Remarks of Senator Barack Obama: 'A More Perfect UnionPhiladelphia, PA March 18, 2008 As Prepared for Delivery "We the people, in order to form a more perfect union." Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched America's improbable experiment in democracy. Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots who ...

More than a eulogy By Paul Lee Special to the Michigan Citizen Part II of II Free On March 8, 1964, Malcolm X announced his break with Elijah Muhammad’s race-centered, religiously sectarian Nation of Islam (NOI) and, four days later, proclaimed the formation of the Muslim Mosque, Inc. (MMI), which, despite its religious name, was intended to be an inclusive Black nationalist group. A month later, he made hi ...

More than a eulogy By Paul Lee Special to the Michigan CitizenPart I of II The following article — the first of two parts — was written, but not published, seven years ago by Highland Park scholar and Michigan Citizen features writer Paul Lee as a memorial to Ossie Davis, who died in 2005. Davis, as he recalled in his memoir, was well known as “the man who had eulogized Malcolm X” in 1965, but his relations ...

The following is an edited version of Malcolm X’s speech delivered Feb. 14, 1965, the day after his home was bombed in New York City. The speech given at the historic, now demolished Ford Auditorium, here in Detroit, was his last public speech. He was assassinated one week later on Feb. 21 as he began a presentation in Harlem. On May 19, Malcolm X would have turned 87 years old. Attorney Milton Henry, disti ...

Local historian warns Detroit City Council of danger of disunity By Paul Lee Special to the Michigan Citizen Following is a statement by Highland Park scholar and Michigan Citizen historical features writer Paul Lee, which was prepared for delivery at the Detroit City Council meeting on Tuesday, April 3. The meeting addressed the threatened takeover of the government of the majority-Black city of Detroit by ...

By Dave Riddle Edited by Tom Stephens “You ask what the point is. I think that the point is that this is much like Germany at the beginning of Hitler’s rise — fear, police intimidation and summary arrests. I don’t want you or any other kids to grow up in America in those circumstances.” -A Presbyterian Minister in a letter to his sons about Hattiesburg, Mississippi, January 1964 “I blame the people in Washi ...

A strategic solution to Black unemployment By Harry C. Alford NNPA Columnist It is no secret that this recession has been especially difficult for Black Americans.  The latest figures from the U.S. Department of Labor show that while unemployment among whites is at about 8.8 percent, that number is nearly double — 15.8 percent for Blacks, and among all Black men the rate is nearly 20 percent. That is based ...

An Illustrated Timeline Compiled by Paul Lee Special to the Michigan Citizen Pt. IV of IV This week, The Michigan Citizen presents the conclusion of historical features writer Paul Lee’s addendum to his 2007 illustrated timeline of the Michigan visits of Dr. Martin Luther and Coretta Scott King, which we are publishing in celebration of Dr. King’s 81st birthday. This final part pays particular attention to ...

An Illustrated Timeline Compiled by Paul Lee Special to the Michigan Citizen Pt. III of IV In January 2007, in celebration of the 78th birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., The Michigan Citizen published a two-part, five-page illustrated timeline by Highland Park historian Paul Lee on the visits to Michigan by Dr. King and his wife, Coretta Scott, from 1945-68. The series was republished in 2009. Since i ...

By Paul Lee Special to the Michigan Citizen The following is the conclusion of a revised, updated version of an article on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) conspiracy against Imam Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, known during the 1960s as the firebrand Black Power advocate H. Rap Brown, which originally appeared in The Michigan Citizen in the April 7th-April 13th and April 14th-April 20th, 2002, issues. P ...