The PURGE meeting intended to put gun violence in context. Said Rev. Joseph Walston, "It was designed to provide a forum for acknowledging the problem of gun violence, to develop action strategies and to involve disparate voices in a dialogue about how we move our youth from the line of fire."

VIDEO :: NY1 reported that undercover New York City Police Department officers removed dozens of illegal guns off city streets after busting a Florida-to-New York gun trafficking ring last November. more>

"It's absurd," said Councilman Charles Barron. "How are you going to take away youth services? The reason you need the police is because we have no youth services." more>

There is something rotten in America. While other countries provide for their citizens, ours continue to struggle at every turn. This year, over 47,000 people in America will die due to lack of health insurance coverage. Today in America, over 46 million people lack health insurance coverage. Many of these people agree if there were an affordable option, they would be insured.

VIDEO :: From Democrats.senate.gov, doctors and nurses speak out about the country's broken health care system. more>

The existence of a school-to-prison pipeline for African-American students across the country has been well-documented by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and many others.  In fact, the largest educational sewer line is running right here in New York.  
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This issue of health care reform in recent weeks has become so politically charged and divided.  I believe this divide represents a great disparity between the "haves" and "have nots."

VIDEO :: The American Nurses Association (ANA) says that quality health care is a basic human right. Their principles on health care reform -- guaranteed, affordable, high quality health care for all.

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A new report finds that mil­lions of African Americans and Latinos lost economic security between 2000 and 2006, and that more than four out of five are either borderline or at high risk of fall­ing out of the middle class altogether. more>

In response to the current billion-dollar mortgage and foreclosure crisis throughout the United States, the Hip Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN) and real estate and mortgage leaders announced the "Get Your House Right!" financial empowerment and home ownership readiness national tour initiative, targeting Black and Latino youth between the ages 19 to 35. more>

Bank of America (BOA) is facing a racial discrimination lawsuit filed by 5 Black current and former employees. As a reaction to the alleged actions of the bank, Rev. Dennis Dillon, pastor of the Brooklyn Christian Center, is calling for the Black community to close its accounts and remove its money from BOA. more>

Currently there are a lot of discussions going on regarding who shall shape the national agenda for education. This is an area where Black community’s voice must be acknowledged and respected. more>

The tactic of “non-violent civil disobedience” has incarnated 21st-century style. New twists on an old story. Young Nicole, beautiful and dignified, is the latest in a long line of Black women used as the public face of Civil Rights actions solely for the benefit of Black men. more>

According to the author, New York City public schools are farther behind than many other U.S. cities and Canada, which have adopted various forms of Black-centered learning in their school system and recognize the fundamental human right to a non-racist and culturally relevant education for Black youth. more>

Many Black "leaders" decry the lack of massive support when calls go out for community action. What most Black leaders miss are these facts: the leaders are Black men, the issues revolve around Black males, those expected to engage in community action are Black women, and issues related to the well-being of Black women and children are ignored. more>

"And please, my brothers, stop saying the reason police shoot Black men is because white men are afraid of you. The internal conditions of our community tell of irrational thinking and behavior, sexism and misogyny, diminishing survival instincts and lack of race pride. What is there to be afraid of?" more>

Local lawmakers in Atlanta, Dallas and other cities pretend to address crime and destructive aspects of corporate-delivered youth culture by targeting the appearance of black youth – with local ordinances to file or jail the wearers of sagging pants and exposed thong straps. more>

"African-American borrowers were almost four times more likely than white borrowers to receive a high-cost home purchase loan," said Sara Ludwig, founder and executive director of the Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project (NEDAP). more>

When you see young boys and girls, it’s unlikely that you think he or she could be a prostitute. But the reality is that an increasing number of children are being employed in the sex trade in New York and other major cities around the world. more>

In response to the controversial arrests of 32 Black and Latino teens on their to a friend’s wake, a group of high school students have formed a coalition to combat police abuse and discrimination. more>

Deny Sonny Carson? New York City should issue a proclamation in his honor for putting his life on the line, closing crack houses and for saving the African Burial Ground for posterity. When the African ancestor's bones were first discovered, and at a time when work would have proceeded as usual, a warrior was needed to stop the project. It was Sonny Carson and his band who stepped in front of the bulldozers. more>

The author wonders: Why won't community activists engage in "antiviolence triage" by intervening on behalf of those wounded by family violence, whether in Darfur or on Decatur Street? more>

For more than a year now, opponents of the proposed $4.2 billion Atlantic Yards project have been trying to create the illusion that a majority of local residents don’t want the project built. But that’s simply not true, and they hate me for saying so. more>

The Black clergy has maintained a strong role in HIV/AIDS and public health advocacy for many years. It is a role that we will and we must continue to play until the war against HIV/AIDS is won. more>

Despite the fact that the city’s unemployment rate was quoted at 4.5 percent in September – the lowest since 1988 – it’s clear that those statistics aren’t reflective of what’s really going on. Blacks and Latinos, beset with high unemployment numbers in New York City, are willing to stand in line for hours for the chance of getting a $10.75-an-hour job. more>

