Carpe Diem Ethiopia

Senator Barack Obama's decision this morning to throw his hat in the presidential race is a significant moment in this nation's history. In MLK, Jr., Ethiopia, and Protest Politics , we honored the work and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., and in so doing, recognized the numerous legislative and judicial victories scored by African-Americans in the last century (to name a few, voting rights , access to education , health care, housing, public benefits, employment , and affirmative action ). The African-American struggle for equality clearly made America live up to the promises of liberty and justice its founders promised to the governed in 1787 . Beyond the historic significance of Obama’s announcement, the Illinois senator’s candidacy will allow registered African-American voters (including Ethiopia-Americans) in the Democratic Party a clear alternative to the carpet-bagging junior senator from our favorite state in the Union. Yes, Hillary Clinton and her arrogant a...

So we started the New Year with images of a botched cell phone-recorded hanging of a man a few months shy of his seventieth birthday shooting through a trap door while attempting to drown out the taunting jeers of an angry mob with his own incantations of an incomplete death prayer. By turning a judicially sanctioned execution into a degrading display of vengeance, the Iraqi government failed to seize a momentous occasion to show one of the worst offenders of human rights the dignity of death he denied to millions of Iraqis, Iranians, and Kuwaitis during his quarter-century rule. The Butcher of Bagdad certainly did not deserve to be afforded dignity in his last hours but it is not unreasonable to expect a young democracy emerging from decades of bloodshed to use every opportunity to teach those it governs the virtues of justice and forgiveness. We recognize the Iraq war is highly divisive and many, including those in the Ethiopian-American community, are frustrated about this...