By Esther Armah
Ten white faces, bewildered and confused, emerge on the small screen. They are Americans from a Baptist missionary church in Idaho, arrested and accused of illegally taking 33 children out of Haiti, across the border to the Dominican Republic. Twenty of those children, it has been revealed, are not orphans. The SOS Children’s Villages, the group now caring for them, say they have parents.

By Maggie Astor
Beyond the meaningless, catch-all accusation of “socialized medicine” and the blatantly ridiculous specter of “death panels,” how would these bills, if reconciled and signed into law, affect you?

By Jelani Cobb
Among Professor Howard Zinn’s numerous accomplishments, none rank higher than his work to breathe life into history. Often when I mention to people that I’m a historian I hear mumbled comments about how the subject put students to sleep or seems like a dry collection of dates, wars and speeches. Not so with Howard Zinn.

By Kevin Eason
Kevin Eason is a freelance editorial cartoonist and Illustrator from NJ. His brand of satire covers news events in politics, entertainment, sports and much more. Kevin’s work features include: TVOne, NABJ, WBLS_107.5FM, EURweb and various newspapers & magazines throughout the country.

By The Editors
The lawsuit claims that the city’s policing practices in its public housing developments – most notably, its “vertical sweeps” of buildings — “routinely” subject residents and those who visit them to illegal stops and false arrests that serve no lawful purpose.

By Mark Lassiter
The President’s luncheon meeting with the House Republican Conference in Baltimore last Friday offered proof that the art Ali demonstrated in the boxing ring at the pinnacle of his career can also shine brightly in a different kind of arena.

By Graham Hodges
In early September, 1838, the man who would become Frederick Douglass, the foremost black abolitionist of the nineteenth century, arrived in New York City, well aware that he still faced danger from the “slave catchers” who roamed the streets seeking to kidnap unwary blacks. Through fortuitous circumstance, Frederick Bailey, as he was then called, soon met David Ruggles, the city’s leading black abolitionist—and Frederick Douglass’ first and perhaps most influential professor of radical abolitionism.

By Nicole Y. Dennis
I’ve come to believe that many black immigrants coming to the United States don’t really factor the existence of racism into their plan of achieving the American Dream. I think many immigrants overlook it, often seeking success with a tunnel vision. I speak from experience. That’s what I did.

By Doug Miller
Legislation in Congress that would make it easier for workers to form unions is doomed because the Obama administration , with so many other hard contentious issues on its agenda, won’t risk political capital in its defense, according to some experts on trade unionism.

By C. Nicole Mason
Amid protest from parents and teachers, New York City’s Department of Education voted on January 27 to close 19 failing public schools. The closings come on the heels of a heated battle among state legislators to lift a ban limiting the number of charter schools in the state. The measure failed, but not without revealing a troubling trend around the country with regard to public education in states and cities—chasing dollars instead of what’s in the best interest of students.