Z Nightly Commentaries
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Recent Z Nightly Commentaries
Wise: Race & Whiteness
Feb 19, 2009
Imagine if you will a 40 year old black male, coming through security at Boston's Logan airport. He's looking a bit younger than his middle-aged self, due in large measure to the clothes he's wearing: a black hoodie, jeans and sneakers. These seem, at least in his mind, to balance out the creases and crevices that occasionally appear on his face, hidden though most of them are beneath his beard. It isn't that he's trying, per se, to look younger. But to feel younger, oh sure, and wardrobe is a far less expensive and pathetic way to accomplish this end than say, botox or a lid lift.
Weissman: Corporations
Jan 03, 2009
What a year for corporate criminality and malfeasance!
Weissman: Nationalize GM
Dec 04, 2008
With the U.S. government offering trillions of dollars in supports for the financial sector, it is startling to witness the casual way in which many policy makers and opinion leaders suggest the U.S. auto companies should be allowed to go bankrupt.
Weissman: Promised Land
Nov 14, 2008
Over the past week, Americans -- and people around the world -- rightfully celebrated the breakthrough election of an African-American to be President of the United States.
Weissman: Financial Crisis
Sep 22, 2008
As the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department careen from one financial meltdown to another, desperately trying to hold together the financial system -- and with it, the U.S. and global economy -- there are few voices denying that Wall Street has suffered from "excesses" over the past several years.
Wise: White Privilege
Sep 14, 2008
White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because "every family has challenges," even as black and Latino families with similar "challenges" are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.
Weissman: WTO Talks
Jul 31, 2008
Predictably, the cheerleaders for corporate globalization are bemoaning the collapse of World Trade Organization negotiations.
Weissman: Human Rights Hypocrisy
Mar 01, 2008
There was a time, not so long ago, when U.S. governmental hypocrisy on human rights and corporate interests was at least acknowledged.
Weissman: Victories in 2007
Jan 01, 2008
It's easy enough to recount what went wrong in 2007.
Wise: Sins of Omission
Jul 07, 2006
It seems as though whenever black folks do something wrong, everyone hears about it. If gang violence heats up in America's inner cities, for example, you can bet it'll be front-page news. Unacceptably high dropout rates? Yep, you can read all about it, a
Weisbrot: The Failure of Hugo-Bashing
Apr 05, 2006
It was yet another public relations coup for Venezuela: Vila Isabel, the samba club sponsored mainly by the Venezuelan government, won the parade competition in Rio de Janeiro's Carnaval last week. A float with a giant likeness of Simon Bolivar, combined
Wise: Chocolate City?
Jan 28, 2006
If you're looking to understand why discussions between blacks and whites
Wise: Racism, Free Speech and the College Campus
Jan 11, 2006
As has been the case for as long as I can recall, an American college campus is once again embroiled in controversy over the expression of racism in its hallowed halls, and what it may seek to do in response.
Weisbrot: IMF Influence?
Oct 17, 2005
Sometimes historic changes take place quietly, while no one is looking. Great institutions lose power with a whimper rather than a bang. Such is the case of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which will hold its annual fall meetings with the World Ban
Wise: Not Everyone Felt That Way
Sep 12, 2005
When I was a kid, I remember my maternal grandmother defending Richard Nixon for the crimes of Watergate, because, as she put it: "He didn't do anything any worse than what every other President did." Knowing, even at six, that this was hardly a morally c
Wise: "Don't Know Much About (Black) History"
Jul 25, 2005
Recently, Philadelphia became the first American city to require its high school students to complete a course in African American history as a condition of graduation. And predictably, in the "City of Brotherly Love," there is already an outcry of opposi
Wise: A Double Standard Worth Keeping
May 30, 2005
As soon as Oklahoma University's baseball coach Larry Cochell was fired recently, for using the n-word during off-camera conversations with two ESPN reporters, I knew instinctively what some were likely to say. Though I am far from psychic, it hardly requ
Wise: Playing Our Race Card: Reflections on Reverse Discrimination
Apr 21, 2005
Perhaps it would do us some good to put things in perspective.
Wise: Race to Our Credit
Jan 09, 2005
Sometimes it can be difficult, having a conversation with those whose political views are so diametrically opposed to one's own.
Mar 07, 2009
A serious economic crisis can force some rethinking of economic and political dogma. The current crisis is serious for most of the world; the IMF is projecting world economic growth of just one half percent this year - the worst since World War II - and this number could easily be revised downward.