Explicit images of lynchings often provoke strong reactions, from cringing and deep sorrow, to terror or guilt. A controversial exhibit, “Without Sanctuary,” which features more than 225 photos and postcards and 11 boxes of letters, newspapers, books and other documentary materials, was first exhibited in New York in 2000, where it drew worldwide media attention. [...]

By Alexis Karteron: There has been widespread speculation about President-Elect Barack Obama’s campaign and election heralding a “post-racial” America. In conversations across the nation and such headlines as “Obama, Racial Barrier Falls in Heavy Turnout,” (The New York Times) and “Obama’s Post-Racial Promise,” (Los Angeles Times) following the election, some seemed eager to believe that [...]

By Richard Jerome: The size and cost of America’s prison system has skyrocketed during the last few decades, largely as a result of laws and policies that put more offenders behind bars and keep them there longer.  Yet recidivism rates remain stubbornly high, and crime still is a major public concern.  State policymakers across the [...]

By The Editors
An 18-month investigation revealed a ‘hidden race war’ in post-Katrina New Orleans in which white vigilante groups shot at least 11 African-American men. These shootings have not been investigated by local police.

The entertainment industry, particularly television, remains a landscape of limited opportunities for black Americans and other people of color, according to a report released December 18 by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The NAACP study, the latest of a series it’s done on Hollywood, asserted that people of color face “employment [...]

By TaRessa Stovall: In the late 1960s, my teenaged mind was “blown,” as we used to say, by two books that validated my thoughts and feelings, provided a larger context in which to consider my observations and experiences, and gave me invaluable tools with which to make sense of the collision of the Civil Rights [...]

Christmas Day

Kwanza: Kuumba (Creativity). To do as much as we can, in whatever way we can, to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than it was when we inherited it.

Kwanzaa: nia (Purpose): To make our collective vocation the building and development of our community; to restore our people to their traditional greatness.

Kwanzaa: Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility): To build and maintain our community together; to make our sisters’ and brothers’ problems our problems and to solve them together.