It’s hard to believe that twenty years have passed since Nelson Mandela was freed and the African National Congress decriminalized as an organization, but February 11, 1990 began a new era of multicultural democracy in South Africa. I saw Nelson Mandela speak a few years ago and as inspirational as his talk was I couldn’t stop reminding myself that this man had endured twenty-seven years of imprisonment for challenging the unjust racist system of apartheid – while the world watched.

It doesn’t seem like most of America is feeling the Hope anymore. Anyone could have predicted the fierce opposition that Obama has faced in office, and sadly he is on track to become a single-term mistake. How can Obama fix this? Well, in addition to the obvious need for progress on his campaign promises – health care, managing our two wars, and reviving the economy – Obama should reach for some low hanging fruit. If he does anything in his four years the least he can

I’ve been trying to stay out of politics lately because the nutty racist underbelly of America (which has always been there) is a special brand of disturbing that makes me want to hibernate until 2012. I can’t look at Glenn Beck. No matter how chock full of humorous grammar errors they may be, I cannot look at crazy teabagger protest signs. I cant even find humor in the blatantly juvenile sexual double-meaning in the term ‘teabaggers.,’ itself. The one thing I can always do, however, is look at Barack Obama, especially with the beating he’s been taking…

I must have Asia on the brain this week. Between yesterday’s post and a constant hankering for authentic kimchi like I had during my trip to Korea, I just can’t get enough of the Far East these days. Thanks to disagreement over a media regulation bill, South Korea’s parliament session erupted into an all-out brawl yesterday, the likes of which I haven’t seen since last year’s nationally televised Romanian slap-fest. Apparently this happens from time to time, and it’s an approach to government that I can’t believe the U.S. hasn’t…

Louisiana State Representative Barbara Norton (in the blue) is Hurricane Chris’s godmother, so I’m sure it was her pleasure to present him with a House Resolution commending him for “outstanding musical accomplishments.” By this she means beating America over the head with one of the sharper nails to ever pierce hip-hop’s coffin, the song “Halle Berry.” Never mind that it’s a piece of trash that barely qualifies as music and it has lyrics such as “got a job, go ta school, p—y sweet as pound cake/and she boogie juss right, like ta crank that Stanky Leg.” It’s nonsense like this…

I’ve always believed that one of the biggest sitcom television bamboozles was the replacement of the original, BROWN, sassy, theater-voiced Aunt Viv with the bland, ALMONDY, acquiescent, merely capable Aunt Viv on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

There are times that I feel like a poor excuse for a strong black person because I’m not legitimately offended enough to get upset about some things, I’m just offended that I have to spend time being offended! Today’s controversy provides a perfect example: the Sean Delonas political cartoon published in yesterday’s New York Post.

The creator of this cartoon is trying to make light of an incident this week in Connecticut involving an enraged pet chimpanzee that…

RuPaul as both Michelle and Barack Obama. Pretty clever.

I’ve actually been wondering about RuPaul lately. His absence from the limelight these past few years has allowed some serious weave and pancake face-makeup violations to go under-criticized, and is probably at least indirectly responsible for the rise of Beyonce. It’s no matter now, though. Without getting into a full-on treatise about drag queens and the pain/pleasure that they have inflicted on me in the past, I’m going to at least…

You may have heard that on Sunday, during a surprise visit to Baghdad, President Bush had a pair of shoes thrown at him by an Iraqi journalist. The shoe thrower shouted “this is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog!” Check it out:

All of the news outlets are reporting that the incident was highly symbolic; Iraqis used their shoes to beat the statue of Saddam Hussein after his overthrow and in Arab culture it is considered rude to show someone the soles of your shoes. During my trip to the Gulf I was in…