Category: Commentary

(NNPA) — At the recent National Urban League convention, President Obama’s speech took aim at criticisms launched by the Black civil rights community over the educational reforms proposed by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. The 17-page document, “Framework for Providing All Students an Opportunity to Learn through Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act,” […]

Last March, President Obama invited me to join him at the White House as he signed our Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590) into law. While waiting for the President to arrive at that historic ceremony, my thoughts went out to the millions of Americans whose lives will be transformed for the better […]

What do the Tea party, NAACP, New Black Panther party, Shirley Sherrod and Attorney General Eric Holder have in common? They all teach us about racism. Racism is something you can see, sense, feel and hear, yet, it’s hard to quite put into words. A precise definition is difficult to come by. The law forbids racial […]

Congress recently passed the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, legislation that will protect consumers, investors and taxpayers by ensuring the financial services industry has the appropriate oversight to avoid the type of financial collapse that has rocked our nation and global markets. ? Over the last 30 years, our regulatory framework has not […]

Sneers, jeers, and outright outrageous shouting. That is the ugly tenor that mars most political forums during this critical mayoral campaign. It seems that what one lesser-known candidate called “the steamroller of gentrification” demolished Southern gentility along with Washington, D.C.’s “Chocolate City” moniker during this steamy campaign season. With barely six weeks to the Sept. […]

OK, let’s see: The White House. Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack. The media in general. Andrew Breitbart. Benjamin Jealous. The NAACP. Fox News. All of these players are standing around the kitchen, hit by the mess surrounding Shirley Sherrod. Shirley is fine, but everyone else has been splattered, like when the lid is left off the […]

Americans want to work. We also believe that we should care for our neighbors who are out of work through no fault of their own. These core insights about our nature as a great people are true throughout America – and especially in our communities of color. This, I believe, is why so many Americans […]

“It is difficult at this day to realize the state of public opinion in regard to that unfortunate race which prevailed in the civilized and enlightened portions of the world at the time of the Declaration of Independence, and when the Constitution of the United States was framed and adopted; but the public history of […]

Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch has a proposal for the unemployed. He wants them drug tested before they can receive unemployment benefits. Hilarious! With unemployment rates at 9,7 percent, with nearly six million Americans out of work for at least six months, with more than a million people without support since their unemployment benefits have run […]

(NNPA) — It was 1963. The nation was at a virtual boiling point. Despite marked gains in the civil rights struggle from integrating lunch counters and universities to equalizing buses, the fight for justice was far from over. As fire hoses and police dogs continued to be unleashed on those seeking basic human rights, and […]

July 4 marked 234 years of U.S. independence. And although America’s ongoing “melting pot experiment” is theoretically unbiased to Blacks, Latinos and Muslims, the Southern Poverty Law Center reports that hate groups, like the well-armed Hutaree militia, have increased 200 percent since President Obama’s 2008 election. Texas, the former rebel republic and current headquarters of […]