Email Author Nat Hentoff

1998 Stories by Nat Hentoff

• Fire Rudy Crew

  published December 29, 1998

  Rudy Crew, chancellor of this city's public schools, is paid $245,000 a year— more than the mayor, the governor, or William Jefferson... More >>

• Infamous Sodomy Law Struck Down

  published December 22, 1998

  On October 18, 1990, retired Supreme Court justice Lewis Powell made a remarkable reply to a student question at NYU Law School: he admitted he... More >>

• The Case Against Hate-Crime Laws

  published December 15, 1998

  Soon after the murder of Matthew Shepard, hundreds of mourners held a vigil in Washington. Chanting "Now! Now! Now!" they demanded that Congress... More >>

• Homophobia: All in the Family?

  published December 8, 1998

  Matthew Shepard, brutally beaten by homophobes in Laramie, Wyoming, died in a hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado. After his death, an attempt to... More >>

• The War Against Gays and Lesbians

  published November 24, 1998

  There was a frisson of horror among some so-called straights after the murder of Matthew Shepard, but I doubt if that stark act of homophobia is... More >>

• Duke Lives!

  published November 17, 1998

  In 1974, the year Duke Ellington died, the Duke Ellington School of the Arts was born in Washington, D.C. Over 90 percent of the graduates go on... More >>

• Duke Ellington's Legacy

  published November 10, 1998

  I think all the musicians in jazz should get together on one certain day and get down on their knees to thank Duke. —Miles... More >>

• The Glitterati Attack Ken Starr

  published October 27, 1998

  Suddenly, an extraordinary multinational, multicultural manifesto has appeared. It is an urgent demand to do justice. The range of the illuminati... More >>

• Kids Left Far Behind

  published October 20, 1998

  Thirty-five years ago, I went, for the first time, to a meeting of the New York City Board of Education. A black father got up to speak. He had... More >>

• Trapped in Bad Schools

  published October 13, 1998

  "I have a 10-year-old, and they said he has a problem--attention deficit disorder.Well, my son went through a battery of tests which... More >>

• Malcolm X vs. Khallid Abdul Muhammad

  published October 6, 1998

  Peter Noel, my impressively resourceful colleague, quotes Al Sharpton in the August 25 Voice as revealing that Khallid Abdul Muhammad's... More >>

• Keep Your Eye on Malik Shabazz

  published September 29, 1998

  For a moment in 1995, Minister Farrakhan and I shared common glorious ground. At the start of the Million Man March, he said, "Many people do not... More >>

• Co-conspirators: Khallid and Safir

  published September 22, 1998

  There is no doubt in my mind that Police Commissioner Howard Safir and Khallid Muhammad were accomplices in provoking violence at the end of the... More >>

• A Famous Sheriff Fights Nudity

  published August 11, 1998

  Sheriff Joe Arpaio is the Rudy Giuliani of Maricopa County, Arizona. He does not rule a city, but he does tightly control the fourth largest jail... More >>

• Inside China's Darkest Places

  published August 4, 1998

  On June 25, the day our shallow president arrived in China, a number of dissidents had the nerve to say they were forming the China Democracy... More >>

• The Seduction of Bill Clinton

  published July 28, 1998

  Of all the reactions to the hollow president's "triumphant" journey to China, one of the most appropriate--which was not in the mainstream... More >>

• When the ACLU Supports Discrimination

  published July 21, 1998

  Katuria Smith's mother, who had been divorced, raised her four children by herself. The family was poor, and when Katuria was graduated from high... More >>

• Katuria Smith Goes to Court

  published July 14, 1998

  Recently, I was asked to speak at the University of Washington Law School in Seattle. The formal session was set for the afternoon. There was also... More >>

• The FBI's Missing Link

  published July 7, 1998

  On June 1, Terry Nichols was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for his part in the horrifying Oklahoma bombing. The conspiracy charge... More >>

• A Major Decision for Women's Rights?

  published June 30, 1998

  The columnist I most admire is Robyn Blumner. She writes a syndicated column for the St. Petersburg Times that is carried here in the... More >>

• RICO Swallows the First Amendment

  published June 23, 1998

  "I had hoped that the white moderates would understand that law and order exist for the purpose of establishing... More >>

• The Return of Frank Serpico

  published June 16, 1998

  On several early mornings in 1971, when Frank Serpico was about to testify on corruption in the police department before the Knapp commission, I... More >>

• Giuliani's Praetorian Guard

  published June 9, 1998

  Listening to the tapes of telephone conversations between the imprisoned Webb Hubbell and his wife, I was struck by a particularly chilling... More >>

• Does Free Speech Include 'Fag'?

  published June 2, 1998

  At the Village Vanguard, Lenny Bruce would look long and hard at his integrated audience. "Any kikes here tonight?" he'd ask. "Any niggers? Any... More >>

• Safir Protects His Cops--Not You

  published May 26, 1998

  What makes a nation a police state? A street officer's limitless power of arrest. --Robyn Blumner, St.Petersburg... More >>