Author: Michael Shank

Need a Thoughtful, Efficient Legal Immigration Process

AL JAZEERA 11/21/12 By Michael Shank and Sonia Manzano No longer can the President of the United States defer dealing with immigration. While it was barely a campaign issue, for America to continue avoiding comprehensive immigration reform is plainly inexcusable. When President Obama takes up immigration reform in 2013, he […]

Education Disparities Persist in D.C.

BET 11/16/12 By Cord Jefferson The nation’s capital now has the worst racial achievement gaps in the country when it comes to educating children. A new op-ed in the Huffington Post dredges up a well known but important topic of conversation: the growing and increasingly entrenched disparities between whites and […]

Anacostia: Why I Have Faith in the Future of My Neighborhood

WASHINGTON POST 11/14/12 By Michael Shank Of the two rivers that cup our nation’s capital — the Potomac and the Anacostia— the latter of the two is, perhaps, the most apt reflection of where America is at socio-economically. The Anacostia River, the Anglicized namesake of which was first officially recorded […]

Racism and Classism in the Heart of America’s Capital

AL JAZEERA 11/13/12 By Michael Shank Of the two rivers that cup our nation’s capital – the Potomac and the Anacostia – the latter of the two is, perhaps, the most apt reflection of where America is at socio-economically. The Anacostia River – the Anglicised namesake of which was first […]

Why We Heart Hurricanes: The Climate Change Connection

POLITICO 11/02-04/12 By Michael Shank Watching television this week, as Hurricane Sandy descended on Washington D.C. and meteorologists scurried to remain atop the latest forecasting, myriad presidential election campaign advertisements were met with one major marketing competitor: the American Petroleum Institute and its various oil, coal and gas bedfellows. It […]

Hurricane Sandy: Time to Do Something About Climate Change

AL JAZEERA 11/01/12 By Michael Shank Watching television this week, as Hurricane Sandy descended on Washington, DC, and meteorologists scurried to remain atop the latest forecasting, myriad presidential election campaign advertisements were met with one major marketing competitor: the American Petroleum Institute and its various oil, coal and gas bedfellows. […]

Folly of Freedom is Plaguing the US Right Now

FINANCIAL TIMES 10/09/12 By Michael Shank Sir, It is confounding that America’s presidential candidates, in their first debate, failed to address one of the growing epidemics killing our countrymen and women, that of gun violence (“Gun lobby pours millions of dollars into campaign to unseat Obama”, October 4). Sadly, they […]

‘Free Speech’ on the DC Metro

AL JAZEERA 10/09/12 By Michael Shank If someone got physically violent on the Metro in Washington, DC, they would get kicked off the train or bus. Similarly, if someone indecently exposed him or herself (as noted in the new Metro ads threatening action against indecent exposure) or yelled incendiary, racist […]

Hill Climbers: Aide Sees a Future in Congress

ROLL CALL 10/01/12 By Emily Cahn Michael Shank is driven by his commitment to progressive values. The returning communications director and senior policy adviser in Rep. Mike Honda’s (D-Calif.) office was raised in an Amish-Mennonite community in Kidron, Ohio, where the ideas of helping the downtrodden, sustainable development and nonviolence […]