By Kenneth J. Cooper
Enmeshed in a tangled, longstanding dispute over their citizenship rights, descendants of the Cherokee Freedmen, the former slaves of the Oklahoma-based Native American tribe, are pinning their hopes of healing a public rupture with the Cherokee Nation on a new election for chief.

By Lee A. Daniels
Once again, we have seen that, when the whole world is watching, the power of the yearning for liberty and opportunity – propelled by fearless action – can upend a repressive regime.

By Lee A. Daniels
Here’s a suggestion: Whenever you hear or read someone boasting of “American exceptionalism,” — the notion that America has since its founding been uniquely ordained by God and its own moral character to lead the world – reach for your wallet. Because, intellectually speaking, someone is surely trying to pick your pocket.

By The Editors
The Senate Thursday tabled legislation that would provide a clear route to citizenship for high school and college students in the U.S. illegally, raising the possibility that the push to pass it has failed.

By TaRessa Stovall
Human trafficking, sometimes referred to as 21st Century Slavery, is a global human rights violation that has infiltrated the United States, with New York City a leading entry, transit and destination point for trafficking victims.

By TaRessa Stovall
Human rights in the U.S. came under new scrutiny on August 20, when the Obama administration submitted the nation’s first-ever report to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

By Vernon E. Jordan, Jr.
In New York State Thurgood Marshall Day –appropriately — also marks the anniversary of a great American milestone.

By The Editors
This month the U.S. Census Bureau issued new guidelines that could significantly alter how inmates in state prisons are counted for the census. That, in turn, could affect whether voting districts across the country gain or lose population in advance of the 2011 Congressional and state legislative redistricting.

By Clifton R. Wharton, Jr.
The unprecedented election of President Barack Obama has provided a dramatic spotlight on the issues of race in America. One aspect of significance is that it represents an important step in the process of racial integration in our nation. His election was the result of the collective decisions by a multi racial and multi ethnic electorate. Both as a U.S. Senator from Illinois and as President, Obama has been what might be called an “Integrative Black Pioneer.”