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When some of us saw the first video of Charles Ramsey, the colorful Black dishwasher in Cleveland who is being celebrated as a hero for rescuing three White women captives from horrid conditions in a Cleveland house, we had a flashback to...

When Beyonce Knowles sang the Etta James song “At Last” at President Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration, the song could have had several meanings.  At last we have an African American president?  At last, the muscle of the Black vote has been flexed?  At last, there is some hope for our country to come to...

When the FBI announced that they were placing fugitive Assata Shakur (Joanne Chesimard) on the list of most wanted terrorists and that they were offering an additional $1 million for her capture, it caught most of the world by complete surprise. ...

“Raise your eyes now, and look from the place where you are…for all the land that you see I will give to you.” Genesis 13: 14-15

University commencement season is a time of high hopes and great celebration. I was again reminded of that when I delivered the commencement address at Huston-Tillo...

The Senate’s Gang of Eight have put together an 844-page monstrosity known as the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act, legislation that President Obama says he “basically approves” of.  The crafters of this essentially unreadable bill was put together by Senators Dick Durbin (D...

By Marc Morial

NNPA Columnist

“No more hurting people. Peace.”

- Eight-year-old Martin Richard, a victim of the Boston Marathon bombing

Acts of terror like the ones committed in Boston are reprehensible and without moral or logical explanation. They rock us to ou...

By James Clingman

NNPA Columnist

Although the dictionary calls it archaic, the “management of a household” is one of the definitions listed for the word “economy.”   Another definition is “a saving or attem...

By Julianne Malveaux

NNPA Columnist

African American students achieve at a different level than White students.  Test scores are lower, as are high school and college completion rates, and the number of African Americans attending four-year institutions is falling. The rate o...

I don’t know where CNN’s John King got the information that a suspect in the Boston bombing was “a dark-skinned male,” but beyond apologizing, he needs to explain himself.  How many sources gave him the false tip?  If it was fewer than two, then he violated a basic journalism rule.  Who we...

I am a certified news junkie, but even I had to step away from the oversaturated media coverage of the Boston Marathon bombings. Anyone who has covered crimes on a smaller scale than the twin explosions in Boston knows that investigators don’t have instant answers for everything and it’s ridiculous to think that in ...

“Sometimes I close my eyes and all I can remember is that awful day…But other times, I feel Ben’s presence filling me with courage for what I have to do…”Francine Wheeler, mother of 6-year-old Ben Wheeler, one of the 26 victims of the December 14 Sandy Hook tragedy.
I recently took my chil...

 
The right wing seems determined to associate President Obama with any government program that helps people on the bottom. Thus, the term Obamacare was used to attack the health care program that President Obama fashioned and worked with Congress to approve.  While Obamacare is not perfect, it brings more people into ...

I would like every parent in this country . . . I would like them to look in the mirror.  And that’s not a figure of speech . . . I mean, literally find a mirror in your house and look in it and look in your eyes and say, ‘This will never happen to me. This will never happen in my school. This will never ha...

Surely you’ve heard the saying, “Money Talks.”  But, have you ever wondered what is said about Black money? Obviously, understanding its power and the role it plays in this economy, money speaks loudly and clearly, and Black money speaks even louder.  But what does it say?
We know from past ex...

 
Unemployment rates were “little changed” in March 2013 — they were either holding steady or dropping by a tenth of a percentage point or so.  The unemployment rate dropped from 7.7 to 7.6 percent representing a steady, if painstakingly slow, decrease.  This declining unemployment rate was repor...

A decade after carefully ruling in two University of Michigan cases — striking down the undergraduate admissions procedures and upholding those implemented by the law school – the U.S. Supreme Court seems on course to strike down even the mildest form of affirmative action admissions in higher education.
Afte...

 
The selection of Argentinian cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the next leader of the Catholic Church was, in some ways, inevitable. Latin America is home to the largest Catholic population in the world, and it has been more than past time for t...

