By Brentin Mock The phrase “black-on-black crime” gets tossed around so cavalierly these days that it can be hard to ascertain the intention behind it—no matter who says it. When President Obama uses…
By Barrett Holmes Pitner The movement has certainly gained attention. But its decentralized structure means it runs the risk of going the way of Occupy Wall Street. Ferguson is the…
By Jamil Smith @JamilSmith The activist group #BlackLivesMatter emerged out of the rage and mourning that accompanied George Zimmerman’s acquittal for the murder of Trayvon Martin more than three years…
By William C. Anderson, The Black vote seems to matter more to some than Black life itself. This election season has inspired presidential candidates to engage in an array of…
By Roseanne Scotti / Drug Policy Alliance Mustafa Willis had a job and no criminal record. After being arrested in Newark, he was forced to remain in jail for months because…

By Rev Jesse Jackson Today this systematic analysis is needed perhaps more than at any other time in our history. As the Rev Clyde Grubbs, of Tuckerman Creative Ministries for…

Part 1. Clearly, we, as a people, are in the midst of a deep social crisis, one not only in terms of the conditions of our community, but also in…
By Sonali Kolhatkar Activist Jasmine Richards talks about Black Lives Matter with Sonali Kolhatkar in Pasadena. (Photo: ‘Uprising’ Radio via YouTube) On July 24, The Movement for Black Lives National…
By Jamil Smith This year, as with every other year, nearly every presidential candidate is white, with the only exceptions being long shots in the mushrooming Republican field. Most candidates…
By Herb Boyd What is immediately essential for me about Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates’s lengthy epistle to his son is that “past is prologue.” But this is…

Second in a series for the 50th Anniversary Nguzo Saba 2015 Conference (September 24-27), celebrating the founding of our organization Us and the introduction of the Nguzo Saba (The Seven…
By Nkechi Taifa — President Obama changed 46 lives on Monday, commuting the prison terms of individuals who had been locked away serving long sentences for low-level, nonviolent offenses. “These…