Category: Commentary

For Jessica Nunez, a trip to the grocery store means at least 15 hours of work. Jessica makes minimum wage – just $7.25 an hour. With take home pay at $28 a day, Jessica feeds her partner and three daughters with three days’ work. Putting gas in the car takes six hours of work. Jessica […]

As I reflect on my upbringing, I’m grateful for the old stories told in my youth. Most often they were rooted in values that taught significant life lessons. Faced with real situations, the lessons prevented me from stepping into obvious trouble. Many of my friends have similar old stories. My friend, Steve Blakely, said he […]

It is becoming abundantly clear that the opponents of President Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act care little about minority health. David Bositis, senior research director for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, has observed in the {Washington Post} that about 36 percent of African Americans have no health insurance (compared to […]

The NAACP took a principled stand against voter suppression at their 103rd annual convention last week in Houston, Texas. The theme “Your Power, Your Decision – VOTE” was on full display as delegates heard from Vice President Biden and Gov. Mitt Romney and learned about attacks on the right to vote in states across the […]

“You know, I’m not sitting here – some little woman standing by my man like Tammy Wynette. I’m sitting here because I love him, and I respect him, and I honor what he’s been through and what we’ve been through together. And you know, if that’s not enough for people, then heck, don’t vote for […]

Dear Editor: Other than Thanksgiving and Christmas, the 4th of July is perhaps the most celebrated national holiday. Families go on picnics, visit beaches and parks, and watch fireworks. However, for many veterans, Independence Day takes on a different meaning. To those who served in the armed forces, often fighting to preserve our freedom in […]

Every day in Maryland, I fight against injustice and work towards the empowerment and advancement of all people of color. I speak to families in the African-American community here in Baltimore and across the state and know firsthand the barriers our children face when it comes to meaningful educational opportunity and access to good jobs […]

Last month, President Obama reminded us that we all have a personal stake in the outcome of November’s federal elections. The president fairly and accurately dissected the two competing visions advanced by Republicans and Democrats as to how America can best grow our economy and pay down our national debt. I recommend that every American […]

LOS ANGELES- Rodney Glen King’s apparent accidental death at age 47 has prompted a flood of media punditry about the legacy of a life rife with misfortune. It was young Glen, as he was called, who had discovered his father’s body in the family bathtub. Rodney Sr. reportedly drank himself to death when Rodney Jr. […]

Now that Romney is the de facto nominee for the Republican Party, I have been reflecting on the state of the presidential race as it enters the final stretch. As a political strategist, I understand the necessity to run to the right during the Republican primary and then migrate to the center during the general […]

The most conservative Supreme Court in the past four decades is poised to overturn the already limited affirmative action provisions in the next term, which begins in October, unless good sense visits one or two of them and they vote in favor of student body diversity. Since Bush-appointed justices John Robert and Samuel Alito have […]

WASHINGTON (NNPA) – Highly-respected media and entertainment executive William G. Tompkins, Jr. has been name president and chief executive officer of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, a federation of more than 200 Black-owned publications. NNPA Chairman Cloves Campbell, publisher of the Arizona Informant, said Tompkins was selected from an impressive field of candidates screened by […]