By Marc H. Morial “Art is a weapon in the struggle of ideas, the class struggle.”                Amiri Baraka On January 9, with the passing of the prolific poet, playwright, essayist, and critic Amiri Baraka, one of the literary giants of the 20th century was called home.  As we offer condolences to his wife, children and […]

By Floyd Alvin Galloway, special to The NNPA from the Arizona Informant PHOENIX – As most citizens across the country were celebrating the life and stellar accomplishments of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. over the federal King Holiday Weekend in a respectful way – some by attending special programs and others by volunteering for community […]

By Bryant Harris WASHINGTON (IPS) — Seventy-five economists, including seven Nobel Prize laureates, sent an open letter to President Barack Obama and the U.S. Congress on Tuesday, urging them to raise the federal minimum wage.The same day, the president formally endorsed legislation that would incrementally raise the minimum wage to 10.10 dollars by 2016."When you’re […]

By Gareth Porter WASHINGTON (IPS) — Criticism in the memoirs of former secretary of defense Robert M. Gates of President Barack Obama’s lack of commitment to the Afghan War strategy of his administration has generated a Washington debate about whether Obama was sufficiently supportive of the war.But the Gates account omits two crucial historical facts […]

By Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. The 50th anniversary of Lyndon Johnson’s declaration of a war on poverty brought long overdue attention to his commitment. Today, with one in five children in America still raised in poverty, an accounting is vital as part of a renewed commitment.But largely absent from the debate around the war on […]

By Lee A. Daniels Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. hasn’t been this alive since 1968.He’s no longer that visually distant, two-dimensional figure, limited to speaking a single sentence taken out of context and shorn of its true meaning. Instead, the honest scholarship and media commentary considering what King faced and what he did have broken […]

By George E. Curry, NNPA Editor-in-Chief  PRETORIA, South Africa (NNPA) — A month after his death, there is a bitter struggle to define —and, in many instances, re-define — the legacy of Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first democratically elected president.“There is an attempt to do in his death what they could not do in life […]

By Jim Lobe  WASHINGTON (IPS) — If U.S. President Barack Obama conceived his foreign policy prospects for 2014 as a popular child’s board game, the snakes he will have to jump over significantly outnumber the ladders that can propel him to success.As they have since he took office five years ago, the most dangerous “snakes” […]

By Freddie Allen, NNPA Washington Correspondent WASHINGTON (NNPA) –The downturn in the economy and a lack of local resources have forced more Americans to live under bridges, in their cars and on the couches of other family members, according to a recent report on hunger and homelessness.The 25-city survey, conducted by the United States Conference […]

By Carey L. Biron WASHINGTON  (IPS) – The U.S. wind industry looks set to enter a period of uncertainty, with an important government subsidy expiring at the end of the month and no clear plan for lawmakers to work towards an extension.Because of the way the subsidy, known as the wind production tax credit (PTC), […]