Discussions of the fiscal cliff also include discussions about ways to change Social Security and Medicare benefits in order to save money. One of the proposals is to raise the Social Security retirement age to 70. After all, some argue, there is nothing magic about 65 or 67. So why not push the rate up to 70? ...

It seems so natural today. Having cable television in our homes, giving us a vast selection of channels from which to choose, is a given condition for the vast majority of us. I can remember in my early years it was not like that. We had the three networks and a few local channels. A Black face on television doing something productive was very few and far between. When the great singer Nat King Cole got his ...

I have enjoyed an excellent relationship with the National Black Chamber of Commerce over the years. I have conducted media training sessions at national conventions, spoken at functions sponsored by state and local affiliates, and enjoyed a friendship with many of its top officers, including president and co-founder Harry C. Alford. That’s why I was stunned and mystified when, in the course of researching ...

Why do imaginary phantoms terrify, while real-life horrors seem normal? Why do our elected representatives act in ways that trample the values of those who elected them? ...

From the first issue, the Michigan Citizen has covered the social ills and systemic challenges of local government in the city of Benton Harbor. Charles and Teresa Kelly began the paper on their dining room table and funded it with proceeds from a bar they owned called the Brooklyn. Charles Kelly joined the ancestors in 2006. ...

There was a historically self-determining session of the Detroit City Council on Nov. 15. The Council voted down a contract that would have cut the Water and Sewerage Department workers by 80 percent, busted the union and further remove control of the City’s Water Department from the City Council. It voted down a contract with the conflicted law firm, which Gov. Rick Snyder and State Treasurer Andy Dillon w ...

When President Obama proclaimed: “There’s not a Black America or a white America … there is the United States of America,” many people believed him. They should reconsider. If the recent contentious election with all of its racial overtones was not enough, a recent study on racial attitudes in America shows that the president’s soaring rhetoric is at best wishful thinking. ...

Despite growing concern over a skilled labor shortage in Michigan’s manufacturing industry, a Kalamazoo-based research company suggests employment data doesn’t support the hyped fears. ...

Michigan has a widening income gap, according to a national study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Economic Policy Institute. The institute, a nonprofit research organization based in Washington, D.C., compared the incomes of the richest households to low- and middle-income households, showing inequality at the state level. ...

Resolution sums up what Dr. Joyce (also known as Sister Joyce) is about. She began in 2004 with “Stopping the Violence” and “Taking it to the Streets.” Sister Joyce sent a message out to the principals and teachers that conflict resolution was the way to end petty arguments leading to violent reactions. During Anti-Bullying month she spoke at the Jerry L. White Center for special needs students. Sister Joyc ...