Commenting on the CBC’s community hearings, Congressman Gregory Meeks said, “We want to offer a space where ‘best practices’ are presented as a unified group.” more>

"We need a platform that recognizes that leadership is a broad concept. It's not just the designated leaders; it's the entire community," said Lester Young, Jr., former head of the Department of Education's Office of Youth Development and School-Community Services. more>

“The struggle is for power over an educational system that instructs mostly Black and Brown children, but is presided over by rich white men with no educational background,” said Sam Anderson, member of Black New Yorkers for Educational Excellence (BYNEE). more>

“I would say the state of education in this city is at an all-time low in terms of black empowerment or us having any real voice in what’s going on in the schools,” said BYNEE founder Stanley Kinard. more>

“I can’t get employment. I can’t get an education. I can’t get housing. I can’t serve on a jury of my peers. I can’t engage in the political process, so basically what is being said is that I am being blocked out and shut out of society,” said Dr. Pryor on the challenges facing former prisoners. more>

There is no doubt that Black male principals are given out-of-control schools that require not only strong principals, but community support and an administration to make a go of them. more>

The author alleges that back door maneuvering by county leaders has tainted the election process, leading Councilman Charles Brown (D-Brooklyn) to declare it “stinks.” more>

An incredible 80 percent of the city’s garbage gets shipped out of just three neighborhoods: the South Bronx, southeast Queens and Greenpoint/Williamsburg. Manhattan, by contrast, has no waste transfer stations. This is not just unfair, it’s deadly. more>

Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights are areas rich in culture, community pride and history, but poor in health. This section of central Brooklyn has become home to the largest population of HIV and AIDS cases in all of Brooklyn. Many of the newly diagnosed HIV patients at her clinic are between the ages of 13 and 19-years-old. more>

Although harm to the environment and the displacement of local businesses have been cited as reasons for denying BJ's and Wal-Mart a location in the Bronx, it’s their labor practices that are the root cause for keeping them out. Both companies work actively to keep unions out, and both have been sued for allegedly cheating workers out of overtime pay. more>

Three members of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement were arrested in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn while engaged in the legal monitoring of police activities. They have been falsely accused with resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, assault on a police officer and obstructing governmental operations. more>

Writer takes issue on Green’s claim of misuse of ninety dollars as the reason why he was forced to resign. The misdeeds are much more serious. more>

As the development of downtown Brooklyn moves forward, it will happen in a job environment where city-wide unemployment for Black men is over 50 percent and close to 75 percent of residents at the nearby Ingersoll housing projects are unemployed. Given these kinds of statistics, the model of white-owned construction firms providing temporary jobs for Blacks and Latinos to then open the way for other white-owned businesses to do the same is not a solution to urban development. more>

Men who have unsafe sex with men in prison continue their high-risk sexual activity endangering their wives and girlfriends. more>

The cognitive development of our young is severely threatened by malevolence, ignorance or neglect. more>

The myth perpetuated is that President Bush wears the cowboy’s mantle of the American West. But the cowboy ethic isn’t what’s driving American foreign policy today. This leadership is coming from a darker place: the “peculiar” institution of the antebellum American South. more>

American Dreams Real Estate Development, a broker on Fulton Street in Clinton Hill, has been steering people into predatory loans, charges the Pratt Area Community Council. An immigrant couple were talked into a loan they couldn’t afford for a home they couldn’t afford—a home that turned out to be in rotten condition. more>

When two young white brothers were convicted of murdering their father, the public reacted with outrage at the criminal justice system. When a young black boy killed his playmate, there were cries for stiffer penalties for juveniles—and the justice system’s actions mirrored the public’s call. We as a nation must ensure that the scales of justice are balanced and consistent in our criminal courts. more>

Sharonne Salaam, mother of Yusef, one of the wrongfully convicted in the Central Park jogger case, found out about Matias Reyes' recent confession on the TV. Ms. Salaam was shocked by the report. “If it wasn’t for TV and the paper, we’d still be in the dark,” she said. more>

The only way to straighten out the mess that is this year’s City Budget is by changing the way taxes are raised and by the electorate becoming militant and force the changes needed. more>

Cheryl Sparkes’ love of learning took a hiatus when she joined her parents in Canarsie, Brooklyn in 1990, after finishing high school in her homeland of Jamaica. For seven years, she put off college to take care of her daughter Eleithea as well as her younger siblings. “It was a personal choice. I wanted the others to have their chance even though I was older,” she explains. more>

Now that the education crisis among African-American youth deepens, it is useful to look at history and try to repeat the good parts. Though we have failing schools and young people with commercialized minds, parents know are making it plain to politicians across the city, that education is where the politicians must make their stand. more>

BP/Amoco is a big company trying to get bigger—which is why its proposed $3 million venture on a corner in Bedford Stuyvesant raises some questions. Questions such as, what about the locally-owned Amoco franchises right around the corner? more>