By Eisa Nefertari Ulen
Attica Locke has added her name to the list of best black genre fiction with her debut thriller, Black Water Rising, acclaimed by many, from The New York Times to The Seattle Times, and named Booklist Best Debut Crime Novel of 2009.

By Joseph Robinson
A decent job is a critical building block for a successful life. If it cannot be attained, how can there be hope of attaining others, like adequate housing and financial stability? At the time of their incarceration, many people with prison in their past were the family breadwinners. Their return home usually spikes expectations that the family’s financial struggles will be over. Instead, the struggles often worsen.

Four years ago this week, Robert Clark regained his freedom after DNA testing proved his innocence. Clark was convicted in 1982 of rape, kidnapping, and armed robbery and sentenced to life in prison. He would serve almost 24 years before his exoneration.

The Innocence Project began working on Clark’s case in 2003, and partnered with local attorneys at the Georgia Innocence Project to seek DNA tests. Although the District Attorney’s Office opposed testing, a judge granted Clark access to the evidence and the tests proved his innocence and implicated another man in the crime.

By C. Nicole Mason
As much as we would like to believe that racism is a thing of the past, there are numerous incidents that remind us almost daily that it is indeed alive and well and that we still have a long way to go.

By Deborah Rudacille
On a rainy morning in early December, the mood in Baltimore’s barber shops and beauty salons is subdued. The day after Baltimore mayor Sheila Dixon was convicted of one misdemeanor count of embezzling about $500 worth of gift cards intended for the city’s needy, her political fate remains uncertain and shop owners and customers seem torn about the verdict.

By TaRessa Stovall
A group of 60 prominent leaders has released a statement condemning the Cuban regime of Raul Castro for harassing and cracking down on an emerging civil rights movement in the small, controversial Caribbean nation.

By Paula Woods
This must the year for abused black children in Hollywood movies. First there was Precious, the Lee Daniels-directed megahit, in which a 16-year old Harlem girl rises above illiteracy and multiple forms of parental abuse to reclaim her children and her future. Now there is The Blind Side, in which a 16-year old Memphis boy rises above parental neglect and a low grade point average to discover his innate athleticism and claim his future as a football star for Ole Miss and the Baltimore Ravens.

By Doug Miller
The seventh-and eighth-graders were part of a nationwide art project involving 60 community groups and schools around the country that produced nearly 700 hand-decorated ornaments—red and gold balls—for the Obamas to hang on the White House tree.

By Rev. Susan Newman
One of the best lessons my mother taught me as a child is “It is better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.” This is how I feel about the looming threat of abortion restrictions being reintroduced in the Health Care Reform bill when debate begins on the Senate floor.

It was six years ago this week that Calvin Lee Scott walked free from an Oklahoma prison after spending 20 years behind bars for a rape he did not commit. Ultimately, Scott managed to prove his innocence and identify the real perpetrator through DNA testing. The true assailant was already incarcerated for another rape conviction, but was never charged with this crime because the statute of limitations had expired.