Brooklyn continues to be plagued by senseless violence among African-American and Caribbean youths, culminating in a Father's Day gun battle that left one dead and six wounded. Now, local clergy, politicians, and police are speaking out to end the violence. more>

The Rev. Dr. Peter Bramble (Courtesy Carib News).

Unable to reconcile himself with the approval of same-sex marriage in New York State and the Long Island Episcopal Diocese, Rev. Dr. Peter Bramble will step down from his post at the predominantly West Indian St. Mark's church in Crown Heights after 15 years. more>

The Haitian Diaspora sends home more than $1 billion annually in remittances, but a surprise new plan by the Haitian government will impose a tax on these exchanges that cuts into the money meant to aid needy families.

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A Haitian physician in New York has tracked the deleterious effects that living in America can have on Caribbean immigrants, leading to health problems such as obesity, mental illness, and higher rates of cancer. more>

Brooklyn Democratic State Senator Eric Adams claims the NYPD has been using the Taxi/Livery Inspection Program as an excuse to frisk passengers without reasonable suspicion of illegal behavior. The NYCLU filed a May 26th lawsuit against the city, citing two instances of men being unlawfully detained and questioned while riding in livery cabs in non-white neighborhoods. more>

In a vote late on Sunday, lawmakers amended the Haitian constitution abolishing the dual citizenship ban. However, there is a restrained reaction, largely because of the limitations placed on overseas nationals when it comes to holding top political and judicial office. more>

It's time that Mayor Michael Bloomberg put an end to the deportations of immigrants, both legal and undocumented, who, once sent to Rikers Island, are ultimately forced to go back to their countries of origin. more>

In January, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an arm of DHS, sent 26 Haitians back to their birthplace and one of them was Wildrick Guerrier, a Haitian-born immigrant who had spent most of his life in the United States. Within weeks of his return to Haiti, he was dead. more>

The tumultuous 90 days of Black's tenure came to an abrupt end when she was asked to step down by Bloomberg who immediately appointed Dennis Walcott, a New Yorker to the core and a public figure who can best be described as a product of the public school system and a man committed to providing the 1.1 million students in its classrooms with the best possible education. Little wonder that Walcott's accession to the top of the DOE's leadership has been greeted with acclaim and high expectations for better days. more>

Caribbean teachers who came to New York City a decade ago, from Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and other island-nations, to help end a dire shortage of classroom professionals, are now facing a nightmare of their own: a possible loss of their jobs and eventual deportation.

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West Indians, including a large number of Jamaicans, Haitians and Guyanese, may be one of the largest immigrants groups in New York City and, in the main, are middle-income residents, but far too many of them are forced to live in sub-standard housing. more>

Harlem State Senator Bill Perkins has introduced the New York Dream Act, a state version, after the Congress failed to approve the U.S. Dream Act. more>

The survival of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) is at stake. Today, more than ever before, there is an urgent necessity to stand up, speak out, and let the voice and fundamental interests of 45 million Black Americans be heard. more>

"These are tough times and we see it in the cases for foreclosures, unpaid debt and landlords who have not been paid the rents due to them and the tenants who are fighting evictions," said a court official in the Bronx. more>

Inevitably, the forum brought into sharp focus the essential purpose of minority media institutions in an era of a Black President in the White House in Washington, a Black minority leader in the State Senate, more than 40 Blacks in the U.S. House of Representatives, not to mention the people of color who are leaders in corporate America, academia, civil society, law enforcement and the military. more>

"As we continue to look to small businesses to grow, create jobs and lead America into the future, women-owned businesses will play a key role," said Administrator Karen Mills. more>

It's during the month of February that millions set out to educate themselves and others on the innovations that have prolonged life, their literature they have enjoyed, and the dramatic changes that have helped to make us who we are as a nation and a region, all the genius of Blacks. That exciting period is known as Black History Month. more>

"It was significant and regrettable that one of the first acts of the new Republican House was the strip the voting rights of the territorial delegates sent to Capitol Hill by the voters of Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, the Mariana Islands and American Samoa. It's a travesty when you deny elected representatives a vote of such significance," stated U.S. Representative Dr. Donna Christian Christensen. more>