There are some painful things from my childhood in segregated Tuscaloosa, Ala., that I will never forget. At the top of the list is Gov. George C. Wallace’s June 11, 1963 “Stand in the School House Door” at the University of Alabama. I had just completed my sophomore year at Druid High School when Wallace came...

As long as most of us can remember, Black communities have taught and believed that a college education is the key to social and economic advancement. But according to a new research and policy brief by Brandeis University scholars, that long-held belief is only one of several factors affecting Black America’s ability to ...

“I risked my life defending that right. If we are ever to actualize the true meaning of equality, effective measures such as the Voting Rights Act are still a necessary requirement of democracy.” 
—Georgia U.S. Rep. John Lewis

In commemoration of the 48th anniversary of &l...

When unemployment numbers were released on Friday, commentators reacted joyfully.  Alan Krueger, who heads the White House Council of Economic Advisors, described the creation of 247,000 jobs as a victory because the predictions were that the economy would only generate 170,000 jobs.  Unemployment rates went down to 7...

 
Even after the White House and Congress stagger to reach a last-minute deal to avert yet another budget crisis, there is a fundamental difference in approach between the Obama administration and House Republicans. And those two stark approaches to governing goes to the type of society we want to be: one that protects the ...

March is the official month to “discuss” women and it could not arrive too soon.  What is sad about both Black History Month (February) and International Women’s Month (March) is that too many of us think that those are the only legitimate times of the year to discuss the issues affecting these respective...

Our minds fasten on that single moment on the bus — Mrs. Parks alone in that seat, clutching her purse, staring out a window, waiting to be arrested. That moment tells us something about how change happens, or doesn’t happen . . . We so often spend our lives as if in a fog, accepting injustice, rationalizing inequit...

Sarah Manski dropping out of the Madison Metropolitan School District school board race less than 48 hours after winning the primary was another swift kick in the gut to Madison’s minority population. Manski’s husb...

We should not have been as surprised as we were. The 10-ton, 55-feet meteor that struck Russia on Friday, February 15 unleashed 500 kilotons of energy –  at least 30 times that unleashed at Hiroshima in 1945.  More than a thousand people were injured and heavy damage was done in the vicinity of the meteor.
...

February 26 will mark one year since 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was killed by a gun wielded by self-appointed neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman after he saw Trayvon walking home from a 7-Eleven with a bag of Skittles and bottle of Arizona iced tea.
Black children, youths, and families know first-hand that the killin...

 Shelby County, Ala. is suing the Justice Department because they think that Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (and its reauthorization in 1982 and 2006) is unfair.  The facts: The small city of Calera redistricted its boundaries in a way that the sole African American councilman lost his seat.  Section 5 of the...

As President Obama closed his State of the Union speech on February 12, after listing all of his other policy proposals for the nation’s future, he said: “Of course, what I’ve said tonight matters little if we don’t come together to protect our most precious resource — our children.”
A...

 
The murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till in 1955 was a watershed moment, marking the beginning of the modern Civil Rights Movement. While visiting relatives near Money, Miss., the Chicago native was murdered for allegedly whistling at a White woman. The brutal act was intended to send an unmistakable message to Black boys ev...

I was among the 33.5 million people who sat riveted to their televisions, parsing every second of the State of the Union address.  I was stunned to learn, through a Washington Post article by Lisa De Moraes, that viewership was less substantial for this address than last year’s 38 million, and even lower than the 48 ...

There is a Whole Foods store about three blocks from my home, and around the corner from my gym.  I am enamored by the displays of produce, the red peppers contrasting the yellow ones, the kale, chard, and collard glistening from their morning sprinkle. I love the way the fish gleams back at you, char and salmon, swordfish...

 Three weeks ago, one of our Urban League board members forwarded me excepts from an article written by Paul Fanlund of The Capital Times newspaper titled, "Can Madison Spotlight It's Urban Problems Without Tarnishing Its Image?" This board member, a white male, mentioned feeling "offended" by the comments that...

