had the privilege of being the Mayor of the nation’s capital, Washington DC. All were elected by the citizens of the city to lead DC into great things. They all promised many things that they were going to do. They all came in with many outlooks of how things needed to be done. How a government that in some instances had run wild needed to be fixed.  They all left office with some level of failure and criticism on some things. But did any of them accomplish what they originally set out to do?             Walter E. Washington was appointed Mayor-commissioner in 1967 by the President of the United States. In 1974, he ran for Mayor in the first DC mayoral election and was...

In recent weeks, there has been controversy over comments made by the nationally syndicated radio show host, Rush Limbaugh over remarks he made about Sandra Fluke, a Georgetown law student who went to testify before an all male panel on Capitol Hill – a hearing she was initially denied, to discuss whether President Obama had hurt religious freedoms by a recent mandate that health insurance companies cover contraception.  Limbaugh in his diatribe; characterized Ms. Fluke as a slut and prostitute who wanted taxpayers to pay for women’s use of birth control and to have sex.  As a result of his comments, Limbaugh has caused a national debate over women’s rights to proper health care and the use of birth control and whether employers should allow insurance companies to pay for women’s contraception.   Let’s be fair, this debate started long before Limbaugh’s comments.  In actuality, it can be said that his comments...

Since the beginning of time, society has taught us to conform to certain ritualistic ideals.  Examples of this can be found in a cultural sense; the distinction of how boys are raised differently than girls, a religious sense; how we are brought up to believe from our parents in a higher power other than ourselves, a historical sense; the celebration of honoring those who made contributions / sacrifices in making the world a better place to live, whether it’s serving in the military, the civil rights era, or the discovery of the moon.  Another example of how society has taught us to conform to certain ritualistic ideals would be in our schools.  Such is the case with the reciting of “The Pledge of Allegiance”.  Without knowing exactly the first time I learned those words or what they meant for that matter, I do remember being in grade school, standing at my...