"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. "Forty-three years after he left that immortal thesis as a guidepost to the value of strong action in the name of a worthy cause, but without resorting to murder and mayhem, America is grappling with the consequences of violence. more>

A pediatrician who survived the earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12^th tells how she joined thousands who crossed to the Dominican Republic only to return to help her country pick up the pieces. more>

It's the beginning of a new year and that means it is time for high school seniors to begin completing college applications. Increasingly, whether they get admitted will have nothing to do with their grades, their SAT scores, or their overall aptitude for college. They may end up getting denied admission because of a criminal record. more>

Some students wept as John Halligan told them how bullying, both in school and online, drove his 13-year-old son to commit suicide in 2003. Approximately 800 students at David A. Boody Intermediate School for Magnet Studies (I.S. 228) in Gravesend, Brooklyn heard the story Monday as part of their school's aggressive anti-bullying program. more>

If the recession is abating, it has not trickled down to the people who are hungry, declare NYC advocates against hunger. more>

Caribbean immigrant teenagers are on the radar screen of criminal youth gangs who threaten or otherwise force young women into becoming prostitutes. That alarm was raised by Charles Hynes, Brooklyn's District Attorney who has created the Brooklyn Sex Trafficking Unit to investigate cases and bring perpetrators to court. more>

A messy foreclosure scandal that defers the American dream of home owner­ship has put foreclosures into doubt as well as the real owners of properties across the country, including New York. more>

With obesity and diabetes running rampant in the City, giving a clear indication that New Yorkers are losing the battle against the bulge and some of the non-communicable diseases, it seems clear that tough action is needed. more>

"We definitely need to ensure that the message about the funds' availability is widely disseminated to the business owners who are struggling to survive in the face of an acute shortage of operating capital," says CACCI President Dr. Roy Hastick.  more>

Kings County has slashed the time it takes for a patient to walk through the door of the emergency room until he or she sees a doctor. From TRIAGE to the presence of a physician, the waiting time has gone from about two hours to less than 30 minutes. more>

The ongoing attacks on Mexicans in Port Richmond and Staten Island are deplorable but somewhat unfathomable when the attackers are identified as black youths. more>

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The new legislation gives a much better chance of successfully competing for many of the billions of dollars in state contracts awarded annually to the private sector. more>

"With our economy being as it is, people not receiving raises on their jobs, people actually being laid off, we are nowhere being our of the woods yet," stated U.S. Congresswoman Yvette Clarke of Brooklyn. more>

Mayor Bloomberg, now in his third and final four-year term as chief executive at City Hall, has garnered the vigorous support of some of the nation's largest corporations in a national initiative on immigration reform. It's a bold, albeit not too unexpected, partnership led by a billionaire business executive who knows what the country's corporations need to get them back to the boom days of yesteryear.

AUDIO :: President Obama renewed his call for comprehensive immigration reform on July 1, 2010 in at speech at American University. NPR's All Things Considered reports. more>

After two weeks of intense negotiations by a joint Capitol Hill conference committee, Washington lawmakers finally reached agreement on the single largest financial reform package since the 1930s New Deal. And it could mean a lot for communities of color.

VIDEO :: Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-California) spoke from the House floor in support of HR 4173 - the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Key provisions written by the Congresswoman to assist homeowners, protect consumers, empower shareholders and increase opportunities for minorities and women were included in the final bill that passed the House today. more>

The U.S. State Department charged that at least 225,000 Haitian children were victims of forced domestic servitude or slavery before the onslaught of the deadly earthquake. That estimated figure has skyrocketed since then. more>

Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle have sent a clear message to the five commissioners of the Federal Communication Commission regarding new Internet regulations: Bring power back to the people.

AUDIO :: The Federal Communications Commission issued a proposal on May 6th that would create internet regulations. FSRN's Leigh Ann Caldwell reports. more>

With nearly 600,000 New York residents unemployed, and the financial future still looking bleak, many are calling for the extension of federal unemployment benefits and more help from the private sector. more>

While Haitians see this as a golden opportunity to set Haiti on the right path, there is still concern of the effort being dominated by non-Haitians, those that do not have a stake in the effort, and the use of funds.  more>

VIDEO :: Democracy Now's Amy Goodman discussed Ron Paul's statements on the Civil Rights Act of 1964. more>