One hundred and fifty years ago, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.  It was a flawed document that freed enslaved people in Confederate areas that he did not control. At the same time, it was a progressive document because it initiated discussion about the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteen &ld...

When Barack Obama accepted his party’s presidential nomination in Denver on August 28, 2008 — the 45th anniversary of the March on Washington where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream Speech” – excitement filled the air.
Amid that jubilance, however, it struck me as odd that Ob...

President Barack Obama has the opportunity, in this second term, to put his feet on history.  He won an election that his opponent had essentially claimed, he has been firm about that which he would negotiate on, and he has offered a progressive inauguration speech that offers up a liberal agenda, embracing Social Security and Med...

 
In his last Sunday sermon at Washington National Cathedral, Dr. King retold the parable of the rich man Dives who ignored the poor and sick man Lazarus who came every day seeking crumbs from Dives’ table. Dives went to hell, Dr. King said, not because he was rich but because he did not realize his wealth was his opp...

Who is surprised that Lance Armstrong was doping?  Who thinks he was the only one?  Who is surprised that he used the Oprah Winfrey show as his platform to “come clean”?  We are a nation of cheaters and Armstrong is one in a long line of our nation’s cheaters.
Indeed the very foundation of our co...

 

Just when you think leaders of the National Rifle Association can’t stoop any lower, they keep managing to plunge even deeper. This time, they have strayed way over the line of respectability by using Malia and Sasha’s enrollm...

“You can kill a man, but you can’t kill an idea.”
     — Medgar Evers, slain Civil Rights leader

When President Obama took the oath of office on Monday, he was surrounded by an extraordinary legacy of 50-year civil rights milestones that helped make possible hi...

One hundred and fifty years ago, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.  It was a flawed document that freed enslaved people in Confederate areas that he did not control. At the same time, it was a progressive document because it initiated discussion about the “freedom” Thirteenth, Four...

When then-National Newspaper Publishers Association Chairman Danny Bakewell, Sr. asked me to emcee the Black Press Week luncheon at the National Press Club in 2011, I had no idea that I would be witnessing history. At the urging of Wilmington Journal Publisher Mary Alice Thatch, the NNPA decided to launch a national campaign to...

“I miss you baby girl. Sweet caramel princess. African American, Puerto Rican Canadian with a wee bit of Irish…We will honor your classmates you loved so dearly too. As well as the teachers and staff. Love wins.” — Nelba Marquez-...

There is a different feel in the air, and it should not be surprising.  As historic as was the re-election of President Obama, nothing can replace the uniqueness of the opening of his first term four years ago.  The expectations; the history that was made; the level of excitement…it was all too impossible to replicate....

 
Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.
       —Luke 2:14 

Instead of weeks until Christmas Day, we are counting days. Yet, I am still stringing lights and wrapping beribboned garland around the staircase.&nbs...

Over the span of one week, two different sides of President Obama emerged in different yet unforgettable terms. This first was political, involving Susan Rice’s decision to withdraw her name as a candidate for Secretary of State. The second was deeply personal in the wake of mass murders in a Newtown, Conn. elementary sch...

 
The horrendous news from Newtown, Conn. has pierced our hearts. A black-clad man in his 20s armed with two semi-automatic handguns, entered the Sandy Hook Elementary School and made an elementary school for kindergartners through fourth graders the scene of the worst mass shooting in a public school in American history. T...

It should be embarrassing enough that President Obama and House Republicans postponed making tough fiscal decisions by kicking the can down the road to New Year’s Day — when certain automatic budget cuts will go into effect unless they act to avoid what is called a fiscal cliff. Instead of moving quickly to solve their self...

By now, it’s old news that Kasandra Perkins was murdered by Kansas City Chiefs football player Jovan Belcher, who was her boyfriend and the father of her daughter. By now we’ve read about how great a teammate Belcher was, how dedicated to his girlfriend and daughter. We’ve read his hardscrabble story of moving from th...

