Boys are Not Miniature Men: Our Part in Mohamed Mohamud’s Prosecution

What the FBI did is as old as history, as profitable as NCAA athletics, as irresistable as US military adventures

2013-02-05

Ronault LS Catalani

Our boy Mohamed was 19 when undercover agents of the government of the United States began mentoring him.  And supplying him.  Praising God with him, praying like devout adults.  Today he’s 20 and facing prison for life, for his part in an FBI plot to park a fake truck-bomb at Portland’s 2011 Christmas Tree-lighting. Read the complete article

Embracing Black History by Julianne Malveaux

These celebrations are important historical moments, but who remembers?

2013-02-04

Many will remember that King said, “I have a dream that one day people will be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”  Somehow people forget that in the same speech he said, “We have come to the nation’s capital to cash a check that has been marked insufficient funds.”  If people said “cash the check” as often as they said “I have a dream,” we’d move more quickly forward in closing the economic gaps that African Americans experience. Read the complete article

VIDEO Superbowl: Does God Take Sides?

Dean Obeidallah: If God backs teams for championships, God likes the Yankees

2013-02-01

By Dean Obeidallah CNN

A new poll finds 27 percent of Americans believe that God “plays a role in determining which team wins” sporting events. That means about 80 million Americans believe that God will help one of the teams in this Sunday's Super Bowl. Read the complete article

Obama Let Down Immigrants By Excessive Deportation, Inhumane Detention Centers

A DREAM Act student questions how much to trust reform promises

2013-01-30

By Tania Unzueta Carrasco

Tania Unzueta Carrasco, an undocumented immigrant, asks “How much hope can I have in President Obama, who has deported people at a higher rate than any other in the nation's history?” Read the complete article

Credit Card Reform Fears Never Materialized

Despite these encouraging developments, debt remains a weighty financial burden for millions of Americans

2013-01-28

Charlene Crowell NNPA Columnist

Consumers benefited while issuers continued to profit. At the same time, the nation’s top five credit card issuers – who accounted for more than half of the credit card market with combined portfolios of $475 billion, continued to enjoy net earnings that were significantly higher than those of other commercial banks. Read the complete article

The Emancipation of the Wilmington Ten by Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr.

With 10 courageous strokes of her ink pen, Gov. Beverly Perdue acted to rectify what she described as a case of 'naked racism'

2013-01-28

On behalf of the four deceased members of the Wilmington Ten – William “Joe” Wright Jr, Jerry Jacobs, Ann Shepard, and Connie Tindall – and on behalf of six living members of the Wilmington Ten – Wayne Moore, Willie Earl Vereen, Reginald Epps, James McKoy, and Marvin Patrick – I express our heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to all who helped to make this moment possible.  Read the complete article

Obama Races Away from the Issue of Race

'This president runs from race like a Black man runs from a cop'

2013-01-28

George E. Curry NNPA Columnist

Why couldn’t President Obama utter Dr. King’s name on the day he used the slain civil rights leader’s Bible to be sworn in?  On King’s birthday, why couldn’t he be called more than just a preacher? Read the complete article

King’s Greatest Legacy: Seeing Polarization as Progress

Too many King ceremonies indulge too much in the simplistic, feel-good rhetoric

2013-01-22

Lee A. Daniels NNPA Columnist

I’ve always disliked the way Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday is often celebrated. Read the complete article

NRA: Hands Off Malia and Sasha Obama

The ad conveniently ignores the fact that the Secret Service is required to protect the president’s children

2013-01-22

George E. Curry NNPA Columnist

Just when you think leaders of the National Rifle Association can’t stoop any lower, they keep managing to plunge even deeper. This time, they have strayed way over the line of respectability by using Malia and Sasha’s enrollment in Sidwell Friends, a private Quaker school, to malign President Obama over his proposal to place limits on the sale of assault rifles and expand background checks. Read the complete article

Technology: the New Frontier of Inequality or the New American Promise?

Speech for The 2013 Dr. Martin Luther King Breakfast in Portland

2013-01-21

Dr. Irma McClaurin

Dr. Irma McClaurin’s keynote speechat the Skanner Foundation's 2013 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebration scholarship breakfast. held at the Hilton Hotel in downtown Portland Read the complete article