I believe one of the greatest problems facing the Black community is fatherlessness. If you at look at problems such as incarceration, drug addiction, gangs, teen pregnancy, dropping out, crime, suspension, retention and special education, the common cause is fatherlessness. Every child needs a father, and no one needs him more than Black boys. Only 28 percent of Black youth have their fathers in the home. ...

Hooray! The Associated Press reported that African Americans voted at a higher rate than whites in 2012 for the first time in history. Was it because there was a Black man running for president or because threats of voter suppression? Was it a combination of the two? Or, did white America vote in fewer numbers because they felt, like many Blacks have felt for years, that neither candidate represented them a ...

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 either. The omnipotence had taken on a life of its own. ...

When I was at Lafayette Park (across from the White House) recently checking the logistics/arrangements for Institute of the Black World’s June 17 Day of Direct Action to pressure President Barack Obama to end the “War on Drugs” and invest in inner-city Black communities, I confess to having been filled with pride thinking about the reality of a Black family occupying the White House. ...

Detroit’s Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr was doing all right until he obviously, to some, “stepped outta line.” Talking about a Pandora’s Box being opened, here is one. If ever there was a case of political hypocrisy and blatant demagoguery, it is in the State of Michigan by those who originally cheered for and legislated into action Michigan’s new misguided Emergency Manager Law. ...

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 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 a row. ...

I know I am one of many who can say “I was raised by a single mother.” A recent study by Legal Momentum reminded us that being a single mother can be, and often is, a challenge. It’s easy for one who comes from a two parent home to ask why so many African Americans, especially highly paid athletes, pay tribute to their mothers when the cameras turn to them. It’s almost 100 percent certain when one of us rec ...

By D. Etta Wilcoxon Arguably one of America’s darkest secrets is the fact that all African Americans were denied the American right to vote until the conviction, fortitude and desire to be on the “right side of history,” compelled Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and then President Lyndon Banes Johnson to fight for and to realize the 1965 Voting Rights Act. That was then and this is now. In 2009, our current city ...

Dear Madam Clerk: This letter is in reference to my disqualification as a candidate for City Council for the City of Detroit. ...

Although I can speak only for myself, as a former Detroit Charter Revision Commissioner, I can tell you that the citizens of Detroit aggressively advocated for the one-year residency requirement for anyone seeking elected office at-large or in newly formed council districts. The decision to require that all candidates meet the Detroit City Charter residency requirements at least one year prior to the date o ...