What is a young black man’s life worth in the United States of America? In 2012? These are the questions that continue to haunt me as I lament the killing of Trayvon Martin. On Feb. 26, the 17-year-old was walking from a convenience store to the Sanford, Fla., home he…  [more]

They say that when you do time, your loved ones do time with you. Thanks to a little road trip my family and I took a few weeks ago, I have a better appreciation for how true that statement really is. You see, I recently discharged parole and recovered my…  [more]

A painful irony was brought home March 9 to many of the 600 leaders and representatives of evangelical churches who attended a peace conference in Bethlehem on the West Bank of the Palestinian Territories. On the same day that they finished their work at the conference, whose theme was seeking…  [more]

In the opening scene of Russell Banks’ latest novel, Lost Memory of Skin, a young man - wiry, shifty, quiet - approaches the reference librarian with a strange inquiry: how do you access the online sex-offender list? How do you know if one is living in your neighborhood? The librarian…  [more]

Last month, Americans were forced to face - again - the moral frailty of our own troops when the Internet video of U.S. Marines urinating on dead Taliban fighters in Afghanistan made headlines. Condemnation of the four Marines was swift. U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta called the video “utterly despicable”…  [more]