African Americans

Who Invented Memorial Day?

Jim Downs | Posted 05.25.2012

Read More: Logan, u.s. History, Civil War, Culture, Memorial Day, Washington, South Carolina, U.S.A, Charleston, Americans, United States, U.S, Dc, African Americans, African-American Issues, Memorial Day Weekend, Politics News

As America recognizes the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War, we would do well to revisit the origins of Memorial Day among freedpeople in Charleston.

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Why I Love Eating at Restaurants

Laverne H. Bardy | Posted 05.24.2012

Most retirees spend money doing things they couldn't afford or didn't have time for before they retired. My guilty pleasure is eating out. Here's why.

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The Conservative Fantasy History Of Civil Rights

New York Magazine | Posted 05.22.2012

Read More: National Review, Civil Rights Act, Conservatives, Ronald Reagan, Harry Truman, Conservatism, Strom Thurmond, Democrats, African-Americans, Civil Rights, Barack Obama, Republicans, Politics News

The civil rights movement, once a controversial left-wing fringe, has grown deeply embedded into the fabric of our national story. This is a salutary ...

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The Romney Hypocrisy: Bain, Job Creation Fallacies and the Working-Class White Vote

Edward Wyckoff Williams | Posted 05.18.2012

Read More: Think Progress, Working-Class, Job Creation, George W. Bush, Sarah Palin, Bain Capital, Elections 2012, Mitt Romney, Fox News, Jobs, Newt Gingrich, African Americans, Recession, Barack Obama, White Voters, Bv-Politics, Video, Black Voices News

Perhaps Mitt Romney insists on making the 2012 campaign a referendum on President Obama's record, in an effort to ignore his own. The stark contrast between Barack's legacy and Mitt's lies could not be more apparent.

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Learning The Reality Of Racism

Craig S. Keener | Posted 05.15.2012

Read More: Racism, Prejudice, African Americans, Africa, Black Church, Race in America, Race and Religion, Religion News

Sometimes white people think that racism is a dead issue, because they do not experience it. Yet it is not wise to judge other people's experience based on our non-experience.

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Will President Obama be Jack Johnson-ed?

Lawrence D. Elliott | Posted 05.14.2012

Read More: Elections 2012, Sports, Boxing, Obama Reelection, African-Americans, African Americans, President Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Power & Politics, Bv-Politics, Black Voices News

Will President Obama be Jack Johnson-ed? If he becomes a single-term President, will he become the symbol of why blacks can't be trusted with the office? Will it be like some sort of cultural experiment?

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It Really is Okay to Earn the Black Vote, Mr. President

Morris W. O'Kelly | Posted 05.11.2012

Read More: Politics, Immigration Reform, Michelle Obama, Michele Bachmann, President Obama, Lgbtq, African-Americans, Barney Frank, Mitt Romney, Joe Biden, Race, Race-Relations, Gay Marriage, Rusty Depass, Bv-Politics, Black Voices News

The inconvenient truth about being the first Black president is the Black part. It seems America wants all of the credit for electing a man of color to the Oval Office but wants no part of the reality that race still matters in America.

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On Marriage, African Americans Aren't a Monolithic Voting Bloc

Minister Leslie Watson Malachi | Posted 05.10.2012

Read More: African-American Voters, Black Voters, African Americans, Gay Marriage, Same-Sex Marriage, Black Voices News

In 2008, I heard too many pundits imply that African Americans would automatically vote for President Obama simply because he is black. Today, I'm hearing that the only thing that will drive us away from him is the issue of marriage for gays and lesbians. Both assumptions are offensive.

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Are Black Women Obese Because We Want to Be?

Dr. Maya Rockeymoore | Posted 05.08.2012

Read More: Black Women, Women, Exercise, Health Disparities, Food, Fat, Physical Fitness, Obesity, African Americans, Childhood Obesity, Sugar, Women News

African-American women must not be reluctant to discuss the issue of obesity if we are to address the health disparities that make us, and the children for whom we are primary caretakers, live sicker and shorter lives.

