http://www.thedefendersonline.com A civil rights blog promoting informed discourse on issues of race, justice, equality and democracy. Wed, 17 Mar 2010 21:17:33 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/03/16/no-money-in-the-bank-black-women-wealth-and-assets/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/03/16/no-money-in-the-bank-black-women-wealth-and-assets/#comments Tue, 16 Mar 2010 20:33:10 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=12676 C. Nicole Mason If the average single black woman went to the bank and withdrew her wealth, she would only withdraw $100.00. And nearly half of single black women have zero or negative wealth—meaning if they inserted their cards into an ATM machine, it would more than likely be rejected.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/03/16/no-money-in-the-bank-black-women-wealth-and-assets/feed/ 1 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/03/16/notes-from-sleezacard/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/03/16/notes-from-sleezacard/#comments Tue, 16 Mar 2010 20:32:11 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=12687 Doug Miller Current changes in credit card regulations might lead to an exchange such as this...]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/03/16/notes-from-sleezacard/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/03/12/mission-critical-succeeding-at-black-america%e2%80%99s-last-chance/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/03/12/mission-critical-succeeding-at-black-america%e2%80%99s-last-chance/#comments Sat, 13 Mar 2010 00:52:07 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=12645 Lee A. Daniels Fourteen months into the Obama Presidency, it’s become more and more obvious that the spectacular example of the First Family sketches only a partial portrait of the present and possible future of Black America. The rest of the portrait—better to call it a mosaic—is far more complex and, in some areas, far less sunny.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/03/12/mission-critical-succeeding-at-black-america%e2%80%99s-last-chance/feed/ 1 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/02/19/the-business-of-you-going-for-the-gold/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/02/19/the-business-of-you-going-for-the-gold/#comments Fri, 19 Feb 2010 21:29:45 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=12411 Jackie Jones Black folks may be easy marks for online and mail-in gold businesses.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/02/19/the-business-of-you-going-for-the-gold/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/02/16/reality-check-one-year-after-stimulus-blacks-and-latinos-still-struggling/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/02/16/reality-check-one-year-after-stimulus-blacks-and-latinos-still-struggling/#comments Tue, 16 Feb 2010 21:06:37 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=12376 C. Nicole Mason On the one-year anniversary of the stimulus bill, the Administration will do much to convince us that it is indeed working. However, it’s going to take more than colorful pie charts and grandiose projections to ease the anxiety and the angst gripping communities.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/02/16/reality-check-one-year-after-stimulus-blacks-and-latinos-still-struggling/feed/ 1 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/29/the-business-of-you-bank-of-overdraft-policies-protect-no-one/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/29/the-business-of-you-bank-of-overdraft-policies-protect-no-one/#comments Fri, 29 Jan 2010 22:26:03 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=12167 Jackie Jones Bad lending practices by banks are increasingly eating up disposable income, not only hurting individual consumers, but also affecting the nation’s overall economic health by diverting funds that could be spent on consumer products to servicing debt.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/29/the-business-of-you-bank-of-overdraft-policies-protect-no-one/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/22/the-missed-opportunity-of-a-lifetime/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/22/the-missed-opportunity-of-a-lifetime/#comments Fri, 22 Jan 2010 21:38:35 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=12011 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.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/22/the-missed-opportunity-of-a-lifetime/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/22/obama-at-year-one/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/22/obama-at-year-one/#comments Fri, 22 Jan 2010 21:31:02 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=12014 John Payton A year ago, we could barely contain our excitement as we contemplated a historic achievement. Barack Obama had won a decisive victory. There was widespread enthusiasm for his Presidency. Right after the election, Gallup reported that 68 percent of the public was proud that Obama was President. His choices of Senator Hillary Clinton to be Secretary of State, of Eric Holder to be Attorney General and of Robert Gates to remain as Secretary of Defense were well received. His Inaugural speech was brilliant. We were looking forward to acknowledging and confronting fundamental problems that have plagued our society for decades.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/22/obama-at-year-one/feed/ 2 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/22/real-world-therapy-for-retail-bankers-five-steps-to-a-healthy-business-and-renewed-popularity/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/22/real-world-therapy-for-retail-bankers-five-steps-to-a-healthy-business-and-renewed-popularity/#comments Fri, 22 Jan 2010 20:09:59 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=12002 Doug Miller Maybe, just maybe, America’s retail bankers really don’t get it. Despite being hauled before Congress, derided by the president and sinking like a bar of gold bullion in an increasingly choppy sea of public opinion, maybe they’re just incapable at this point of seeing the balance sheet for what it really is.