Leonard pitts jr miami herald

American commentator, journalist, and novelist (born )

Leonard Garvey Pitts Jr. (born October 11, ) is an American commentator, journalist, and novelist. He is a nationally syndicated columnist and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. He was originally hired by the Miami Herald to critique music, but quickly received his own column, in which he has dealt extensively with race, politics, and culture from a progressive perspective.

Raised in Los Angeles and educated at the University of Southern California, Pitts currently lives in Bowie, Maryland. He has won awards for his writing from the Society of Professional Journalists, the American Society of Newspaper Editors, and the National Association of Black Journalists, and he was first nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in , eventually claiming the honor in

Pitts' first book, Becoming Dad: Black Men and the Journey to Fatherhood, was published in His first novel, Before I Forget, was released in March , and earned a starred review from Publishers Weekly. The novel centers on a faded soul singer whose early-onset Alzheimer's disease compels him to reconnect with his father and son. Pitts's third book, Forward from This Moment: Selected Columns, –, was published in August It is a selection of his columns from the Miami Herald.

Pitts gained national recognition for his widely circulated column of September 12, , "We'll go forward from this moment", in which he described the toughness of the American spirit in the face of the September 11 attacks.

Controversy

In June , Pitts was the subject of a campaign of death threats and harassment, including neo-NaziBill White, who were angry at a column he wrote about the murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom, a white couple who were raped and murdered by five black assailants in Knoxville, Tennessee. In his column addressing the murders, Pitts wrote:

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Leonard Pitts, Jr. is a retired columnist for The Miami Herald. His twice-weekly column, syndicated nationally to more than newspapers, was one of the most popular in the country. In , he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Commentary for what the judges called “fresh, vibrant columns that spoke, with both passion and compassion, to ordinary people on often divisive issues."

Pitts has been writing professionally since when, as an year-old junior at the University of Southern California, he began doing reviews and profiles for SOUL, a national black entertainment tabloid. Two years later, he was its editor. In the years since then, Pitts’ work has appeared in such publications as TV Guide, Reader’s Digest and Parenting. In addition, he wrote, produced and syndicated Who We Are, an award-winning 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. He was also a writer for radio's popular countdown program, “Casey's Top 40 with Casey Kasem.”

In addition to the Pulitzer, Pitts work has also been honored by the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors, The Society of Professional Journalists, the National Association of Black Journalists, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors, GLAAD Media, the Press Club of Atlantic City and the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, among many others. He is the recipient of four honorary doctorates, is an in-demand public speaker, and has taught at Ohio University, Hampton University, American University, George Washington University, the University of Maryland, Virginia Commonwealth University and Princeton University.

Pitts is the author of four celebrated novels: Before I Forget, Freeman, Grant Park and The Last Thing You Surrender. Born and raised in Southern California, he makes his home with his family in Bowie, Maryland.

Well, as Carol Burnett used to say, I'm so glad we had this time together.

I've written about million words as a columnist. This or so will be the last.

I'm retiring for a few reasons. One is that, while I've managed to squeeze out four novels between column deadlines, my dream was always to write books full time. I turned 65 in October, so if not now, when?

Another reason is that a column, for me, at least, is an act of emotional investment -- and I'm emotionally exhausted. They say you know when it's time. That's true. And it is.

So here's the part where I thank a bunch of people, most of whom you've never heard of:

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Like Mom, who thought the sun rose and set on her firstborn.

Like Regina Jones, publisher of SOUL, a black entertainment tabloid, who gave me my first writing job -- $25 for interviewing a new singer named Deniece Williams -- in RJ taught me how to be a professional.

Like Marilyn and the kids for putting up with me, especially when I made our lives the subject of my work.

Like Steve Sonsky and Ileana Oroza, who hired me as pop music critic for the Miami Herald in Special thanks to Sonsky for not firing me three years later when I asked to be freed from the music beat so I could write a column about, well . . . anything I wanted.

Encouragement, direction and even shelter

Thank you to the editors who kept me mostly out of trouble over the years: Emily Hathaway, Lynn Medford, Elissa Vanaver, John Barry, Shelley Acoca, Glenda Wolin, Myriam Marquez, Juan Vasquez, Amy Driscoll, Luisa Yanez, Tracy Clark. Thanks to my current editor, Nancy Ancrum, who had to talk me in off the ledge an average of once a week during the Trump debacle.

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Thanks to my brother from another mother, Howard Cohen, for great arguments. Thanks