(NNPA)—It’s been a long time since Thurgood Marshall served on the highest court in the land. I think it’s time we get another Black person on the bench. We have a “Black” president who has now nominated two females, one White and Jewish, and one Hispanic and Catholic. Now we have six Catholics and three Jews on the court, and no Blacks or so-called Protestants, the most prevalent religious segment in the United States. Hmmm.

You would think that after all Black people have done for this country, there would be a continuous effort to keep at least one Black person on the highest court in the land. Considering all we have sacrificed for this country, it is reasonable to assume that any fair-minded government leader would make every effort to appoint and maintain one Black to the Supremes.

(REAL TIMES MEDIA)—By now you have likely heard that Barack Obama has selected Solicitor General Elena Kagan to be his nominee for the Supreme Court vacancy left open by retiring judge John Paul Stevens. Stevens was a liberal stalwart on the court, and the perfect foil to the rightward lurching of the Supreme Court under eight years of the Bush administration. We’ll be lucky if Kagan is half as progressive. In fact, the only hope that the public has that her nomination will balance out the court rather than be another squishy moderate, is if it turns out that she really is a lesbian.

This column is not directed toward the accomplishments or failures of Black contractors in any city but Pittsburgh. However, in my estimation we need to focus to a degree about the history of Black builders. Everyone knows that the pyramids—one of the seven wonders of the world—were built by Blacks, and it still remains a mystery how, when every block weighed 50 tons, were cut to perfection and no mortar was used.

(NNPA)—When we reflect on the civil rights struggle within this nation, we often focus—and rightfully so—on the works of the great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In school, students learn of the boycotts and sit-ins that transformed the landscape of everyday American life. And those of us that lived it, remember signs that read “Whites only,” the segregated schools and the countless marches that eventually united and integrated society. But in order to alter peoples’ mindsets when it came to race relations, there were also those who utilized their own influence to make a bold, lasting statement. One such talent was the late Lena Horne, whose sheer existence changed the way we view African-American women forever.