By Sabrina Williams
While he lived, he was quite possibly the most listened to person alive. The most sampled and copied. The most played. The person most people tried to move like. He made us move like zombies, like water, like freedom. He made us trip and fall backwards trying to moonwalk, and trip and fall [...]

By Keith Rushing
How many Black and Latino men languish in jails and prisons for crimes they didn’t commit? And how many have been executed because the U.S. criminal justice system lacks an adequate means of correcting the mistakes it makes?
The exact answers to those questions are, of course, unknown. But to me any wrongful convictions [...]

By Keith Rushing
A reporter once asked Mahatma Gandhi what he thought of Western Civilization. Gandhi’s reply: “I think it would be a good idea.”
I was reminded of that quote the other day when I thought about police culture in the United States—which often seems to mock the idea of civility or a rule of law. [...]

By Sabrina E. Williams
Each justice has their own identity, and that identity shapes their judicial views. W e are not robots, programmed to think a certain way. We understand life through the filter of our individual experiences. That’s a given fact. But, somehow, the understanding of that fact becomes fuzzy and controversial [...]

By Mary Nnene Okeiyi
With the current state of the union reflecting an 8.5% unemployment rate, one cannot help but wonder what the impact of this historical moment means. Even those who didn’t want to admit it before realize that we are, and have been for some time now, in a recession. As a result, it [...]

By Keith Rushing
Some in the civil rights community are already expressing disappointment that the nation’s first Black president isn’t doing more to address racial disparities in America .
In a [...]

By Keith Rushing
Many Americans, particularly conservatives, were up in arms this weekend after President Barack Obama extended a hand to controversial Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at the gathering of Latin American leaders in Trinidad.
The uproar erupted simply because Obama clasped hands with Chavez and smiled broadly at the Summit of the Americas and spoke [...]

By Keith Rushing
There have been three homicides within a few blocks of my house since my wife and I moved in just over a year ago. One happened around the corner. Another was two blocks away. The other was about seven blocks away. [...]

By Tia T. Gordon
Efforts to reduce recidivism and slow the growth of the nation’s incarcerated population continue to escape state policymakers. Furthermore, the size and cost of U.S. prison systems have risen dramatically over the past few decades.
According to a new report by the Pew Center on the States, the number of people in [...]

By Keith Rushing
In his speech to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, last month, President Barack Obama laid out some educational priorities for his administration that are truly commendable.
He talked of his goals to boost funding on early childhood education, including pre-kindergarten and head start; expanding the school day and school year and increasing [...]