Civil Rights

Vernon Jordan On Whitney M. Young, Jr.: One Visionary Warrior Pays Tribute To Another

This Saturday, July 31st, we remember and celebrate Whitney Moore Young, Jr., on the centennial of his birth. Young served at the helm of the National Urban League during the turbulent decade from 1961 to 1971, overseeing the greatest expansion of scope and mission our organization has seen in more than a century. As the activism of the Civil Rights Movement expanded from the courts to mass-action non-violent demonstrations in the streets of both southern and northern communities, Young forcefully and publicly projected the League’s tenets of social work and civil rights as never before.    During our Equal Opportunity

James Cadogan Named Executive Director of National Basketball Social Justice Coalition

The National Basketball Social Justice Coalition today announced that James Cadogan has been appointed as its first Executive Director. Cadogan will assume the new position on May 10, 2021 and drive the strategic vision and day-to-day operations of the Coalition. Announced in November 2020, the Coalition will lead the NBA family’s collaborative efforts to address racial inequality and advance social justice by raising awareness, educating and advocating for meaningful policy change in several areas, including voting access and criminal justice system reform at the national, state and local level.

Disenfranchised and Marginalized Communities See Hope with Biden, Harris

On his first day, just hours after taking the oath of office, President Biden signed a host of executive orders – one of them aimed at ensuring racial equity. “It is, therefore, the policy of my administration that the federal government should pursue a comprehensive approach to advancing equity for all, including people of color and others who have been historically underserved, marginalized, and adversely affected by persistent poverty and inequality” President Biden proclaimed.

ACLU, for first time, elects Black person as its president

Deborah Archer, a professor at New York University School of Law with expertise in civil rights and racial justice, has become the first Black person in the 101-year history of the American Civil Liberties Union to be elected its president.

Black man shot by deputy held a sandwich, not a gun

Civil rights and FBI investigators will help look into the fatal shooting by an Ohio sheriff’s deputy of a Black man whose family says that he was holding not a gun, but a sandwich, and that he was shot in front of two toddlers and his grandmother while inside his home, not outside it, as authorities assert.