Archive for the Eugene Robinson Category
In Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s Arrest, More Than Race Is at Issue
If race were the only issue, there would be much less hyperventilation about Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s unpleasant run-in with the criminal justice system. After all, it would hardly be the first time a black man had unjustly been hauled to jail by a white police officer. The debate — really more of [...]
In Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s Arrest, More Than Race Is at Issue
If race were the only issue, there would be much less hyperventilation about Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s unpleasant run-in with the criminal justice system. After all, it would hardly be the first time a black man had unjustly been hauled to jail by a white police officer. The debate — really more of [...]
President Obama and Black America’s New Reality
President Obama’s speech Thursday marking the 100th anniversary of the NAACP’s founding was widely reported as a “tough love” message directed at black America. “I’ve noticed that when I talk about personal responsibility in the African American community, that gets highlighted,” Obama said in an interview Friday. “But then the whole other half of the [...]
President Obama and Black America’s New Reality
President Obama’s speech Thursday marking the 100th anniversary of the NAACP’s founding was widely reported as a “tough love” message directed at black America. “I’ve noticed that when I talk about personal responsibility in the African American community, that gets highlighted,” Obama said in an interview Friday. “But then the whole other half of the [...]
A Sotomayor Sense of Justice
The only real suspense in the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor is whether the Republican Party will persist in tying its fortunes to an anachronistic claim of white male exceptionalism and privilege.
Tearful Tribute to the King of Pop
Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr. may have exaggerated when he called Michael Jackson “the greatest entertainer that ever lived,” but there’s no question that the memorial service yesterday in Los Angeles deserved all the superlatives anyone might want to apply — biggest, most elaborate, most widely viewed. There were no half-measures for the King of [...]
Sarah Palin: A Starter, Not a Finisher
What can you say about a public official who ridicules those who would take the “quitter’s way out” — as she faces reporters to announce that she’s quitting? A governor who claims that “the worthless, easy path” would be to serve out the remaining 18 months of her term? An ambitious politician who says that [...]
Michael Jackson: The Perils of a Prodigy
Many performers can impress or delight, but only a few can astonish. Michael Jackson did it twice. The first time was October 1969, when the hit single “I Want You Back” introduced a cherubic 11-year-old boy who sang with unbelievable maturity, soulfulness and swing. The second was March 1983, when the prodigy — now grown [...]
Feeding the Lone Wolves
We are blessed to live at a time when violent acts of hatred based on race, ethnicity or religion have become rare, at least in this country. As the act of terrorism committed Wednesday at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum should remind us, though, rare doesn’t mean nonexistent.
Creating Possibilities in Cairo
I used to fear that President Obama was overestimating the power of his personal history as an instrument of foreign policy. Now I wonder if he might have been underestimating.