People who were living in the Americas before the 15th century arrival of Columbus came to be called “Indians” because he and his fellow sailors were lost and thought they had reached Asia.
Each day and beyond the set-aside celebration and commemoration of our history, it is essential that we reaffirm who we are and our obligation to honor this identity and the awesome legacy in which it is grounded.
By Harry Levine
“Whites Smoke Pot, but Blacks Are Arrested.” That was the headline of a column by Jim Dwyer, the great Metro desk reporter for The New York Times, in December 2009. Although Dwyer was writing about New York City, he summed up perfectly two central and enduring facts about marijuana use and arrests across the country: whites and blacks use marijuana equally, but the police do not arrest them equally.
The failed war on marijuana has claimed countless lives to incarceration, mandatory minimiums and the marginalization that come from a drug crime rap sheet. That’s why, in The Nation’s…
By Carl Gibson, Reader Supported News
Despite resistance from the federal government, states have moved to more sensible and far less costly drug policy, as is their right under the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
By Patrick Delices
One day after Malcolm X’s revolutionary “Message to the Grassroots” speech, Pan-African leader and the first President of Ghana Kwame Nkrumah delivered a thoughtful and analytical speech to commence the “Second Conference of Africa Journalists.”
No, the Institute of the Black World 21st Century (IBW), multitudes of people of African descent and people of conscience/goodwill have not forgotten about the tragedy and travesty of the murder of Trayvon Martin. There is a deep seated feeling of injustice and lack of closure as the Justice Department has yet to render a decision whether to pursue civil rights violations in this case (a course which is highly unlikely).
By Charles Pierce, Esquire
In a truly sane and civil democracy, the fact that the alleged party of the people spent almost a flat year arguing over precisely how miserable it could make the lives of the destitute without surrendering any political advantage would be cause for extraordinary outrage and (maybe) even some electoral consequences down the line.
By Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, Truthout
Despite claims that we live in a post-racial era, racism and classism continue to permeate US society, including in the governmental and advocacy organizations that are supposed to prevent discrimination and abuse.
by Sarah Lazare California prison inmates have held three hunger strikes and mass work stoppages in the last two years, protesting appalling conditions and the torture of solitary confinement.
Luis Rivera had some peace of mind for about five months, from late fall of 2010 through early spring of the following year. That’s the closest thing he’s seen to…
The road to recovery from the Holocaust of enslavement is a long and difficult one, full of twists, turns, relapses and losses. But we are a resilient, steadfast and defeat-resistant people.