Briefly Opinionated
Christmas list represents the changes we all encounter
Aunt Louise holds a special place of honor on my Christmas card list this year. She’s the last living aunt or uncle, for that matter — following the deaths of several family elders since the start of 2023. Aunt Lou is the Washington football franchise’s biggest fan, and the 96-year-old has the Commanders’ paraphernalia and […]
Polio’s horror is a distant memory; we should keep it that way
I remember, when I was maybe just 5 years old, chewing a sugar cube to ward off a horrible, deadly disease. My father was with me in the long line some 60 years ago as we fought polio, an affliction that killed people or left them paralyzed. Polio was — and to a small extent, […]
New law puts Virginians more in control over costly subscriptions
It’s so simple – and soooo seductive – to sign up for offers touting cheap “teaser” rates. You know what I mean: Just $10 for a gym membership for three months. Or a free trial period from retail-order conglomerates. Online news websites are fond of introductory fees of, say, $1 for six months. The problem […]
Picking up litter, propping up lives
Prince William County officials are considering a path few other localities in Virginia have dared to tread: hiring panhandlers to pick up trash and debris instead of soliciting for sawbucks and more on county roads. Though it might be cumbersome logistically, I hope the county approves the program. More communities should try doing something different, […]
Journalist was trailblazer, mentor, paper’s racial conscience
Marvin L. Lake – journalist, Renaissance man, holder of many professional “firsts” – was made of decidedly sterner stuff. Otherwise, he couldn’t have withstood the racial slights and outright prejudice he fought after becoming The Virginian-Pilot’s first Black summer intern in 1966 and later, in 1969, its first Black reporter. He understood the long game, […]
Calendar exposes history of racial violence, degradation that can’t be ignored
Collected in a 2024 calendar, in brutal and excruciating detail, is a litany of violence and dehumanization against people of color spanning this nation’s existence. Some incidents aren’t even that old. Many state legislatures and governors (including Virginia’s) – howling diversionary terms like “critical race theory” and “wokeness” – wouldn’t want the information in the […]
Biased assumptions leave Black people exasperated
Please, white America: Just stop it. Stop trying to put Black people in their “place.” Stop calling the police when African Americans have the temerity to refuse to show their ID – as if you are a law enforcement official. Black Virginians already have to deal with being stopped by actual police more than white […]
Can a suit tied to an 1870 law finally end Va.’s feudal felon rights restoration regimen?
The American Civil Liberties Union sued in federal court this week to void a provision in Virginia law that strips those convicted of felonies of their voting rights for life unless the governor intercedes to restore them. It’s the most recent attempt to end Virginia’s archaic, inequitable and monarchical system by which those who were […]
Youngkin tweet undermining the rule of law over Trump indictment betrayed his own winning formula
Is Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin so obsessed with pandering to his party’s Trumpist core — one he is careful not to romance too openly — that he feels the need to undermine the rule of law in defense of the first ex-president ever to be charged with federal felonies? A tweet from Youngkin’s gubernatorial account […]
Black men’s lower life expectancy a factor in starting Social Security
Black people know, intuitively, that we lag white Americans in a host of categories including health, wealth and living standards. So it was no surprise that, as The Washington Post reported, African American communities suffered an excess 1.6 million deaths compared with white populations over the past two decades. What shocked me, though, were these […]
GMU’s president is right to reject students’ call to cancel Youngkin’s commencement speech
I don’t know Gregory Washington, the president of George Mason University. I am not an alumnus of his school. To the best of my recall, I have never been on GMU’s campus in Fairfax. But I applaud Mr. Washington. He did what many leaders in academia are unwilling to do these days: He stood up […]
Irvo Otieno is gone; how many more Black people must die before real change comes?
Within the cavernous sanctuary of First Baptist Church of South Richmond on Wednesday, hundreds of mourners viewed a vignette of Irvo Otieno’s brief life. Photos and videos showed him sporting a wide grin alongside classmates and football buddies. His rich baritone voice rapped lyrics to a song he’d written about his love for his family. […]