WASHINGTON (NNPA) — After a four-hour meeting of some the best minds in civil rights, business, education and the media, dozens of Black leaders from across the nation outlined a “Black agenda” that would be presented to President Barack Obama and  Congress early next year.
The leadership group was assembl...

Newark Mayor Corey Booker, following the example of Phoenix  Mayor Greg Stanton, is accepting a challenge to live on a $35 food stamp budget for one week.  Mr. Mayor will add to his resume of shoveling snow and rescuing a woman from a burning house this latest feat that some news reporters are calling an “experiment.&rd...

 
President Obama’s decisive victory in this year’s presidential election signaled a shift in both demographics and attitude in America. While 93 percent of African American voters supported Obama, his victory reflected a cross-section of America, including substantial numbers of Whites and a growing number of H...

I remember when I was about 7 or 8 years of age, the two elderly ladies who lived downstairs from my family would give me a ladies’ handkerchief tied in a knot with some coins and a piece of paper inside.  They would have me walk up the street and give it to another lady about two or three times a week. Of course, I ...

Media Matters, the media monitoring group, has published a report titled, “Myths And Facts About The Right-Wing Witch Hunt Against Susan Rice.” It is a point-by-point rebuttal of some of the most flagrant lies being about United Nations Ambassador Susan E. Rice, President Obama’s leading candidate to succeed H...

Okay, I’ll admit it.  I am truly the Grinch who wanted to steal Christmas.  It takes me until about December 23 to get in the spirit, and I only feel obligated to find gifts for children and close family.  I like to give, which is why I share with a few charities that are close to me. I like to connect, whi...

WASHINGTON (NNPA) — Federal housing assistance recipients usually do not reside in areas near high performing schools, keeping many educational opportunities from reaching poor and minority students, according to a recent study by the D.C.-based Poverty & Race Research Action Council (PRRAC).
The study shows, t...

I have enjoyed an excellent relationship with the National Black Chamber of Commerce over the years. I have conducted media training sessions at national conventions, spoken at functions sponsored by state and local affiliates, and enjoyed a friendship with many of its top officers, including president and co-founder Harry C. Alford. T...

Discussions of the fiscal cliff also include discussions about ways to change Social Security and Medicare benefits in order to save money.  One of the proposals is to raise the Social Security retirement age to 70.  After all, some argue, there is nothing magic about 65 or 67, so why not push the rate up to 70?
...

WASHINTON (NNPA) — Despite efforts in some states to suppress the Black vote and predictions that African-Americans would not turn out at the rate they did in 2008, Blacks overcame all obstacles and were key to Obama’s re-election to a second term, an analysis of voting data shows.
Obama should thank Jesse Jackson for winning formula
by George E. Curry
November 14, 2012

President Obama’s campaign strategists are receiving a lot of richly deserved praise in the wake of the president’s victory over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney on Nov. 6. Obama, who lost the majority of the White vote for the second time, won the election by assembling a progressive Democratic coalition pione...

Black Americans need to know and respect our heritage. Know the contributions of your ancestors, and you will learn who you are. One of America’s greatest strengths today is “diversity.” An African American who blazed the trail toward diversity, innovation, and marketing creativity across corridors in corporat...

Veterans Day is an annual opportunity for our youngest to learn about the many Americans who are serving or have served in our nation’s armed forces. And, November is Military Family month, a time to recognize and appreciate the sacrifices and commitment of the families that stand behind our nation’s service members...

 
The problem with having a deadline at the end of the week, is that you miss the opportunity to weigh in on things, such as an election, that happens on a Tuesday.  It is almost torture when you consider the possibilities face us on November 7 and beyond.  I am hoping that President Obama can pull it off, but I a...

 
“Something that I’ve learned from my mentor is always pay things forward, not necessarily with money, but with actions and deeds. You’re not alone. You’re not the only one out there in a bad situation. Beat the odds and you’ll succeed.”

     ...

