Leonard Pitts Jr.: Why Mark Carson matters
Download
Leonard Pitts
BC-PITTS-COLUMN-ADV22:MI (1091 words)
Mark Carson was shot in the face because he's gay. His alleged killer, 33-year old Elliot Morales, is said to have confronted Carson, 32, and a companion, in New York's Greenwich Village last Friday night, yelling antigay slurs. When Carson walked away, Morales reportedly followed and shot him. Morales was arrested by police after a foot chase. In pondering this tragedy, it is worthwhile to ...

May/21/2013 03:57 PM

Leonard Pitts Jr.: In Florida, timely injustice
Download
Leonard Pitts
BC-PITTS-COLUMN-ADV19:MI (1075 words)
At great political peril, George Ryan did the right thing. Not to canonize the man. After all, the then-governor of Illinois was later imprisoned on corruption charges. But that doesn't change the fact that, in 2000, stung that 13 inmates had been exonerated and freed from death row in the previous 23 years, Ryan committed an act of profound moral courage, imposing a moratorium on capital ...

May/17/2013 08:07 AM

Leonard Pitts Jr.: What was the IRS thinking?
Download
Leonard Pitts
BC-PITTS-COLUMN-ADV15:MI (985 words)
Well, this is a fine mess. After years of moaning about various "conspiracies" against them, conservative activists finally have a real (i.e., not manufactured by Fox or inflated by Limbaugh) piece of evidence to take before the court of public opinion. Meaning, of course, last week's revelation that the Internal Revenue Service has been giving extra scrutiny to groups with the words "tea ...

May/14/2013 03:41 PM

Leonard Pitts Jr.: Ignoring the real while fighting the imaginary
Download
Leonard Pitts
BC-PITTS-COLUMN-1ST-LEDE-ADV12:MI (1092 words)
It should've been the shot heard around the world. Chances are, you didn't hear it. An ominous sort of history was made last week near Austin, Texas, but it seems to have largely escaped notice. There was some media coverage, yes, but less than, say, Lindsay Lohan's latest stint in rehab, certainly less than you'd think for something whose ramifications will likely shadow us for years. On May ...

May/10/2013 11:30 AM

Leonard Pitts Jr.: Running from life
Download
Leonard Pitts
BC-PITTS-COLUMN-ADV08:MI (1094 words)
Brenda Heist wanted to run away from life. Naturally, she went to Key West, Fla. The first time I was down there, I saw a highway sign that, for me, perfectly captured the meaning of that place. North, it said, with an arrow pointing the way. No South, you understand. Just the one option: North. Not that I didn't know where I was before I saw that, but it struck me as a visceral manifestation ...

May/07/2013 04:11 PM

Leonard Pitts Jr.: In Texas, black means future danger
Download
Leonard Pitts
BC-PITTS-COLUMN-ADV05:MI (1082 words)
If the state of Texas executes Duane Buck, it'll be because he is black. Well, mainly it will be because in 1995, he shot his ex-girlfriend, Debra Gardner, and her friend, Kenneth Butler, to death at Gardner's Houston home, and also wounded his own stepsister, Phyllis Taylor. But it will also be because he's black. In Texas, they have this rule: a jury contemplating the death penalty must ...

May/03/2013 08:04 AM

Leonard Pitts Jr.: Jason Collins scores for gay rights
Download
Leonard Pitts
BC-PITTS-COLUMN-ADV01:MI (1103 words)
Boom. And just like that, history is made. Just that quickly, a barrier becomes rubble. Just that fast, everything changes. "I'm a 34-year-old NBA center," writes Jason Collins in the May 6 edition of Sports Illustrated. "I'm black. And I'm gay." Boom. Chances are, you never heard of Collins before this week. He is no Kobe or LeBron, nor even a Jason Kidd or Ray Allen. No, he is a journeyman ...

Apr/30/2013 05:17 PM

Leonard Pitts Jr.: A little humility may be in order
Download
Leonard Pitts
BC-PITTS-COLUMN-ADV28:MI (1108 words)
This is for the rest of us. Meaning the ones who don't have personal chefs, gift-wrapping rooms or hired sycophants, who don't hobnob or rub shoulders, and who drive the same car every day of the week. The rest of us would like to offer some of you a little advice: If you ever find yourself asking, "Do you know who I am?" or any variation thereof, it's a pretty good indicator that you are not, ...

Apr/26/2013 12:22 PM

Leonard Pitts Jr.: Even in tragedy, a nation divided
Download
Leonard Pitts
BC-PITTS-COLUMN-ADV24:MI (1069 words)
Ordinarily, I'd thank you for writing. But truth is, I am not grateful you wrote; your note last week was one of the more troubling things I have read. I do not blame you for leaving it unsigned. "We stand together," I had written. "We stand defiant. And we stand with Boston." You disagreed. "Your wrong pal we do not STAND TOGETHER.OH MY GOD we need a CIVIL WAR.The American people against the ...

Apr/23/2013 04:53 PM

Leonard Pitts Jr.: Rand Paul gets schooled at Howard
Download
Leonard Pitts
BC-PITTS-COLUMN-ADV21:MI (1065 words)
Rand Paul did just fine at Howard University, thank you very much. Or at least, that's how he remembers it. Paul, GOP senator from Kentucky, told the Christian Science Monitor on Wednesday that his recent visit to Howard didn't go so bad at all. He said any perception to the contrary was created by - all together now - the "left-wing media." Knowing what we do about the political right's ...

Apr/19/2013 08:06 AM