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4 Questions With Black Girls Rock! Founder
The simplest ideas are often the ones that catch on. That has certainly been the case for Beverly Bond, the DJ and founder of Black Girls Rock! — a movement that was first conceived as a T-shirt slogan. Since 2006 Bond has headed her New York City-based arts and mentoring program, designed to develop girls into future…
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4 Questions for CBC Foundation Chief
The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s 41st Annual Legislative Conference — CBC Week for short — kicked off on Wednesday. The massive event draws thousands of elected officials, business leaders, scholars, activists and celebrities for four days of policy forums, power networking and parties. Although organized by the CBCF — a nonprofit policy institute that sponsors…
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A New Age for the Black Caucus
In January the newly assembled staff of the Congressional Black Caucus — executive director and general counsel Angela T. Rye, policy director E. Brandon Garrett, communications director Stephanie L. Young and executive assistant Latrice Powell — drove to Howard University to peruse the CBC archives. They wanted to research the 40-year-old organization they were now…
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4 Questions With US Education Secretary
In case you missed it, it’s National Historically Black Colleges and Universities Week. In a presidential proclamation observing the occasion, President Obama remarked: HBCUs continue a proud tradition as vibrant centers of intellectual inquiry and engines of scientific discovery and innovation. New waves of students, faculty, and alumni are building on their rich legacies and…
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Obama: Follow My Debt Plan or I'll Veto
Introducing his proposal to rein in the nation’s debt, on Monday President Obama essentially pitched congressional action as a choice: between the “wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations” and the “middle class and the poor.” The plan calls for more than $4 trillion in budget savings over the next decade, paying for the president’s $447 million…
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First Lady Unveils Menu Changes
Since launching her Let’s Move! campaign targeting childhood obesity a year and a half ago, first lady Michelle Obama has made headway on school nutrition and access to fresh food. Among other undertakings, she’s successfully advocated for the authorization of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which sets tighter nutrition standards for foods regularly sold in…
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Failing Schools: Not About Poverty, Parents
Steve Perry thinks you’ve been lied to. The CNN education contributor says that nearly every common premise used to explain underperforming schools — the challenges of poverty, a lack of parental involvement, an underfunded public system — is false. As the principal of the Capital Preparatory Magnet School in Hartford, Conn., which sends 100 percent…
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DNC Unveils Jobs-Bill Ad on Urban Radio
The selling of President Obama’s jobs plan continues. As part of a multitiered effort to get the goals of the American Jobs Act out, on Thursday the Democratic National Committee began airing a radio ad specifically geared to urban stations in the key markets of Orlando and Tampa, Fla.; Las Vegas; and Cleveland and Columbus,…
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Live Tweet Tonight: Tea Party Debate
Did you miss last week’s GOP debate? Well, tonight you have another chance to hear the Republican presidential hopefuls offer their solutions (and likely trade some barbs) at the CNN/Tea Party Express debate at 8 p.m. ET. Same as last time, The Root’s Washington reporter, Cynthia Gordy, will cover the proceedings on Twitter @TheRoot247 (hashtag…
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Maxine Waters: Ready to Fight for Jobs Bill
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) had a bit of a “Moment” in August. Along the five stops of the Congressional Black Caucus’ “For the People” Jobs Tour, she made headlines for a series of heated town hall remarks and media interviews challenging the Obama administration to direct more targeted help for black communities with high unemployment, pushing…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
