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Denver – A Mile High, And Far Ahead

The Editors — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 13:53:21 +0000

By Kenneth J. Cooper
This June Denver, with a population that is 10 percent black, elected its second African American mayor – one more than its more populous brethren, New York, Los Angeles or Chicago, have produced.

New York Senate Republicans Seek to Bring Back Prison-Based Gerrymandering

The Editors — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 21:41:43 +0000

By The Editors
Some New York State legislators want to roll back democracy by reinstituting prison-based gerrymandering.

President Obama Signs Compromise Tax Bill; Unemployment Benefits Extended

The Editors — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 18:56:17 +0000

By The Editors
President Obama Friday quickly signed legislation the House of Representatives had passed at midnight Thursday authorizing more than $800 billion in tax cuts and extending unemployment benefits to millions of jobless workers for the next 13 months.

Obama-GOP Tax Plan Prospects Improve; Unemployment Benefits Renewal Nears

The Editors — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 23:06:42 +0000

By The Editors
The Senate appeared ready Tuesday to pass the controversial compromise tax plan fashioned by President Obama and Congressional Republicans, legislation that would also extend unemployment benefits to millions of jobless workers to the end of 2011.

Richard Nixon’s Bigotry

The Editors — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 23:03:24 +0000

By Lee A. Daniels
“You won’t have Nixon to kick around any more, because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference …”
If only Richard Nixon had kept the bitter promise he spat out to reporters the day after losing the California gubernatorial election in November, 1962.

Dream Act Hits Roadblock In The Senate; Passage Endangered

The Editors — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 22:48:55 +0000

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.

NAACP Legal Defense Fund Files Brief to Defend Voting Rights Act Against Constitutional Challenge

The Editors — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 01:07:47 +0000

Yesterday the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) filed a brief in Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder, a case challenging the constitutionality of two core provisions of the Voting Rights Act. The law requires jurisdictions with a history of discrimination to have voting changes reviewed by the U.S. Department of Justice or D.C. District Court to ensure they are free from discrimination.

Counting Prisoners to Distort the Vote, Undermine Democracy

The Editors — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 19:12:04 +0000

By Dale Ho "Prison-based gerrymandering" is a practice whereby many states and local governments count incarcerated persons as residents of the areas where they are housed when election district lines are drawn. This practice distorts our democratic process by artificially inflating the population count-and thus, the political influence-of the districts where prisons and jails are located.

Captive Constituents: Prison-Based Gerrymandering And the Distortion of Our Democracy

The Editors — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 03:04:00 +0000

According to a new publication issued this week by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), the increased concern about the mass incarceration of African Americans in the nation’s state and federal prisons has exposed a concomitant insidious practice: prison-based gerrymandering.

The GOP’s Racial Gaffes: A “Congenital” Virus?

The Editors — Fri, 14 May 2010 23:33:35 +0000

By Lee A. Daniels Is it congenital? Is the Republican Party so institutionally infected with anti-black and anti-Latino hostility that it can’t help doing things which make a mockery of its glib rhetoric about appealing to people of color?

NAACP LDF Report Highlights Impact of Felon Disfranchisement Laws

The Editors — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 16:18:53 +0000

By The Editors This week, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) released Free the Vote: Unlocking Democracy in the Cells and on the Streets, a report detailing the impact felon disfranchisement laws have on communities of color nationwide.

Urgent Message from LDF: Why This Census Counts More Than Ever

The Editors — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 21:16:53 +0000

By John Payton April 1, 2010 is Census Day! This count of the entire population occurs once every ten years, and is critical to the African American community. The distribution of federal funds to state, county and municipal governments and the distribution of political power at every level of government depend on an accurate count.

Census Bureau Gives States New Option on Counting Inmates

The Editors — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 21:09:28 +0000

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.

Reflections of a Black Pioneer: Two Cases of Integrative Leadership

The Editors — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 22:53:17 +0000

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."

Critical Census Mistake: Mis-Counting Prisoners

The Editors — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 21:46:53 +0000

By Ryan P. Haygood The 2010 Census affords a unique opportunity to harness the momentum of African-American civic engagement that was forged in the 2008 Presidential election — this time, to ensure complete African-American inclusion.

The (Missed) Opportunity of a Lifetime

The Editors — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 21:38:35 +0000

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.

Obama at Year One

The Editors — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 21:31:02 +0000

By 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.

What Would Martin Say?

The Editors — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 22:59:08 +0000

By Lee A. Daniels
This is the week America celebrates in special fashion the life and work of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Naming Names: What Will We Call Ourselves Next?

The Editors — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 23:53:20 +0000

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.

The Word “Negro” and the 2010 Census Form

The Editors — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 23:21:08 +0000

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.

Federal Court Strikes Down Washington State’s Felon Disfranchisement Law in Landmark Voting Rights Case

The Editors — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 02:55:52 +0000

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.

Blacks ‘Cannot Afford’ Not to be Counted in the 2010 Census

The Editors — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 21:21:50 +0000

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.

Leading Atlanta in Black and White: And the Winner Is…

The Editors — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 21:45:58 +0000

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.

Gone With The Wind: The Race to Lead Atlanta, Then and Now

The Editors — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:13:43 +0000

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.

Bought & Sold: Blacks and the Buying of Gotham City in the 2009 Mayoral Election

The Editors — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 03:33:54 +0000

By C. Nicole Mason The mayoral race in New York City could have been a classic David and Goliath story: Billionaire incumbent spends 100 million only to be defeated by small time politico with few dollars and even fewer big city connections. This unlikely story might have been the case if blacks and Latinos had turned out in larger numbers on Election Day.