NAACP

David L. Horne, Ph.D.  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Aug 2 2012

Practical Politics

On Thursday, July 27, 2012, in one of the very few programs the Obama administration has specifically targeted and titled for Black Americans, President Obama issued an executive order creating the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans, which will be housed in the secretary of education’s office.

It creates a new executive director of Black education, a new President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for African Americans, and an interagency collaboration of staff from different departments.

Stanley O. Williford  |   OW Editor
Jul 12 2012

Convention-goers seem open to many points

Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney spoke to a generally warm and welcoming crowd at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) convention in Houston Wednesday, thanking them for their hospitality and assuring them that as president it would be returned.

“This is an honor to address you, one I had not expected and one I value very highly,” Romney said, adding that he appreciated the chance to speak a day before Vice President Joe Biden would address the organization.

May 24 2012

Coalition of African American Pastors blasts gay marriage endorsement

MEMPHIS, Tenn.—The Coalition of African American Pastors (CAAP), which includes major leaders of the Black church and civil rights leaders who marched with Rev. Martin Luther King, blasted the board of the NAACP for its endorsement of same-sex marriage. Last week, CAAP launched a 100000signatures4marriage.com petition in support of traditional marriage.

May 17 2012

Remembering the 1962 shootings

Fifty years ago, Nation of Islam Muslims Monroe X Jones and Fred X Jingles were reportedly taking a garment bag from their vehicle outside Mosque, No. 27, at 56th Street and Broadway late on the evening of April 27, 1962, when LAPD officers Frank Tomlinson and Stanley Kensic pulled up in their police cruiser and questioned the two men. The officers frisked the men and asked where the clothes came from.

Cynthia E. Griffin-  |   OW Managing Editor
Apr 12 2012

The epicenter of movement

 States around the nation, in an effort to address what they allege are two issues of major concern—the flow of undocumented immigrants into their environs and the level of illegal voting—have passed a number of controversial laws that are galvanizing opponents.

In Alabama, the state Legislature is currently revisiting its anti-illegal immigration law House Bill 56 and has presented a list of revisions it plans to use to tweak the legislation passed in 2011.

Across Black America

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.
 

Alabama
Freeman A. Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will address the annual African American Business Council luncheon on June 28. Hrabowski, who is chairman of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Education Excellence for African Americans, has a national reputation for his work studying the performance of minority students in math and science. Hrabowski, named one of the 10 best college presidents in the country by Time magazine, was a child leader in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham in the 1960s.
 

Arkansas
The Liberty Counsel filed a motion and a brief in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas seeking to intervene on behalf of a Concepts of Life crisis pregnancy center to defend against a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights. The groups seek to impose a permanent injunction before the Human Heartbeat Protection Act goes into effect July 18. Liberty Counsel also filed a brief opposing the ACLU’s request for an injunction. The “Heartbeat” bill states that when a woman seeks an abortion at or after the 12th week, doctors must test for a fetal heartbeat before an abortion is performed and inform the pregnant mother that the child in her womb has a heartbeat. If a heartbeat is detected, a woman cannot have an abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, and if a mother’s life is in danger. “As we promised when the legislation was introduced, Liberty Counsel will defend this law without reservation for the people of Arkansas, born and pre-born,” said Matt Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. “No right is more foundational than the right to life. Without life, all other rights are irrelevant,” concluded Staver.