I see the $6 trillion price tag on the Biden legislation as more of an investment than simple spending. A better-educated workforce earns more money, pays more taxes. A healthier workforce means less absenteeism, more efficiency, and productivity. Quality childcare means more women in the workforce —millions of women left in the wake of COVID. The investment makes sense to build our labor force back better. ... read more »

Good evening! Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. Thank you, thank you. Good evening. So, thank you, good evening. So, Congressman John Lewis, Congressman John Lewis before his passing wrote "Democracy is not a state, it is an act." And what he meant was that America's democracy is not guaranteed. ... read more »

President Trump wants to paper over the living wound of racism. He’s issued Executive Orders and established a new national commission designed to whitewash our history—and deny the daily reality of being Black in America. He actively appeals to white supremacists and fans the flames of hatred and division in our country, because he thinks it benefits him politically. He ignores the most basic job of every president: the duty to care for all of us, not just those who voted for him. ... read more »

Ridesharing app Lyft announced an initiative that would provide 1.5 million rides to make transportation accessible to underserved communities. The company joined forces with 11 organizations including The National Urban League, Black Women’s Roundtable and the NAACP. ... read more »

Biden reportedly had called Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.), former Ambassador Susan Rice, and three other candidates to inform them on Tuesday morning that they were not his pick. Harris had routinely been seen as the top pick, but her clashes with Biden during the Democratic debates appeared to give Biden pause. ... read more »

Former President Barack Obama endorsed Joe Biden on Tuesday, giving the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee a boost from the party’s biggest fundraiser and one of its most popular figures. ... read more »

Congresswoman Maxine Waters (CA-43) issued a statement condemning the highly offensive White House Briefing Room remarks by U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams who singled out African Americans, saying they should avoid “alcohol, tobacco, and drugs,” and encouraged minorities to “do this, if not for yourself, then for your abuela. Do it for your granddaddy, do it for your Big Mama, do it for your pop-pop.” Her statement follows: ... read more »

U.S. House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn issued the following statement today in response to the State of the Union address: ... 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 »

There have been repeated stories of the repression of science under this administration. Scientists have been informed not to use this word or that word. The suppression of scientific exploration and publication of new research on climate change. This is all being done under the cover of night. But now we have a story where it is quite public that this administration not only wants to dictate reality, but it wishes to suppress those who contradict them, irrespective of the truth. ... read more »

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the nation’s foremost civil rights organization, has announced that Ambassador Patrick Gaspard will be awarded the prestigious Spingarn Medal during the NAACP’s 110th Annual Convention taking place in Detroit, Michigan on July 24. ... read more »

California Treasurer Fiona Ma has appointed two prominent African American transportation experts, Mr. Frederick Jordan of San Francisco and Dr. Beverly A. Scott of Albany, to the California High-Speed Rail Authority Peer Review Group. ... read more »

Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.), Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations issued the following statement after President Trump threatened a “full and complete embargo, together with highest-level sanctions” against Cuba. ... read more »

Those who feel America is a post-racial society tend to be either die-hard conservatives   or so naïve, they might believe there are snow-capped mountains in Florida.  But by any measure, public education, the criminal injustice system, poverty, etc., White privilege and its cohort racism, remain the prime barriers to Blacks receiving actual justice and equality.  ... read more »

Emmy Award-winning Steve James is one of America’s most respected documentarians, working in the field today.  In his new Starz doc-series “America to Me”— a 10-part look at race through the eyes of students, teachers and administrators at Oak Park and River Forest High School (OPRF) — an elite, racially diverse public high school in a suburb west of Chicago, he gives all of the subjects the opportunity to let it all “hang out” so to speak.   ... read more »