Issues of importance to the African-American community routinely put aside and ignored over the years were enthusiastically dealt with by legislators elected to address these same concerns a generation ago but who now had power in both houses in Albany and in David Paterson, a governor who shared their frustration and goals.

VIDEO :: In April, NY1’s  Jeanine Ramirez reported on the challenges posed to the 2010 Census by considering the residency of New York’s prison population. more>

'Say it loud! I'm Black and I'm Proud!' For its supporters the formation of a Black-led Freedom Party is a cause whose time has come. 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>

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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"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>

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>

"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>

“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>

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 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>