I was appalled by Rich Lowry’s column, “Civil-rights movement in disgrace” (Sept. 2). According to him, all the problems of being black in America are solved; blacks now exist on imagined slights, etc. By contrast, Leonard Pitts Jr., a black man, in his column Sept. 1 titled “Where do we go from here? We go […]
Leonard Pitts Jr.
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Leonard Pitts: IRS ruling moves nation forward
Abraham Lincoln said it best. As the drums of disunion began to drown out the softer melodies of comity and reason, Lincoln, a candidate for U.S. Senate, warned a convention of Illinois Republicans that the nation could not escape its moment of decision. “A house divided against itself cannot stand,” he said in a celebrated […]
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Leonard Pitts: Where do we go from here? We go to work
WASHINGTON — Fifty years later. They came from as near as Baltimore, and as far as Tokyo. They came despite swampy heat and intermittent rain. They came braving heat exhaustion to stand in endless lines before the Secret Service checkpoints. They came in memory of lost loved ones. They came in recognition of ongoing struggle. […]
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Leonard Pitts: King’s towering dream still eludes us
“So even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream.” — Martin Luther King, Jr., August 28, 1963 This is “tomorrow.” Meaning that unknowable future whose unknowable difficulties Martin Luther King invoked half a century ago when he told America about his dream. If you could somehow magically bring […]
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Leonard Pitts: Fictionalized story depicts ‘the truth’
This isn’t your average summer movie crowd. It’s not just that they are largely African-American, skin in all the shades of buttermilk, caramel and creamless coffee that we call “black.” It’s not just that they are largely old, with raincloud hair and been-there eyes, some leaning on canes for support. No, the thing you really […]
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Leonard Pitts: OK, so maybe Twitter can be useful
“Surrender, Dorothy!” — the Wicked Witch in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ “You can’t win, Rock!” — Mickey in ‘Rocky III’ “Resistance is futile!” — The Borg in ‘Star Trek: the Next Generation’ That’s kind of how I feel right now, except that, unlike Dorothy, Rocky Balboa and Captain Picard, I’m throwing in the towel. Four […]
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Leonard Pitts: Tone of interview showcases far-right agenda
No it was not the most excruciating thing ever seen on television. We’ve seen worse. We’ve seen Roseanne singing the national anthem, Magic Johnson hosting a talk show and Paris Hilton existing. But if it’s not No. 1 on that list of god-awful TV, author Reza Aslan’s recent interview with Lauren Green of Fox “News” […]
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Leonard Pitts: Don’t let the door hit you on the way out
Dear Anthony Weiner: Just go. Don’t bother to explain. We’ve already heard enough. Just go. Don’t write a book about it. No tree should die for that. Just go. Don’t do a sit down with Oprah. She just had that couch cleaned. Just go. You want to redeem your name through public service? You want […]
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Leonard Pitts: McDonald’s offers insults, not help, to working poor
A few words about the McBudget. Perhaps you’ve heard of it. As fast-food workers around the country protest for higher wages, we learn that McDonald’s offers advice to help them live on the wages they make that, while not technically bupkes, do amount to a paycheck you can pretty much have the driver cash for […]
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Leonard Pitts: The first casualty of racism is individuality
“There are very few African-American men in this country who haven’t had the experience of being followed when they were shopping in a department store. That includes me.” — Barack Obama I am Trayvon Martin. Distill it to its marrow, and that is what African-Americans have been telling other Americans since February 2012 when the […]