In a panel discussion at the Summer Television Critics Association tour this past summer, Aaron McGruder, creator of the popular comic strip, Boondocks, defiantly told the audience that he'll use the N-word as much as he pleases in episodes of the series on the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. If folks don't like it, then they'll just have to get over it. After all, everyone uses it.

Baionne Williams was one of the models who participated in the Natural Hair, Health and Beauty Show, held Nov. 6 at the Royal Esquire Club. The show highlighted clothes, jewelry and hairstyles by local designers.

Last week a young man whom I met in a church in Florida several years ago came to mind. He had his…

PARIS—In one case, the catalyst was Hurricane Katrina; in the other, a freak electrocution accident in a Paris suburb.

What followed — drownings and dislocation in the United States, riots across France — has forced each nation to confront problems of racism and poverty that are deeply entrenched but usually ignored.