Of the more than 330,000 U.S. students studying abroad, only 6.1 percent are African American and 10.1 percent are Latino. This is one in a series of articles by students of color who are breaking down barriers by studying abroad thanks to the Frederick Douglass Global Fellows program, which awards 10 full scholarships a year to students at Minority Serving Institutions. These students will periodically share their stories, hopefully inspiring others to apply. Join our social media campaign, #CIEEmpowered #MSInspirational #FrederickDouglassGlobalFellows, that is celebrating these extraordinary students, like Chinwendu L. Maduegbunam, a senior at Fayetteville State University, and their experiences studying abroad. Please view and share Chinwendu’s video story at http://bit.ly/ChinwenduMaduegbunam ... read more »

The midterms revealed that the margin for victory in Georgia is within reach. Abrams lost to Republican Brian Kemp by about 55,000 votes out of nearly 4 million votes cast. Clearly, a surge in the size of the Black voter base could close such a gap and end a drought in state representation dating to Reconstruction.  ... read more »

Nearly half a million people die every year from complications from smoking. About a tenth of them never put a cigarette to their lips – they die from exposure to second-hand smoke. Death from tobacco is, according to the Centers for Disease Control, the leading cause of preventable death. But too many people, enticed by advertising, think that smoking is so "cool" that they embrace it. And the tobacco industry spent more than $9 billion on smoking advertising, or about a million dollars an hour. ... read more »

“… she wanted a better life for her son, so she enrolled him in the Norwalk public schools despite having no real ties to the city. ‘When the city found out that it was spending its money educating her boy, it demanded that Ms. McDowell be charged with a crime,’ Pattis said. ‘Norwalk prosecutors, known statewide for an unreasoning mean-streak, obliged. She was charged with first-degree larceny,’ said Norm Pattis, a trial lawyer who is fighting for freedom “one client at a time.” ... read more »

Many of us are familiar with Gayle King, but we usually think of her as Oprah’s bestie.  A few years ago, while attending the California Women’s Conference when Maria Shriver was California’s First Lady and the leader of the conference, I was given a chance to go back stage and meet Ms. King. I found her very approachable and friendly.  It was a short encounter, but enough time to leave a positive impression on me. Although Gayle has a strong personality and she has accomplished many things during her career, I think some people can under estimate her because of her relationship with Oprah, but don’t sleep on her because she is a queen. ... read more »

Eliminating the elected taxpayers advocates on the Board of Equalization (BOE)  and replacing them with bureaucratic tax collectors is counterintuitive to the democratic arguments for “No Taxation Without Representation.” This is especially true, given that the covert motives of some to increase tax revenues.   ... read more »

“Presidential elections and the voter experience have long been fraught for black people. From racist poll taxes to made-up literacy tests to the egregious rollback of voting rights over the past 50 years, American democracy has, at times, felt like a weird and failed social experiment.” —Patrisse Cullors ... read more »

For Black unionists, labor reforms, like those in education, law enforcement and politics, are more rhetoric than reality.  ... read more »

Life presents challenges. Sometimes it may be difficult to “think outside the box.” However, we move forward and survey where we have been, how we evaluate life’s path…it takes meditation, thinking through what’s happened. Look at the highlights, the successes and things which may not have worked well as you would have preferred. Patience. Life isn’t a straight line. It’s more like a graft, ups and downs. In this retrospective, one may be tempted to compare one’s own life’s tracks with those of others. Be reminded, you have your personal gifts and talents which you should singularly compare with yourself, not others. Who are we admiring? It’s repeatedly proven that some, if not many of you may be admiring at a distance let you down morally, ethically and otherwise. ... read more »

Wood and gossip serve the same purpose ... ... read more »

This is the month for celebrating the miracles and wonders we call Black women, that other half of our community which makes us, as a people, whole, these equal and most worthy partners in life, love and struggle to bring good in the world. ... read more »

Serious steps that must be taken to close the achievement gap and improve educational outcomes for our lowest-performing students. In September 2018, California took a huge step forward in supporting thousands of students who are being left behind academically year after year. ... read more »

In this era of political madness, mean-spiritedness, racial and religious scapegoating, continued and expanding police violence, obscene inequities in wealth and power, mass incarceration, extensive and needless poverty and proposals for mass deportations, immigration bans, an apartheid wall and national registries of suspected and stigmatized peoples, there is an urgent need for an African American communal voice of  moral courage, political reason, and expanded righteous and relentless resistance. In a word, there is a pressing need for an African American ethical agenda speaking to the critical issues of our times. ... read more »

Coming of age in the 1970s, I can still vividly remember seeing Marvin Gaye at the Kool Jazz Festival at the Oakland Coliseum and thinking how wonderful it was that Kool cigarettes were supporting our artists. I was a teenager and didn't connect that Big Tobacco's sponsorships, product giveaways, and money were simply part of their master plan to get and keep Black people hooked to menthol cigarettes. It was predatory targeting and customer recruitment all dressed up as support for the Black community.  Their ability to link this deadly product to the natural "coolness" of Black people was a true marketing triumph. ... read more »

The National Action Network (NAN),one of the nation’s leading civil rights organizations with chapters throughout the entire United States, is focused on promoting a civil rights agenda that includes the fight for one standard of justice and equity for all people regardless of race, religion, nationality or gender. ... read more »