561 Search results for "black families"

According to a truly disturbing article in the Chicago Reporter, 530 young people have been murdered in Chicago since 2008. More young people are murdered in the city of Chicago than any other American city. How do we save our youth?

Growing up in East Cleveland, everyone on my block lived in a house that was owned by the family. It was comforting to have a home to grow up in and to have stable neighbors who acted as extended family. I realize now that home ownership contributed to personal investment in the community, which allowed […]

I often find myself standing up for the “Welfare Queen”, a woman characterized by 8 children, lack of a job, and the manipulation to receive welfare payments. Republican model, Ronald Reagan, introduced the term Welfare Queen on a national level in 1976. In his presidential campaign, he described an unnamed woman from the South Side […]

“Why do we continue to invest our time, money, and intellectual works in the college and university system of the United States?” This is something I ask myself regularly. Is there any other way? What role do these institutions play in producing the inequalities we face as Black people in our country? Do we fully […]

Presidential contender Rick Santorum’s vitriolic attack on black Americans is yet another example of the Republican Party’s exploitation of racial stereotypes to score political points. Speaking to a group of supporters in Sioux Falls, Iowa, 2 Sundays ago, Santorum stated, “I don’t want to make black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money.”

With the recent celebration of Kwanzaa, I am reinvigorated with hope as I learn to internalize the principles each day offered. I couldn’t help but place special emphasis on the principle Kujichagulia (Self Determination) which means, “To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves, and speak for ourselves in order to stand up for ourselves.” […]

According to a recent New York Times article, Free Lunch Programs are swelling with new participants nationwide, indicating rising levels of poverty and economic distress across the country. Read more at BlackYouthProject.com!

Che “Rhymefest” Smith and Jasiri X outside 16th St Baptist Church in Birmingham (Photo by Paradise Gray) State Senator Scott Beason, one of the principle architects of Alabama’s anti-immigration bill HB56, is a racist. That’s not just my opinion, that’s what he was called by U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson. Beason was a key witness […]

If you haven’t heard from a pizza fanatic, like myself, last month Congress wrote a bill that continues to allow the tomato paste on pizza to be counted as a serving of vegetables. While you may have heard this argument circulating for a while, the Obama administration and the Department of Agriculture have proposed to […]

Chino XL, Rhymefest, Immortal Technique, Jasiri X (Photo by Paradise Gray) Most of the discussion around rap music is almost always about it’s negative effects. Blog after blog of so called intellectuals rant about mainstream rap music’s bad influence on youth. I often wonder why they never mention the countless MCs all over the country […]

What happened at Penn State was a great travesty. None of us doubt that. I hope that each of the boys and families involved, some of whom were probably black, have gotten or soon get the care they need to recover from this abuse. (Granted, race is not necessarily central to this situation. But since I […]

A Chicago filmmaker named Cyrus Dowlatshahi is working on a feature length documentary about life on the South Side of Chicago. His footage is incredible. Check it out at BlackYouthProject.com!