The blogosphere is all atwitter about Sen. Harry Reid’s quote about presidential candidate Barack Obama. The then-Illinois senator was described, in private, by the Nevada senator as “light skinned” and “with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.”
Cries of racism have been seen and heard throughout the far reaches of Cyberspace. And I, [...]

(We welcome back veteran Chicago journalist Monroe Anderson after an extended summer break.)
by Monoe Anderson
Watching today’s commemorations of the eight anniversary of the 9/11 terrorists attacks, I am reminded of how badly the Bush Administration blew it. The most incompetent presidency in our nation’s history presided over the worst failure in national security since Pearl [...]

 
by Monroe Anderson
In the movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, as far as the father of the bride was concerned, Windex was the miracle cure for anything from “psoriasis to poison ivy.”
In real life, among the dwindling membership of the Party of No, lower taxes is their Windex. 
No matter what political, economic or social challenge [...]

 
by Monroe Anderson

I’ve been getting this viral email from white friends, black friends, even one of my Indian friends. It’s one of these truths that’s been hiding in plain site: Black is In!

I’m old enough to remember the ’60s when we were last in. It turned out to be short and sweet. By the 1970s, there [...]

by Monroe Anderson
Michelle Obama is a hugger. I know this personally because, the last time I saw Michelle, she gave me a hug.
So yesterday’s international incidence with some of the British tabloids tsk-tsking her because she, gasp, hugged the Queen, doesn’t come as much of a big whoop to me.
I think I’ll explain my hug [...]

by Monroe Anderson
With only one exception, when it comes to police, the “we serve and protect” has meant nothing more than a motto stenciled on the side of a squad car to me. 
Just once, in all my years, did the police come to my rescue. That was nearly 30 years ago when a doped-out burglar was wondering [...]

by Monroe Anderson
Superstars Chris Brown and Rihanna are the poster children for domestic violence. You know the story. A lover’s quarrel in 19-year-old Brown’s car led to a beating so brutal that neither were able to make scheduled appearances at the Grammy Awards later that night.

Rihanna ended up with a badly bruised and swollen face, Brown with an arrest [...]

 
by Monroe Anderson
When I was in junior high, my speech teacher cited an article in one of the popular periodicals of the time–Look or Life magazine, if memory serves me right–reporting that the Negro was the most motivated American in the nation.
You can tell how long ago that was by the Negro reference. It was [...]