Martin Luther King jr

Voting Is the Centerpiece of Our Democracy

August 6 was the 55th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act. If the constitutional amendments passed after the Civil War — the 13, 14 and 15th Amendments — were the “second founding” of democracy in America, the Voting Rights Act, which after nearly a century of segregation gave legal effect to the 15th Amendment that outlawed discrimination in the right to vote, should be considered the “third founding.”

WATCH: L.A. County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas speaks about importance of testing COVID-19

The Martin Luther King Jr., community hospital is now operating at high-quality services to help an underserved community. United Health Care donated 10,000 COVID safety kits to the MLK outpatient center. Those safety kits contain hand sanitizers, masks, hand tools, toilet paper, and educational materials on how to stay safe during the Coronavirus.

Councilmember Price Hosts Virtual Discussion with South L.A. Youth titled “Protest and Unrest”

“If we are to create a more inclusive, equitable and just society, we must listen to our young people. This moment is eerily familiar to when I learned that Martin Luther King, Jr. had been assassinated on April 4, 1968. As the first Black student body president at Morningside High School in Inglewood, I refused to let the movement die with him so I organized a rally in the auditorium where we mourned with the world and made a promise to carry out his mission. Here we are again, decades later, at a monumental moment in our history and on the precipice of another impending breakthrough being led by our collective force of people from all walks of life and every color of the rainbow.”  

The Trifecta of Black Disempowerment: Poverty, Pollution, and the Pandemic

The country’s largest cities released numbers showing the novel coronavirus is having a disproportionate impact on racial minorities. Epidemiologists say this is because my Black and Brown brothers and sisters often live close together in multigenerational households, work in jobs in which we interact closely with others, and have higher rates of asthma, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and other conditions. Officials in Los Angeles County said that Black people alone accounted for 17% of COVID-19 deaths where race was known – yet African-Americans make up only about 9% of the county’s population.   

The MLK Legacy Continues Despite Staggering Evil

“We may debate over the origin of evil, but only the person victimized with a superficial optimism will debate over its reality. Evil is with us as a stark, grim, and colossal reality.”

The Storied History of the NAACP

The NAACP plans to highlight 110 years of civil rights history, and the current fight for voting rights, criminal justice reform, economic opportunity and education quality during its 110th national convention now happening in Detroit.

California Legislature Passes Joint Resolution in Support of a Bayard Rustin Commemorative Postage Stamp

On February 26, the California Legislature passed a joint resolution in support of the national Bayard Rustin Stamp campaign. Spearheaded by Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo (AD 51), the concurrent resolution ACR-27 “honors the legacy of Bayard Rustin, who stood at the confluence of the greatest struggles for civil, legal, and human rights by African Americans, as well as the LGBTQ community, and whose focus on civil and economic rights and belief in peace and the dignity of all people remains as relevant today as ever.”

NAACP Celebrates 110th Anniversary of Freedom Fighting

“Had there been no May 17, 1954 (the day the Supreme Court ruled in Brown V. Board of Education), I’m not sure there would have been a Little Rock. I’m not sure there would have been a Martin Luther King Jr., or Rosa Parks, had it not been for May 17, 1954. It created an environment for us to push, for us to pull,” Lewis said.

Bennett College Raises $8.2 Million to Keep Accreditation

“We’ve raised enough to produce additional resources. That’s what we did – and more,” Dawkins said in announcing that the all-women’s school had raised $8.2 million, or $3.2 million more than the $5 million needed to save the accreditation.Stacy M. Brown, Bennett College, Phyllis Worthy Dawkins, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, historically black college, accreditation, $8.2 million, Fundraising efforts, High Point University, Nido Qubein, United Methodist Church, Martin Luther King Jr., Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, Presbyterian Church, Rev. John Chavis