When the dust settles on this year’s presidential election, the real winner will prove to be Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
Christie is finishing his first term as governor and will be seeking reelection in 2013.  He has built a reputation as a rare no-nonsense, straight-talking politician. The pub...

There is abundant evidence that this will be a close contest between President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.  Of course, the election is not really about race, religion or about a random celebrity or publicity quotient.  This election is actually about the future of the nation politically and...

This will probably be the last presidential election in which Republicans can afford to ignore issues of paramount importance to Blacks and Latinos and expect to have a remote chance of winning the White House. Obama v. Romney is the political equivalent of Brown v. Board of Education. A separate and unequal approach to national politi...

“There appears to be no reason in logic why 99 percent of the businesses in the country are forced to squabble over 20 percent of the Federal purchase dollar, when a select 1 percent continue to capture their 80 percent market share largely undisturbed.”  United States Commission on Minority Business Developmen...

The affirmative action program at the University of Texas now under review by the United States Supreme Court should not be looked at in isolation. As Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote in Grutter V. Bollinger, an affirmative action case involving the University of Michigan, “context matters when reviewing race-based...

Our Constitution offers us “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” but we can’t pursue anything if we are unhealthy.  Yet, health disparities in the United States are a fact of life.  African Americans have shorter lives than Whites for three reasons.  One has to do with income and poverty...

 
Hopefully by now you have heard a thing or two about efforts on the part of the Republicans to suppress the votes of minorities, youth, the elderly, union members and many veterans.  The plot is fairly simple:  make it especially difficult to vote by setting up all sort of systems of identification in the name o...

What will it finally take for Black people to accept the fact that we have no real political clout?  A little influence, yes, but no power.  If our voting bloc were as strong as we like to think, the Republicans would not ignore us and the Democrats would not take us for granted.  If we had real political power, ...

The birther issue – the preposterous idea that President Obama was not born in the United States – was finally put to rest, but that has not prevented conservative conspiracy buffs from seeing a plot behind the falling unemployment numbers.
Conservatives, led by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, ...

 
In late September, the “nonpartisan” Web site Real Clear Politics reported that President Obama leads Republican nominee Mitt Romney is several battleground states.  According to the polls, President Obama leads by 5.2 percent in Ohio, 4.5 percent in Virginia, 4.2 percent in Nevada, 4 percent in Iowa, and...

The headlines proclaim that Rep. Maxine Waters, the outspoken Democrat from California, has been cleared of charges that she violated House ethics by advocating on behalf of a Black bank in which her husband held a substantial investment. The real story, however, is that Waters case serves as Exhibit A for how a Black elected o...

 
“Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah … saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh…
But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish.” 
     —Jonah 1:1-3

 
     Last week, we learned that African American unemployment rates stayed level last month, with an absurdly high official unemployment rate of 14.1 percent.  Unemployment rates for African American men fell, while those for African American women rose.  These rates are way too high and unde...

In his “I Have a Dream Speech” delivered at the 1963 March on Washington, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said he dreamed of the day his children would be judged not by the color of their skin but the content of their character. If Dr. King had known how Martin III, Dexter and Bernice would later fight over money genera...

One of the main themes in the political conventions was centered on how hard it was for the speakers’ families, their parents and grandparents, and how they struggled to make it.  Virtually every top speaker reflected on the hard times they went through and how their relatives struggled to put food on the table, how ...

Hungry child,
I didn’t make this world for you.
You didn’t buy any stock in my railroad.
You didn’t invest in my corporation.
Where are your shares in standard oil?
I made the world for the rich
And the will-be-rich
And the have-always-been-rich.
Not ...

  
#15 – Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (Mo.):
“Congress is unable to do the work of the American people because too many politicians believe that compromise means capitulation.  This must change, because just as bees cannot sting and make honey at the same time, members of Congress cannot simultaneously...

 
“…the joy of the Lord is your strength.”  Nehemiah 8:10

I believe in people and their capacity for greatness. Throughout history, people of excellence have accomplished incredible things. This quality of excellence is exemplified whenever we use all of our abilities to achieve some...

