By Editorial Board, Published: August 11
IT IS now all but certain that Haiti’s cholera epidemic, which has killed more than 8,000 people and sickened more than 600,000, is directly traceable to a battalion of U.N. peacekeepers who arrived in the country after the 2010 earthquake.
What is the plan for our nation’s cities? Are they simply to simmer with a growing divide between the affluent financial district and the impoverished slums? Will another generation be lost while we wait for the inevitable explosions? The gulf between the realities of our cities and the foolishness of our politics has seldom been wider. Consider gun violence. Over the Fourth of July weekend, Chicago surpassed 200 homicide deaths for the year. On that weekend alone, 10 people were killed and several dozen wounded in gun violence, including 5- and 7-year-old boys. The only grim salvation in the savage …
The Watts Revolt of 1965 August 11 still stands as a historical moment and marker of a turning point in the Black Freedom Struggle, signaling the historical exhaustion and end of the Civil Rights phase of this struggle, and announcing the emergence and defiant assertion of its Black Power period.
Seminole County, Florida ~ named for the Seminole people who once lived throughout the area. The term Seminole comes from the Creek word ‘semino le’, which means ‘runaway’ and the Spanish word cimarrón which means “runaway slave.”
It is still too soon to tell what the political legacy of the hip-hop generation will be. But if our stance toward our past leads us in this moment to conclude, as Jay Z has recently done, that our mere presence “is charity,” then we are off to an incredibly bad start.
Civil rights attorney Julius LeVonne Chambers died after a long illness. He was 76. Julius Chambers was a champion of the courtroom. A masterful attorney of great integrity he was known for his smooth southern drawl and determined spirit. Julius Chambers argued eight cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, winning them all.
On this day, 48 years ago, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act, announcing, “This right to vote is the basic right without which all others are meaningless. It gives people, as individuals, control over their own destinies.” With Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks at his side, he pledged that the act would be enforced. No longer would anyone be excluded from exercising the right to vote because of the color of his or her skin. This February, in his fourth State of the Union address, a newly re-elected President Obama earned fierce applause when he declared: …
The issue is beyond race and Florida’s ‘Stand Your Ground’ law. George Zimmerman’s fear of Trayvon Martin led to murder and his acquittal. Since fear for his life, even if unreasonable, allowed Zimmerman to walk free. Then, what of other fear-based prejudices?
BY JULIANNE MALVEAUX Last week workers at fast food restaurants demonstrated outside their places of work, highlighting the low wages they receive and demanding more. They say twice as much, or $15 an hour, will provide them with a living wage. In Washington, DC, the City Council has sent legislation to Mayor Vincent Gray, requiring […]
In my most recent article, I asserted that Economic Sanctions/Boycott Florida is an idea whose time has come. The iconic Chaka Khan has added her name to the list of celebrities joining Stevie Wonder in refusing to perform in Florida until the “Stand Your Ground Law” is changed. This is great news, but I also am convinced that it will be the conscious decision of millions of ordinary Black folks that will ultimately determine the success of the Boycott Florida Campaign. In a real sense, this effort is a test of our collective sense of dignity, self-respect and will as Black people.
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