By Ralph E. Moore Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a middle child in the birth order of children from the union of Martin Luther King Sr. and Alberta Williams King. King, Jr.’s older sister, Christine King Farris, died on June 29, 2023, in the city of their birth, Atlanta, Georgia. In some ways she […]
Category: OPINION
Posted inCommentary
The 16th annual “Rich States, Poor States” report: a look at the policies that could create opportunity for all
By Dr. Alveda King and Jonathan Williams While discussing his motivation for lowering state income taxes, Mississippi Speaker of the House Philip Gunn explained, “There is just no downside to putting money back into the pockets of people.” It’s hard to argue with that. Despite the gridlock in our nation’s capital, there is hope across […]
Posted inCommentary
Commentary: Honoring our past and looking toward the future: the importance of the International African American Museum
By Assistant Democratic Leader James E. Clyburn (D-SC-6) In 2019, my daughter Jennifer and I took part in a Congressional Delegation to Ghana that included my good friend, the late Congressman John Lewis. Our visit was to commemorate the 400 years since Black people were forcibly taken from the continent of Africa and enslaved in […]
Posted inCommentary
Breaking barriers, saving lives: Black Family Cancer Awareness Week’s call to action
By Dr. Shanique Palmer “You have cancer.” These are three words that we all dread hearing. If you are a Black person, you are more likely to hear these words and are often less likely to survive the disease than people of other racial or ethnic backgrounds. To put this into perspective – consider that […]
Posted inCommentary
The big chance to cut climate pollution from big trucks
By Ben Jealous The interstates built in the 1950s and 1960s killed the vitality of the communities where people of color and the poor lived, from Overtown in Miami to the Hill District in Pittsburgh to the South and West Sides of Chicago. The disruption and segregation of those communities happened by design. The harm […]
Posted inOPINION
From a son’s point of view: the impact of incarceration on a Black mother
By Rodney Wrice The moment a mother finds out that her child has been incarcerated is one that she will never forget. At first, shock and disbelief set in. “How could this happen? What did I do wrong?” She may blame herself and replay every mistake she’s ever made as a parent. She feels helpless […]
Posted in!Front Page
Juneteenth: A Time to Celebrate
Dr. Eugene L. Moore Juneteenth commemorates the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. On June 19, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger proclaimed freedom for enslaved people in Texas. This marks the third year it has been observed as a federal holiday but it has been celebrated for more than a century prior to its national recognition. […]
Posted inCommentary
Juneteenth: an invitation to reparatory food justice
By Rev. Dr. Angelique Walker-Smith The Rev. Dr. Heber Brown, a new board member at Bread for the World, recently preached on the theme “Where There Is Water, There Is Life” at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. The service, sponsored by Bread, the Black Church Food Security Network and Ebenezer Baptist Church, included […]
Posted inOPINION
Op-ed: why Black folk need holidays
By Aswad Walker, Defender Network For some, holidays are just days off work. For others, many of them are considered sacred and holy. But all holidays were created by a specific group of people for a specific reason. Holidays were meant to be vehicles for teaching, highlighting and passing down specific values important to the […]
Posted inCommentary
New chemical hair care study reveals links to uterine cancer in Black women
By Wayne Campbell Recently, researchers noted that Black women may have a higher risk of uterine cancer than women who reported not using chemical hair straightening products. This ground-breaking research was done by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). A group of researchers with the NIH’s National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences looked at the […]
Posted inOpinion
Daniel Penny and the subconscious lack of value for Black life
By Chuck Richardson The recent death of a New York homeless man, Jordan Neely, is not merely a reflection of two individuals caught in a Shakespearian tragedy – with the victim being Neely and the other player, Daniel Penny, the perpetrator of the crime. Rather, this incident is a microcosmic reflection of many White Americans’ […]