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/22/real-world-therapy-for-retail-bankers-five-steps-to-a-healthy-business-and-renewed-popularity/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/20/unequal-opportunity-and-whitewashed-resumes/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/20/unequal-opportunity-and-whitewashed-resumes/#comments Wed, 20 Jan 2010 20:06:38 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=11969 Khalil Gibran Muhammad "Education is the key to success. Knowledge is power." Wise words repeated countless times to young people at home and in school every single day. But what should we say to them if one day their hard work meets empty promises, if their dreams are deferred, or their first paycheck of material reward is marked insufficient funds.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/20/unequal-opportunity-and-whitewashed-resumes/feed/ 1 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/20/haiti-90999yele-501501-or-how-i-learned-to-stop-fretting-and-appreciate-social-networks/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/20/haiti-90999yele-501501-or-how-i-learned-to-stop-fretting-and-appreciate-social-networks/#comments Wed, 20 Jan 2010 17:25:38 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=11980 Jill Nelson The Haitian earthquake crisis will be remembered as the moment in which the technology and platforms that enable social networking were used and transformed by ordinary citizens—the period when Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and other social networking sites became agents of change, and technology transcended commercialism, politics, personality, and trivia.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/20/haiti-90999yele-501501-or-how-i-learned-to-stop-fretting-and-appreciate-social-networks/feed/ 1 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/15/time-to-give-haiti-its-due/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/15/time-to-give-haiti-its-due/#comments Fri, 15 Jan 2010 21:26:24 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=11917 Karen Hunter Out of the tragedy and devastation in the aftermath of the horrific earthquake that struck Haiti this week, there is opportunity. There is a chance to make things right.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/15/time-to-give-haiti-its-due/feed/ 1 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/15/helping-haiti-in-the-wake-of-the-quake/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/15/helping-haiti-in-the-wake-of-the-quake/#comments Fri, 15 Jan 2010 21:20:38 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=11892 The Editors The worst earthquake in more than 200 years hit the already devastated nation of Haiti the afternoon of January 12, leveling a hospital, damaging the United Nations mission and plunging the capital of Port-au-Prince into darkness as electricity and telephone service were wiped out. The quake hit just after 5 p.m., at an estimated magnitude of 7.0., with aftershocks of 5.9.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/15/helping-haiti-in-the-wake-of-the-quake/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/15/kings-legacy-serves-as-a-call-to-arms-on-crisis-in-haiti/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/15/kings-legacy-serves-as-a-call-to-arms-on-crisis-in-haiti/#comments Fri, 15 Jan 2010 20:51:13 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=11924 John Payton Today provides a moment for reflection on the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born 81 years ago on this day. It is also a moment of intense anguish for the survivors and those continuing to suffer in the wake of the tragic earthquake in Haiti.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/15/kings-legacy-serves-as-a-call-to-arms-on-crisis-in-haiti/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/12/08/our-economic-crisis-when-the-pain-goes-the-other-way/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/12/08/our-economic-crisis-when-the-pain-goes-the-other-way/#comments Tue, 08 Dec 2009 22:33:09 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=11467 Lee A. Daniels Now that millions of white Americans are out of work, enduring the sense of desperation that poverty and joblessness bring, I can’t believe I’m not hearing the faux-moralists lecture them about taking “personal responsibility” for their own circumstances.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/12/08/our-economic-crisis-when-the-pain-goes-the-other-way/feed/ 1 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/12/08/welfare-%e2%80%93-the-vanishing-safety-net/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/12/08/welfare-%e2%80%93-the-vanishing-safety-net/#comments Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:25:50 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=11444 Jackie Jones The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), heralded as welfare reform during the Clinton administration, comes up before Congress next year for reauthorization. Whether the program, which was purportedly intended to assist the needy while gradually moving them off assistance and into the workplace, will continue as presently constructed or morph into something else remains to be seen.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/12/08/welfare-%e2%80%93-the-vanishing-safety-net/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/11/20/food-insecurity-america%e2%80%99s-growing-hunger/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/11/20/food-insecurity-america%e2%80%99s-growing-hunger/#comments Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:49:59 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=11255 TaRessa Stovall Experts call it “food insecurity … meaning that the food intake is reduced and … disrupted at times … because the household lacked money and other resources for food.” And not surprisingly, it’s on the rise.