Family Matters

It was the coldest day of winter - the kind that real comfort come from a mug of hot chocolate and some comforters. My husband and I had just dropped off my assistant at the subway station in Jamaica, Queens. Even the usual hubbub of the place was tempered by the weather, as hundreds of pedestrians hurried towards warmer destinations. We watched as my young assistant reached the top of the lighted stairway and disappeared into the cavernous station. As we were about to drive away, we saw two women standing next to a taxi cab in front of us. What was unusual was that the women wore very light cotton clothing - no coats, no gloves, not even scarves. The younger one poked frantically in her handbag while she spoke to the cab driver through the window. The older woman stood next to her...

Read more: Loving the Strangers amongst Us

Trying to assess people’s marriages or family dynamics is not easy. What we may see as outsiders and qualify as healthy or unhealthy might not necessarily be the reality. This applies in particular to public figures that are forced to live in a fishbowl with all the eyes of the world strained on their every interaction. Their words and actions towards each other are often scrutinized for nuances as they try their best to negotiate both their public and private lives. Despite this being the case, there is a lot that can also be said about the value of human chemistry and genuineness of spirit. Neither one can be faked. It becomes obvious, even to “outsiders” when a couple does not have chemistry or when their interaction is not genuine. Their movements around and towards each...

Read more: Lessons from Barack and Michelle about Marriage

The moment the first Africans were brought as slaves to America, the founding fathers of this land had to grapple with the immorality of calling themselves Christians and seekers of liberty and justice while holding other humans as slaves. Thus, they had to find a way of justifying their dissonant actions. They used the Bible as support for the institution of  slavery. However, the circumstances and the treatment of slaves in America is never comparable to that of slaves in Biblical times.

Africans all over the Americas and the Caribbean were chattel; their destinies subject to the capricious wills of their masters. Enduring some of the most cruel and inhuman treatment in history slaves were treated as beasts of labor. In order to justify this subhuman treatment, their owners...

Read more: Why Do We Hate Ourselves?

News of the arrest of prominent Tele-Evangelist, Reverend Creflo Dollar, for simple battery and cruelty to children caught everyone by surprise. Dollar was arrested after his fifteen-year-old daughter called 9-1-1 reporting an alleged incident of abuse at the hands of her father. In the call that lasted for about 5 minutes, she went on to add that this was not the first time that this type of violence had taken place.  News outlets all over America paraded the details of the incident, replaying the phone call the minor made to 9-1-1.  USA Today reported that the police report from the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office in Georgia, states that the minister choked his daughter then threw her to the ground, punched her and hit her with his shoe. The responding officer noticed a scratch on...

Read more: Have Parents Lost Their Rights?