"First, when you have a foreign government helping one of the parties, that's a major problem, and it makes it more difficult," Dean stated. "What [Russian President] Vladimir Putin is trying to do is not so much to support a person, but he's really trying to eliminate any idea of truth. He's attacking the country in a very clear and more dangerous way. He's gone further than they even did during the Cold War. So, these are pretty big problems that we have to figure out how to overcome." ... read more »

Violent episodes were the exceptions and not the rule of the massively spreading Sit-in Movement. ... read more »

Samuel J. Battle, the first African American police officer in the NYPD was born in New Bern, NC, 1883. ... read more »

Jones said voting rights had been under attack since the 2013 Shelby V. Holder decision, which eliminated a lot of voter protections. “It’s not the same as the old Jim Crow laws, but there’s still efforts out there to suppress votes and keep people from having that free access to the booths,” he stated. Jones noted that he’s working to restore “teeth” in the Voting Rights Act but doubts that the current GOP-led Senate and President Trump’s administration would approve. “I don’t see it happening, so it’s all the more important to get out and vote in the 2020 elections.” ... read more »

Jazz drummer, pioneer of bebop, Max Roach, was born in Pasquotank County, North Carolina, 1924. ... read more »

The bill would require all states to get federal approval for election changes known to disproportionately affect voters of color. ... read more »

This month, my organization, the National Alliance of Public Charter Schools released its highly-anticipated report, “Identity and Charter School Leadership: Profiles of Leaders of Color Building an Effective Staff” which examined the ways that school leaders of color’s experiences and perspectives influence how they build school culture, parent and community relationships, and effective staff. ... read more »

Longtime political activist and host of SiriusXM’s “The Joe Madison Show,” Joe Madison has mastered the art of dealing with Russian trolls. “We were targeted by the Russians during the 2016 campaign,” he explains in an interview with LA Sentinel. “We started getting calls from all these Black folks who would try to encourage my audience not to vote. They’d say, ‘if your candidate doesn’t win the primary don't vote. The political party that you are loyal to isn’t loyal to you, so don't vote. The constitution doesn't benefit you as a Black person so don't vote.’ It was a constant barrage.” ... read more »

Chavis noted that mainstream media’s coverage of the trial lacked facts, and the racially and politically-charged atmosphere inside and around the Pennsylvania courthouse may have deprived Cosby of a fair trial. ... read more »

When the emancipation proclamation freed African-American slaves some 32 years later, slave-holding states like North Carolina did not automatically throw out the harsh anti-literacy legislation they had been using to oppress slaves. Those laws, the Jim Crow ones that followed, segregated schools, under-funded school districts – as well as other economic, political and social factors - all played a role in erecting barriers to a quality education for African Americans over the decades that followed. ... read more »

In embracing and expanding the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Revs. Barber and Theoharis have asked Presidential candidates to consider a debate that focuses exclusively on poverty. Many have agreed, but others have not gone on record. With more than one in five African American families living in poverty, and wages relatively stagnant, a national conversation about poverty is more than overdue. ... read more »

Anyone who struggles with the rising costs of living knows all too well how hard it is to try stretching dollars when there’s more month than money in the household. Predatory lending, like payday and car-title loans, worsen financial stress with triple-digit interest rates that deepen the debt owed with each renewal.    ... read more »

America’s nagging racial wealth gap has been the focus of many research reports and economic policy debates. Now new research analyzes the strong connection between disproportionate wealth and financial services and products that are either shared or denied with consumers of color. ... read more »

For most people, life feels better when there is something to look forward to. Whether looking forward to graduation, the arrival of a new baby, or retirement that affords a few years to just enjoy life – these kinds of things make going through challenging times somehow more manageable. ... read more »

Former NBA stars Penny Hardaway and Jerry Stackhouse have taken on new challenges with both trying to revive a pair of struggling college basketball programs about 200 miles apart along Interstate 40 in Tennessee. ... read more »