On the fourth floor of Howard Center, two graduate students and two professors in African Studies mulled Haiti’s application to become the first potential non-African member of the African Union in January 2013. “If you consider that islands like Martinique are quite far away from Europe but are still part of the European Union, Martinique by virtue of being a part of France, Haiti’s becoming an AU member d ...

Army Times news service has reported that more than 3,000 United States soldiers will be deployed to Africa next year. While defense officials claim these troops will be involved in “teaching military tactics, medicine and logistics, as well as combating famine, disease and terrorism in secure environments,” some critics suspect the actual objectives are to secure U.S. access to Africa’s vast oil reserves a ...

Experts say intrusive security at public schools reproduces social inequality By Marcus Wright Special to the Michigan Citizen DETROIT — “I don’t like it but it is what it is,” one Detroit Public School student said after going through video-monitored metal detectors and being patted down upon entering his school. Many of the districts’ high school students — including DPS and the newly created Educational ...

Billed as education reform, a new Republican measure would give the governor power over an expanded, statewide Educational Achievement Authority (EAA) with power to seize local school district properties and weaken local control. Subject of a legislative hearing Nov. 13, the citizens who traveled to Lansing and who opposed the bill were not allowed to testify on House Bill 6004. ...

In a special meeting Nov. 13, the Detroit Board of Education voted unanimously to end the district’s contract with the Educational Achievement Authority and passed other measures as they attempt to recover from more than a decade of state control under emergency management. ...

Detroit City Council delayed a vote on a no-bid contract Nov. 13 that would take control of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) out of public hands and into the control of the privately owned EMA, Inc. More than 100 citizens from across the Southeastern Michigan region and from as far as Toledo, Ohio filled council chambers in opposition of the contract that Councilwoman Brenda Jones categorize ...

Michigan voters repealed Public Act 4 eliminating emergency managers. Gov. Rick Snyder has not moved to remove DPS Emergency Manager Roy Roberts. Attorney General Bill Schuette has moved to remove seven DPS school board members from office. How will citizens get the power back? ...

There is a lot of good news in the election results of 2012, especially for Detroiters. First, voters turned out in record numbers. After a relentless media barrage that portrayed us as uninterested and incapable of making political decisions, Detroiters went to the polls in the highest numbers in over three decades. A record 65.3 percent of active voters cast 289,982 ballots. ...

Amiri Baraka will be at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Nov. 16. Baraka is the author of over 40 books of essays, poems, drama, and music history and criticism. He is a poet icon and revolutionary political activist who has recited poetry and lectured on cultural and political issues extensively in the United States, the Caribbean, Africa and Europe. With influences on his work ran ...

“The Rise of the Turtle,” a new instrumental hip hop album from Sacramento Knoxx, is a shining example of the type of independent hip hop being released from Detroit artists today. Uplifting and full of creative twists, the Southwest Detroit representative showcases a number of hard-hitting beats that have helped him become a rising music talent. ...