Many speakers at this week’s Republican convention in Tampa have focused on the economy and unemployment as they sought to contrast the Mitt Romney-Paul Ryan GOP ticket with the record of President Barack Obama. But there is another battle underway that is receiving less attention but is at least equally import – th...

When news broke of the murders at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin on August 5, people of all faiths and backgrounds and the first responders who came to the scene to help were horrified by the ambush on men and women as they prepared for worship services. Leaders across the country quickly denounced the hate crime and the FBI imme...

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has been carefully trying to put some distance between him and running mate Paul Ryan’s radical budget proposal but he has a major problem — his plan would make even deeper cuts than the Ryan plan.
A careful analysis of Romney’s plan by the Center ...

 
If you don’t follow Olympic gymnastics, you may not have heard about Gabrielle Douglas before this year.  But the amazing grace of this 16- year old African American propelled her to Olympic gold last week, and she is the first African American to win an individual medal in gymnastics.
Indeed, her perfor...

Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once said “We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.” When we look at the state of our union and the state of America’s children in 2012, his words ring very true. It’s impossib...

 
The national support for the victims of the recent Colorado shootings is great. However, if we believe in the equivalency of life, what about the lives of young men in Chicago, where there have been more deaths than in Afghanistan so far this year. While the hospitals in Aurora say they will cover hospital bills for those...

Amazingly, Black folks in this country still don’t get it.  After all we have been through and after everything we have accomplished, prior to and after integration, our relative collective economic position in America has changed very little.  In some cases we have regressed in terms of ownership of land, from ...

The American Dream is starting to fade away and that is very scary.  The saddest thing about this is the recent behavior or attitude of President Barack Obama.  He has abandoned leading us and has gone on full campaign mode with more than four months to go before the national election.  He seems to be delirious i...

There was a refrain that was heard in almost every speech this week at the International AIDS Conference in Washington: We are on the verge of ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic. That wasn’t a statement that could be made 30 years ago when the pandemic was first identified.  It wasn’t a statement that would be uttere...

George Zimmerman, the Florida man who killed Trayvon Martin, told Fox News personality Sean Hannity that the events that occurred on February 26, 2012 were “God’s will.”  What a cynical manipulation of our Creator, to suggest that the massacre of an African American teenager by a crazed vigilante is the w...

Lest we forget, the price for our right to vote was life-sacrificed, blood-soaked, jail-filled, and tear-wrenched.  As we approach the national elections on November 6, I am concerned that there is an urgent necessity to increase Black American voter registration, mobilization and overall enthusiasm.  This is not the ...

In 1642 the Massachusetts General Court passed one of the very first laws about education in what would become the United States. It ruled that because it was apparent “the good education of children is of singular behoove and benefit to any Common-wealth,” all parents and guardians were required to make sure childr...

As anyone who has followed me knows, I have been extremely critical of President Obama’s non-engagement with the Black community. Obama has deliberately ignored the plight of the Black community while giving preferential treatment to the homosexual and Hispanic communities.
But I can’t in good conscious criti...

Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-Ill) has been away from Congress on medical leave for so long that his colleagues have been clamoring to know what’s wrong, and NBC’s Andrea Mitchell reported that the congressman was receiving treatment for addiction.  The truth, according the Rep. Jackson’s staff, is that the c...

 
WASHINGTON (NNPA) – If Black voter turnout reverts to the level it was before Barack Obama was elected president of the United States in 2008, the nation’s first Black president will have a difficult time winning a second term in the White House, concludes a National Urban League report released Monday.
...

“I make every woman who comes to my office sit in my chair and get her picture taken, and they do not leave my office without the commitment that they will either run for office themselves or support a woman who is running for office.”  Virginia State Senator, Yvonne B. Miller
On July 3rd, one day before...

 
Since the enactment of the Affordable Care Act two years ago, polls have consistently shown that a slight plurality of Americans have opposed the measure. But public opinion now seems to be shifting in President Obama’s favor, with a slim plurality supporting the landmark health care measure.
The Kaiser Healt...

