By Carey L. Biron WASHINGTON  (IPS) — The shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer in the southern United States earlier this month has led to widespread public outrage around issues of race, class and police brutality.In particular, a flurry of policy discussions is focusing on the startling level of force […]

By Chris King, The St. Louis American ST. LOUIS — Jesse Jackson told The American he hopes that the U.S. Department of Justice sees the Ferguson Police shooting of Michael Brown on Saturday and resulting community violence as “systematic of a national crisis.”Jackson said, “It was a crime of injustice.” Jackson said.The injustice, he said, […]

By Peter Costantini SEATTLE (IPS) —In 1958, when New York State was considering raising its minimum wage, merchants complained that their profit margins were so small that they would have to cut their work forces or go out of business.  In 2014 in Seattle at hearings on a proposed minimum wage increase, some businesses voiced […]

By Freddie Allen, NNPA Washington Correspondent WASHINGTON (NNPA) —Black men are no better off than they were more than 40 years ago, due to mass incarceration and job losses suffered during the Great Recession, according to a new report by researchers at the University of Chicago.Derek Neal and Armin Rick, the co-authors of the study, […]

By A.B. Nickerson, Special to the NNPA from the New York Amsterdam News NEW YORK —When a white police officer kills an unarmed Black man, as it happened last week on Staten Island, you can expect a furious outrage from one part of the community and an attempt to justify the death from the other […]

By Kanya D’Almeida NEW YORK  (IPS) — Thousands of New Yorkers took to the streets in multiple protests this past week against the Israeli offensive in Gaza, which has left at least 1,049 Palestinians dead and over 6,000 injured since Jul. 8.Among demonstrators’ many demands was that the U.S. government end its massive flow of […]

By Marc H. Morial “As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn't leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I'd still be in prison.”   Nelson Mandela Earlier this month, we announced a diverse list of speakers taking the stage at this week’s National Urban […]

By Julia Hotz WASHINGTON  (IPS) — A new ranking has lauded Germany for its energy efficiency, while condemning the United States for lagging near the bottom.The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), a non-profit here, called the U.S. economy’s inefficiency “a tremendous waste” of both resources and money, in a scorecard released Thursday. Looking […]

By Jazelle Hunt, Washington Correspondent WASHINGTON (NNPA) – The U.S. Black Chambers (USBC) and the National Association of Black Hotel Owners, Operators, and Developers (NABHOOD) are formally partnering to make sure that a significant portion of the $40 billion African Americans spend each year on travel and tourism remains in Black hands.The partnership was launched […]

By Freddie Allen, NNPA Washington Correspondent  WASHINGTON (NNPA) — Although many are nostalgically reflecting on 50 years ago when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed into law, there was no universal agreement on what tactics to deploy in the fight for equality, according to a report on the movement by the Economic Policy […]