By Nancy Spannaus June 4, 2020—Tomorrow will be the anniversary of the June 5, 1968 assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, the third in a series of murders which decapitated the most promising political leadership of the United States. One by one, they fell: President John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, […]
Lessons Still to Be Learned By Angela Vullo May 31, 2020–Those of us who never bought into the last 50-year economic shift into de-industrialization and financial speculation should not be shocked at the social unrest which has been unleashed in our country. The murder of George Floyd, a Minneapolis black […]
By Nancy Spannaus Feb. 22, 2020—My husband Ed and I just returned from a celebration of Black History Month, and that phrase from Dr. Martin Luther King’s 1963 “I have a dream” speech is still ringing in my ears. It resonates as well with the Negro National Anthem “Lift Every […]
By Angela Vullo Aug. 24, 2019–On Sunday night, August 18, MSNBC completed a four-part docuseries called “American Swamp,” which included a segment on infrastructure entitled “Bill to Nowhere.” The segment detailed both the crisis condition of our national infrastructure and the gridlock in Washington which has failed to address this […]
By Angela Vullo Feb. 17, 2019–Approximately fifty years after Dr. Martin Luther King made his pleas for economic justice, we are confronted with the fact that wealth inequality has turned the United States into one of the most extremely income-stratified nations in the world. In this context, it is instructive […]
By Nancy Spannaus April 4, 2018—On this 50th anniversary of the assassination of that great American Martin Luther King, we’d do well to devote serious thought to his mission. In my view, it was nothing less than to inspire a movement to fulfill the ideals of the American System for all […]
A Book Review Bobby Kennedy, A Raging Spirit Chris Matthews Simon & Schuster, 2017, 352 pp. by Angela Vullo Jan. 29, 2018—My purpose in this review, like that of author Matthews, is to address the question of Robert F. Kennedy’s true identity in American politics. I believe that Matthews, proceeding […]
by Angela Vullo January 7, 2018–Just as the U.S. Congress was preparing to vote on the controversial tax reform, UN Special Rapporteur Philip Alston released a damning report on poverty in the United States, on December 15, 2017. Alston, the United Nations special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, […]
By Nancy Spannaus Jan.11, 2021—Today marks the release of an invaluable video documenting the record of Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton’s opposition to slavery. Under the title “The Evidence for Hamilton against Slavery,” independent researcher Marianne Als beautifully synthesizes text, imagery, and music to support her argument that not only is […]
By Angela Vullo December 17, 2020–As Christmas 2020 approaches, images of the same time period in 1932 come to mind: unemployment lines, swamped food banks, eviction notices, and more. The images are only overshadowed by the staggering number of deaths and other effects of the current deadly pandemic. While the […]
While Celebrating MLK, Remember Ben Franklin
By Nancy Spannaus Jan. 17, 2021—While much of the nation celebrates Martin Luther King. Jr. on this weekend, my mind also goes to another American fighter for the common good, Founder Benjamin Franklin. (1706-1790) Today is the 315th anniversary of Benjamin Franklin’s birth. Franklin was the quintessential organizer of our […]