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What Leadership Means

History can be cruel. The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., who was unquestionably America’s most prominent prophet and practitioner of nonviolence, was followed by riots, arson and looting in 168 American cities and towns. The numbers are staggering: 2,600 fires were set; 21,700 people were injured; 2,600 were arrested; 39 were killed. One city that was spared all that in the days following King’s murder was Indianapolis. Credit for that must be given to the citizens of Indiana’s capital city and to its leaders, both black and white, and also to a remarkable American ...

Cooper Shows Self Control

I come here not to condemn Amy Cooper, the white woman who called police and falsely claimed that an African American man named Christian Cooper was attacking her, but rather to praise Christian Cooper, who had done nothing more than ask her to leash her dog. The confrontation happened in New York’s Central Park, where dogs are supposed to be kept on leashes. National media pounced on this tale of two unrelated Coopers, captured by Christian on video. The easy storyline focused on a clash between an evil racist and a blameless black victim. Christian had been out in the park ...

Fatal Failing Of Establishments

In his half-century in national politics, Joe Biden has committed more than his fair share of gaffes. Wednesday, he confused Pearl Harbor Day, Dec. 7, 1941, with D-Day, June 6, 1944. The more serious recent gaffe, a beaut, came at the close of a recent contentious interview with black activist Charlamagne tha God. A miffed Biden signed off, saying, “If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.” Biden was saying that no self-respecting black American would vote for Trump over him this November. Indeed, any such individual would ...

Bird Watching While Black

A lifelong bird-watcher ventured into a section of New York's Central Park, the "Ramble," at 7:30 a.m., hoping to catch a glimpse of waterfowl. In previous days, he had spied scarlet tanagers, ovenbirds and mourning warblers. On Memorial Day, as he waited quietly, an unleashed spaniel scurried into the area -- as happens frequently in the park during quarantine -- though a posted sign notifies owners that all dogs must be leashed. The bird-watcher asked the owner to please leash her dog. She was less than cooperative. According to the birder, Christian Cooper, the conversation went ...

The Freedom To Pursue Happiness

The governors of all 50 states, and the mayors of many large cities, have assumed unto themselves the powers to restrict private personal choices and lawful public behavior in an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19. They have done so not by enforcing previously existing legislation but by crafting their own executive orders, styling those orders as if they were laws, using state and local police to enforce those so-called laws and — presumably when life returns to normal and the courts reopen — prosecuting the alleged offenders in court. It is hard to believe that any judge in ...

At Least We Know What We Don’t Know

Tis early days, but what have we learned from the virus crisis? One thing is that we don’t know what we don’t know. And we are often not certain about what we think we do know. For instance, we don’t know whether we should tell people to stay home, inside. Or should we should encourage them to get out in the fresh air. Some experts say stay inside. Others throw facts at us that refute this. They show if you are inside with others you are far more likely to transmit or pick up the virus. They argue that the best place to be is outside. Where the transmission is much less ...