Top News Stories of the Decade

After listening ad nauseam to the various cable "snooze" networks (snooze because most of them tend to sleep, either selectively or unwittingly, on news that truly matters), I couldn't stomach another list of the top news stories and newsmakers of the past decade that include the likes of Sarah Palin, Carrie Prejean, Chris Brown, Kanye West, Paris Hilton, the Octomom, Jon and Kate plus their eight, Levi Johnson, Tiger Woods,  the balloon-boy dad hoaxer, and the White House party crashers. The reality is that the sordid activities that placed these people on anyone's "top newsmakers" list had very little impact on the greater good of humanity and in no way made significant contributions to the advancement of our society. Understanding why so many hours of national media coverage were wasted on these people and their lives is beyond me.


Here are my picks for the more worthy top news stories of the decade.

1. The inauguration of President Barack Obama on January 20, 2009.
I feel extremely blessed to say that my husband and I were among the fortunate hundreds of thousands of people who attended this historic event. We arrived on the Saturday before the Inauguration and were able to attend the free concert on the mall on Sunday and the N.C. Society Inaugural ball on Monday. The feeling in the air can best be described as euphoria of unity, love, hope, and pride all mixed together. If only that feeling had lasted until the end of President Obama's first term in office. Who would have predicted what would follow—outrageous Tea Partiers ascending on the nation's capital propagating hate and fear mongering; irate and obnoxious Congressman refusing to honor and reverence the position of our President as Commander in Chief yelling "you lie" or alleging that our President is an illegal alien; unscrupulous and imprudent decisions made by key Cabinet members who have repeatedly put the public's trust and faith in the President's ability to lead in jeopardy; and a constant roll call of critics and dissenters from all sides of the political isle (Republican, Democrat and Independent).

2. The death of Dr. John Hope Franklin on March 25, 2009
Dr. Franklin was the foremost historian and scholar whose life works included "From Slavery to Freedom" and chairing former President Bill Clinton's Commission on Race in America. Dr. Franklin used scientific thought and skilled documentation to record and bring to the forefront of the public conscious the truth about America's history of slavery and its precarious race relations between Blacks and Whites. Dr. Franklin's work was used to advance the civil rights movement and provided the necessary scholarship to win the landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court case that outlawed public school segregation. Although he could have easily succumb to a life of self grandeur and untouchable elitism with his numerous accolades and honors i.e. becoming the first Black professor to hold an endowed chair at Duke as the James B. Duke professor emeritus of history, Dr. Franklin was a stately yet humble and inspiring man who gave so much more than he took to advance not himself but society as a whole.

3. The confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on August 6, 2009.
Not only has this awesome woman defied all odds--making it out of a Bronx housing project as a young Latina girl being reared by a single mom, earning a scholarship to Stanford, graduating at the top of her class, finishing law school with honors and serving with distinction as a judge, Justice Sotomayor is a role model for all women and young people who face similar and even greater challenges. She withstood the harsh and at times demeaning grillings of the predominantly White-elite-male controlled confirmation hearings, kept her poise and dignity and remained calm and cool under pressure and came out victorious. She proved that women can be just as smart as men and remain calm under pressure without given up the characteristics that make us human and keep us connected to humanity.

4. Death of Senator Ted Kennedy on August 26, 2009.
Marked the end of the Kennedy men from the "Camelot" era and America's "Royal Family." Senator Ted Kennedy's life was a testament to how perhaps the best path to redemption is a life committed to public service and remembering "to whom much is given much is required." He also was a testament to that the Lord will and can restore the years that the locus have eaten and cause a person to ascend the hurt and regrets of a past marred by unbearable losses and irreversible mistakes.

5. Murder of Five Year Old Shaniya Davis who was sold as sex slave November 11 2009.
Again, sad and tragic. Who in the heck is watching out for helpless children? Drug addicted mother needed help? Yes, and. Father wanted to give mother another chance. Yea, and. Department of Social Services overburdened? Yea, and. Nothing excuses this heinous crime and no one should be let off the hook. The mother, the sick man who would even want to have sex with a five year old, the DSS workers who neglected to consider this mother a high-risk case even after other reported incidences of severe child neglect and abuse were documented. It is clear that we need stronger and harsher penalties for child predators and people who abuse and neglect children. I think that life without the possibility of parole for child molesters and abuses is a good place to start.

6. The four children found dead in a Southeast DC home in January 2008.
Sad and tragic case that speaks more to the break down in community than the apparent mental illness of the mother who stayed in the home while her children's bodies decayed. Didn't anybody miss the children, who were between the ages of 5 and 17? What about the school officials? Why is it business as usual for children to go absent from school for extended periods of time or out of view of neighbors and NOBODY notice?

