NEWS COLUMNIST

Chat live with Leonard Pitts Jr. from Noon-1 p.m. Wednesdays, or submit questions ahead of time.

Leonard Pitts Jr. won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 2004. He is the author of the novel, Before I Forget. His column runs every Sunday and Wednesday. Forward From This Moment, a collection of his columns, was released in 2009.

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.

You can also read Pitts' series, What Works?, a series of columns about programs anywhere in the country that show results in improving the lives of black children.

Leonard also wrote the 2008 series I Am A Man, commemorating the 40th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's assassination.

Email Leonard at lpitts@MiamiHerald.com or visit his website at www.leonardpittsjr.com

Top Story

In my opinion

Obama’s hypocrisy on super PACs out of necessity

By Leonard Pitts Jr.

One of the worries we have obviously in the next campaign is that there are so many of these so-called super PACs, these independent expenditures that are gonna be out there, there is gonna be just a lot of money floating around and I guarantee a bunch of it’s gonna be negative.” — President Obama in an interview Super Bowl Sunday. 1329007361

In my opinion

Tim Tebow’s prayers on field: the personal versus public consumption

By Leonard Pitts Jr.

Really? Seriously?
And the winners are . . .

BY LEONARD PITTS JR.

In a recent column, I announced a giveaway of 50 copies of The New Crow by Michelle Alexander. Twelve thousand entries later, the winners have been chosen. Here’s the list. If you are a winner, the book should be in your mailbox shortly.
In my opinion

Don Cornelius created show that helped black kids come of age

By Leonard Pitts Jr.

This was for us.
In my opinion

Looking for morning in America

By Leonard Pitts Jr.

A picture, the saying goes, is worth a thousand words. Unfortunately, we have only about 550 with which to appraise a picture that has raised eyebrows across the country: In it, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer is seen wagging her finger in President Obama’s face during his visit to her state last week.
In my opinion

Rep. Giffords’ departure a blow to democracy

By Leonard Pitts Jr.

In a democracy, nothing is supposed to matter more than the will of the people.
In my opinion

Practicing the politics of racial resentment

By Leonard Pitts Jr.

I got my first job when I was 12. The deacons at my church paid me $2 a week to keep it swept and mopped.
In my opinion

Strip club’s ‘I Have a dream bash’ hardens the heart

By Leonard Pitts Jr.

You might call this a requiem for reverence.
In my opinion

On video of Taliban corpses, let’s not be so quick to pass judgment

By Leonard Pitts Jr.

Nearly 30 years ago Greg told me how it was, cutting the ears off dead men.
In my opinion

The new Jim Crow alive and thriving

By Leonard Pitts Jr.

I have something for you.
In my opinion

Boo! A scary word for bigots

By Leonard Pitts Jr.

We gather here today to parse the meaning of “boo.”
In my opinion

Life in the margins

By Leonard Pitts Jr.

So here’s how it is:
In my

Ron Paul’s consistency doesn’t make him right

By Leonard Pitts Jr.

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.
In my opinion

Lessons in leadership: 70 years after Pearl Harbor

By Leonard Pitts Jr.

A thin fragment of moon stood watch that Christmas Eve as the president of the United States and the prime minister of Great Britain came out onto the south portico of the White House. They were there to light the national Christmas tree — and to speak a holiday greeting to an uncertain world.
In my opinion

America's obsession with missing white women

By Leonard Pitts Jr.

Let the first word be one of compassion..
In my opinion

Brownback’s staff overreacted to teen’s tweet

By Leonard Pitts Jr.

Let’s talk about the smallness first.
In my opinion

UC Davis police went too far

By Leonard Pitts Jr.

A menacing crowd of protesters had encircled police and they had no choice but to defend themselves with pepper spray. Or at least, that is the story campus cops at UC Davis initially told.
In my opinion

If they only had a brain

By Leonard Pitts Jr.

You likely remember the 3 a.m. phone call.
In my opinion

Trying to survive in Miami’s free-fire zone

By Leonard Pitts Jr.

This is not about your neighborhood.
In my opinion

Why did it take Penn State so long?

By Leonard Pitts Jr.

So they did the right thing. Belatedly.