TAYLOR – Now celebrating its landmark 50th anniversary season, the nationally renowned Giordano Dance Chicago (GDC) comes to Wayne County Community College District’s (WCCCD) Heinz C. Prechter Educational and Performing Arts Center, April 20 at 8 p.m. The Educational and Performing Arts Center is located on the WCCCD Downriver Campus at 21000 Northline Road in Taylor. ...

Toyota recently unveiled their 2013 Avalon at a press junket in Cincinnati. The event not only provided the media in attendance with a look at the newly designed vehicle, but also an inside look at the company who makes it and their strong commitment to diversity. Billed a luxury car without the luxury price tag, the Avalon is sure to be a favorite among the African American consumer market. Members of the ...

“It is better to be prepared for an opportunity and not have one than to have an opportunity and not be prepared.” — The late National Urban League and civil rights leader, Whitney M. Young, Jr. Last week, during the National Urban League’s 10th annual Legislative Policy Conference in Washington, D.C., we released the 37th edition of the “State of Black America, Redeem the Dream: Jobs Rebuild America.” This ...

The Atlanta public school cheating scandal is but “the tip of the iceberg,” reports Bob Schaeffer, public education director of the National Center for Fair and Open Testing. A new FairTest survey reports confirmed cheating incidents in 37 states and the District of Columbia in just that last four years. It also lists 50 ways adults in public schools artificially boost test scores. ...

You could say “42,” the film about the life of Brooklyn Dodgers great Jackie Robinson, is a gripping baseball tale and your assessment would be correct — but woefully incomplete. “42” is not just a baseball story. It’s a compelling history lesson as well. It tells the story of not just baseball but also of a central facet of 20th Century American life — the suffocating reach of racism— in the decades before ...

In honor of National Poetry month, poets from Detroit Witness — a “melting pot” of Detroit poets and artist — sat down with the Michigan Citizen to highlight the dynamics of poetry today. Ajanae Dawkins, 17, has been writing poetry since the second grade. ...

Hip hop mogul Jay-Z has released a scathing response to politicians who criticized the rapper and his superstar wife Beyoncé for spending their fifth wedding anniversary in Cuba. Scandal erupted in the past few days after the pair were photographed dining at local Cuban restaurants and touring historic sites in the country, which has been under U.S. sanctions for more than a half-century. On April 11, Jay-Z ...

Income inequality—long a social reality in America—may be permanent, a new study by the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., suggests. The study reveals continuing opulence for a few top-earners and an ever-slimmer slice of the economic pie for the rest. And the inequality gap in Michigan is wider than in many other states. ...

I was watching TV the other day. Commercial break. Cut to a lush green lawn. A single yellow dandelion springs up through the emerald expanse. The heroic protagonist appears left. He spies the flower, runs, dives, somersaults onto the lawn and pops up sturdily on one knee. Brandishing a bottle of weed killer, he fires. The patented nozzle rains hell on the defenseless sunbather. The flower withers. And dies ...

The Detroit School of Arts Wind Symphony won overall “Best Group” for its performance at Carnegie Hall the weekend of March 29 - 30. The DSA Wind Symphony, under the direction of Ronald Malabed and Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Sean Smith, participated in the National Band and Orchestra Festival held at Carnegie Hall in New York City. The Detroit School of Arts Achievers Ladies Ensemble, under ...