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/11/20/food-insecurity-america%e2%80%99s-growing-hunger/feed/ 1 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/11/20/add-another-problem-experts-blame-black-single-mothers-for-%e2%80%98food-insecurity%e2%80%99/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/11/20/add-another-problem-experts-blame-black-single-mothers-for-%e2%80%98food-insecurity%e2%80%99/#comments Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:17:02 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=11249 Makani Themba Nixon A recent Cornell University study finds that half of all US children and 90 percent of black children will eat food paid for by food stamps at some point in their childhoods. You, like the good folk at Cornell, may think this is dire and even shocking news. And for good reason, as the co-authors of the study write in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine that food stamp use is an important indicator of poverty and food insecurity.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/11/20/add-another-problem-experts-blame-black-single-mothers-for-%e2%80%98food-insecurity%e2%80%99/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/11/07/rising-numbers-of-the-homeless-back-to-the-future/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/11/07/rising-numbers-of-the-homeless-back-to-the-future/#comments Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:55:04 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=11114 Jackie Jones Without a national agenda on mental health treatment, Torrey predicted, many states would be wrestling with substantial increases in the number of and funding treatment for the mentally ill homeless and mentally ill prison inmates.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/11/07/rising-numbers-of-the-homeless-back-to-the-future/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/11/07/update-unemployment-rise-president-obama-extends-benefits/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/11/07/update-unemployment-rise-president-obama-extends-benefits/#comments Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:29:11 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=11109 The Editors On Friday, President Obama  signed a measure once again extending benefits to the long-term unemployed—even as it became likely that  still another extension may be necessary next spring.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/11/07/update-unemployment-rise-president-obama-extends-benefits/feed/ 1 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/10/21/the-black-church-and-the-recession/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/10/21/the-black-church-and-the-recession/#comments Wed, 21 Oct 2009 23:00:57 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=10918 Jackie Jones While the current recession has forced blacks, along with other Americans, to cut back, previous studies have found that when money gets tight, giving to churches often increases because people hope for blessings in return.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/10/21/the-black-church-and-the-recession/feed/ 2 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/10/16/the-long-term-unemployed-caught-in-a-perfect-economic-storm/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/10/16/the-long-term-unemployed-caught-in-a-perfect-economic-storm/#comments Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:47:58 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=10875 Lee A. Daniels Last month, according to the National Employment Law Project (NELP), an advocacy group, 400,000 of the long-term unemployed stopped receiving federal benefits. This month another 200,000 are due to be cut off. Unless Congress acts to again extend benefits for the long-term unemployed as it did earlier in the recession, by the end of December a total of 1.3 million of the long-term jobless across the country will be in the same predicament.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/10/16/the-long-term-unemployed-caught-in-a-perfect-economic-storm/feed/ 1 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/10/09/riots-real-estate-and-selective-memory/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/10/09/riots-real-estate-and-selective-memory/#comments Fri, 09 Oct 2009 21:40:19 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=10739 Beryl Satter Ask any American over the age of fifty about “the riots,” and a clear image comes to mind. The time is the 1960s, the place is the urban north, and the rioter is an African American, hell-bent on arson and looting. Ask the same American about the massive mortgage frauds of the 1970s, which left black urban communities across the nation in ruins, and you’ll get a blank stare.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/10/09/riots-real-estate-and-selective-memory/feed/ 2 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/10/09/the-business-of-you-black-college-grads-need-extra-hustle-finesse-to-succeed/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/10/09/the-business-of-you-black-college-grads-need-extra-hustle-finesse-to-succeed/#comments Fri, 09 Oct 2009 21:38:50 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=10743 Jackie Jones Jobs can be found, but for black graduates that likely means going outside of their comfort zones, employment experts say.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/10/09/the-business-of-you-black-college-grads-need-extra-hustle-finesse-to-succeed/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/09/29/the-pursuit-of-financial-fitness/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/09/29/the-pursuit-of-financial-fitness/#comments Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:47:59 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=10600 Jackie Jones We’ve been told that it’s a scary world out there. Labor Department figures show that unemployment, overall, stood at 9.7 percent in August and was 15.1 percent for black people. Black families began losing ground about three years before the recession began. But one financial expert is opting out of recession-related woes.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/09/29/the-pursuit-of-financial-fitness/feed/ 0