Leonard Pitts Jr.
Leonard Pitts Jr. joined The Miami Herald in 1991 as its pop music critic and has penned a syndicated column focusing on pop culture, social issues and family life since 1994. Leonard Pitts is the author of six books, his latest, "Becoming Dad: Black Men and the Journey to Fatherhood," was published in 1999.
Pitts has been writing professionally since 1976 when, as an 18-year-old college student, he began writing freelance reviews and profiles for Soul, a national black entertainment tabloid. In 1978, he became its editor. In the years since, Pitts' work has appeared in such publications as Musician, Spin, TV Guide, Reader's Digest and Parenting. In addition, he wrote, produced and syndicated "Who We Are," an award-winning 1988 radio documentary on the history of black America, and has written and produced numerous other radio programs on subjects as diverse as Madonna and Martin Luther King, Jr. Pitts was also a writer for radio's popular countdown program, "Casey's Top 40 with Casey Kasem."
Leonard Pitts is a four-time winner of the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors' Award for Excellence in Commentary, a five-time winner of the National Headliners Award given by the Press Club of Atlantic City, and a six-time winner of the Green Eyeshade Award given by the Society of Professional Journalists. The Florida Society of Newspaper Editors, the National Association of Black Journalists, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the American Society of Newspaper Editors, Editor and Publisher magazine and GLAAD Media, among others, have also honored him. In 2002, the National Society of Newspaper Columnists awarded Pitts its inaugural Columnist of the Year award, and in 2004 he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for commentary.
Leonard Pitts Jr. Samples
Mexico's Narco Problems Are Our Problems, and Vice Versa
Two hundred years ago, Mexico's quest for independence from Spain was marked with a grisly spectacle. It didn't work.
This is Who 'We' Really is, Glenn
A few words about who "we" is. "This is a moment," said Glenn Beck three months ago on his radio program, "... that I think we 'reclaim' the civil rights movement.
Don't Tread on the 14th Amendment!
Election year scripts are pretty well established in American politics.
With Freedom Comes the Responsibility to Think, or: Is the Great Mosque Debate Making Us Stupid?
Nearly nine years ago, with the ashes of the World Trade Center barely settled, then-President George Bush proclaimed Islam a religion of peace.
Why I Like Mike Huckabee
"I'm a conservative, but I'm not mad at everybody over it." I'm writing this to say just one thing: I like Mike.
For Conservatives, Ignorance is Bliss
Asking a conservative pundit for advice on race is like asking an ayatollah for advice on preparing the Christmas ham. There are exceptions, yes, but by and large, this terrain is the dark side of the moon for conservatives.
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