Wednesday, 02 January 2013 00:00

Written by Admin

When the National Rifle Association finally revealed what it was willing to do to help curb gun violence in schools, it fired a blank.

Tuesday, 25 December 2012 00:00

Written by Admin

WASHINGTON (NNPA) – In the late 1960s, Black revolutionary H. Rap Brown, now known as Jamil Abdullah al-Amin, was often quoted as saying violence is “as American as cherry pie.” More than 40 years after the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) firebrand made that pronouncement, the numbers supports his assertion.

According to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, nearly 100,000 people in the U.S. are shot each year in murders, assaults, suicides, accidents or by law enforcement officials. Of the 31,593 who died in 2008 from gun violence, 2,179 were murdered; 18,223 killed themselves; 592 were killed accidently; 326 were killed during police intervention and 273 died, but the intent was unknown.

Wednesday, 19 December 2012 00:00

Written by James Clingman NNPA Columnist

“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.” This famous quote from Frederick Douglass brings to mind the predicament of Black folks in this country relative to those upon whom we depend to put forth our demands for political reciprocity. Are they really leading (demanding), or are they simply pleading?”

The term “Pleadership” was `coined by Mr. Kenneth Price, my friend and business associate from the post-Million Man March days. He used to talk about how our so-called leaders were not using our collective leverage to attain the goals we sought; instead, he suggested they resorted to merely “pleading” rather than leading. It looks like the same is true in many circles today.

Wednesday, 12 December 2012 00:00

Written by James Clingman NNPA Columnist

Newark, New Jersey Mayor, Corey Booker, following the example of Phoenix, Arizona Mayor, Greg Stanton, is accepting a challenge to live on a $35.00 food stamp budget for one week. Mr. Mayor will add to his resume of shoveling snow and rescuing a woman from a burning house this latest feat that some news reporters are calling an “experiment.” Booker’s background, going back to his youth, includes other out-of-the-box actions, which are admirable and respectable; however, this “experiment” as some are calling it, will not go down as one of them.

Wednesday, 05 December 2012 00:00

Written by George E. Curry

I have enjoyed an excellent relationship with the National Black Chamber of Commerce over the years. I have conducted media training sessions at national conventions, spoken at functions sponsored by state and local affiliates, and enjoyed a friendship with many of its top officers, including president and co-founder Harry C. Alford. That’s why I was stunned and mystified when, in the course of researching a challenge to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, to learn that the group had filed a friend-of-the-court petition with the U.S. Supreme Court supporting an objection filed by Shelby County, Ala.