Opinion

By Marian Wright Edelman Guest Commentator As New Year’s Eve countdowns wound down, many people turned to the familiar ritual of taking stock of where they are now to make resolutions for what they can do better in the new year. We all measure our accomplishments and shortcomings in different ways. Some people count numbers […]

By Marc Morial Guest Commentator “If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning.” — Frederick Douglass. No doubt many of you will take the opportunity during the […]

Today the spirit of justice was awakened in the capital of North Carolina. Governor Beverly Perdue signed a Pardon of Innocence for nine men and one woman known as The Wilmington 10. These young people were nonviolent protestors fighting for educational equality. They were framed, wrongfully convicted and incarcerated in connection to a fire bombing […]

 Vikings Stadium legislation called for an equity plan outlining Black participation in construction contracts and workers. Its absence is the story of continued injustice, discrimination, and official sneering at the idea of Black participation. This major story of 2012-2013 will be a 2013-2014 albatross around the necks of the self-appointed and imaginary Twin Cities leaders […]

There were some things about the coverage of the Sandy Hook shootings in Newtown, Connecticut that gave me pause and should give all of us pause. Let me say up front that I believe that this was a very tragic occurrence, and I empathize with the families of those who lost loved ones, especially children. […]

Black men have no business looking down on single sistahs with chirren. Long as I’ve been Black, single moms proved a rule, not an exception. Plenty Black men have been, in fact, raised by a single Black woman, busting her hips, all on her own, to make do for self and the young ’uns. Which […]

Segregation is happening right in our neighborhood at Richard Green Central Park School. This school is under scrutiny due to the segregation of African American and Latino students. Students are separated and placed into classrooms based upon their last names in order to determine if a student will be placed in a Spanish- or English-speaking […]

We know you have been working with Congress to prevent our nation from going over the fiscal cliff. The members of the National Black Chamber of Commerce are heartened to see progress being made, and we hope a workable resolution for the business community can be achieved by the end of this year. Of particular […]

By Lawyers’ Committee staff Contributing Writers The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (LCCRUL) applauds Senator Richard J. Durbin for convening the important hearing “Ending the School-to-Prison Pipeline” before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Human Rights on December 12. This hearing will expose the deep inequality in disciplinary practices […]

When news began to flash across the airways Friday, December 14, that a tragedy was taking place in Newtown, CT, the magnitude and the heartbreak of this violent and insane action began to sink in. Twenty of the 26 lost lives were six- and seven-year-old children dying from multiple gun shots from an assault/combat rifle. […]

For the last decade, I have watched the erosion within the judicial system concerning Children and Family Services’ child protection department. With few options, low budgets and stringent timeline laws, more single mothers and families are being required to sign over custody of their children or suffer the consequences. The purpose of child protection was […]

The most recent massacre, the one at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, took the lives of six- and seven-year-olds. It has shaken our nation to its core. The enormity of this devastation is incalculable. There are the small coffins of the victims killed during a holiday season at a tender age. It is […]

The City of Minneapolis is preparing for the elections of 2013. It will, in all probability, be a very contentious election, with a three-term mayor on the political ropes. The key factor that will influence candidates to run and determine how citizens will vote centers on developing intended and unintended consequences of the Vikings stadium […]

As we enter the season when folks think about peace and goodwill toward all, I am struck by the many times folks have an opportunity to make a difference to actually change things — or at least make a dent in injustice — but when they are confronted with the opportunity, they pass. Everyone on […]

The way the system handled the Rodney King case was not meant to be an instructional manual. The recent Eric Hightower incident has nothing to do with how bad Hightower was or is and all about what the police are free to do. St. Paul Police Federation President Dave Titus said the decision shows that […]

In the midst of this struggling economy, many use crime as an outlet for relief. The excuse of “I’m just trying to survive” is hollering out relentlessly as if it justifies the assault on the community, who is also “just trying to survive.” At the start of this school year, an event occurred in St. […]