(To Be Equal #37)New York – Like “power,” with compassion comes great responsibility. So much more than a feeling, the person with compassion is compelled to transform their compassion into intent, and most importantly, action. To be compassionate is to see, to feel and to do something. The recent arrival of Pope Francis on our […]
Commentary
The Value of Labor by Marc Morial
(To Be Equal #34) – Despite the dizzying array of clearance sales and bargains to be found in our nation’s malls and department stores, Labor Day is no creation of our retail industry. It is our nation’s annual tribute to the working class, American worker whose physical, and largely manual labor, built this country’s infrastructure […]
Julian Bond Was Never One to Shrink Away from a Worthy Fight
By Marc Morial, National Urban League (To Be Equal #32) – New York, NY – He lived his life as a tireless champion of the oppressed and maligned, a battle-worn warrior for civil rights, equality and social justice. Bond fought the good fight, and at the still-youthful age of 75, he completed his course. His […]
The Koch Challenge
By Raynard Jackson – Last week, to my amazement, I read an article about Charles Koch in The Washington Post newspaper. The amazing part was that it was a positive article about Koch. For those who don’t live in DC, The Washington Post is one of the most liberal newspapers in the country and rarely […]
Statement on President Obama’s Clean Power Plan
Felicia Davis – More than a decade ago I wrote that, African Americans are disproportionately affected by power plant emissions because we are concentrated in large urban centers, suffer higher rates of asthma and share a historical bond with the developing world where climate change threatens already weak and overburdened economies. From this perspective, power […]
Urban League’s Morial Urges Passage of Criminal Justice Reform Legislation, Juvenile Incarceration Reform
Washington, DC – National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial today issued the following statement in response to the introduction of criminal justice reform legislation: “As President and CEO of the National Urban League and former Mayor of New Orleans, I am calling on Congress today to act now on two key legislative […]
Urban Uprisings – By Lucius Gantt
(The Gantt Report)- I told you what would happen and you read it in the paper but all you could say was Lucius is a hater. America’s so called Black community leaders can’t draw flies to an outhouse but every time a young Black man gets beaten, chocked, shot or gets his back broken, hand-picked […]
The Treatment of the First African American female Nominee for Attorney General, Loretta Lynch
I called both of my senators today to find out whether they planned to vote to confirm Loretta Lynch for Attorney General. Senator Perdue’s office said “no” and there was no changing his mind. I held out hope that our senior Senator Isakson would be more thoughtful, after all former Mayor Rudy Giuliani said that […]
The State of Black America-By the Numbers: Part 1, Education – By @MARCMORIAL @NatUrbanLeague
(To Be Equal #12) – There’s no other way to say it. Black America is in crisis. Over the past year, we have been bombarded with headlines that continue to drive home the longstanding challenges faced by Black and Brown communities in our nation. From the killings of unarmed Black males at the hands of […]