This week, April 8- 12, marks the 27th annual observance of Holocaust Memorial Week. The week is about remembering not only the 6 million Jews murdered but also remembering the millions of allies, martyrs and victims who survived Nazi Germany’s reign of brutality. The enormity of the mass slaughtering of Jews that took place— in [...]

Scott Terry thinks blacks should be grateful for food and shelter provided by Massa and why can’t we just have segregation? So much for minority outreach, lol. My fellow North Carolinians out there, look at what is “representing” at CPAC [shaking my head...]: The exchange occurred after an audience member from North Carolina, 30-year-old Scott Terry, [...]

Gawd, these people are tiresome. The Coalition of African-American Pastors (CAAP), headed by Rev. William Owens, sent out an e-blast to its membership, trying yet again to build some momentum against marriage equality by driving a wedge between blacks and gays. (Conveniently rendering those of us who are black and gay, naturally). Here at the Blend we have written [...]

Marco McMillian was a trailblazer, and the pride of the Mississippi Delta. Just in his twenties Ebony magazine in 2004 hailed him as on the nation’s 30 leaders under the age of 30. And in his thirties the Mississippi Business Journal hailed him as one of the “Top 40 Leaders under 40.” But at age [...]

President Barack Obama’s inaugural address was the most inclusive speech a president has ever given. It was delivered on the 27th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and the President honored King’s legacy when he eloquently spoke of how the many U.S. liberation movements, both current and historic, are interconnected. “We, the people, declare [...]

I often wonder whether black Republicans, and gay Republicans (and of course black, gay Republicans and any other combination of color/ethnicity) have the patience of saints or are just deluded that reform of the party — tossing the bigoted and bible beater Base overboard — is just around the corner. Sometimes you’ll get a bit [...]

There is an interesting piece up at Salon by Andrew O’Hehir, “Welcome to the new Civil War,” where he discusses the neo-Confederacy elements in our culture that are trying to turn back the clock on women, gays, God and guns, drawing parallels to the Lincoln administration (through the eyes of the film “Lincoln”). We’ve just emerged [...]

UPDATE: If you tuned in, what did you think of “What is Black in America”? You can’t cover all of the intricacies of this complex subject in an hour, it’s just an overview (much of the Black in America series feels like this) meant to spur discussion. Quick impressions: 1) How the U.S. Census perpetrates [...]

In one of the many post-election assessments of how the GOP failed to see the demographic shift as a significant factor this time around, a Reuters piece by Andrea Shalal-Esa brings up an interesting proposition that crossed my mind some time ago — what if the Republicans, a group that thinks an inch deep on [...]

It’s now flushing money down the crapper for the National Organization for Marriage. Despite a documented plan to drive a wedge between the religious black community and the LGBT community to pass discriminatory measures at the ballot box, it looks like its last big win was in my state of NC, and they had to [...]