Tag: commentary
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Economy Must Better Serve Black and Latino Consumers
By Charlene Crowell Anyone who works for a living knows that their money goes a lot quicker than the time it takes to earn it. And for low-to-moderate income workers, the costs of everyday living creep higher and quicker than pay raises or cost-of-living adjustments. These and other kitchen table finance concerns are part of ... -
Forgive Federal Student Loans Held by Disabled Veterans
By Charlene Crowell Although Memorial Day is considered by many civilians as the unofficial start of summer, the true intent of the holiday is to annually honor those who lost their lives fighting for our country. The men and women who wear or have worn this nation’s uniform in military service across wars and generations ... -
Black Billionaire Adopts Morehouse Graduating Class
By Charlene Crowell The annual season of college commencements have a unique way of bringing together multiple generations of families in celebration. For the 135th graduating class of Atlanta’s Morehouse College, commencement marked another event that was as unexpected as it was generous. Robert F. Smith, the event’s speaker who is also Chairman and CEO of ... -
To Commemorate Brown, Support Our Teachers
By Julianne Malveaux Sixty-five years ago, the Supreme Court ruled, in the Brown v. Board of Education case, that the Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) doctrine of “separate but equal” was unconstitutional. That ruling ended legal segregation in public facilities, but it did not necessarily accomplish its goals in terms of school desegregation. Indeed, Richard Rothstein, ... -
How Strong is Our Economy?
By Julianne Malveaux The April unemployment rate, at 3.6 percent, is at its lowest rate since December 1969. Payroll employment increased by more than 250,000, outperforming expectations and reversing the disappointing job creation numbers of last month. First quarter growth was reported at 3.2 percent, a robust figure that exceeds estimates, earlier this year, that ... -
Toward a Living Wage
By Julianne Malveaux It is unfathomable that the federal minimum wage has not been increased in more than a decade, since 2007. That the wage, at $7.25 per hour, has remained flat through recession and recovery, through extremely high unemployment rates and much lower ones. Republicans have absolutely refused to consider minimum wage increases, and ... -
Stop Invisible Lynchings in America
By Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. No form of lynching should be tolerated or permitted in America. A lynching is defined as putting a person or a group of people to death by hanging a person or group with or without legal due process. However, in the no so distant past, the hideous act of ... -
A More Diverse Congress, a More Perfect Union?
By Julianne Malveaux The 116th Congress, sworn in on January 3, is the most diverse our nation has ever seen. There are more women – 102 – than ever before. More members of the Congressional Black Caucus – 55 – than ever before. Indeed, a former Congressional Black Caucus intern, Lauren Underwood (D-IL) is part ... -
Hate and Horror — When Does It Stop?
By Julianne Malveaux As strange as it seems, I now view the Bush years with nostalgia. Both Big Bush (POTUS 41) and his son Shrub (POTUS 43) incurred the ire of Democrats, with Shrubs Supreme Court-complicit theft of the 2000 election prompting anger and protests. Both Bushes, perhaps because of their love of country, comported ... -
Do Children All Need to Succeed The Same Way?
By Dr. Elizabeth Primas, Program Manager, NNPA ESSA Public Awareness Campaign The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines standards as, “something established by authority, custom, or general consent as a model or example. For example,” the Egyptians established the 365-day calendar, recording 4236 BC as the first year in recorded history. Around 1100 AD in England, it was ...