If the United States was the country we pretend it to be, there would be no angst over the 2020 Presidential Election, because if the United States was that country, Donald Trump wouldn’t be president, because as the cliché goes, “we’re better than that.” The reality is Donald Trump is the p…

In “I Am Not Your Negro,” the Oscar-nominated documentary by filmmaker Raoul Peck about the work of the late James Baldwin, Baldwin makes the this observation: “What white people have to do is try and find out in their own hearts why it was necessary to have a nigger in the first place, beca…

Reparation is making amends for a wrong one has done by paying money to or otherwise helping those who have been wronged. It’s this notion of financial compensation for the descendants of enslaved people of African descent that is usually the focus of the reparations debate.

In the epigraph to “The Godfather,” Mario Puzo quotes the 19th century French novelist Honore’ de Balzac: “Behind every great fortune lies a great crime.” There has never been a more accurate observation about the source of America’s collective wealth.

I made myself a promise not to follow or comment on the Democratic presidential campaign until October or November, primarily because it a pointless exercise that will have nothing to do with who will win the Democratic nomination and whether or not that person can successfully defeat Donald…

As Benjamin Franklin was leaving the Constitutional Convention he was approached by  a woman who asked, “What have you given us, a monarchy or a republic? Franklin replied, ”A republic, madam, if you can keep it.”

What drew St. Louis’ civic leadership and professional class to Better Together like moths to a flame? It’s their belief that the single biggest impediment to St. Louis’ ability to grow and prosper is its fragmented local government structure. The way St. Louis city and county are politicall…

In 1992 David Halberstam wrote a new introduction for the 20th anniversary edition of “The Best and the Brightest.” He wrote that his favorite passage of the book was a conversation between Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson and House Speaker Sam Rayburn.

The African-American response to Better Together’s proposal to merge St. Louis city and county

In the sixth chapter of Isaiah, God asks a profound compound question: “Who shall I send, who will go for us?”

The Latin phrase “Time Danasos et dona fermented” – which means “I fear the Greeks, even those bearing gifts” – has become the commonly used phrase “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts,” The phrase, from the Roman poet Virgil’s retelling of the Trojan War, refers to how the Greeks tricked the Tro…

February is Black History Month, and February 6 would have been the 89th birthday of Arthur “Chink” Washington. Chink’s active political career spanned 60 years and touched multiple generations of St. Louis and Missouri political actors, black and white.

This moment of inflection in America is not about political ideology or political competence, it’s about the lack of moral competence, whether you’re talking about the national political scene or the political condition of St. Louis.

Wesley Bell’s first three weeks as St. Louis County prosecuting attorney have been exceptional. He has taken command of the office and without apology and led with important initiatives that were pillars of his campaign and foundational to criminal justice reform. He has marked his territory…

The only thing more ridiculous than 17 Republicans running for president in 2016 will be the 20 -plus Democrats running for president in 2020. There will never be that many people in either party – or in both parties, taken together – at any time who ought to be seriously considered for the …

On November 6, 2018, Democrats propelled by the energy of a tentative progressive coalition overwhelmed Trump Republicans, winning 40 seats in the U.S. House, reclaiming 367 of the 1,000 state legislative seats lost during the Obama years and captured six governorships. All in all, a great n…

To win the World Series or an NBA championship requires a team to win four games in a seven-game series. All the games are important, but the most pivotal game in a seven-game series is game five. If the series is tied two games apiece, the winner of game five takes a one-game lead with two …

Why I keep writing about the centrality of race and politics from a historical perspective is best summed up by  James Baldwin: “Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it has been faced. History is not the past. It is the present. We carry our history w…

The legendary Japanese director Akira Kurosawa’s 1950 masterpiece “Rashomon” shows how four people recount different versions of the story of a man’s murder and rape of his wife. It reveals the complexity of people and the relative nature of truth when dealing with an objective reality. I re…

The importance of studying history is not just to know what happened in the past, but also to contextualize and understand the present. Because the United States of 2018 is a culmination of economic and political forces set in motion many decades before, an understanding of pre-Civil War Ame…

The results of the August 7 Democratic primary has St. Louis all atwitter (pardon the pun). There were historic victories that could change the political calculus of St. Louis, and while it was a great night, we need to put it in context. Getting the right players in the right positions is t…

I have purposefully stayed away from commenting on local politics because local politics can be mean and vicious, and the reason it’s so mean and vicious is the stakes are usually so small. I also try not to be unnecessarily cruel, and if I wrote about the local political scene, I’d sound li…

The reaction to the recent resignation of Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy is being treated like a defining moment in American history. While I don’t think it rises to that level, I do think Vice President Joe Biden’s description of the signing of the Affordable Care Act would apply. Th…

Last Saturday, I did a brief phone interview with Keith Willis for his Saturday morning Community Connections program. I was surprised and pleased that the first thing he wanted to talk about was what going on at the border. It is Keith’s raising an issue that I’ve given some thought, but no…

Over the last six weeks, I have written four columns focused on the historical arch of the political development of the black community in order to provide a context for considering our contemporary political condition. I want to summarize and conclude the exercise.

