What follows is for the benefit of one William James O’Reilly Jr. — “Bill” to his fans. Last summer, Mr. O’Reilly, a pundit for Fox “News,” spent time talking about white privilege and his contention that no such thing exists. He debated this with colleague Megyn Kelly, and sparred about it with Jon Stewart of […]
Leonard Pitts Jr.
Posted inOp-Eds
Leonard Pitts: Let’s talk about ‘America on black’ crime
OK, fine. Let’s talk about “black on black” crime. That, after all, is where the conversation seems to inevitably turn whenever one seeks to engage a conservative on the American habit of shooting unarmed African-American boys and men. So it was exasperating, but nowhere near surprising, to see former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani go […]
advertisement
Posted inOp-Eds
Leonard Pitts: Blacks, and whites, need to wake up to racial injustice
In September, I received an email that should have left me feeling vindicated. It was in response to the nonfatal shooting of Levar Jones, an unarmed African-American man, by Sean Groubert, a white South Carolina state trooper. Groubert would later claim he shot Jones because Jones came at him in a menacing way. But this […]
Posted inOp-Eds
Leonard Pitts: An incredible story comes to light
Wow. Just … wow. So what’s next? Will it turn out Mother Teresa was a pornographer? Or Mr. Rogers a meth head? Is Billy Graham running a prostitution ring? Why not? Such ridiculous scenarios seem far less so in the wake of recent news. Namely, renewed accusations that Bill Cosby is a serial rapist. Bill […]
Posted inOp-Eds
Leonard Pitts: The difference between right and wrong
What, in the name of God? It is a question that demands asking, that haunts this most recent atrocity. Ordinarily, it is only rhetorical, something you might say if you came home to find police cars parked in front of your house. But it takes on a painful literalness following the latest video from the […]
Posted inOp-Eds
Leonard Pitts: The ’60s generation once changed the world; it can do it again
Last week, I spent a day at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, where some students and I talked about protest. Des Moines is six hours up the road from Ferguson, Missouri, the St. Louis suburb where Michael Brown, an unarmed teenager, was shot to death by a police officer in August, prompting weeks of […]
Posted inOp-Eds
Leonard Pitts: Message to GOP: Make good your talk
Dear Republican Party: Impeach President Obama. Go ahead, you know you want to do it. The very thought makes you warm and gooey inside. Yes, your leadership has disavowed any intention of initiating impeachment, but that sure hasn’t stopped your rank and file from speculating on the possibility with undisguised glee. The prospect has long […]
Posted inOp-Eds
Leonard Pitts: Cowardice squared off against cynicism Tuesday, and cynicism won
The first time he said it was 10 years ago. Back then, it seemed a brisk wind in a stuffy room, a reclamation of defining verities somehow lost in the smoke and haze of political expedience. He said it again last week and the effect was starkly different — somehow forlorn, like birthday cake after […]
Posted inOp-Eds
Leonard Pitts: The catcalls heard ‘round the world
They say they are going to rape Shoshana Roberts. She’s the star of a hidden camera video that has gone viral. Posted by Hollaback!, a group that campaigns against the street harassment of women — “catcalling” — it shows Roberts taking a silent stroll through New York City. Over the course of 10 hours, she […]
Posted inOp-Eds
Leonard Pitts: Some people prefer the lie, rather than the truth
You can’t handle the truth. There is a temptation to take that line from Jack Nicholson — snarled at Tom Cruise in “A Few Good Men” — as the moral of the story, the lesson to be learned from a new study on trustworthiness and the news media. The study, conducted by the nonpartisan Pew […]