Opinion

As our nation comes together to celebrate the 90th birthday of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., I welcome this opportunity to reflect and share reflections regarding his greatness, work and where we are today as a result of his leadership. First, we are a better country because of Dr. King. People who look like me no longer have to sit at the back of a bus, can vote without threat and stay at a hotel. It feels great when I travel through the South, I no longer have to urinate on the side of a bus or find an obscure location because there were no public accommodations for people who looked like me. I no longer have to eat in kitchens of restaurants because of the color of my skin. As a young student required to stand, place my hand over my heart and recite the Pledge of Allegiance, as an African American, I - nor any other person who look like me - could not use the bowling alley, had to sit in the balcony of the movie theater and could not eat at local restaurants. Reflecting … [Read more...] about A day to rededicate ourselves to restoring movement toward equality

Bert DirschellCentertownDear Editor:The interest on the national debt, debt caused by massive increases in the “free stuff” handed out by vote buying politicians over the past two generations, poses a much more immediate threat to future U.S. generations than does global warming.From FY1962 to FY2011, the interest the federal government paid on the national debt was never less than 3 percent. From 1981-2008 the interest rate on the debt averaged 7.1 percent. During the Obama budget years (FY2010-FT2017) it averaged only 2.49 percent. It was 2.26 percent in FY2017 and is on its way back up. That year the government borrowed $457 billion just to pay the interest on the national debt. $457 billion equates to over $3,600 for every household in the U.S. In just FY2017 the federal government piled an additional $3,600 of debt on every household in the U.S., just to pay the interest on the national debt.Even self-serving politicians should be able to see the handwriting on the … [Read more...] about Your Opinion: Sane fiscal policy?

This weekend marked the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the most disastrous diplomatic endeavor in history — the Paris Peace Conference that produced the Versailles Settlement. Convened to end the worst war of all, it paved the way for an even worse one two decades later.It has been said that Versailles was the most destructive kind of peace treaty — just harsh enough on the Germans to produce a desire for revenge but not so harsh as to prevent them from rising and acting on that desire (via an entrepreneurial Adolf Hitler).Lost in a century’s worth of recriminations, however, is the role that clashing visions played in the tragedy; more precisely, the chasm between the worldviews of Woodrow Wilson and those of our wartime associates.Wilson could never bring himself to call Britain and France “allies” because they weren’t fighting for the same lofty reasons we were and by his way of thinking were nearly as culpable as Kaiser Wilhelm and the … [Read more...] about Perspective: The lost peace

Dale ReichelCaliforniaDear Editor:Are Christians or people who profess Christianity under attack here in the United States? I would say yes, at lest to some degree. Christianity has always been under attack. One could say the same for Islam too, many religions.Supposedly this is a Christian nation. What does that mean? Is our government run by a minister or do we have a theocracy? Do we want forced Christianity?Our nation I’m sure has more “churches” than any other nation. We probably have more professing Christians than any other nation. The religious organizations in our nation probably have more money than like concerns in other countries except for the Vatican maybe. Christians probably have control of billions of dollars in assets in our nation.At the same time, we have hundreds of different kinds of churches or Christian religions as I call them. Why the divisions? If everyone is saved, etc., why the differences? A house divided cannot stand.Catholics and … [Read more...] about Your Opinion: A Christian nation?

Visit The Boston Globe Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Comment on this Scroll to top of page By Paul. S. Grogan and Gregory G. Groover January 21, 2019 Ninety years ago this month, Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta. His journey from childhood to civil rights icon, and his time in Boston, have been better documented by biographers and by his own words than anything we could possibly try to capture here. But more than a half-century after his death, one could plausibly argue that there is no better time for his work in the area of social and economic justice to be recognized than now, and no better place to do it than here in Boston.King’s years here, as a doctoral student at Boston University, are unique because they were a time of listening, learning, and reflection that shaped his view of justice. As a pastor at Twelfth Baptist Church, his time in Boston helped refine his oratorical skills and shaped his life as a husband and father. In June 1953, … [Read more...] about On MLK’s 90th birthday, the time is right for supporting King’s Boston legacy