Christopher Columbus
Once again Jim Kenney, Mayor Weathervane, has spun around and around and come out pointing the wrong way, in support of the howling mob. We know there is a controversy around Christopher Columbus and there are strong opinions on both sides. That’s why I proposed putting Columbus on trial,
Coronavirus
Look — up in the sky (depending on where you live) — that’s not Superman, it is the Sahara sand storm, the biggest one in half a century that has crossed the Atlantic and is hanging over the Southeastern U.S., and heading inland. A suffocating sand storm. Just a month
Police
In today’s effort to mansplain, or is it whitesplain?, I thought I’d bring the class up to date on some new terms you have been hearing, but maybe not understanding. Sure, you understand BLM. Or do you? It stands for Black Lives Matter, and it is a social
Uncategorized
I am glad to see the squabbling has been reduced in recent days. This is not Facebook, and some of the name-calling and fighting here has scared off other people who might want to comment. They have told me my site sometimes seems like Senior Citizen Fight Club. That is
Race
After winning his decades-long battle to end apartheid in his homeland, and becoming South Africa’s first black president, Nelson Mandela did a remarkable thing. Instead of seeking vengeance against the white minority that had suffocated the black majority for so long, he established a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. to
Homelessness
No reporter can ever cover every angle of a story, even when they know them. When I wrote a few days ago about the homeless encampment at 22nd and the Parkway, I missed something important, something brought to me by a Facebook friend. First, an update. As far as I
Racism
“End racism.” We hear the cry daily, but how? Where does racism begin? We are not born with it. Are we? “South Pacific,” a 1949 musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein, was one of the first to explore racial prejudice. Set during World War II, the plot concerns a U.S.
Uncategorized
In conjunction with Juneteenth, I reprise a column that ran in the Philadelphia Daily News in May 2008. It was my privilege to interview two outstanding American heroes. FLYING TOO FAST and too low to avoid it, Capt. Luther Smith throttled his P-51 Mustang fighter with the red-painted tail right
Uncategorized
Are all these images racist? Which ones? Why? Let me say at the start that Quaker Oats, which owns Aunt Jemima — uh-oh, that sounds like slavery — is free to dno anything it wants with its marketing imagery. The model for the original Aunt Jemima, Nancy Green, was born into slavery,
Homelessness
Remember Rachel Canning? She was the New Jersey 18-year-old who moved out of her parents home in 2014, then sued them for $654 a week in expenses, and demanded they pay her private high school and college tuition. She did not win. Rachel came to mind as I read the
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus says, “Don’ta trust you mayor.” He means Mayor Gutless, who has punted the issue of the statue of the Italian explorer/criminal (your choice) to Philadelphia’s Art Commission. “That’sa what he said about the statue of Francesco Rizzo, says Columbus, “but he move it in
Black Lives Matter
I don’t know if the spasm we are living through is more like the French Revolution, or Communist China’s Cultural Revolution, with our version being called (by the ever-edgy Christine Flowers), the Multi-Cultural Revolution. You can’t swing a cat without hitting a celebrity or corporation crawling into