Monday’s shooting rampage at the Navy Yard, when 13 people and the alleged gunman, Aaron Alexis of Ft. Worth, Texas, were killed, was yet another a stark and painful reminder […]
Author Archives: Adrienne T. Washington
Former D.C. Councilman Frank Smith Rallies for D.C. Statehood
Now what? Now that the marching is over, the fond memories relived and a king’s dream revived, how to generate and sustain a renewed movement for justice, jobs and freedom? […]
Sharing the Freedom Soapbox with D.C. Statehood
When she was a couple of months shy of 16, Lea Adams ’s father, Joel, a rare African American who carried the rank of U.S. Army colonel, took her to […]
Entertaining — but Inaccurate– Black History Assailed
“I’m just an old historian who only wants one thing, the truth,” said preeminent African and African American historian Carroll “CR” Gibbs, “fussing” with a somewhat heavy heart. I couldn’t […]
Two Black Fathers Making a Stand Against Violence
From the statehouses of Florida and North Carolina to the highways, streets, drives, boulevards, ways, courts and other roadways named after Dr. Martin Luther King, this summer has witnessed a […]
Alexandria’s Mandela
Whatever you do, “don’t even think about going down that road of comparing me to Nelson Mandela,” says a humble Ferdinand T. Day, a lifelong civil rights advocate, even if […]
Making Ends Meet on Minimum Wages
Is it any wonder that hundreds of fast food workers across the country this week are walking out and striking at their jobs demanding to form a union and to […]
Did the Stark Signs Read,’Am I Next?’ Or ‘I Am Next”
Had to do a dyslexic double-take after seeing the photo of three little black boys holding up sings with that gut-wrenching Tupac lyric, “Am I Next,” during a weekend protest […]
Zimmerman Acquittal Could Double Loss for Trayvon Martin’s Family
The family of Trayvon Martin not only lost their 17-year-old son at the hands of George Zimmerman, a Florida neighborhood watch volunteer. They could lose their money to him, too. […]
A Century of Service Amid a Sea of Red
On a bright, blazing Sunday morning with the lush green hills, thatched roofs and red clay roads snaking through the Royal Ezulwini Valley of region of Swaziland like a picture […]
When Truth Overshadows Polished Testimony
Author James Baldwin said: “It is not the black child’s language that is in question, it is not their language that is despised. It is their experience.” This telling quotation […]
Paula Deen’s Stew
Here’s the dry rub about the whole celebrity cook Paula Deen BBQ: it’s really no great shock that a Low Country Southern woman of a certain age once used the […]