The Huffington Post

The imagery that lie before me seared into my subconscious tormenting me for weeks -- that gray, rotted look of cauliflower representing parts of my mother's dead brain cells. The reduction in brain size rendered me speechless. Even a faux neurologist like myself could tell those neurons no longer fired. READ MORE

As the nation celebrates Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday, I'm left to ponder my own existence juxtaposed against his prophetic words on a late August day in 1963. Unlike most Americans of my generation, at the time King and the Civil Rights Movement pushed the nation to a more hopeful and better place, I lived in the shadows so deep, I'd never heard of Dr. King. READ MORE

Like most twelve-year-old kids, the name of my junior high school was nothing more than a bunch of letters cemented to the red brick façade at the front entrance. Only once during my three years in junior high school years did anyone ever question the name Rosenwald.  READ MORE

I'm honored to be the son of a veteran. Watching dad put on that uniform everyday for over 20 years, and his complete dedication to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America, often at the expense of time with his family, brings a wistful tear to my eye.  READ MORE

Congressional television executives announced the renewal of the cartoon series "Gerrymandered" for another four years. Producers of the GOP's dumbing down of America cartoon were ecstatic at the news, proclaiming this to be the year America forgets their democracy. READ MORE

Congressional television executives announced the renewal of the cartoon series "Gerrymandered" for another four years. Producers of the GOP's dumbing down of America cartoon were ecstatic at the news, proclaiming this to be the year America forgets their democracy. READ MORE

The unrelenting power of the "Southern Strategy" is arguably the single biggest impediment to America's survival as a democracy. The ability to push fear of "other" is easy to disseminate and even easier to absorb for an American populace looking for simple explanations to explain life's complications.  READ MORE

When word of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile's murder reached me, I was tending to my mother at the UCLA Medical Center. Then the horrific events of Dallas unfolded. I hadn't seen any video, or, for that matter, a full accounting of what happened, but knew enough given our recent history, that I mumbled the words, "here we go again" to no one in particular. READ MORE

Dear Ms. McDaniel,

It's been 76 years since you won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in Gone With the Wind. Wow, it seems so long ago, yet on the clock of history, it happened just yesterday. Both my parent's were less than a year old, when you ascended the stage with grace and dignity from an isolated table at the far corner of the nightclub at the segregated Ambassador Hotel. READ MORE

History has always provided a wonderful tapestry of opportunity for Hollywood. 2015 has already brought history-inspired films such as Bridge of Spies, a Cold War thriller starring Tom Hanks. Straight Outta of Compton, the story about the emergence of one of the most influential rap groups of all time, NWA. Black Mass, chronicles the life and capture of mobster Whitey Bulger after 16 years on the lam. READ MORE

I have vivid memories of the breaking news reports announcing the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on April 4, 1968. There seemed to be a sense of profound sadness by many locals in this northern Maine hamlet. But I also detected a sense of giddiness from others. READ MORE