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Toni Morrison: Building an American Home

Richard Z. Santos | Posted 05.03.2012

Read More: Literature, Nobel Prize, Toni Morrison, Book Review, Jazz, Novels, The Bluest Eye, Beloved, Books, African Americans, Toni Morrison Home, Books News

Searching for home -- for a safe place to rest your head, grow a family, and be part of a community -- occupies the heart of Morrison's body of work. How fitting then that her latest book has such a simple title: Home.

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Obama Presidency Lures Out Dormant Racism

Nicole Glass | Posted 05.03.2012

Read More: Arkansas, Little Rock, Racism, Dwight Eisenhower, Terrence Roberts, Civil Rights, Trayvon Martin, Little Rock Nine, African Americans, Race Relations, Politics News

The end of a racist nation cannot just come from an integration of races in schools, the workplace and politics. It must come from a very personal change in perception. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 changed the law, but it's the people that change a culture.

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An Unexpected Encounter: Putting My Anti-Racism Training to Work

Rev. Peter M. Wallace | Posted 05.01.2012

Read More: Racism, Anti-Racism, Race Relations, Episcopal Church, African Americans, Religion News

If I hadn't been at the Anti-Racism Training that day, would I have been so quick to invite this unknown African American man into my car? And give him that much money?

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Ministers Betray the Black Community by Defending Race-Baiting Group

Alvin McEwen | Posted 04.24.2012

Read More: Gay Rights, Maggie Gallagher, Gay Marriage, Harry Jackson, African Americans, Brian Brown, National Organization for Marriage, Power & Politics, Black Voices News

The National Organization for Marriage has been steadily attempting to blunt the charges that it is trying to drive a wedge between the black and gay communities on the subject of marriage equality.

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Novelists Who Were More Enlightened Than Their Era

Dave Astor | Posted 04.19.2012

Read More: Harriet Beecher Stowe, Women, Stereotypes, John Steinbeck, Wilkie Collins, Novels, Asian Americans, Racism, Alexandre Dumas, Anti-Racism, Biracial, Herman Melville, Mark Twain, African Americans, Books News

The 1800s were of course a time of blatant racism, and many authors reflected that by depicting fictional characters of color in horribly stereotyped ways. Or they omitted those characters entirely, as if the world was populated by whites only.

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Race Controversy In Seinfeld Super Bowl Acura Ad (VIDEO)

The Huffington Post | Ron Dicker | Posted 04.18.2012

Read More: tmz.com, Video, Not Too Dark, Super Bowl Commercials 2012, Jerry Seinfeld, Tmz, Blacks, Jay Leno, Acura, Acura Commercial, Super Bowl Commercials, African-Americans, African Americans, Business News

Think black actors have it tough in the movies? If casting standards for the Super Bowl Acura commercial with Jerry Seinfeld were any indication, the ...

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Will Trayvon Martin Be A Watershed Moment in Race Relations? That Depends On You

Melanie Coffee | Posted 04.16.2012

Read More: Racism, Al Sharpton, George Zimmerman, National Action Network, Post-Racial, African Americans, Trayvon Martin, Black Voices News

Now that George Zimmerman has been charged in Trayvon Martin's death, I am wondering what's next. I'm not talking about the next steps in the judicial process, I want to know what's next when it comes to America's relationship with race.

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The Indie on Demand Movie Review: Kinyarwanda

Dan Persons | Posted 04.12.2012

Read More: Movie Reviews, Rwanda Genocide, Rwanda, Genocide, Drama, Africa, Atrocities, Film, African Americans, Movies, Entertainment News

This time, we're looking at Kinyarwanda, a new drama in which director Alrick Brown uses a fractured timeline and mutable genres to portray how the Rwandan genocide of 1994 looked to those trapped in its madness.

