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It’s time to act, by Jesse Jackson
If things don’t add up, it makes sense to see if something has been left out of the equation. That’s the case today. The experts tell us that the economy is as good as it has been in decades – unem- ployment at record lows, inflation under control, wages finally rising faster than prices. Yet, most people are unhappy and pessimistic. President Biden’s approval rating is still underwater. Donald Trump, his likely opponent in the presidential race, is even less popular. What’s going on?
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Hope for the ‘Cotton Curtain’
We won the Voting Rights Act of 1965 at Selma, combining the power of a principled mass movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and a compassionate president who did the right thing despite the heavy political price. What was that cost? President Lyndon B. Johnson said it best at the time when he told his aides that we’d “just lost the South for a generation.”
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Our children pay the price
Editor’s note: The 65th anniversary of the historic Moton School student strike in Prince Edward County over
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Hair discrimination alive and well by Julianne Malveaux
Andrew Johnson, a high school wrestler, was forced to submit to the humiliating act of having his dreadlocks shorn or have his New Jersey team forfeit their match to the opposing team. A gleeful white woman seemed too pleased to invade the young man’s person, and his team won, but at what price? When this happened in December 2018, there was a national outcry and the referee was suspended.
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Economic justice and fair housing
“The housing problem is particularly acute in the minority ghettos. Nearly two-thirds of all non-white families living in the central cities today live in neighborhoods marked with substandard housing and general urban blight. Two major factors are responsible. First: Many ghetto residents simply cannot pay the rent necessary to support decent housing. In Detroit, for example, over 40 percent of the non-white occupied units in 1960 required rent of over 35 percent of the tenants’ income. Second: Discrimination prevents access to many non-slum areas, particularly the suburbs, where good housing exists. In addition, by creating a ‘back pressure’ in the racial ghettos, it makes it possible for landlords to break up apartments for denser occupancy, and keeps prices and rents of deteriorated ghetto housing higher than they would be in a truly free market.” – Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (the Kerner Commission), 1968 Former Vice President Walter Mondale, who co-sponsored the Fair Housing Act along with U.S. Sen. Edward Brooke, the first popularly elected African-American in the U.S. Senate, was interviewed recently on the occasion of the Fair Housing Act’s 50th anniversary.
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America does not value the lives of black people
There is no stronger proof of the truth of that statement than the 10-minute cell phone video showing the ghastly death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.
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Children in the Central African Republic await the visit Monday of Pope Francis at a stadium in the capital, Bangui, where the pope led a …
Published on December 5, 2015
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From March 17-23, Cicilia Seleian Koisenke will visit Richmond to sell jewelry to help offset the challenges facing her homeland near Kenya.
Published on March 16, 2023
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President Carter pushes for interracial Baptist cooperation
Pastors Frederick Haynes and George Mason both lead Baptist churches in Dallas, but they had never met until the not-guilty verdict in the death of Florida teen Trayvon Martin brought them together in 2013.
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Life likely to change for Bill Cosby after conviction
Bill Cosby, used to the high life as one of America’s biggest stars, likely will see his entourage of aides replaced by an inmate paid pennies to help the legally blind comedian navigate life behind bars after he is sentenced for sexual assault.
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Casino vote aftermath
Stoney, Spanberger declare bids for governor; Paul Goldman proposes charter change
Mayor Levar M. Stoney is brushing himself off after Richmond voters for the second time rejected the $562 million casino-resort plan he fully backed and gearing up to run for governor in 2025. Separately, Paul Goldman, who led both successful no casino campaigns, is now focusing on securing public support for a change to the City Charter or constitution that would require the mayor and the City Council to put the city’s children first when it comes to spending tax dollars.
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Training program for released convicts faces shutdown
Rodney Brown had just served a six-year sentence in prison in 2018 when he found his way to the nonprofit Adult Alternative Program at 4929 Chamberlayne Ave. in the city’s North Side.
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William U. Booker Sr., entrepreneur, civic and spiritual leader, dies at age 95
Hard-working, honest, wise, industrious, caring’ were his trademarks
William Ulysses Booker Sr. sought to seize the opportunities that came his way.
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Families of 9 killed in Mother Emanuel AME Church massacre settle lawsuit over faulty gun background check
Families of the nine victims killed in the 2015 racist attack at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., have reached a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department over a faulty background check that allowed convicted shooter Dylann Roof to purchase the gun.
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Budget dispute may slow plans to redevelop Boulevard
A little noticed budget dispute in the General Assembly could slow Richmond’s rush to transform 61 acres of largely vacant city property on North Boulevard into retail stores, a hotel, offices and apartments. The House of Delegates and the Senate appear to be split over approving Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s proposal to authorize the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control to spend up to $105 million to buy land and develop a new headquarters and warehouse complex.
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RRHA to sell 26 homes to highest bidders
A major opportunity to create affordable homes for families with below average incomes in Richmond is going by the wayside.
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Richmond Superintendent Jason Kamras finishes a recent day visiting 12 schools by watching a student work on a laptop at Barack Obama Elementary School.
Published on February 21, 2019
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Speak out on transportation funding
The funding decisions local leaders make today impact our collective future. That’s why the Central Virginia Transportation Authority would like to hear from the public about a new proposed funding scenario that includes $276.4 million to improve the region’s bike, pedestrian, bridge and highway infrastructure.
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City tax amnesty application process now open
City Hall is now accepting applications for tax amnesty on real estate taxes and some businesses taxes.
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Rapper DMX remains on life support
Supporters and family of the rapper DMX chanted his name and offered prayers Monday outside the New York hospital where he remains on life support.
