By The Editors
In a precedent-setting decision, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today struck down the state of Washington’s law barring felons from voting. It ruled that the law violates the federal Voting Rights Act because of widespread racism, racial discrimination and bias in the state’s criminal justice system.

By Lee A. Daniels
In 1865, the North’s victory in the Civil War freed black Americans from slavery.

But it did not free them from cotton.

By Dionne Ford
A couple of days before Christmas last year, my daughters pleaded for a Kwanzaa celebration. (I think they were under the impression that a second holiday meant twice the gifts). Outwardly, I was excited that my oldest daughter—who describes herself as white although she is biracial—was interested in this celebration of African culture.

By Janet Singleton
Black-themed works and those featuring African-American actors in the lead comment intentionally and unintentionally about the state of race relations for their time. By Barack Obama’s 2008 election, 2009’s crop of releases had been conceived and made. Yet certain ones incidentally whisper a sense of a new dawn; others are more products of the past. Here we will spotlight the historical celluloid backdrop of a swath of last year’s landscape of releases.

By The Editors
On December 16, the LDF launched Count on Change 2010, a strategic, collaborative, national public education campaign designed to substantially improve the inclusion of the Black Diaspora in the 2010 Census.

“The 2000 Census overlooked 1 million people of color, more than 600,000 of whom were African American,” said John Payton, Director Counsel and President of LDF.

By C. Nicole Mason
The 2000s were a mixed bag for African-American women. From Venus and Serena Williams to Condoleezza Rice to Michelle Obama to Don Imus’ infamous nappygate, the 2000s will go down as the decade of both opportunity and setbacks for black women. This decade retrospective looks at the top ten events that shaped how we view black women in society, our communities, and in pop culture.

Two years ago this week, Innocence Project client Rickie Johnson was freed from a Louisiana prison after spending 25 years behind bars for a rape he didn’t commit. Johnson contacted the Innocence Project at the suggestion of Calvin Willis, a fellow prisoner at Louisiana’s State Penitentiary at Angola. Willis was exonerated in 2003 after the Innocence Project secured the DNA testing that proved his innocence.