“Talk is cheap!”  “Talkin’ loud and sayin’ nothin’!”  Black folks do a lot of talking, rappin,’ espousing, pontificating, and philosophizin’.  No matter the subject, we seem to know all about it and are more than willing to get engaged on any topic at hand.&nb...

 
The unemployment rate has hovered above 8 percent for several months, most recently holding ground at 8.2 percent, the same as last month.  Meanwhile, the African American unemployment rate went up, officially to 14.4 percent, and we all know that means the real rate is even higher, probably in excess of 25 percent.<...

“With a pivotal presidential election just six months away, we must do all we can to ensure free and fair elections and that everyone can vote.” Voter Empowerment Act fact sheet

Thanks to rising citizen outrage and efforts like the National Urban League’s “Occupy the Vote” campaign...

One of the most remarkable things about Mitt Romney’s run for the White House is that the presumptive Republican nominee is allowed to attack President Obama on everything from saving the automobile industry to immigration. Yet, the news media rarely point out that Romney is against many things, especially if proposed by ...

Rodney King would be the first to tell you that he was no Martin Luther King, Jr. or Malcolm X. His lifelong bout with alcohol and drugs — battles that he always seemed to lose — and frequent run-ins with police did not qualify him for icon status. Yet, that’s what he achieved in 1991 at the age of 27 because ...

Do you believe Black people should work together in support of one another?  Do you believe that Black people should better utilize more of our $900 billion-plus annual aggregate income to start and grow businesses?  Do you believe Black people should share our information and experience with one another to build a br...

 
“Understanding the causes of black-white differences in mortality has important consequences for interventions to reduce health inequalities in the United States.” Sam Harper, PhD; McGill University, Montreal
In recent weeks, we’ve shared with you the news that the birth-rate for people of color n...

The latest edition of UNICEF's report on child poverty showed the United States ranks second out of 35 developed countries on the scale of what economists call “relative child poverty” with 23.1 percent of its children living in poverty. Only Romania ranked higher. It was another shameful reminder that, as economist...

 
When it comes to national elections, no state makes a bigger fool of itself than Florida. The Sunshine state was at the center of an 1876 controversy over the presidential election between Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel L. Tilden. By throwing out many votes cast by Blacks, Florida was able to give Haye...

 
When Kyla was in the third grade, she failed the state-required end-of-grade tests at her Charlotte, N.C. elementary school. Her grandmother was worried that summer school wouldn’t be fun, but then she heard about the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) Freedom Schools® program, and she knew Kyla would love the ...

In the wake of the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Fla., stories appeared in newspapers, on broadcast outlets  and on the Internet about “the talk,” a candid conversation Black parents have at some point with their Black sons about surviving  in a society that devalues them as huma...

When you leave the United States, you’ll often find “cultural tourism,” or the opportunity to enjoy a culture and also purchase trinkets or more substantial items in markets around the world.  In Ghana, we look for kente cloth, statues, and masks.  In other African countries, the offerings are often ...

One point that is absolutely clear is that the President of the United States is no political coward.  President Barack H. Obama made history by backing historic health care reform across America when everyone thought that successful political battle would negatively hurt his chances for re-election. But to President Obama’s...

Of the seven years I was editor of Emerge: Black America’s Newsmagazine in the 1990s, I am proudest of our national campaign to win the release of Kemba Smith, a 24-year-old former Hampton University student who was sentenced to a mandatory 24 ½ years in prison for her minor role in a drug ring.
Our first story, wri...

“Higher education can’t be a luxury, it is an economic imperative that every family should be able to afford.”
      —President Barack Obama
 
As graduation season swings into high gear, a new economic crisis confronts thousands of this year’s hi...

 Many people feel that what we do for mothers on the second Sunday in May is the definitive indication of how we feel about them.  Most believe that, if we cherish our mothers, we call, send a card, give a hug, buy a gift, or take her to lunch — perhaps do all of the above.  Whatever your choices, we can agree on t...

