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HIV Budget Cuts: A Life-or-Death Matter
This month marks the 30th anniversary of the first reported cases of HIV/AIDS in the United States, an occasion that has prompted reflection on advances made in fighting the epidemic. Antiretroviral drug treatments have transformed the virus in this country from a fatal disease to a manageable chronic condition. HIV transmission to newborns has been…
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Black Homeownership: Mission Impossible?
As federal regulators work out how to implement financial reform, they’ve been charged with defining which mortgages are “safe” enough to qualify as a government-approved Qualified Residential Mortgage (QRM), with favorable rates. This week a coalition of regulators — the Federal Reserve, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the FDIC, among others —…
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Black Businesses: The Key to the Jobs Crisis?
On Monday the Obama administration teamed up with Rutgers Business School in Newark, N.J., for the first ever Urban Entrepreneurship Summit. The all-day brainstorming event united entrepreneurs, government officials, and private capital resources to find new ways to support job growth in America’s cities. Expanding on President Obama’s oft-repeated claim that the nation’s economic problems…
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Nine Things to Know About the Debt Ceiling
Despite all the hand-wringing over raising the federal debt limit, and the prickly debate between Democrats and Republicans, there’s some confusion about what it actually means. A recent Pew Research Center poll found that 48 percent of Americans believe raising the limit would lead to more government spending and higher debt. It’s a figure that,…
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Rep. Lacy Clay: Tornado Relief Is Not a Political Game
When President Obama traveled to Joplin, Mo., on Sunday after a devastating earthquake swept through the town earlier this month, he pledged the government’s support. “The cameras may leave. The spotlight may shift. But we will be with you every step of the way until Joplin is restored and this community is back on its…
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Why Are There So Few Black Generals?
Last year a report by the Defense Manpower Data Center highlighted a decline in African-American representation among the U.S. military’s top jobs. Despite remarkable progress made over previous decades, in recent years those advances have flatlined. While blacks make up 17 percent of the nation’s active duty forces (skewing higher than their representation of 11…
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Change Comes Slow in Juvenile Justice
In 1974 the U.S. Congress mandated the creation of the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Made up of representatives from 12 federal agencies (including the departments of Education, Housing and Development, and Health and Human Services), the council’s purpose is to synchronize government efforts around improving juvenile detainment facilities and delinquency prevention,…
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Black Immigrants Join the Debate
On March 11, at a press conference on Capitol Hill, Tolu Olubunmi came out publicly as an undocumented immigrant for the first time. “It’s been nerve-racking because it puts me at a risk,” the 30-year-old told The Root about her speech supporting Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin’s (D-Ill.) reintroduction of the DREAM Act. The bill, which…
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Michelle Obama Enters 2012 Campaign
President Obama announced his re-election campaign last month, but first lady Michelle Obama didn’t officially join the 2012 campaign trail until Thursday with a speech at the Democratic National Committee Women’s Leadership Forum in Washington, D.C. She said that this time around, she’s fired up — but admitted to being a reluctant campaigner during the…
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Rep. John Lewis: Immigration Is the New Civil Rights Battle
During the week of May 22-26, hundreds of Americans are expected to converge in Jackson, Miss., to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Rides. Between May and December of 1961, the nonviolent protest against segregation in the Deep South — which continued despite the Supreme Court’s outlawing of such practices — saw 436 black…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
