Leonard Pitts Jr. won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 2004. He is the author of Becoming Dad: Black Men and the Journey to Fatherhood. His column runs every Sunday and Wednesday.
On Sept. 11, 2001, he wrote a column on the terrorist attacks that received a huge response from readers who deluged him with more than 26,000 e-mails. It was posted on the Internet, chain-letter style. Read the column and others on the topic of September 11.
Email Leonard at lpitts@MiamiHerald.com or visit his website at www.leonardpittsjr.com
You can also chat with Leonard from 1-2 p.m. Wednesdays, or submit questions ahead of time.
I asked you a question. It was two weeks ago in this space. I asked how, given its documented biases against African-American people, I can trust the justice system.
SUNFLOWER, Miss. -- Joaquin Burse wants to go to Harvard and be a laser tech. You might think that's a lofty goal. Truth is, you have no idea how lofty it is.
POLITICAL CORRECTNESS
I'd like to think it was the sangria talking. But the plain truth is, when Anna said she doesn't find this country to be especially free, it was Anna talking. Granted, her complaint is hardly new. People often grouse about the lack of freedom in the land of the free.
IN MY OPINION | LEONARD PITTS JR.
My cousin thinks Jeremiah Wright walks on water. He is a minister, my cousin, and for years, whenever I've visited him in Chicago, he has asked the same question: Have I ever attended one of Rev. Wright's services? When I said no, he would lecture me on the wonderfulness of Wright, the innovative ministries he has started, the liberation theology he preaches. I owed it to myself, my cousin would say, to hear him speak.
SEAN BELL
I want you to tell me how I can trust the justice system. Mister Attorney General, the question is for you. And you too, Ms. Police Officer, Madame District Attorney and Mr. Judge. It is also for you, Mr. and Ms. Average Citizen. I realize this will be an engraved invitation for those crackpots who get their jollies flaunting their hatefulness and ignorance on electronic message boards, and I'm willing to live with that because the question, I assure you, is in earnest.
LEONARD PITTS JR. lpitts@miamiherald.com James Lawson is out of step with modern Christianity. Take gay marriage. Speaking in support of a proposed state constitutional ban on same sex unions, one Rev. Hayes Wicker of First Baptist Church in Naples, Fla., was recently quoted by The Naples Daily News as saying, ``This is a tremendous social crisis, greater even than the issue of slavery.''
WE THE PEOPLE
Let's talk about us. Not as in you and me but, rather, as in common cause. I've been thinking about ''us'' for a few days, ever since I happened upon a message board for sports fans following the NBA playoffs. The conversation was what you'd expect -- fans of underdog teams arguing that, while other people may not believe in ''us,'' all ''we'' need to do is box out, get back on defense, and ''we'' can prove ''our'' doubters wrong.
I bet Hillary Clinton wishes Bob Johnson would stop trying to help her. Johnson is the billionaire BET founder and Clinton supporter who embarrassed his candidate and himself during the South Carolina primary by clumsily attempting to inject Barack Obama's self-confessed youthful drug use into the campaign and then clumsily denying he was doing it. To judge from his latest comments, he still hasn't learned to engage brain before operating mouth.
VIOLENCE
They wanted to be famous. Of all the troubling aspects of the Lakeland tale of thuggery and brutality that has recently made national headlines, that's arguably the most appalling. Not that there isn't plenty more here to disgust any observer with a conscience.
IN MY OPINION | LEONARD PITTS JR.
I have no particular love for Shea Stadium. Never even been inside. From what I hear, it's not a lovely place. Leaky pipes and ''curious smells,'' says one report. ''A dump,'' says another.
