(NNPA)—Less than 300 miles from the Japanese capital of Tokyo rests a small town named “Obama.” And in that tiny neighborhood, both young and old danced in the streets and celebrated last November when Barack Obama took home the 2008 U.S. presidential election.

Just off the heels of the one-year anniversary of that historic day, our country’s first Black president embarks on a bold, complex and challenging trip to Asia. Unlike past presidents, Obama must maintain a delicate balance between our economic interests in the region during such a critical global financial crisis, and broader human rights concerns in countries like China. Our country’s 44th, however, has one secret weapon that just may assist him on this ambitious mission—his own personal Asia-Pacific connection.

A recent report to the Pittsburgh School Board suggested that 16 school buildings may have to be shut down for economic reasons. We asked Pittsburghers what they thought. Here’s what you said.

“It’s the sign of the times. It may be about money but you’re moving students from one area to another where those people didn’t particually like each other and it’s been like that for generations.”
Howie Alexander
Artist
Black Ridge

Howie Alexander, Cecily Pollard, Chris McNeal

I am always troubled by those in government claiming they have a moral imperative to enact this or that policy. A little digging often reveals that their motives are more self-serving than moral. I am doubly troubled when those raising the moral banner tend to reject the very idea of an objective morality applicable to all men at all times.

Such is the case with liberal Democrats and their insistence that the moral laws of the universe—laws that have been with us since God breathed life into man (or as some would have it when we rose from the primordial soup)—command government to supply every citizen (and many that aren’t) with health insurance.

But as is generally the case all we need do is scratch the surface and the truth reveals itself.

by Richard Anderson

In the space of 15 years, I voted for two Black presidents: Nelson Mandela and Barack Obama.

My vote for Mandela was predicated on a history of personal oppression and hatred of apartheid and those who promulgated it. For me, Mandela represented a move from hatred to hope.

Fourteen years later, I voted for Barack Obama because his candidacy represented a personal vision of America I had always carried. This vision was not always vindicated by my experiences in the “land of the free.”

In many respects, being Black in America was not much different than being Black in South Africa. But I still hoped that this was the country where anything was possible.