264 Search results for "supreme court"

Report: Educational Inequities Still Hold Black Students Back Frank McCoy, BET News | July 1, 2011 The U.S. Department of Education released part one of its 2009-10 Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) Thursday, and it is a comprehensive, and downbeat, look at the education of 75 percent of American students in more than 7,000 districts. The […]

On Its 57th Anniversary, Three Lessons From Brown v. Board of Education Eva Paterson, Huffington Post | May 23, 2011 At the Equal Justice Society, we are working to reclaim the full protections of the 14th Amendment and help those who experience discrimination get their day in court. We know we have a tough and […]

In this corner stands President Obama and in the opposite corner stands— the specter of —Osama Bin Laden.  These two men are the main event this week. A flashing headline: “Osama Bin Laden is dead and buried at sea.” The next moment, cameras are panning through crowds of people in the throes of celebrating this […]

Fifty years ago, over four hundred black and white students and young activists participated in non-violent bus trips through southern Jim Crow states.  These historic trips, known as the Freedom Rides, were conducted to shed light on the continuous hatred and violation of the Supreme Court’s desegregation ruling.  This month, PBS will air the documentary […]

Republican school board in N.C. backed by tea party abolishes integration policy Stephanie McCrummen, Washington Post, January 12, 2011 RALEIGH, N.C. – The sprawling Wake County School District has long been a rarity. Some of its best, most diverse schools are in the poorest sections of this capital city. And its suburban schools, rather than being […]

As a youngster I always ate more than my share- literally. Growing up in a traditional Southern Black household, my diet would have probably brought Michelle Obama to tears. Collard greens, macaroni and cheese, turkey wings, neckbones, black eyed peas, and peach cobbler were frequently on my dinner table (I should probably stop listing foods […]

Diversity Debate Convulses Elite High School Sharon Otterman, New York Times | August 4, 2010 With one of its alumnae, Elena Kagan, poised for confirmation as a justice on the United States Supreme Court, it should be a triumphant season for Hunter College High School, a New York City public school for the intellectually gifted.But […]

“The roof, the roof is on fire we don’t need no water let that muthafucka burn, burn, burn mutha burn”.  Although this quippy party catch phrase is a bit antiquated, I believe it still carries relevance today, specifically in Chicago. For a city that has risen like a phoenix from the ashes of the Great […]

Despite Harriet Beecher Stowe’s best intentions, her character Uncle Tom has become a pejorative term aimed at black American’s accused of selling out to white folks. In the novel, he was supposed to be a good man, a Christian man, but it was Christianity that led him to, even under questionable conditions (say slavery), continue […]

Last night I had the privilege of experiencing an event where the voices of people who are removed from our society in every way, physically and intellectually, were heard, listened to, and represented. “Until I Am Free: Voices of Youth Sentenced to Life without Parole” is a project, facilitated by Chicagoan poet, artist and youth […]

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thzHCAjOgAI There is a “moral panic” that Keysha Whitaker highlights in “Latin Female Artist draws criticism for Times Square Mural” brewing on the streets of Times Square where Sofia Maldonado, a young Puerto Rican-Cuban woman, is under fire for creating a mural that for many embodies the sins of rap videos . . . big […]

We all know that some parts of the Constitution are vague. Even though the document was ratified over 222 years ago, constitutional scholars still fiercely debate over what a “well-regulated militia” actually means. Depending on whom you ask, “cruel and unusual punishment” can be swatting a fly or it could be water boarding. Some people […]