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Communiqué

By Docs, HSP News

October 7-11, the Haiti Support Project (HSP) led its third Delegation to Haiti since the fateful earthquake of January 12th. The atmosphere was in marked contrast to HSP´s Third Annual Pilgrimage in October of 2009 when there were signs of a much brighter future for Haiti and its people. A year ago there were clear indicators that after a period of political stability, relative security and greater transparency and accountability by the government, conditions were ripe for modest economic growth and new levels of international investment. There was optimism in the air.

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Assessment of President Barack Obama´s 2011 State of the Union Address

By Commentaries/Opinions

President Obama´s second State of the Union address must be considered in the context of important economic and political factors. On the economic front, though the “Great Recession” appears to be over, the recovery is anemic, leaving millions of people unemployed, underemployed, with large numbers of people also abandoning the labor market. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Americans continue to be adversely affected by the home mortgage crisis. Both phenomena fueled a mood of anger, frustration and despair that the Tea Party Patriots and Republicans were able to exploit to score stunning victories in the 2010 Mid-Term Elections. Republicans captured a substantial majority in the House of Representative, reduced the Democrats majority in the Senate, elected 21 Governors and won control of 19 additional state legislatures. President Obama called it a “shellacking.”

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The “Declining Significance” of Black History

By Commentaries/Opinions

In the middle of this year´s Black History Month I was momentarily overcome by a weird feeling. There was a kind of ho hum, mundane, routine, business as usual atmosphere about this year´s commemoration with little passion or intensity. Maybe it was just me, but I had a sense that Black History Month was/is straying from Carter G. Woodson´s original mission of utilizing history as an instrument of restoration and liberation for people of African descent in the U.S.

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