7. Murder of UNC--Chapel Hill student Eve Carson March 5, 2008.
Take the perpetrators in numbers 5 and 6 above and replace them with the fate Eve Carson suffered; now that somehow seems just. Eve Carson by all accounts was a wonderful soul--an angel on earth seeking ways to give back unselfishly, with a commitment to dedicate her life to advancing the greater good of humanity. She was a light whose "candle burned out long before her legend ever will" (Sir Elton John). The perpetrators however epitomize what happens to young black males who for a multitude of reasons become hardened to the core and void of empathy and any moral conviction. We have to remember that there is very little evidence to suggest that violent and heinous criminals are born; most of them turn out to be products of their environment and society.

8. The Devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005
"'Bring me your poor, your tired, your huddled masses yearning to be free' and when calamity strikes we will watch them die and sit in anguish waiting for us to send relief" best describes the response of the US government to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. On August 28th, 2005, Hurricane Katrina swept through the gulf coast of the United States with calamitous effect resulting in the deaths of more than 1,800 people, displacement of hundreds of thousands of people and more then $81 billion dollars in damages to private and public properties. This event unlike any other, revealed to the rest of the world America's dirty little secret--its woeful neglect of its poor and underprivileged.

9. Death of Michael Jackson on June 25, 2009; Death of Ray Charles on June 11, 2004; Death of Richard Pryor on December 10, 2005; Death of Luciano Pavarotti on September 6 2007; and Death of Rodney Dangerfield in 2004)
Legends and geniuses who did what they did in ways that no one else could and probably ever will. Michael Jackson was the GREATEST musical genius to ever breathe bar none.

10. Election of George W. Bush as the 43rd President of the United States
I don't have words to describe the shameful moments of history under his presidency. The best things he contributed was providing credible evidence that legacy admittances into Ivy League universities is REAL; proving that you really don't have to be smart to be president, just surround yourself with smart sycophants; and if you tell the American people a lie long enough (even with a smirk on your face) we tend to believe it e.g. Sadam Hussein IS manufacturing weapons of mass destruction, Bin Laden IS the mastermind behind 911, and it IS necessary to infringe on the American people’s civil liberties and ABSOLUTELY critical to invest billions of taxpayers' dollars to fund homeland security (which to this day is a joke). I am sure I missed many more incredible lies that make up this President's legacy.

11. Terrorist Attacks on American Soil on September 11, 2001(911)
A dark day in America yet a reminder that we are not invincible and if you make enemies in the world they are bound to come after you and loved ones and some are just brazen enough to come into your own home. I remember the bumper stickers that read "God Bless America" showing up all over the place. The one that was most befitting however was the one that showed up on occasion that read "America Bless God." It is perhaps our sense of entitlement and hubris and reckless exploitation and disregard for our neighbors around the world that perpetuates hate directed towards us and places our nation at high risk of terrorist attacks. We bless God when we seek to resolve world conflicts through peaceful means and not by brandishing our military power as our preferred and only means of defense.

12. Jena Six Case in 2006/2007
This case was a sobering reminder that perhaps the conclusions of The National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders' report (known as the Kerner Commission) established in 1967 by President Lyndon B. Johnson was to investigate the causes of the 1967 race riots in the United States are still relevant and a reality. We have two (now maybe three if you include Hispanic/Latino immigrants) societies, one black, one white--separate and unequal. Today however class is a powerful factor that is creating an even greater schism between the lived realities of race/ethnic groups which is most notable in our legal/judicial systems and schools.

13. Congressional probe of mega ministers and televangelists in 2007
In 2007 Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee create quite a stir when he called for the investigation and audit of six mega televangelists and their ministries: Paula White, Joyce Meyer, Creflo Dollar, Eddie Long, Kenneth Copeland and Benny Hinn. Others would be added included Joel Osteen. While I am not in a position to question their legitimate "calling" by God to preach his word, actually some of them are pretty good, I am ever so mindful of several key scriptures that would call into question their outlandish lifestyles and extravagant profiteering that many of them seem perfectly comfortable enjoying. There are several others that could and probably should be added to this list. I do believe that God desires as He says in His word that we prosper even as our souls prosper however many of today's mega ministries have taken this scripture to another level that borders on the side of profane secularism. They have proven that preaching can be lucrative and that even among "evangelists" money and power can become intoxicating and lead to absolute corruption. The sad fact of the matter is that many of these ministers lead people who are either living in poverty or are not far from it. What we need are more pastors and mega ministers like like Pastor Rick Warren, the author of the Purpose Driven Life who reports that he and his wife reverse tithe--living off 10% of his earnings and tithing the rest. Now that would be an impressive sign of which God these mega ministers are serving--Jehovah or mammon.

14. The deaths of Lady Bird Johnson (July 11, 2007), civil rights heroine Ms. Rosa Parks (October 24, 2005) and the first lady of the civil rights movement, Mrs. Coretta Scott King (January 30, 2006).
These women proved that you don't have to proclaim that you are a feminist in order to fight for the liberation, equality and just treatment of women and all people. They were courageous and dignified women of great moral conviction and resolve to fight for what is right without compromise.