The Defenders Online | A Civil Rights Blog

The Right’s New Rule: Maximum Ideological Polarization

The Editors — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:55:51 +0000

By Lee A. Daniels
More and more right-wing elected officials and wannabe officeholders have made clear they hold a different political value, one which was bluntly stated by Richard Mourdock, the Republican Treasurer of Indiana who earlier this month defeated Senator Richard Lugar, one of the pillars of Senate, in the GOP primary.

Nicholas deBelleville Katzenbach, 1922 – 2012

The Editors — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:54:07 +0000

In the early 1960s Nicholas Katzenbach was part of the cadre of talented lawyers from the Justice Department who worked to ensure that the national promise of equality too long ignored was finally kept.

Judge Louis H. Pollak, 1922 – 2012

The Editors — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:53:22 +0000

The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. is deeply saddened by the passing of Judge Louis H. Pollak, a legendary figure in LDF’s and this nation’s quest for racial justice and equality.

May 17, 1954: America’s Modern Era Begins

The Editors — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:52:42 +0000

"After every other Supreme Court victory we had celebrated with a raucous, boozy party. But after Brown there was quiet. It was all so awesome.”

Thinking Outside the Cell Series: A Relationship Worthwhile

The Editors — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:51:48 +0000

By Ronald F. Day
Generally, when we think of relationships, we think of people. This relationship was different. It involved only one person: me. The relationship that I felt enthusiastic talking about is the relationship I developed with learning. The good thing about this relationship is that it created a win-win situation. There was no room for failure.

The Real-Life “Survivor One World:” Will ‘Life’ Imitate ‘Art?’

The Editors — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:50:43 +0000

By Kenneth J. Cooper
People who are unaccustomed to exercising power need to learn how to seize power and how to exercise it. Those skills and habits of mind will not automatically be implanted when the Census Bureau’s demographic clock ticks down to a majority minority country in 2042 or so.

Summer 2000: The Shootings at Jackson State University; Thirty Years Later

The Editors — Tue, 15 May 2012 20:48:17 +0000

Editor’s Note -- The killing of four unarmed students at Kent State University by Ohio National Guardsmen called in to quell a student demonstration there on May 4, 1970 immediately became one of the iconic moments of the turbulent 1960s-1970s era. Far less remarked upon at the time and since was a similar incident that occurred ten days later at predominantly black Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi on the night of May 14/15.

Elizabeth Warren and the Attack on Affirmative Action

The Editors — Wed, 09 May 2012 13:45:58 +0000

By Kenneth J. Cooper
You can tell Republicans are worried about freshman Scott Brown making it back to the Senate this fall because they're playing to racial resentments in the high-profile Massachusetts race. And that includes Brown.

Mitt Romney’s Calculated Cowardice

The Editors — Wed, 09 May 2012 13:26:10 +0000

By Lee A. Daniels
Any candidate for public office with an ounce of moral fiber in them – including career politicians running for the Presidency – knows they have a responsibility to rebut scurrilous remarks their supporters make about their opponents when speaking directly to them in a public forum.

Voter Registration and the 2012 Election

The Editors — Wed, 09 May 2012 13:12:55 +0000

By Lee A. Daniels
If a national election is near, then it’s time to cast doubt on the commitment of blacks and Latinos to turn out to vote. Despite their steady level of participation over the last two decades, and clear ratcheting-up of voting in the last six years, forecasts of a fall-off – or at least concern that it will occur – remain a staple of conventional political coverage.

LDF and Project Vote Win Important Legal Victory for Public Assistance Recipients in Louisiana

mpotter — Fri, 04 May 2012 18:24:35 +0000

(New Orleans, LA) – Yesterday, voting rights advocates won an important legal victory that will ensure that Louisiana’s public assistance agency clients—the state’s poorest and most marginalized residents—will be offered an opportunity to register to vote. In a forceful decision, a federal judge ruled in favor of the Louisiana State Conference of the NAACP that [...]

Race Discrimination After Foreclosure: Are Communities of Color Treated Differently?

The Editors — Tue, 01 May 2012 21:03:32 +0000

By Leslie Proll
The current foreclosure crisis constitutes a monumental civil rights issue. Communities of color were targeted for risky mortgage loans, have experienced disproportionately high foreclosure rates, and have been stripped of vast amounts of wealth because of discriminatory lending practices.