During last year’s Democratic mayoral primary, I was regularly asked by a diverse cross-section of the black community, “Why can’t black politicians, why can’t we as a community, get behind one candidate in order to capture the Mayor’s Office?” While I would tactfully explain why they were a…

The black community was forged in the crucible of slavery, but our modern political culture and identity were shaped in post-Civil War America on the anvil of Jim Crow. To understand the historical political development of the black community, you must recognize the only thing the defeat of …

In legislative bodies there is something called a privileged motion. A privileged motion is a motion that’s recognized over ordinary business because it concerns a matter of great importance or urgency. This week I want to put aside the regular business of this column for a point of personal…

The root of community comes from the Latin communis, which means shared in common. A community can be defined as a social unit that shares common norms, values, language or religion that are the foundation of an identifiable culture that creates a shared identity. They also share a sense of …

I wrote two commentaries about my perspective of the economic reality of the St. Louis region, “100 of years decline and us” and “Why we’re not like Atlanta,” to illustrate a point about the importance of context. If you want to understand why St. Louis is what it is today, you have to under…

Whatever the decisions black communities make are a function of the options available at the time. Other than climate and geography, nothing defines what options are available more than economics.

April 4 was the 50th anniversary of the assassination of MLK. It’s appropriate that we take time to assess what has changed about race in America over the last 50 years.

Over the next 12 months, St. Louis’ African-American community will participate in three elections that will play a major role in defining the contours of our future possibilities. In August, they will play a decisive role in who will be the next St. Louis County executive. They may again de…

In March of 2011, Governor Jay Nixon appointed me to the State Board of Education representing the 1st Congressional District. My term expires in June of this year. The majority of black children who attend Missouri public schools live in the 1st Congressional District. Because of this I fel…

I want to have a conversation about Black History Month within the context of the cinematic and cultural tour de force film Black Panther.

American politics and American sports at the national professional level are both active spectator events with relatively few players. Because both politics and sports have a huge fan base, both command a considerable amount of attention. Just because a lot of us talk a lot about politics an…

As we stop to note the passing of Frankie Muse Freeman and honor an incredible life that was extraordinarily well lived, we must pay specific homage to her service to the country on behalf of our community. The historical record will forever link her name with the 36th POTUS, Lyndon Baines J…

None of us living today has ever experienced a year like 2017 or a president like Donald Trump. That’s not the same thing as saying 2017 is some unforeseen, new phenomenon. Trump is not an anomaly; he is as fundamental to America as baseball and apple pie. Newton’s third law of motion tells …

Every now and then the people prevail over power and privilege. That’s what happened at the November 21 State Board of Education meeting in Jefferson City. The meeting was called for the purpose of terminating  Commissioner of Education Margie Vandeven and, despite Governor Eric Greitens hav…

A year ago this week Donald Trump was elected POTUS. What does that mean to us?

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

Like all social animals, humans are socialized through personal interaction – first, our families, then through our friendships, and lastly through our community. This last group can be as small as a neighborhood or as large as a country. It is through these relationships that we understand …

The proverb says, “With all thy getting, get understanding.”

On September 15, 2017, another white policeman was acquitted in the murder of an (very likely) unarmed black man, this time here in St Louis, Missouri. Now if you're black, you could have a range of reactions, but there are two emotions I will not permit you – shock or surprise. You couldn't…

Where does effective black political leadership come from?

One of the things about reaching a certain age in life (polite way of saying getting old) is you regularly receive word that people who have been part of the fabric of your life have passed on. Last Saturday, August 19, national media informed us that Brother Dick Gregory had joined the ancestors.

I ended my last commentary with a question: Are African-American politicians, as opposed to African-American elected officials, the answer?

Last week, I argued that African-American elected officials have had effective control of St. Louis city government for the last 24 years and, in light of that fact, there's no credible explanation for the failure of city government to address the issues that impact the African-American community.

There are two things that you need to know about St. Louis city government.