By Marian Wright Edelman  One of our country’s most cherished values is the idea that if you work hard you can get ahead, be part of the middle class, raise a family comfortably, and ensure your children will do better than you did. But this is a hollow promise to countless families today. The sad […]

By Julianne Malveaux  Do you know about Elizabeth Keckley?  Maggie Lena Walker, Sarann Knight Preddy, Gertrude Pocte Geddes-Willis, Trish Millines Dziko, Addie L Wyatt or Marie-Therese Metoyer?What about Ernesta Procope, Dr. Sadie Alexander, Or Dr. Phyllis Wallace?  What about Bettiann Gardner, Lillian Lambert, or Emma Chappell?  What about Ellen Holly, Mary Alice, or Edmonia Lewis?If […]

By Julianne Malveaux President Barack Obama announced a “My Brother’s Keeper,” an initiative to help young Black and Brown men succeed.   Many present in the East Wing of the White House described the announcement of this initiative as “an emotional moment” for President Obama and for many of the others gathered there.Several of the African […]

By George E. Curry, NNPA Columnist In all the hoopla surrounding President Obama’s “My Brother’s Keeper” initiative, overlooked is that fact that our young girls also need to be targeted for special attention. Sure, they outpace Black males in college attendance and, in many instances, in the workplace. Still, that does not mean they do […]

By Marc H. Morial “There is no more powerful force than a people steeped in their history. And there is no higher cause than honoring our struggle and ancestors by remembering.”—Lonnie Bunch,founding director, National Museum of African American History and Culture Ever since the 2009 election of Barack Obama as America’s first Black president and […]

By George E. Curry, NNPA Columnist As we approach the second anniversary of Trayvon Martin’s murder on Sanford, Fla., justice again has been shortchanged in the Sunshine State. It was incredulous that George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watchman and wannabe cop, was found not guilty of murder after killing the unarmed Black teenager who had visited […]

By Julianne Malveaux  Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is at it again. Whenever he opens his mouth about race, he displays a surprising myopia for a 65-year-old African American man who was raised in the Deep South during a segregated era. During his confirmation hearing, Thomas excoriated his own family, speaking of his sister as […]

By Julianne Malveaux Had he not massacred Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman would be an average White man holding down a mediocre job, living under the radar, and aspiring for a law enforcement job. He and his wife would probably be divorcing (as they are now) on account of his brutality (she cites his beatings in […]