Jarrett L. Carter

Founding Editor, HBCUDigest.com

Barack Obama visited Morehouse College on Sunday to give a refrain on the responsibility of Morehouse Men and black America to find dignity and progress in self-reliance, a refrain that has simultaneously proven exciting and excruciating for African Americans over the last four years.

Crystal Cheatham

Executive Director, IDentity Kit Project

I'd believed that I was headed for greatness, but they had revealed in me a thing that was seemingly so dirty, so disgusting that my other talents paled in comparison to the supposed vileness of being a practicing homosexual. And for this they bullied me right out of the church.

Andrew Jenks

Award-winning filmmaker

I was a 25-year-old documentary filmmaker from New York working on a show for MTV. He was a 21-year-old dancer in East Oakland trying to move on with his life after the murder of his little brother. I spent a year embedded in his life, and got a front row seat to an American epidemic.

Richard Bloch

Former Chief Deputy District Attorney, Arapahoe County District Attorney’s Office

Something is clearly wrong with our state when all the death sentences are coming out of one county. We are in a crisis when our state, which is 4.3 percent African-American, has a death row that is 100 percent African American. A broken system has produced flawed results.

Mikah Meyer

Countertenor singer; author, ‘Life’s More Fun When You Talk to Strangers’

I ask you, fans across America and around the world, to root for Memphis -- both the Grizzlies team and the city. Maybe a Grizzlies championship can provide just the "grits" this Southern city needs.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson

Author and political analyst

there's the almost ritual expectation by the public that second term presidents will be dogged by some scandal. This was the case with Eisenhower, Nixon, of course, Reagan, Clinton and George W. Bush. This shouldn't surprise.

Tarice L.S. Gray

Freelance journalist

The loneliness of that realization, that my daughter might have to shoulder the consequences of these stigmas, made me heartsick. I'd made myself believe she would only be challenged by her race and gender, not the basic ability to speak her mind.

Marian Wright Edelman

President, Children's Defense Fund

On this 50th anniversary of the Birmingham Children's Crusade it is a time to remember, honor, and follow the example of the children who were frontline soldiers and transforming catalysts in America's greatest moral movement of the 20th century.

Benjamin Todd Jealous

President and CEO, NAACP

There is no way to make up for decades of discrimination that crippled the proud history of black farm ownership in this country. But we can do our best to move forward.

Fire

Singer

The first step to overcoming an addiction is admitting that you have one. In order to rid oneself of addiction, one must declare it. My name is Fire Burgess and I am a diehard fan of misogynistic Rap music.

Asa Craig

Research and policy analyst, Laura and John Arnold Foundation

How do we expect our communities and economies to thrive when our young boys and girls are not receiving the education and training that is needed to enter the workforce?

David A. Love

Executive Director, Witness to Innocence

The bill -- passed by the Florida legislature and now awaiting the signature of Governor Rick Scott -- would expedite the death penalty process in the Sunshine state.

Catherine Meeks, Ph.D.

Author, Community and Wellness Activist

We watch the stories of hoarders on television and feel sorry for them and we feel proud to not be one of them. But perhaps we have more in common than we realize.

Minister Leslie Watson Malachi

Director of African American Religious Affairs, People For the American Way and People For the American Way Foundation

Anti-choice activists are exploiting the Gosnell trial to push for laws that close abortion clinics and otherwise limit access to choice. But that is exactly the wrong reaction. The horrific conditions at Gosnell's clinic show just how important it is to have real reproductive choice.

Myra Evans

Creator, 'Diary of a Yale Mom' blog

In the ongoing "Mommy Wars of 2013", there is still a backlash against mothers who hire individuals (mostly women) to help with childcare. Is this a class issue or just another cafeteria fight?

A.R. Bernard

Founder, senior pastor, and CEO, Christian Cultural Center

What happened to the party of Lincoln? To the party that abolished slavery and championed a woman's right to vote? To the party of Reagan who ended the Cold War and revitalized a moribund economy?

Paul Abrams

Last person on Earth not on Facebook

The right-wing is screaming at Eric Holder to investigate potential civil rights' violations by IRS officials. He should take them up on their entreaties, and raise the ante by investigating all the voter suppression and intimidation during the 2012 election.