LexMonitor

Tribute to Dr. John Hope Franklin by Professor Trina Jones (Duke/UCI)

      I remember the first time I met Dr. John Hope Franklin.  He kissed the back of my hand, and oh I was so charmed.  I knew of Dr. Franklin’s awe-inspiring intellect, of his ground-breaking publications and his prestigious awards, but I did not know of his elegance, his generosity, and his...

ASK MOM Are We in a Post-Racial Society? Ali Mustafa Gonzales Washington, IV (fictional name, real person) asks Mom about a colleague who approached him the other day. The colleague, who is Euro-American, asked Ali (who is not), what he thought of Obama’s victory. Ali got the distinct impression...

ASK MOM Are We in a Post-Racial Society? Ali Mustafa Gonzales Washington, IV (fictional name, real person) asks Mom about a colleague who approached him the other day. The colleague, who is Euro-American, asked Ali (who is not), what he thought of Obama’s victory. Ali got the distinct impression...

John Hope Franklin — In Memoriam

Yesterday’s news that John Hope Franklin, certainly the most accomplished black historian in American history, had died is one of those moments that we experience too often these days–the passing of an historic figure whose life stands at so many of America’s significant...

Obama, Ugly Betty and the Threat to Affirmative Action by Professor Darren Rosenblum, Pace Law School

        In the wake of the inauguration of President Obama, people of all political stripes and races exult in the potential of U.S. democracy to look past its racism-drenched history.  Out of pride in our first African-American president, our first multiracial president, and our first president to...

A New Day?: Attorney General Eric Holder’s Remarks at the Department of Justice Black History Month Program

Are Attorney General Eric Holder’s poignant and honest remarks at the DOJ Black History Month Program the beginning of a real racial conversation in the United States?  Read his remarks below.   Every year, in February, we attempt to recognize and to appreciate black history. It is a worthwhile...

Right and Wrong

     Conservative commentator Bill Bennett famously (and arrogantly) summed up the significance of Barack Obama’s win last November as the end of “excuses” for blacks.  Although Bennett, as a white right-wing talking head prone to inflammatory racial commentary may have been an inappropriate and...

Clark Atlanta University Has Laid Off 70 Faculty, Including Tenured Faculty.

Just when you thought that it could not get worse, it has.  The economy is continuing, resulting in significant losses for educational institutions.   Tenured as well as untenured faculty members at Clark Atlanta University have been laid off.  The layoffs occurred despite other proposals for...

O.J. Simpson Sentencing

O.J. Simpson gets sentenced today for the bone headed act of leading a group of men, at least one of whom had a gun, into a hotel room to steal some sports memorabilia.  His exposure ranges from six years to life imprisonment. Here’s hoping the judge does not throw the book at him. Simpson has...