March 4, 2010
Part of Obama’s goal with the $787 billion stimulus package, also known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, was to aim federal dollars and stimulate the economy in areas that have been hardest hit by the recession. The Act was intended to preserve and create jobs and promote economic recovery to assist those most impacted by the recession.
Read moreJanuary 26, 2010
A few weeks have passed since a federal appeals court decided that a state law that disenfranchised inmates in Washington was racially discriminatory and prohibited by the Voting Rights Act.
Read moreJanuary 22, 2010
Ousted Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s recent comments in Esquire magazine that he’s “blacker than Barack Obama” demonstrates an utter misconception of what it means to be Black. Although that statement was the opinion of a completely discredited politician, the fact that the “blacker” statement seemed like a reasonable thing to say in a mainstream publication shows evidence of a deeper issue. The statement is symbolic of America’s continuing failure to truly understand Black people’s ongoing struggle for equality.
Read moreJanuary 21, 2010
The fact that people are dying for lack of water and food and basic medical supplies—more than a week after Haiti suffered a catastrophic earthquake is shocking beyond words. But that’s the reality the nation’s residents are facing.
Read moreJanuary 19, 2010
Race issues are rarely discussed in a meaningful and substantive way in mainstream print or broadcast media. Yet, somehow, the possibility that a prominent person has revealed personal racial bias in some statement that hits airwaves and headlines often sends the media atwitter.
This happened recently when newspapers and television stations learned that Sen. Harry Reid talked about the supposed benefits of Obama’s light-skinned complexion on his bid for the presidency along with his lack of a “Negro dialect.”
Read moreJanuary 14, 2010
Jan. 15, 2010 marks the 81st anniversary of the birth of one of America’s greatest citizens, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It also marks the last full day of the term of another great American, Governor Tim Kaine. The coincidence of these events has an ironic ring of hopefulness, as the nation awaits a signal from Governor Tim Kaine as to whether he will walk down the path of justice when he leaves office. Governor Kaine has the plenary power to issue an executive order on or before Jan.
Read moreDecember 3, 2009
Advancement Project aims to set the record straight on policies and laws that make it harder for poor people, People of Color and immigrants to live a decent life free of inequality.
And today is one of those days that we feel compelled to call out both Democrats and Republicans for failing to pursue policies that would lead to greater healthcare equality.
Read moreDecember 2, 2009
A story in yesterday’s New York Times speaks to the ways in which race is still very much a burden for African Americans, despite the historical milestone achieved in electing the nation’s first African-American president.
The story even raises the question of whether Obama’s election might make it harder to address racial discrimination given that some Americans think race issues are a thing of the past.
Read moreNovember 17, 2009
The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington is intentionally planning to make the lives of the poor and needy just a little bit harder should a proposal to allow same-sex marriage become law.
Yep, You read that right. The church—angry that it would be required under the proposed law to avoid discriminating against gay couples by having to extend employee benefits to same-sex couples and open adoptions to gay parents—is threatening to cutoff the help it provides to D.C. residents through city contracts.
Read moreOctober 1, 2009
We need a new civil rights movement. I’m sure some are inclined to ask why I’d say that. We ended legal segregation in the 1960s. We have a Black president. People are far more accepting now of racial difference than they once were. We’ve ended the rigid racial categorizations that refused to see beyond Black and White. Everyone from Tiger Woods to Mariah Carey to CNN Anchor Soledad O’Brien, now wear their multiracial heritage proudly and many have welcomed these newly accepted definitions of race.
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