Joe Biden’s Black Firewall

Understanding why Black People vote for Biden but like Bernie’s Programs requires a deep knowledge of the history, culture and psyche of African Americans. Poll after poll shows that African Americans support programs advanced by Sen. Bernie Sanders like guaranteed public healthcare, free higher education, $15 per hour minimum wage, and criminal justice reform. Then […]

Searching for Billion Dollar “Massa”

Democratic moderates, liberal media fear Bernie & Elizabeth. Believe only white rich man can beat Trump Why do moderate Democrats and mainstream media outlets like CNN and MSNBC keep branding Senators Bernie Sanders’ and Elizabeth Warren’s ideas as dangerous, divisive, and extreme when the majority of Americans support them? They must be watching too much […]

KOBE

Black Mamba’s death reminds us we are not our own The tragic death this week of NBA legend Kobe Bryant hit many in this country, including me, extremely hard. From the millennium to the septuagenarian, we grieved in disbelief over what former Laker Kareem Abdul-Jabbar called a “useless death.” Many of us did not even […]

It’s Time to “Shit or Get Off Pot”

What Dems Must Not Do to Beat 45 Political pundits are always talking about what Democrats must do to win the upcoming presidential election. This column will tell Dems what not to do to take back the White House. They must not insult black women by selecting a lesser quality white woman or man to […]

What do Meria Carstarphen, Jay-Z, Benedict College Have in Common?

Looking back at meaning of writing Jabari Simama Speaks I thought as we end another year, the year of 2019, you might find of interest how others reacted to Jabari Simama Speaks columns. First, this year over 4,000 individuals read at least one column. This is up from 3,316 in 2018, an increase of 17%. […]

Dancing with Angels

One Black Man Reacts to Impeachment of 45th President “When we’re dancing with the angels, the question will be asked: ‘In 2019, what did we do to make sure we kept our democracy intact?’” Elijah Cummings My grandmother’s mother was a slave. My grandfather was a sharecropper who never received his 40 acres and a mule. My mother, Ida Scott […]

City Hall: Don’t Stereotype Black Atlanta

Why black community needs Complete Streets My wife and I are over 60-years-old and we are avid tennis players, bikers, golfers, walkers and we practice yoga at least twice a week. We live on the westside of Atlanta where we have resided for more than 40 years. We welcome the new Complete Streets (CS) renovations […]

45 Trumps HBCU Benedict College

The wrong party got locked up (or down) Last week, the so –called 20/20 Bipartisan Justice Center, organized in 2015, gave the 45th President of the USA its Bipartisan Justice Award at the 150-year old HBCU, Benedict College, where I once worked as vice president of community development and external relations. I would have been […]

Old Radicals Never Die

Death of former Black Panther takes me back to butterflies and bulldozers Recently, I received word that my old comrade/antagonist Bill “Pee Wee” Winston had died. Winston, a former Black Panther, later became a youth minister with Young Life, Inc. (YL), a nondenominational Christian youth organization. He was a good man with whom, at times, […]

Meria Carstarphen believes she has divine right to position

Guest column by Former State Senator Vincent Fort (Note: The views expressed in this column are those of Senator Fort and not those of Jabari Simama Speaks. Fort indicates he is a consultant for the Georgia Federation of Teachers) Thank you for beginning a thoughtful conversation regarding Superintendent Meria Carstarphen and the future of the […]