Commentary

Another day, another senseless killing. These days, firsthand experiences with covert racism make defensiveness not just understandable, but warranted. By Kali Holloway  THE GUARDIAN.COM There is a tendency to respond to racialized tragedies with a sudden effort at self-reflection – an attempt to quantify our collective attitudes on race for clues as to why, yet again,…

Read More

By Marian Wright Edelman Just released U.S. Census Bureau data reveal 45.3 million people were poor in America in 2013. One in three of those who are poor is a child. Children remain our poorest age group and children of color and those under five are the poorest. More than one in five infants, toddlers,…

Read More

If we’re really serious about fixing the problem of domestic violence, we must first address the problem of child abuse. By Denise Clay When former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice and Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson made news for hitting someone other than opposing linebackers, it made me think about a discussion I…

Read More

ABOVE PHOTO:  (Museyon Guides) Gentrification is changing America’s most famous African-American community. By Keith Boykin Last night I took a stroll down Frederick Douglass Boulevard in Harlem. What I saw shocked me. Sitting on stage at a new night spot near 116th Street was a young white woman singing “Sweet Home Alabama” to an all-white…

Read More

By George E. Curry NNPA Caught cheating by his wife, comedian Groucho Marx asked, “Who you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes?” In case after case, when police are caught killing an unarmed African American – and trying to cover it up – they expect us to suspend our sight and our common sense….

Read More

By Damien Conners special to NewBlackMan (in Exile) As a young executive director of one of the nation’s most influential civil rights organizations, I am beyond amazed at the level of pomp and circumstance that shrouds what should be the true emancipatory work of organizations positioned to make substantive change and serve as representative voices…

Read More

ABOVE PHOTO:  Attorney General Eric Holder   By Earl Ofari Hutchinson New America Media Attorney General Eric Holder has a compelling federal case in the Michael Brown killing if he decides to bring civil rights charges against Ferguson, Missouri cop, Darren Wilson. He’s certainly taken almost unprecedented lightning fast first steps in that direction. He’s…

Read More

ABOVE PHOTO:  Protesters carried placards in support Trayvon and other victims of violence. July 20, 2013, during Comic Con in downtown San Diego, CA.  (betto rodrigues / Shutterstock.com)   By Christopher Rounds Associate Professor of History Allen University Since the election of President Barack Obama, much of what has been taken for racism in politics…

Read More

ABOVE PHOTTO:  James Brown  ( miqu77 / Shutterstock.com)   By Earl Ofari Hutchinson That evening at a concert in the late 1960s at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles was memorable. The performer was James Brown. And as always, he was the usual frenetic, non-stop, consummate singer, entertainer, and showman. I, and the hundreds of…

Read More

By Denise Clay Among the many things that are making me scratch my head in relation to the School District of Philadelphia’s current funding crisis is the strange bedfellows it’s creating. I recently got a media advisory from Public Citizens for Children and Youth about a press conference and parent briefing that the organization was…

Read More