Fox News, the unofficial arm of the Republican Party that claims to be fair and balanced, is conducting an all-out assault on President Obama, doing everything from letting Mitt Romney advisers masquerade as objective commentators to ignoring facts when a high-profile Obama critic or Fox News commentator make unfounded charges....

When Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen said that Ann Romney had “never worked a day in her life,” Romney behaved as if she had just hit the lottery. She smugly made the media rounds talking about how hard it was for her to raise her five sons. And she’s right.  Stay at home moms work extremely hard to co...

 
This week has been a devastating one for children and the poor. It began with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops urging members of the House of Representatives Agriculture Committee for “moral and human reasons” to “protect programs that serve poor and hungry people over subsidies that assist large ...

The new NAACP Report Card for the first session of the 112th Congress is out and it shows that every graded Republican member of the House and Senate received an ‘F’ on issues considered important to the nation’s oldest civil rights group.
In the Senate, all 46 GOP senators received Fs from NAACP. Of th...

On April 16, 2007, our nation suffered its deadliest shooting incident ever by a single gunman when a student killed 32 people and wounded 25 others at Virginia Tech before committing suicide. Five years later, have we learned anything about controlling our national gun and gun violence epidemic? A look at just a few of the sad...

Between the drama surrounding the arrest of George Zimmerman for the killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Fla. and the White terrorists who killed two Blacks and injured five others in Tulsa, you may have missed the news about CNN Anchor Don Lemon, an African-American, defending journalists who use of the n-word wh...

The death of Trayvon Martin has sparked an intense national discussion on race and justice like we have not seen in a long time. Throughout the United States this past month there have been deep and extensive conversations about racism, stereotypes, and Florida's "stand your ground" law. The Madison Times and our National Newspaper Pub...

Over the past 11 years, I have had the opportunity to work closely with the Godfather of Hip-Hop, Russell Simmons.  We co-founded the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN) in 2001.   We have convened more than 75 Hip-Hop Summits across the United States, Canada, and in South Africa, all dealing with such empowerment issue...

Most people are asking whether Florida’s ‘Stand Your Ground’ law should apply to George Zimmerman, the 28-year-old neighborhood watch captain who killed an unarmed Trayvon Martin. That’s the wrong question. A better one is, given the circumstances, did the law protect Trayvon when he physically confronted Zimmer...

The shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin by a neighborhood watch captain in Sanford, Fla. has dominated national news lately, with African-Americans more than twice as likely as Whites to follow the story very closely, according to a study by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.
The study, conduc...

I have two nephews that I love with an amazing passion.  Anyi, 28, is a Los Angeles based comedian, who kinda looks like me and acts like me.  He is my absolute escort of choice when I am in Southern California.  Armand, 25, is an ...

1) Trayvon Martin was a 17-year-old Miami student visiting Sanford, Fla., near Orlando, with his father when he was killed On Feb. 26. His father, who also lives in Miami, was visiting his girlfriend in Retreat at Twin Lakes, a gated townhouse community.
2) Trayvon had made a short trip to a nearby 7-Eleven store to pick...

"Can’t we just get along”? Those famous words from Rodney King still apply to America today. It is 2012 and race based hate haunts us daily. There is always something sensational to remind us that we have yet to overcome this evil. The latest big indication that it still lives is the incident from Sanford, FL. A child ...

Every parent raising Black sons knows the dilemma: deciding how soon to have the talk. Choosing the words to explain to your beautiful child that there are some people who will never like or trust him just because of who he is—including some who should be there to protect him, but will instead have the power to hurt him. ...

Tavis Smiley and Dr. Cornel West deserve high props for their summer poverty tour.  They started on an Indian reservation, hit the inner city, and looked at poverty, in all of its manifestations.  While many dismissed their high-profile tour as a political ploy, I am absolutely convinced of their sincerity.  In a...