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Bringing the 20th Century Civil Rights Movement Into 21st Century Classrooms

Charlayne Hunter-Gault | Posted 04.12.2012

Read More: Black History, Civil Rights Movement, African-American History, African Americans, Civil Rights, Martin Luther King, Segregation, American History, Civil Rights Leaders, Nelson Mandela, Apartheid, Rosa Parks, South Africa, Education News

How do we encourage young people at home and abroad, in South Africa and now those young people heavily invested in the as yet unsettled Arab Spring, to "keep on keepin' on," as the footsoldiers of the Civil Rights Movement used to pledge?

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Health Equity Can't Wait

Sec. Kathleen Sebelius | Posted 04.12.2012

Read More: Latinos, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Health Disparities, Health Care Reform, Affordable Care Act, Hhs, Global Motherhood, Minority Health, Minority Health Care, Health and Human Services, Health Care, Obama Health Care, African Americans, Home News

April is National Minority Health Month, a time to raise awareness about the well-documented health disparities that continue to affect racial and ethnic minorities, as well as highlight how the Affordable Care Act is reducing those disparities.

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The Government's New Way of Measuring Student Success: Implications for Black Colleges

Marybeth Gasman | Posted 04.12.2012

Read More: Ipeds, Marybeth Gasman, Black Colleges, Graduation, Low-Income, African Americans, Pell Grant, Hbcus, Education News

The new federal measurements are not official yet and they are not perfect, but they are a start. We are on our way to capturing student success, in terms of graduation rates, in a more complete and fair manner.

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America's Public Schools: Still Unequal And Unjust

Marian Wright Edelman | Posted 04.08.2012

Read More: Public Schools, Resources, Latino, Low-Minority, Arne Duncan, Expulsion Rate, Teacher Salaries, Funding, High-Minority, Teacher Salary, Out-of-School Suspensions, African American, Civil Rights, Low-Performing Schools, Grade Retention, Racism, Department of Education Civil Rights Data Collection Survey, Discrimination, Black, Dropout, Public Education, African-Americans, African Americans, Tracking, The Great Equalizer, Department of Education, Zero Tolerance, Office for Civil Rights, Ineffective Teachers, Education, Secretary of Education, Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, Teachers, Inequality, Home News

The struggle to make sure a quality education is available to every child -- and not just a privilege for a few -- is the unfinished and critical business before the nation for it will determine America's future place on the global stage in a rapidly changing competitive world.

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WATCH: 'The Skinny' On LGBT People Of Color In Film

Earnest Winborne | Posted 04.04.2012

Read More: Video, Lgbt, Outfest Fusion, Outfest Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, Lesbian, Latino, Black, Gay, Film, African Americans, Gay Voices News

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Trayvon Martin: Not a Symbol for Vigilante Justice

Lawrence D. Elliott | Posted 03.29.2012

Read More: New Black Panther Party, El Cajon, George Zimmerman, Crime, African Americans, Trayvon Martin, Crime News

If the only justice Trayvon Martin's family can receive is the street kind, then the image of justice in America will have been greatly tarnished. Justice in our country is supposed to be delivered at the end of a legal trial from a jury of one's peers, not at the end of a vigilante's gun.

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A Lifetime Of Isolated Incidents

Rev. John H. Vaughn | Posted 05.28.2012

Read More: Trayvon Martin, Gun Violence, Racism, George Zimmerman, Race in America, African Americans, Black Church, Religion News

There comes a point for many black Americans when the "isolated incidents" are no longer those, but symptoms of deeper expressions and manifestations of racism. The killing of Trayvon Martin comes as yet another "isolated incident."

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The Lesson We Can Learn From 'The Hunger Games'

Michael McAfee | Posted 05.27.2012

Read More: Latinos, Education, Hunger, Poverty, Promise Neighborhoods, Harlem Children's Zone, The Hunger Games, African Americans, Gulfton, Spring-Into-Action, Impact News

If we don't prepare all of our children today to be the leaders of tomorrow, our entire economy will suffer. We cannot be indifferent to those held back most by the painful inequality in our country; if we are, it will be the downfall of this great nation.

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