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Section: Opinion

Racism, It’s Viral

“To entertain her daughter, Michelle Obama loves to make monkey sounds.” That’s the photo caption of Michelle Obama speaking to her daughter Malia posted on Free Republic. Disclaimer on Free Republic: “Free Republic does not advocate or condone racism, violence, rebellion, secession, or an overthrow of the government. ” For those of you who have argued vociferously […]

July 12, 2009

Paul Quinn College: To Save or Not to Save

Recently, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) voted to revoke Paul Quinn College’s accreditation, noting financial and academic problems. In the same breath, however, SACS acknowledged the excellent work being done by Paul Quinn’s president Michael Sorrell in recent years. Sorrell plans to appeal the SACS’s decision. The loss of accreditation at Paul […]

June 30, 2009

The Flawed Logic of Anti-affirmative Action Bake Sales

The Affirmative Action Bake Sale is used by conservative groups on college campuses to further polarize college campuses along racial lines using affirmative action as a hammer. Writing for Fox News, Wendy McElroy said, “Through Affirmative Action Bake Sales, conservative groups on campuses across America are satirically and peacefully spotlighting the injustice of AA programs that […]

June 24, 2009

Racial and Religious Extremism Rears Its Ugly Head

Last month, I wrote a column discussing the racial hostility, paranoia and potential violence that was increasing in America. A month earlier in April, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a report that attempted to inform Americans about a potential upsurge in right wing extremist violence. While there are some who may continue to […]

June 23, 2009

HBCUs a “Land of the Lost”? I Don’t Think So

Today, I came across a blog post written by a colleague who has worked in the HBCU community for many years. He titled the post “Land of the Lost” — after the Sid and Marty Krofft TV show and more recently, the movie. At first glance, I thought the post was a review of the movie […]

June 22, 2009

Black Males Need the “Old School Approach”

The behavior of some Black males has always been called into question. Adjectives like intimidating, aggressive and rude have been labels that have been affixed to us for as long as I can remember. It seems at times in today’s one-strike-and-you’re-out society that these aforementioned adjectives trump our education and our socio-economic status. It is […]

June 15, 2009

Trading an Education for Thug Life

In the past several weeks, we have witnessed “two Black men in a Cadillac” being accused of kidnapping a White woman. The truth was that the woman had voluntarily gone to Disney World and could not tell her husband. He would find it hard to believe that she would go to Disney. It was easier, […]

June 14, 2009

Understanding the “Tools of Whiteness” (Notes from AERA, Part 2)

A common figure in teacher education is that roughly 90 percent of public school teachers in the United States identify as White. As the percentage of ethnic minority students continues to rise, teacher training and professional development often include diversity training or a focus on multicultural education. Alternative routes into teaching such as Teach for America, […]

June 13, 2009

Intellect and Discipline: The Keys to a Successful Academic Career

I have a good friend who is the most brilliant individual I know. He has a mind that most of us would kill for — at least most academics would. He is well-read, possessing a deep, almost stunning, knowledge of diverse subjects. He thinks in innovative and refreshing ways. He also has the “proper” educational […]

June 8, 2009

Diversity at Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Why is it that people assume that Historically White Institutions are diverse, yet in the same breath assume that Historically Black Institutions are not? And, when I say people — I mean all kinds of people — of various racial and ethnic backgrounds. If you take a look at the nation’s Historically White Institutions (HWIs), […]

June 4, 2009

It is High Time for a Black Woman on the High Court

“Make me do it.” -Barack Hussein Obama The relevance of the above challenge issued by then-Senator Barack Obama will soon become obvious. For now, let me first congratulate Judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama’s nominee for the soon-to-be vacant seat of retiring high court Associate Justice David Souter. Obama’s historic nomination of the first Latina to the […]

June 1, 2009

Sonia Sotomayor: A Fabulous Choice For The Supreme Court

Even before she was considered to be the front runner as the next Supreme Court Justice, there were rumblings from political conservatives about the “problems” with Judge Sonia Sotomayor. Now that she has been officially nominated by President Obama, certain segments of the right have come out swinging and kicking. One could argue that they are fouling […]

June 1, 2009

Reframing the School Safety Debate (Notes from AERA, Part 1)

Last month I participated in the 2009 American Educational Research Association (AERA) annual meeting along with thousands of other educational researchers. Each year the meeting is an incredibly stimulating time for me, especially since it comes late in the academic year. One element of the meeting that always stimulates my own intellectual work is hearing […]

May 27, 2009

Are a Boy’s Chances Better at Becoming a Sports Star or a Doctor?

I often ask young children, especially boys, what they want to do when they reach adulthood. One of the most repeated answers is that they want to become professional athletes. The two primary sports that they have an interest in, and not to my surprise, are basketball and football. It seems that basketball almost has […]

May 27, 2009

Black History, No More?

Now that Barack Obama is President of the United States, why don’t we just pretend that America wasn’t built on slaveholding? If the spate of recent “post-racial” articles suggesting that we need no longer commemorate the African American struggle for freedom and equality in this country is any indication, this seems to be where we’re […]

May 21, 2009

A Litmus Test for Commencement Speakers?

Every President since President Eisenhower has been invited to speak at Notre Dame’s commencements. So, why has President Obama’s invitation created such a row? It depends on who you ask. First, many of those who oppose his invitation do so ostensibly based on Catholic social teaching and a doctrinal dedication to Catholicism. That is, they […]

May 17, 2009

Slam-Dunking Sports Myths: Thoughts from a “dumb jock” professor

As a professor, one of my major jobs is to choose or follow something called a research agenda. Once chosen, we devote lots of time learning about that particular area, becoming somewhat of an expert and parlaying the information back to larger audiences (in theory, although some of us, quite frankly, do not). I study […]

May 13, 2009

Ain’t I A Professor?

Ain’t I a professor? Living an Authentic Academic Life as a Black Intellectual By Robin Hughes In the last couple of months, I have mulled over an audience participant’s comment, which occurred during a national conference. To put it mildly, it has been quite bothersome. The comment/question was directed towards me. I took it as […]

May 13, 2009