blogging the beltway

In a 2008 study sponsored by Radio One, Black America Today, the majority of participants between the ages of 18 and 30 said they wanted to be entrepreneurs. “The hip-hop generation believes in education, but not … that you need a good education in order to get a good job,” Cathy Hughes, founder of Radio…

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Three months into his position as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack sent a memo to USDA employees promising an aggressive strategy to fix the racial discrimination issues long plaguing the department. The well-known Pigford Case, a successful class-action suit filed against USDA by black farmers for unfairly denying them loans, was just one example…

Seated on the stage of a packed room at Washington, D.C.’s National Press Club on Thursday night, Recy Taylor smiled softly as the audience stood and applauded her. Dressed in a royal purple skirt suit, her gray hair curled neatly behind her ears, the 91-year-old appeared slightly overwhelmed by the attention. When a young woman…

On Wednesday night, Common walked into the dim blue light of a White House stage against the audio backdrop of a D.J. looping, “I have a dream that one day … one day … one day … ” from the iconic Martin Luther King Jr. speech. Wearing a gray tailored suit, the hip-hop artist and…

Throughout the past two years, President Obama has repeatedly mentioned a need for America to “fix the broken immigration system.” He’s emphasized the importance of tight enforcement, as well as a path to citizenship for the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States. But while his administration has been holding down the…

For those of you not hitting the bars this Cinco de Mayo, the first 2012 Republican presidential primary debate airs tonight at 9 p.m. EST. Co-hosted by Fox News and the South Carolina Republican Party, the GOP candidates who are fully in the race will talk issues. All five of them. The lineup, which will…

When the first lady’s office called about an unannounced, details-to-come “Let’s Move!” event at a local middle school, I thought: Will this involve Beyoncé? After all, last week the singer released the full version of “Move Your Body,” a kids’ dance workout video, for the White House childhood obesity initiative. It was a good guess,…

When President Obama walked down the red-carpeted corridor to the White House East Room on Sunday night — to announce the killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden — he did so against the backdrop of thousands of people celebrating the news just outside, waving American flags and jubilantly singing “The Star-Spangled Banner.” He was…

In six years, Barack Obama and Seth Meyers may want to consider teaming up for a comedy tour. Sparing nobody in their routines, the president and the Saturday Night Live head writer killed at Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner. Both bits had a particular emphasis on ridiculing guest Donald Trump, the birther icon and…