“Trouble Is Still A-Coming”

mpotter — Tue, 01 May 2012 21:01:59 +0000

By Vernon E. Jordan, Jr.
Editor’s Note -- For the past 15 years Vernon E. Jordan, Jr. has taken part in the famed Chapel Speakers’ Series at Howard University’s Andrew Rankin Memorial Chapel. A 1960 Alumnus of the Howard University Law School, Jordan has used the pulpit to further the African-American religious tradition of the social gospel – of considering the problems and challenges of the secular society from the perspective of the Bible and the belief that Christians must be a force for good in the world. Sunday, as usual, Jordan was the Series’ final guest speaker for this academic year.

Washington’s Student-Loan Face-off

The Editors — Tue, 01 May 2012 18:43:41 +0000

By Kenneth J. Cooper
For the time being, President Obama has routed the Republicans on the politically-potent issue of college student loans and preventing the interest on them from doubling.

Spring 1998: The Racial Integration of America’s Universities; Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

The Editors — Tue, 01 May 2012 17:51:49 +0000

A principal purpose of this journal is to stimulate competition among educational institutions toward achieving some of the goals that we cherish. One goal is the advancement of African Americans in the institutions of American higher education that for a century or more almost wholly excluded black people. By publicizing poor performances on such matters as employing black faculty and the enrollment of black students, we hope to encourage more positive and productive efforts.

Breaking the “Whites Only” Rule

The Editors — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 16:12:23 +0000

By Lee A. Daniels
It was the kind of play of which great hockey moments are made: a player who’d had a disappointing year on an underdog team scores the winning goal in overtime of a serie’s deciding game to defeat the defending world champions and send his team on deeper into the championship round.

LDF Applauds New EEOC Guidelines That Expand Workplace Opportunity

The Editors — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 19:52:52 +0000

The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) applauds the issuance of detailed guidelines by the Equal Employment and Opportunity Commission (EEOC) that makes it easier for those who have paid their debt to society to transition back into the workforce.

Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments on Arizona Immigration Law

The Editors — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 21:19:27 +0000

By Lee A. Daniels
Supreme Court Justices yesterday appeared unconvinced by arguments of the Obama administration’s opposition to a crucial provision to Arizona’s controversial immigration law. The Justices closely questioned why the law’s requirement that police check individual’s immigration status was unconstitutional.

Robert L. Carter, and school desegregation in the metropolitan North

The Editors — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 21:18:08 +0000

By Mark Santow
I was saddened to hear of the death of Judge Robert L. Carter, in January at the age of 94.

The passing of this great generation of civil rights reformers (Fred Shuttlesworth and Derrick Bell are gone too) was of course inevitable -- Dr. King would be in his 80s, if he were still with us. But studying their words and work, one is reminded of just how limited our visions of justice are these days.

Summer 2009: Edward Alexander Bouchet, 1852 – 1918

The Editors — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 21:17:17 +0000

In 1870 Edward Alexander Bouchet, a black man, enrolled at Yale University. Four years later in 1874, Bouchet became the first African American to earn a degree from Yale College.

North Carolina Judge Rules Racial Bias Influences Death Penalty Sentencing

The Editors — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 01:47:31 +0000

By The Editors
In an historic decision, a North Carolina judge Friday reduced an inmate’s death sentence to life without the possibility of parole because the prosecutor had deliberately excluded black potential jurors during the jury-selection phase of the inmate’s trial.

One School’s Vibrant Lesson: “Chess for Success”

The Editors — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 01:45:57 +0000

By Lee A. Daniels
Earlier this month the chess team from a New York City public middle school where the majority of students comes from families with low incomes won the national high school chess championship – the first time any middle school has won the prestigious competition.

25 Years Later, McCleskey Decision Still Fosters Racism by Ignoring It

The Editors — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 01:43:14 +0000

By Christina Swarns
Few cases involving the intersection of race, criminal law, and procedure have had the reach and impact of McCleskey v. Kemp, a United States Supreme Court decision decided 25 years ago, on April 22, 1987. This decision set the stage for more than 20 years of dramatically increasing racial disparities within the criminal justice system.

Black Voters’ Crucial Role in Mass. Senate Race

The Editors — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 01:42:14 +0000

By Kenneth J. Cooper
One of the most intense races for the U.S. Senate is unfolding in Massachusetts, where Republican Scott Brown two years ago snatched the seat that Ted Kennedy held for four decades. Although less than seven percent of the state’s residents are African Americans, black voters could very well play a significant role in determining the outcome.

Continuing the Conversation: Family and Friends Celebrate the Life of John Payton

The Editors — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 02:51:04 +0000

“John left us so suddenly,” said one Payton admirer who had come to the hall an hour or so before the 1:30 p.m. ceremony began, “it’s as if we didn’t get a chance to finish our conversation.”