By Manning Marable
Early on in their deliberation process, the Obama pre-campaign group recognized that most white Americans would never vote for a black Presidential candidate. However, they were convinced that most whites would embrace, and vote for, a remarkable, qualified Presidential candidate who happened to be black.

By Leslie Proll
When President Obama took office last January, hopes were high that the right wing’s long stronghold on the federal courts had come to an end. LDF and other civil rights advocates were eager for a new day when fair and impartial judges would once again be nominated and confirmed in large numbers.

By Lee A. Daniels
As someone who was born a Negro – that’s what it says on my birth certificate — I wonder how anyone who has any understanding of black Americans’ history could think that the term “Negro,” or any of the other historical names black Americans have called themselves during their four-century sojourn in America, are demeaning or dishonorable.

By the NAACP Legal Defense Fund Political Participation Practice Group
Recent online polls and news reports have raised a question about the use of the word “Negro” on the 2010 Census form. The brewing controversy focuses on the derogatory history of the term and its connection to racial segregation.

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 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 TaRessa Stovall
On December 1, in a contest described in the media as “one of the tightest political contests in decades,” 30 percent of Atlanta voters elected Reed, 40, as the city’s sixth consecutive African-American mayor since the late Maynard Jackson made history as the first African-American to lead a major Southern city in 1973.

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.

By Mark Lassiter
On Tuesday, December 1, a potentially historic mayoral election will take place in Atlanta, Georgia. The November 3 election led to a runoff between City Councilor Mary Norwood, a white woman running as an Independent, though some say she’s Republican; and Georgia State Senator Kasim Reed, a Democrat who has the support of both the local hip-hop stars and the old-school civil rights veterans.

By The Editors
After nearly a month of wrangling, on Thursday the U.S. Senate shelved an eleventh-hour attempt to add a new question—about citizenship and immigration status—to next year’s Census population survey.