A new survey from the National School Boards Association finds that, as expected, black parents have a very low opinion of the education offered their children in urban public schools. The research also shows that many African-American adults have bought into the stereotype that black children are incapable of competing with white children.

By The Editors
In the chaotic days after Hurricane Katrina flooded much of New Orleans, a group of New Orleans police officers decided to “shoot first and ask questions later” in responding to another officer’s call for help on that city’s Danziger Bridge, a federal prosecutor said Tuesday, as the federal trial of five of those officers moved into its second full day.

By Lee A. Daniels
The story of the Virginia scholarships, to some degree, and, even more directly, of the state of Oklahoma’s refusal to properly compensate the Tulsa black community for Greenwood’s destruction casts into sharp relief the harm the post-Civil War century of legalized racism did to the ability of black American individuals, families and communities to gain and hold a solid economic footing in American society.

They were once convicted of crimes they did not commit and given the most definitive and final sentence any defendant could ever face: death at the hands of the state. But, often after years on death row, they were proved innocent and exonerated by DNA testing.

By Kenneth J. Cooper
One of the more important but overlooked provisions of No Child Left Behind was aimed at making sure poor children get a fair share of the better teachers. In the decade since the federal education law was adopted, however, the “teacher equity” provision has not been widely implemented, and the national pattern of low-income students receiving instruction from less qualified teachers has not changed much.

By Lee A. Daniels
The nation’s metropolitan areas, overwhelmingly the source of its domestic economic power and jobs, are in for a decade of economic uncertainty – and very likely increased social tension – as they try to recover from the Great Recession, according to a new report from the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

By Kenneth J. Cooper
Setti Warren made state history in 2009 by becoming the first black mayor elected in Massachusetts. Now, after just 18 months in office, the 40-year-old mayor of Newton, an upscale suburb, is trying to make a great leap to the U.S. Senate.

By George E. Curry
“Collectively, the pathway data show that more than 51 percent of Hispanic males, 45 percent of African American males, 42 percent of Native American males and 33 percent of Asian American males ages 15-24 will end up unemployed, incarcerated or dead.”

On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit rebuffed a request to reconsider its prior ruling upholding the constitutionality of the admissions program utilized by the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) to assemble a diverse student body.

The Court’s ruling makes it more difficult for workers to collectively enforce their right to a discrimination-free workplace.