By Paul Le Blanc and Michael D Yates
“A Freedom Budget for All Americans,” published in 1966 by the A. Philip Randolph Institute, demanded that the federal government put in place policies and programs that would eliminate poverty within ten years. Its authors demonstrated with clear and realistic assumptions about government taxes and revenues that this could be accomplished easily. The “Freedom Budget” was a direct descendant of the historic 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The organizers of the march and the architects of the “Freedom Budget” – people like A. Philip Randolph, Bayard Rustin and Martin Luther King Jr. – understood that ending poverty, achieving full employment, guaranteeing incomes, winning higher wages and providing good schools, national health care and decent housing would not happen without tremendous struggle, one that challenged not only the federal government but the basic structure of a capitalist economy. Their sensibility was democratic and socialist; it envisioned a society both egalitarian and controlled by the people themselves.
By Rania Khalek
When Philadelphia public schoolchildren returned to their classrooms on September 9, 2013, there were fewer schools, fewer educators and fewer opportunities because of mass school closings and what amounts to financial starvation. It all started late in 2012, when the Philadelphia School District (PSD) revealed it would be shutting dozens of schools to fill in a $304 million budget gap.

President Barack Obama stepped on a big limb when he threatened “limited action” against Syria because the country allegedly used chemical weapons against their own people. There are international bans…

President Obama will address the nation on Syria tonight hoping to stem opposition that is rising both at home and abroad. Polls show the broad majority of Americans oppose getting…

As of this writing, President Obama is frantically pleading with Members of Congress, the American people and heads of state of other nations to follow his lead in “punishing” the Assad regime in Syria for unleashing chemical weapons on his own people. Having drawn a “red line” in the sand regarding the use of chemical weapons, Obama apparently feels obligated to attack Syria as a matter of personal and national pride even if it means going it alone — a blunder which could damage his presidency
If President Barack Obama enters Syria alone he will be branded a war-monger. All of his earlier feats of greatness – ending two wars, national healthcare, saving the economy –…
They’re involved in Algeria and Angola, Benin and Botswana, Burkina Faso and Burundi, Cameroon and the Cape Verde Islands. And that’s just the ABCs of the situation. Skip to the end of the alphabet and the story remains the same: Senegal and the Seychelles, Togo and Tunisia, Uganda and Zambia. From north to south, east to west, the Horn of Africa to the Sahel, the heart of the continent to the islands off its coasts, the U.S. military is at work. Base construction, security cooperation engagements, training exercises, advisory deployments, special operations missions, and a growing logistics network, all undeniable evidence of expansion – except at U.S. Africa Command.

The 1963 March on Washington was a pivotal moment for African American people, a day when people joined to fight for jobs, peace and justice. More than 250,000 people traveled to Washington, coming by busses, trains, and occasionally planes.
One of the most enduring Biblical stories I recall from my childhood is the conversion of Saul to the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus. The power of the story is in the transformation of a notorious persecutor of Christians into one of God’s great messengers.

We have heard the call for action. The 50th anniversary of the March for Jobs and Freedom outlined what needs to be done to revive the Dream. President Obama has put forward part of that agenda for action. And now we face the Dream Busters. The agenda is compelling and clear. We should be expanding the right to vote, not constricting it.
By Arthur MacEwan
With a president who is African-American and talk of a “post-racial” society, one might think that the economic position of African Americans relative to European Americans had improved significantly over the last 40 or so years. One would be wrong.
Today was supposed to be an off-day; a break from the keyboard and a moment to spend some quality time reading and relaxing. That was my intent until I scanned the website of the Star-Ledger newspaper (Newark, NJ) and read about the 8th murder in that city in the last 7 days.