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Leonard Pitts Jr. Columns category, Page 3

Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88
Leonard Pitts Jr.: After Texas abortion arrest — who’s next?
Last week, Texas gave us a glimpse of the future. It was not pretty. It seems that on April 7, a 26-year-old woman was arrested and charged with murder. Specifically, according to a statement from the Sheriff’s Department in tiny Starr County on the Mexican border, Lizelle Herrera “intentionally and...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: Americans have lost the willingness, ability to share a common national identity
We don’t need more unity. Apologies to Sean Penn, who last week made an earnest case for that virtue in an appearance with — of all people — Sean Hannity on Fox “News.” The actor was discussing “what I experienced emotionally” in Ukraine, where he had been filming a documentary...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: Call it a stealth coup
What if the coup already came and nobody noticed? It sounds nonsensical, yes. How does a coup go unnoticed? The conventional wisdom, as we learn more about the election of 2020 and the insurrection of 2021, is that by the machinations of Ginni Thomas, Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump and others,...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: Getting America to do right by Americans of color
Two hundred times, they failed to get it done. They failed after 1899. That was the year an African-American man named Sam Hose was massacred by a white mob near Newnan, Ga., that castrated him, skinned his face, then cooked him alive over a fire and parceled out pieces of...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: The Slap
Sorry, but there is no excuse. Not that that’s stopped some people from trying to find one. And yes, in case you hadn’t figured it out, we’re talking about the event that has crowded out Ukraine, the pandemic and gas prices as the top topic of public conversation. Meaning, of...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: Thank you, Sen. Booker
Dear New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker: Some days, you are really irritating. That’s because you insist on being a happy warrior in grumpy times. With that eternal, internal and, yes, infernal sunshine of yours, you are to the body politic as that 1-877-Kars4Kids ad would be to a man with...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: A war against your lying eyes
When Russian bombs began to fall on Ukraine, Julia Tymoshenko called her aunt in Moscow. She told her about spending a night in the basement as explosions thundered overhead. Her aunt was unimpressed. “Well, you don’t know who did that,” she said. “We’re seeing one thing on the news, you’re...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: Kinzinger’s apology too little too late?
So, what shall we make of Rep. Kinzinger’s apology? Adam Kinzinger, Republican from Illinois, took to Twitter last Friday with a remarkable statement of contrition for failing to hold the last president accountable. He wrote that his “biggest regret” was his decision to vote against Donald Trump’s first impeachment. “The...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: Conservatives about to lose the 21st century
They have never once been right. Did you ever notice that? Do you ever think about it? Never once. Oh, in matters of, say, foreign affairs or military strategy, one might contend that conservatives have had their moments, made arguments that, arguably, made sense. But on matters of social evolution,...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: People’s Convoy driving around in circles
They drove 64 miles in a circle. That’s the length of the Capital Beltway, the ribbon of asphalt that loops around Washington, D.C. For over four hours last Sunday, the so-called “People’s Convoy,” estimated at about a thousand trucks, RVs and cars drove that circle in protest. In protest of...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: Kanye West’s latest behavior has all the makings of a tragedy
This is not funny. I don’t know who needs to hear that. I just know that I need to say it. Not only is it not funny, it’s also not a “celebrity feud,” a “hot topic” or however else you care to characterize meaningless ephemera from the world of the...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: Does Ukraine have courage enough to be a country worth fighting for?
This was going to be a song of praise. Instead, it will be a groan of frustration. In other words, it was going to be a column heralding the titanic courage of Ukraine in the face of Russian attack, the acts of defiance that have endeared that nation to the...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: What begins in lies tends to end in carnage
Then as now, it began with lies. On Sept. 1, 1939, Adolf Hitler’s forces crossed the border into Poland. The German chancellor did so on the pretext that ethnic Germans were being persecuted. German operatives, disguised as Poles, even staged an attack on a German radio station, yelling anti-German threats...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: Does being a land of plenty make us a land of good?
A week or so ago, it was peanuts. Unsalted, roasted in the shell, to be exact. But lately, it’s always something, some commonplace commodity that suddenly cannot be found at the store. Strawberries. Peppers. Ground turkey. And Lord, don’t even get me started on Ore-Ida Golden fries. I used to...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: LGBTQ kids, raise your voices and make haters hear you
Kermit the Frog famously observed that it’s not easy being green. But if he thinks that’s hard, Kermit should try being you. Having avocado-colored skin has to be a breeze by comparison. To be you, though, requires dealing with active-shooter drills and masking mandates while navigating family dynamics, lunchroom politics...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: These are no ‘ordinary citizens’
They stormed through police barricades, these “ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.” They shattered windows and chanted death to the vice president, these “ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.” They smeared their own feces on the wall, “ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.” Over the last 13...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: Achieving diversity requires intentionality
We don’t even know the woman’s name yet. In fact, we don’t know much of anything about her except that she is Black. That’s not a lot, but it’s more than enough for some people. Ever since last week, when Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer announced his retirement, and President...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: Some of us still have some growing up to do
“I know you are, but what am I?” Remember that kid from fifth grade? That little riposte constituted his entire arsenal of comebacks. Slam him with the most devastating putdown the schoolyard had ever seen, and he’d always hit you with that same trite retort, a lame bit of rhetorical...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: For some, white is the default position
It does not exactly break your heart to see Mitch McConnell used as a piñata. He is a man of uniquely pious hypocrisy, able to affect moist-eyed sincerity while ruthlessly chopping the legs out from under democracy. Whether it is stealing Supreme Court seats or defending an indefensible president, his...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: GOP has zero interest in bipartisanship
It took Barack Obama four years to figure it out. The 44th president was into his second term before some psychic switch seemed to click and he finally realized what had long been obvious to everyone else. Namely, that the Republican Party had zero interest in bipartisanship and, for that...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: Sometimes you can’t help but grow weary
In the Bible, in the book of Galatians, the Apostle Paul issues this admonition: “Let us not grow weary in well-doing.” Talk about things that are easier said than done. For some of us, after all, this is a weary season, a season of exhausted hope and worn expectation that...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: Dear white conservatives
When you’re right, you’re right. And you are definitely right about that quote from Martin Luther King. When he stood at the temple of Lincoln in 1963 and declared his dream “that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by...
Leonard Pitts Jr: Sidney Poitier — he was the only one we had
These days, we have Denzel Washington. We have Viola Davis, Kevin Hart and Jamie Foxx. We have Octavia Spencer, Regina King and Samuel L. Jackson. We have Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong’o, Taraji P. Henson, Michael B. Jordan, Mahershala Ali, Tiffany Haddish and Will Smith. We have, in other words, a...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: ‘What kind of nation are we going to be?’
Cathartic. That’s what it was. Page through the whole dictionary looking for a better word to describe President Biden’s speech on the first anniversary of the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, and you will not find one. The address, delivered from Statuary Hall, which so memorably was besieged one...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: Jan. 6 insurrection a dress rehearsal for something far worse
It was an act of country love. This is what we have repeatedly been told about the insurrection at the Capitol, one year ago this week. The claim began, as brazen lies so often seem to, with Donald Trump. “These are the things and events that happen,” he said, “when...


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