By Eric T. CampbellThe Michigan Citizen”DETROIT — Detroit Public Schools (DPS) emergency manager and Educational Achievement Authority (EAA) board chairman Roy Roberts is “inflating” his administrative success, according to a new study. Despite promises otherwise, the EM is directing more resources to his administration than the classroom.Roberts has consistently criticized DPS bureaucracy, saying it direct ...

SIG Funds Amount To Millions For EAABy Eric T. CampbellThe Michigan CitizenDETROIT — After a drawn-out application process that included expansive turnaround plans, 18 Detroit public schools qualified for a total of $72 million in federal Student Improvement Grants (SIG) funds — $15 million in 2010 and $57 million in 2011. Those funds were to be allocated by the Michigan Department of Education over three y ...

By Julianne Malveaux NNPA Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., D-Ill., has been away from Congress on medical leave for so long that his colleagues have been clamoring to know what’s wrong, and NBC’s Andrea Mitchell reported that the congressman was receiving treatment for addiction. The truth, according the Rep. Jackson’s staff, is that the congressman is being treated in a residential facility for exhaustion a ...

Highland Park parent Michelle Johnson, a plaintiff in the ACLU lawsuit against the state of Michigan, says students deserve a fair education. ZENOBIA JEFFRIES PHOTO Civil liberties attorneys files complaint for students’ ‘right to read’By Zenobia JeffriesThe Michigan CitizenDETROIT — The State of Michigan is in violation of state law for its failure to ensure students of the Highland Park School District (H ...

By Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. Trice Edney News Wire African Americans and Latinos have suffered the most in the Great Recession. They were the first to lose jobs, and the last to find new jobs. They struggle with the highest unemployment, the greatest loss of personal wealth, the highest percentage of families losing their homes. The calamity has led many to call for programs that would target states and co ...

Young entrepreneur sells family tea blend By Raina L. Baker Special to the Michigan Citizen DETROIT — “When you drink my tea, I want you to feel healthy. I want you to feel refreshed, tropical, like you’re on vacation,” says Nailah Ellis, owner of Ellis Island Tropical Tea. “There doesn’t have to be anything bad going on in your life to feel like you’ve escaped.” The 24-year-old business woman began marketi ...

By Marcus Wright Special to the Michigan Citizen DETROIT — It would be hard to convince Sandra Mayberry there is no silver lining in clouds. Mayberry founded S&M Jewelry Designs after suffering a work-related injury. Mayberry opened S&M Jewelry Design at Gibraltar Trade Center on Jan. 24, 2010. She proudly shows the $20 bill from the first sale she made. S&M moved to the Russell Bazaar in August ...

By Raynard Jackson NNPA As anyone who has followed me knows, I have been extremely critical of President Obama’s non-engagement with the Black community. Obama has deliberately ignored the plight of the Black community while giving preferential treatment to the homosexual and Latino communities. But I can’t in good conscious criticize Obama and then give the Republicans a pass when they display similar beha ...

By David C. Butty As the Republic of Liberia, Africa’s oldest politically independent nation celebrates July 26 its 165th anniversary as a nation, we must recognize that much has been gained over the years in one of the oldest African republics in the world. Liberia made history by electing Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf as the first woman president on the African continent. But one thing remains the same: the natio ...

By Amaka Okechukwu I arrived at Detroit 2012 ready to leave protest politics behind. I was tired of and felt disempowered by demands that those in power change our conditions. At most, protests lead to policy reform, but do not restructure anything in a society that desperately needs transformation. I was not willing to compromise with state and corporate authorities when it came to our humanity — too much ...