Featured Commentary category, Page 101

The U.S. Marine Corps decided recently to ban public displays of the Confederate battle flag. The generals explained that they took this strong action because the flag has “all too often been co-opted by violent extremist and practice groups whose divisive beliefs have no place in our Corps.” The same...

There is always a line. A line that, when crossed, is a step too far. The police in Minneapolis on May 25 were doing their jobs until they crossed the line and George Floyd became a victim of police brutality that ended tragically with his death. Had those police officers...

What happened to George Floyd was inexcusable. The actions of Derek Chauvin and his fellow Minneapolis officers were shocking, and criminal. As a commander in the Pittsburgh police, I say that we must change the dynamic between cops and community. For everyone’s sake. Peaceful protests are a start. But it...

Watching recent events, I feel a need to express my view to someone. Let me offer some background. I am a white, 75-year-old retired pastor in the United Church of Christ. My father was a career policeman in Baltimore as I grew up. He was not a nice man and...

Dear Potential White Ally, It’s me, your black friend/neighbor/co-worker/family member/acquaintance/person in the world. 2020 has been a lot to handle — an election year, a pandemic, economic depression, and now this. Brutal civilian and police killings of black Americans have punctuated the first half of this year. In Georgia, three...

This first appeared in the Opinion section of PennLive.com. I teach criminal justice to a majority white audience of college students. My students are respectful, bright and very eager to do a deep dive into understanding diversity, an opportunity not often presented in their small, rural communities. As a black...

In the months since covid-19 closed our schools, educators, parents, and students did a tremendous job transitioning from classrooms to kitchens and living rooms across Pennsylvania. Teachers continued teaching, and students continued learning — at a distance. This is far from the perfect way to educate our students. It’s not...

No one asked why I participated in the Greensburg and Latrobe rallies for George Floyd — not that I expected it. A few observers in Latrobe seemed to assume all 100 marchers were violent members of “the antifa.” I say this because of the matching “(expletive) antifa” T-shirts those onlookers...

It was Friday evening, May 29, the end of a rough week, but not yet the end of a challenging season that has caused all of us to be under lockdown. Mr. George Floyd was killed that week, another life taken while being black and male in America. I got...

As we enter the green phase of the coronavirus pandemic recovery, I have reflected on the past few months. I listened to stories of families torn apart by the death of loved ones. I observed individuals and groups display false bravado as they ignored expert scientific advice, claiming invulnerability to...

Dog walks are now both an excuse and a necessity. They are an excuse to get out of the house and walk around the neighborhood. And they are how we see other people during these days of “stay at home” orders and pandemic precautions. To the dog, the walks are...

On Sept. 22, 2015, I received a kidney transplant at Allegheny General Hospital. Ever since, I have done everything within my power to be grateful for and reverent to my new kidney, which has served me well — until now. It is under attack. Even with total clothing cover, I...

For decades, people battled addiction with a shadow cast over them as the treatment and recovery community made tremendous strides in bringing the disease into the light. They are some of the most courageous people that I have ever known. In 2018, the commonwealth saw an unprecedented 18% decrease in...

“Momma, Momma!” “I can’t breathe! I can’t breathe!” No innocent human being should have to die with these words on their lips. A police officer, tasked to protect George Floyd’s life, mercilessly crushed George’s neck for 9 long minutes. He has been charged with murder. Is George’s death an isolated...

Voting in our democracy carries different meanings for different people. For some Americans, voting is a proud exercise of a franchise they have had since this nation’s founding. For others, voting represents the culmination of generations of struggle to secure that franchise. Whatever a person’s path, I believe voting in...

One change could help to keep health care workers safe Every day they risk their lives so that you and I can be safe. But are we doing enough to ensure nurses and other caregivers are safe and protected? Our health care workers have been holding Pennsylvania together during covid-19....

We’re parents, coaches, former wrestlers, trainers, doctors and fans who oppose the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association’s (PIAA) weight class reduction proposal. We’ve come together to protect Pennsylvania wrestling from reducing its participants and putting student athletes’ health at risk. Pennsylvania high school wrestling stands at a tipping point. The PIAA...

In 2016, I was president of our psychoanalytic organization, when progressive colleagues aimed to train new psychoanalysts in China — which would mean providing intensive telehealth psychotherapy for them. The faculty was divided about the idea, as some favored treating patients in-person only. I was torn. I am traditional, but...

Wearing a mask is not a political statement for me. It is life or death. I have multiple sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune disease that is different in everyone. My body attacks its own central nervous system. The disease-modifying therapy I get every 28 days at the hospital intravenously suppresses my...

Aging-in-place has become the preferred option for many when planning for their future. Independence is precious. This said, entering a dedicated facility is an extreme step that for many families, unfortunately, often becomes the only feasible and safe option. Yet around the world, the covid-19 crisis has claimed many lives...

If there is a silver lining to the flawed U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic, it is this: The relatively high number of new cases being diagnosed daily — upward of 20,000 — will make it easier to test new vaccines. To determine whether a vaccine prevents disease, the study’s...

My junior and senior years in high school were 1968 and 1969; five decades later, I can still remember some of the main events of that era: the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy, the bombing of Cambodia, the Apollo 8 spaceflight that orbited the moon, and...

Instead of standing in line at polling places, hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians are signing up online to vote by mail in the state’s June 2 primary — a herculean effort to avoid the spread of the deadly coronavirus (the deadline to apply for a mail-in ballot is May 26)....

There’s been an enormous amount of talk lately about viruses. For the SARS-CoV-2 virus, given its ability to sicken and kill us, we speak as if we are fighting a war against an enemy bent on destroying us, as if the virus has a consciousness and developed a war plan....

History is being made in the energy industry. But that history has been both positive and negative. The latter, of course, is best showcased by the recent “contango” in the crude oil industry that pushed futures prices well into the negatives as reported by outlets worldwide. Those prices have since...