It was not long ago that very few readers had heard of Michael Eric Dyson. However, during the past five years Dyson has been an intellectual whirlwind. His writings have appeared in many national journals, he has published two books, …
Some wise American once argued that our laws protecting freedom of speech do not extend to the individual who falsely yells “fire” in a crowded theater. Likewise, freedom of speech should not allow a group of black faculty members to …
In January 1988 Commentary magazine published an essay by a black professor of English at San Jose State University. “On Being Black and Middleclass” introduced Shelby Steele as a new interpreter of American race relations. Since then, Steele’s work has …
The status of the Afro-American intellectual community has changed drastically during the last twenty years. As a result of the civil rights movement and the urban uprisings of the 1960s, predominantly white universities began to open their doors to black …
On numerous occasions I’ve seen police cars come to a screeching halt and policemen scatter in apprehending a suspect. Each time, save one, the apprehended black male was dragged along the pavement, smacked in the face, or otherwise abused. This …
Though blacks have felt they were under assault since July 4, 1776, they have also felt most of the time that progress, however slow and uneven, was inevitable. Next to Reconstruction, the period of greatest black optimism began with FDR’s …
Where did the belief originate that the existence of a draft makes us more willing to engage in warfare? The draft did not cause us to enter the Vietnam conflict. And though it facilitated our continued involvement in that unjust …
