** Author’s Note: In my column “IF YOU DON’T LIKE DISPARITIES, TRY EQUALITY” I erroneously restated a comment I heard during a “think tank” at Rodham Institute. I was extremely remiss in not fact checking this statement. In communicating with Howard University, the facts are that of the 120 students admitted in Howard University’s School [...]
BY JULIANNE MALVEAUX When George Orwell wrote the novel 1984, he envisioned a character, a real or imagined “Big Brother” who was a know-all, see-all, omnipotent and elusive presence that intruded into lives because he could. Those who knew about “him” were told that they did not exist, but in many ways, Big Brother may not have existed [...]
Although the overall unemployment rate still exceeds 7 percent, and the official Black unemployment rate is greater than 13 percent, there are some who insist that there is a robust economic recovery in progress. Indeed, we were declared “post recession” in 2011 based on the definition of recovery as GDP growth for three quarters in [...]
FEDERAL CONTRACTING PROMOTES INEQUALITY! BY JULIANNE MALVEAUX On May 21, I had the opportunity to testify before a Congressional Progressive Caucus, meeting on the fact that federal dollars drive inequality by paying contractors who pay too many of their workers very little. The hearing was driven by a study from Amy Traub and her colleagues at [...]
When Beyonce Knowles sang the Etta James song “At Last” at President Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration, the song could have had several meanings. At last we have an African American President? At last, the muscle of the Black vote has been flexed? At last, there is some hope for our country to come together with [...]
The Senate’s Gang of Eight have put together an 844 page monstrosity known as the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act, legislation that President Obama says he “basically approves” of. The crafters of this essentially unreadable bill was put together by Senators Dick Durbin (Illinois), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Michael Bennett [...]
African American students achieve at a different level than white students. Test scores are lower, as are high school and college completion rates, and the number of African Americans attending four-year institutions is falling. The rate of African American suspensions and expulsions from K-12 schools is higher than that of other groups. By almost any [...]
Anna Brown, a St. Louis based homeless woman needed treatment for a sprained ankle. She went to three emergency rooms seeking such treatment. In the third hospital, St. Mary’s Health Center, Ms. Brown was emphatic about needing care. Instead she was arrested for trespassing, and died in a jail cell! Was she ill-treated because she [...]
The selection of Argentinian cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the next leader of the Catholic Church was, in some ways, inevitable. Latin America is home to the largest Catholic population in the world, and it has been more than overtime for the tradition of selecting European popes to end. Hopefully, [...]
When unemployment rate data were released on Friday morning, commentators replied joyfully. Alan Krueger, who heads the White House Council of Economic Advisors, described the creation of 247,000 jobs as a victory, since the predictions were that the economy would only generate 170,000 jobs. Unemployment rates went down to 7.7 percent, while predictions were that [...]
