Matthew Lynch, Ed.D.

Author, Before Obama: A Reappraisal of Black Reconstruction Era Politicians

Though their original purpose has evolved, the role of Historically Black Colleges and Universities is still a vital one. Lately it seems there are just too many HBCUs in the news for the wrong reason: financial and accreditation woes that threaten, or deliver, closure.

Sarah Tetteh

Showbiz and entertainment contributor and editor, plus new mum!

She's made millions by whipping her hair back and fourth more times than Will Smith's daughter. Now the world's watching to see what Beyonce's barnet will do next. While her hubby Jay-Z was in the States watching Blue Ivy, it was left to Beyonce to come over and single-handedly rule Britannia with her killer set at the V Festival.

Bob King

President, United Auto Workers

With joblessness still far too high, the income gap between rich and everyone else widening, racism and discrimination still festering and cities such as Detroit in the throes of bankruptcy, the words still call us to fight harder to achieve the unfinished agenda of civil rights and labor.

Victoria A. Brownworth

Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist and the first out lesbian to have a column in a daily newspaper

The questions raised by Russell Simmons' "Harriet Tubman sex tape" and also by the "Slap Hillary" video game (which, unlike the sex tape, is still up) are simple and succinct: Why is violence against women a joke to men? Why is disrespecting female historical figures OK?

Irene Monroe

Nationally renowned African-American lesbian activist, scholar, public theologian and writer

The fury that Bay Windows editor Sue O'Connell's piece "Sharing our experience: White gay men and black men have more in common than they think" ignited raised this query: Can white LGBTQs suggest or give advice to communities of color from their own experiences of discrimination?

Patricia McGuire

President, Trinity Washington University

Why is it that even as new populations of low-income African-American and Hispanic students enter higher education in even greater numbers, the new mantra of the elite commentariat is that maybe we need more job training, less Shakespeare and more socket wrenches?

Dedrick Muhammad

Senior Director of Economic Programs, NAACP

Detroit's financial woes have placed the issue of bankruptcy in the national spotlight. Yet, for many Americans, who are still struggling to get back on their feet amid high unemployment and expensive medical bills, bankruptcy is all too familiar.

Benjamin Todd Jealous

President and CEO, NAACP

There are a number of concrete steps that are being taken to help fight racial profiling in New York City, across the federal government, and on the state level.

William H. Turner

Research Professor, Prairie View A&M University

The summer of 2013 on the U.S. racial map should remind us of the endurance and current significance of some of the metaphors from Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I Have a Dream" speech as well as references in Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind."

Myrdith Leon Mccormack

Celebrity manicurist, style writer, entrepreneur

As a New Yorker I will admit we take the city's greatness for granted. We forget how wonderful it really is. The opportunities and the access effortlessly at our fingertips -- we have so much in one central location.

Cora Neumann

Co-founder, Women Up & African First Ladies Initiative

Five years ago, I could have only dreamed that we would bring Laura Bush and Michelle Obama together on an international stage to discuss their experiences as first ladies with their counterparts.

John Backman

Author, 'Why Can't We Talk? Christian Wisdom on Dialogue as a Habit of the Heart'

None of us, on our own, can change an entire culture. We can, however, choose to move through the world differently. If enough of us make that choice, who knows where the conversation on race -- and many other issues -- might go?

Tammy Ingram

Assistant professor of history, College of Charleston.

Orange Is the New Black has raised awareness about the prison reform movement precisely because the lead character is a middle-class white anomaly in a federal prison population that has swelled by nearly 800 percent since 1980.

Andrew Cotto

Author

Charles Barkley has become a role model Or, at least, a voice worthy of a place at the table of public discourse. He's particularly candid and refreshing when it comes to matters of race.

Zhivargo Laing

CEO, Laing Consulting and Research Group

Instead of using his platform to inform viewers and listeners, inspire democratic debate and intelligent discourse, Mr. Limbaugh seems to delight in using his position to spew vitriol.

Sandip Roy

Culture editor, Firstpost.com; editor, New America Media

Kal Penn once starred in a stoner comedy where he ends up in Guantanamo after a woman on his flight mistakes his bong for a bomb. Now that same Kal Penn has been tweeting his support for New York's stop-and-frisk policy. His tweets have unleashed quite a media storm.

Deborah Plummer

Diversity solutions thought leader

Crossing racial lines in friendships takes time to build understanding. It requires patience to learn how to trust; it is often exhausting when we try to communicate effectively; and it is often painful when there are racial clashes. Yet, all of the time, energy, and personal expense spent with having friends that cross racial lines is so worth the benefits