Leonard Pitts
Syndicated Columnist
Leonard Pitts Jr. won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 2004. He is the author of the novel, Before I Forget. His column runs every Sunday and Wednesday at http://www.miamiherald.com/leonard_pitts/. Forward From This Moment, a collection of his columns, was released in 2009.
Recent Stories
Pitts: Mandatory minimum sentencing laws insult to justice
So the people got sick of it, all those criminals being coddled by all those bleeding heart liberal judges with all their soft-headed concern for rights and rehabilitation. And a wave swept this country in the Reagan years, a wave ridden by pundits and politicians seeking power, a wave that said, no mercy, no more. From now on, judges would be severely limited in the sentences they could hand down for certain crimes, required to impose certain punishments whether or not they thought those punishments fit the circumstances at hand. From now on, there was a new mantra in American justice. From now on, we would be "tough on crime."
Pitts: Few options await prisoners who pay ‘debt to society’
I promised Russell I would ask you something.
Pitts: 20 years after L.A. riots, there’s still ‘no justice, no peace’
Twenty years ago today, my hometown burned.
Pitts: Myth all women aspire to be Snow White won’t die
‘Someday, my prince will come.”
Pitts: Obama has weak argument, no answers on drug war
If President Obama had a son, he would look like Trayvon Martin. So the president famously said.
Pitts: Modest statement on Muslims truly groundbreaking
Barack Obama himself has never had the guts to say it.
Pitts: N.Y. schools try to shield kids from dinosaurs, dancing
No, seriously, you have been warned. This is your last chance. Turn back now.
Pitts: Springsteen delivers compelling State of Union tidings
It begins with big drums, a guitar seesawing beneath like a deck rolling in high seas. It ends with a fuzz of static and feedback, a hiss of promises broken and a mortgage on the future.
Pitts: Outrage shamefully lacking over killing of U.S. citizen
Spin it any way you want. Justify it, rationalize it, chalk it up to the exigencies of war. And at the end, the fact remains:
Pitts: Conservatism’s woes run much deeper than Rush
If you think Rush Limbaugh is fatally wounded, think again.
