By Freddie Allen, NNPA Washington Correspondent  WASHINGTON (NNPA) — As voters’ rights advocates and civil rights leaders commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1964 “Freedom Summer” in Mississippi, new study by the Center for American Progress finds that shifting demographics in the South can help to accelerate meaningful social and political change.The report titled, “True […]

By Carey L. Biron WASHINGTON  (IPS) — The environmental cost of the plastics used by corporations producing consumer goods likely mounts to more than 75 billion dollars a year, according to a first-time valuation released Monday by the United Nations and others.This estimate is based on the cost of everything from greenhouse gas emissions resulting […]

By Lee A. Daniels How much is a person’s innocence worth? That’s the most fundamental question framing the news that, after years of bitter dispute, a settlement has been reached in the lawsuit stemming from the notorious Central Park Jogger case that a quarter-century ago inflamed racial tensions in New York City and across the country, […]

By Marc H. Morial “We’re designed for greatness. No excuses. No apologies.”  —Lisa Nichols, CEO of Motivating the Masses and author July 3-6 is the date.  New Orleans is the place.  Empowerment is the purpose.  Iconic thought leaders and musicians bring the message.  For the 20th year in a row, Essence Magazine is organizing the […]

By Freddie Allen, NNPA Washington Correspondent WASHINGTON (NNPA) — As fast food and retail workers continue to march for higher wages, a new study by the Economic Policy Institute revealed that Blacks are more likely to earn poverty wages than Whites.EPI released the “Raising America’s Pay” study in conjunction with the launch of a new […]

By Samuel Oakford NEW YORK (IPS) – Six years after the financial crisis, Wall Street’s housing alchemy engine is revving up again — only this time it’s coming for your rental.Right as housing prices bottomed out around January 2012, large institutional investors began buying distressed properties in regions hit hard by the foreclosure crisis; they’ve […]

By Jazelle Hunt, Washington Correspondent   WASHINGTON (NNPA) — A cache of new research from the Pew Center paints a picture of the modern American family—a picture in which the historically rigid roles and responsibilities of moms and dads are meeting in the middle.But that picture has always been a bit different for Black moms […]

By Jazelle Hunt, Washington Correspondent WASHINGTON (NNPA) — As Rachel Jeantel inched toward a high school diploma, she tried to keep in mind that she had a promise to keep. Her slain friend, Trayvon Martin, would have wanted her to finish school, and she had promised his parents and other supporters that she would.Now, she […]

By Mitchell Plitnick WASHINGTON — The announcement this week of a new Palestinian unity government was greeted with cautious optimism by most of the world, outside of Israel. In the United States, however, it set off political rumblings that threaten to swell into a storm.The decision by the Obama Administration to maintain its relationship with […]

By Peter Costantini  SEATTLE  (IPS)  —“Supersize my salary now!”  The refrain rose over a busy street outside a McDonald’s in downtown Seattle.A young African-American mother carrying a little girl told the largely youthful crowd that she had walked off the job to join them because “we’re getting tired of being pushed around”. Her five-year-old took […]