Category: #Contributors

Editor: Anita Newkirk Hackney During the Trump administration, journalists were constantly under attack. When Trump dubbed news sources like the Washington Post, The New York Times, and others as ‘fake news,’ the United Nations condemned his vitriolic rhetoric against them. That didn’t stop Trump.  He only escalated his vitriolic rhetoric against journalists. During his administration, a journalist died and many others were imprisoned and assaulted by the police for doing their job. Here’s an interesting question, is journalism a dangerous position? Yes, journalism can...

Editor: Anita Newkirk Hackney Abortion has been used as a political tool for American lawmakers since becoming law in 1973. Roe v. Wade has become an ornament that has been painted in two different mediums of thought: the ‘good’ and the ‘bad.’ Here’s an interesting question: are abortion rights the next Prohibition? Answering this question is easy, but it’s hard to swallow such a horrific answer. Yes, it’s a possibility. For instance, in 2019, conservative state legislators banned most abortions. There was a total...

Editor: Anita Newkirk Hackney Global warming is a hot topic, literally. In 2020, the state of California had its worst wildfires in history. Now that President Biden is at the helm, he has tossed most of Trump’s policies out the window and has rejoined the Paris Agreement. Here’s an interesting question, what is the Paris Climate Accord?  The Paris Climate Accord is an international accord adopted in 2015, by nearly every nation to address the negative impacts of climate change. This agreement is a...

Editor: Anita Newkirk Hackney Capital punishment or the death penalty has been a part of American history since the British influence in Jamestown in 1608. Since then, the United States has used the death penalty as a tool to punish murderers such as John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, Timothy McVeigh, and many others. Capital punishment has become as common for the United States as slavery was before the Civil War. Now, it seems like we are questioning the purpose of capital punishment. So, should...

Editor: Anita Newkirk Hackney Easter is coming which means the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This holiday, like others, may help us take some of the sting out of dealing with Covid-19. There are multiple ways to give gifts safely to your loved ones this Easter. Candy Buying candy is a common gift for holidays especially Valentine’s Day, Halloween and Easter. Unlike either of those holidays, Easter is a day where you get chocolate bunnies and Easter eggs. This holiday also gives...

Editor: Melanie Carden “What I say behind your back I will say in front of your face, and I’ll say it slowly so you can understand.  Yo’ pan ain’t cooking this fish fast enough.”  From the other side of the room, I hear, “I was going to do something about Mahalia Jackson, but I changed my mind.”  Back to the other side, “Turn the flame up under my pot, girl.” Eight church mothers frying fish in the basement of the church for a Black...

Editor: Anita Newkirk Hackney As the coronavirus vaccine is being distributed to select groups like healthcare workers, the elderly and the working public, we are now facing more challenges with the distribution process. Although the coronavirus vaccine is being released to select groups, it is not offered to most of the public, mainly children and the unemployed.  You’d think we would have been smarter with this process, but we are now facing newer Covid strains that are mutating the virus and infecting people who...

Editor: Anita Newkirk Hackney Is anyone’s birthday coming up soon? If so, why not show your loved one you haven’t forgotten their birthday by sending a gift. There are plenty of ways to show them how much you care about them and that’s really important especially during this time of a global pandemic. Some gifts you can send could be books, care packages, games, and toys.  Books Books are a good gift to offer for birthdays, depending on what type of books they want. There’s...

Editor: Anita Newkirk Hackney Online shopping has increased tremendously in the last year due to Covid-19 and has greatly affected shopping malls.  To add injury to insult, the new emerging strand of Covid 19 does not help with getting people back into our shopping malls.  So, how can we pump business back into our city and town malls? That’s a tricky question especially in a pandemic that’s taking thousands of lives. Covid-19 has claimed approximately 423,192 lives and has a current total of 25.4...

Editor: Anita Newkirk Hackney For centuries, men have dominated the White House, until now. On January 20, 2021, Senator Kamala Harris became the first woman to take on the role as Vice President of the United States of America.  In the past, women were not treated as fairly as we are today. From the late 1400’s to the 1950’s and 60’s, women’s rights weren’t even a thought. In that time and era, women were only seen as nothing more than wives, homemakers and caretakers...