Leonard Pitts

Leonard Pitts

Leonard Pitts Jr. joined The Miami Herald in 1991 as its pop music critic. In 1994, he began writing a column on pop culture and social issues. Working out of Washington, D.C., Pitts continues to defend and define American culture in unique and interesting ways.

He is the author of several books, including “Freeman,” “Before I Forget,” and “Becoming Dad: Black Men and the Journey to Fatherhood.”

Pitts began writing as a freelance music critic for Soul magazine in 1976 at 18. In the years since, Pitts’ work has appeared in Musician, Spin, TV Guide, Reader’s Digest and Parenting.

In addition, Pitts wrote, produced and syndicated “Who We Are,” an award-winning radio documentary on the history of Black America, and has written and produced radio programs on subjects as diverse as Madonna and Martin Luther King Jr.

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 & Publisher magazine and GLAAD Media, among others, have also honored him. In 2002, the National Society of Newspaper Columnists named Pitts Columnist of the Year, and in 2004 he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for commentary.

Readers may contact him via e-mail at [email protected].

Recent Work

March 9, 2021
by Leonard Pitts
When Facts Cease to Matter, Consequences Do, Too

My brother-in-law died of hogwash. Another brother-in-law, a sister-in-law, two daughters-in-law, two cousins and several grandchildren are all recovering from... Read More

My brother-in-law died of hogwash. Another brother-in-law, a sister-in-law, two daughters-in-law, two cousins and several grandchildren are all recovering from hogwash. My wife spent a week in the hospital with hogwash. I tested positive for hogwash, but had few symptoms. “Hogwash,” you may recall, was the... Read More

February 9, 2021
by Leonard Pitts
Right-Wing Media Bad for American Business

‘You think we’re bad for America?’ Sean Hannity of Fox “News” asked that question of Ted Koppel four years ago... Read More

‘You think we’re bad for America?’ Sean Hannity of Fox “News” asked that question of Ted Koppel four years ago as the latter was interviewing him on “CBS Sunday Morning.” Yes, answered Koppel, “because you’re very good at what you do and ... you have attracted... Read More

February 4, 2021
by Leonard Pitts
This is Not a Feel-Good Story

This is not a feel-good story. Of course, it’s easy to see why it has been positioned as one. Certainly,... Read More

This is not a feel-good story. Of course, it’s easy to see why it has been positioned as one. Certainly, it contains all the elements: vulnerable people, heart-rending need, someone going above and beyond. But this is not a feel-good story. Not to mock or cast... Read More

February 2, 2021
by Leonard Pitts
It is Different, Being Us

An open letter to African-American people: February marks the 95th observation of what started as Negro History Week and later... Read More

An open letter to African-American people: February marks the 95th observation of what started as Negro History Week and later became Black History Month. I wanted to use the occasion to talk about what being Black means, about how it feels, being us. Hearing that, you’re... Read More

January 31, 2021
by Leonard Pitts
Josh Hawley Blind to Irony

So last week, Sen. Josh Hawley complained that he was being “silenced.” He lodged this complaint on Fox “News” and... Read More

So last week, Sen. Josh Hawley complained that he was being “silenced.” He lodged this complaint on Fox “News” and in The New York Post. As social media observers promptly pointed out, that’s a level of media exposure that effectively refutes the senator’s claim. But Hawley... Read More

January 26, 2021
by Leonard Pitts
What’s it Going to Take to Shock the GOP Back to Itself?

What is it going to take? For years, that question has weighed upon the rest of us – and even... Read More

What is it going to take? For years, that question has weighed upon the rest of us – and even some of its own members – as we watched the Republican Party slide ever deeper into a morass of political extremism, screwball conspiracies, alternate facts and... Read More

January 19, 2021
by Leonard Pitts
America No Longer Lives in an Unpresidented Time

And so we reach the end of an unpresidented era. The reference is, of course, to one of Donald Trump’s... Read More

And so we reach the end of an unpresidented era. The reference is, of course, to one of Donald Trump’s many Twitter misspellings, this one found in his 2016 description of the seizure of a US. navy drone. He meant to call it “unprecedented.” But Trump’s... Read More

January 10, 2021
by Leonard Pitts
So What Now?

So what now? A few things, actually. But before we get to them, we must recognize last week’s insurrectionist rampage... Read More

So what now? A few things, actually. But before we get to them, we must recognize last week’s insurrectionist rampage at the Capitol for what it was. It is being seen, and not wrongly, as the angry response of delusional right-wingers lied into believing a presidential... Read More

December 6, 2020
by Leonard Pitts
And So This Is Christmas

And so this is Christmas. So sang John Lennon in 1971. The Vietnam War took 2,414 American lives that year,... Read More

And so this is Christmas. So sang John Lennon in 1971. The Vietnam War took 2,414 American lives that year, so the song was a prayer of harmony and peace with a scrim of irony. Nor did the irony end there. Lennon was shot to death... Read More

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New Poll Results Show Americans Are Concerned About Political Division and What Can Be Done to Fix It

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