By Freddie Allen NNPA Washington Correspondent WASHINGTON (NNPA) – In schools today, Black students get suspended at a rate that is more than triple the rate of their White classmates. As the uneven enforcement of zero tolerance policies disconnect minority students from their schools, juvenile detention centers and, in some cases, adult prisons welcome them with open arms. Data collected by the Office for ...

By George E. Curry NNPA Editor-in-Chief WASHINGTON (NNPA) — Rejecting calls for him to move closer toward his Republican critics, a confident President Barack H. Obama kicked off his second term on Monday by making an impassioned plea for a more inclusive America. “It is not our generation’s task to carry on what those pioneers began,” Obama said in his inaugural speech. “For our journey is not complete unt ...

By Julianne Malveaux NNPA Columnist Who is surprised that Lance Armstrong was doping?  Who thinks he was the only one?  Who is surprised that he used the Oprah Winfrey show as his platform to “come clean”?  We are a nation of cheaters and Armstrong is one in a long line of our nation’s cheaters. Indeed the very foundation of our country is the result of cheating. The Pilgrims cheated the Native Americans th ...

By Marian Wright Edelman NNPA Columnist In his last Sunday sermon at Washington National Cathedral, Dr. King retold the parable of the rich man Dives who ignored the poor and sick man Lazarus who came every day seeking crumbs from Dives’ table. Dives went to hell, Dr. King said, not because he was rich but because he did not realize his wealth was his opportunity to bridge the gulf separating him from his b ...

In an affair replete with symbolic doubles, President Barack Hussein Obama will re-take the oath of office as head of government in the United States of America on Sunday, Jan. 20, and again on Jan. 21, which is also officially the national Martin Luther King holiday. This will be the 57th inauguration ceremony for an American president, although Mr. Obama remains the 44th president of the United States. Th ...

By George E. Curry NNPA Editor-in-Chief WASHINGTON (NNPA) – Rather than deter violence, placing more police officers in schools has led to more students becoming entangled in the criminal justice system for such minor infractions as disorderly conduct, an in-depth study of the issue has concluded. Despite that finding by the Justice Policy Institute, a nonprofit group that seeks ways to decrease incarcerati ...

by Teria Rogers Special to the NNPA from theAfro-American Newspaper On a recent Thursday, evening at Ebenezer African Methodist Episcopal Church in Fort Washington, music minister Byron Cage counted down the tasks he needed to complete in preparation for an evening service. On this particular night, he readied for a special men’s worship service featuring Bishop Walter Scott Thomas and his men’s choir from ...

Russell Simmons will throw a second hip-hop ball to celebrate the genre’s influence in the re-election of U.S. President Barack Obama. The music mogul organized the Hip-Hop Inaugural Ball after President Obama became the first African-American to be voted into the White House in 2008. The event took place following Obama’s official inauguration ceremony in January, 2009, and it honored rappers T.I., LL Cool ...

Special to the NNPA from the Los Angeles Sentinel Brandy Norwood was a huge fan of Whitney Houston and one year after her death, the singer is still in shock. Looking back on how the late Whitney’s life transformed before the world’s eyes, Brandy supposes it was the loss of her voice that eventually drove Whitney over the edge. “I understand what that [losing your voice] feels like,” Brandy told The Boom Bo ...

The Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation (DSS), in partnership with the Chicago Park District, invites residents to recycle their Christmas trees, January 5-18, 2013, to help keep alleys clear, and reduce the amount of materials deposited in landfills. “Recycling Christmas trees is an easy way for residents to make a big impact on the environment,” said Mayor Rahm Emanuel. “Each year, we are able to ...