Category: Afro Briefs

Newark, N.J. Mayor Cory Booker is among those calling for an investigation into the New York Police Department following revelations that the department conducted surveillance of Muslims in his city. A 60-page report uncovered by the Associated Press details the department’s practice of photographing every mosque and spying on every business owned by Muslims in […]

President Barack Obama introduced a new corporate tax reform plan Feb. 22 that he said will eliminate loopholes and subsidies which will cut their tax rate from 35 percent to 28 percent. “Our current corporate tax system is outdated, unfair, and inefficient,” Obama said in a statement. “It provides tax breaks for moving jobs and […]

President Obama issued a formal apology Feb. 23 to the president and people of Afghanistan for the burning of the Quran by NATO forces. Protests began immediately after the destruction of the holy book went public. According to CNN, officials said the materials were removed from the Parwan Detention Center, which is attached to a […]

Former U.S. Rep. Katie Hall, the first Black representative from Indiana and a key architect in the creation of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, died Feb. 20. She was 73. Hall’s husband, John Henry Hall, told the Associated Press that his wife passed away at Methodist Hospitals’ Northlake campus in Gary, Ind. from an undisclosed […]

View the original video at the bottom of the article The teen girls whose racist rant about African Americans went viral on YouTube are “no longer students” at Gainsville High School (GHS) in Florida, an official told the media. Principal David Shelnutt told local ABC affiliate WCJB that he first became aware of the video […]

Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK), one of the world’s leading media, entertainment and communications companies, recently announced it has selected four new minority-owned independent networks to be broadly distributed on Comcast Cable systems between April 2012 and January 2014. After a thorough evaluation of more than 100 proposals, Comcast selected four networks ? two of […]

Often overshadowed by reports of crime and blight, Charm City’s historical landmarks are still crown jewels of the nation, attracting visitors from all points of the United States and beyond. When it comes to African-American history, Baltimoreans don’t have to go far to visit designated national historic sites and places where important “firsts” have taken […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will once again confront the issue of race in university admissions in a case brought by a white student denied a spot at the flagship campus of the University of Texas. The court said Tuesday it will return to the issue of affirmative action in higher education for the […]

Fisk University President Hazel O’Leary announced Feb. 17 plans to retire at the end of the year, falling short of her stated goal of reversing the financial dilemma facing the 146 year-old Black university. Her announcement comes as the institution’s status among Historically Black Colleges and Universities has stabilized but remains far from the goal […]

Unemployment benefits first-time claims fell to the lowest point in four years showing improving health for a still anemic economy. “The housing starts and unemployment claims numbers add to the belief that the economy is shifting gears,’’ Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisers, told the Associated Press. “The decline in the unemployment rate is […]

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), who once chaired the Congressional Black Caucus, and Rosa Whitaker, former assistant U.S. trade representative for Africa, were honored for their contributions to civil rights, social, global and economic justice and African development by a group of international affairs advocates Feb. 16. The United Nations Association of Washington D.C., (UNA-NCA) in […]

“For young people in my neighborhood, getting stopped and frisked is a rite of passage,” wrote Nicholas K. Peart, a student at Borough of Manhattan Community College, in a December 2011 opinion page essay in the New York Times titled, “Why Is the N.Y.P.D. After Me?” And, according to figures released by the New York […]