There is a lie moving through America. It creeps through congressional halls and across television screens, whispering that undocumented immigrants live freely off the sweat of the American taxpayer. It is a lie told by those who know better and repeated by those who are too ignorant—or too hateful—to care. And while the lie spreads, the truth is being brutalized on the streets.
A new report from the Brookings Institution warns that the nation’s job market may be entering a period of instability that could worsen racial and economic disparities. While the overall unemployment rate held steady between June 2024 and June 2025, joblessness among Black workers rose by more than half a percent.
As voters across the state prepare to make their voices heard on Prop 50 — arguably one of the most important elections in California’s history — it’s essential their ballots are cast with confidence that their vote will be counted securely and on time.
It did not come as a surprise to Atiya Henley’s parents, alumni of Head Start, that she would become a published author before the age of 10. “Atiya has a BIG imagination,” said her mother, Amy Deanes. “This isn’t her first book, but it’s the first one that we published. She wrote this book because of no experience of her own, but because of her passion to help others.”
Janai Nelson, President of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and Head of Counsel for the organization, argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday for the civil rights stance of leaving Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act untouched. Spencer Overton, a professor at George Washington University, was in the High Court when the arguments took place over Louisiana v Callais. Overton proudly emphasized that “Jaina [Nelson] was basically like Bruce Lee taking on everybody.”
For 20 years, the Taste of Soul festival has brought food, music and community pride to Crenshaw Boulevard in Los Angeles. This year’s festival, held on Oct. 18, carried even deeper meaning for organizers and festivalgoers. The day before the celebration, the City of Los Angeles officially named the intersection of Crenshaw and Obama boulevards Danny J. Bakewell Sr. Square, honoring the civil rights leader, businessman and founder of Taste of Soul.
With the federal government shutdown grinding on, the nation’s economic picture is collapsing into silence and uncertainty. For the first time in decades, there is no official monthly employment report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — the same agency many now say can no longer be trusted after the White House moved to control its data release following a weak jobs report earlier this year. In the vacuum, private firms have stepped forward with independent analyses that show the country losing jobs and faith at the same time.
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California this week plans to notify Affordable Care Act marketplace enrollees that their costs could rise sharply next year unless Congress extends subsidies to help people buy health insurance.
The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing arguments today in a case that could decide the future of voting rights in America. At the heart of Louisiana v. Callais is whether Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which bars racial discrimination in voting, remains constitutional. The outcome could strip away one of the last remaining protections for Black voters since the Civil Rights Movement and embolden efforts already underway in states like North Carolina, where Republicans are pushing new gerrymandered maps that would silence voters and cement partisan control.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill (AB) 1269 into law on Oct. 13.
They laughed about gas chambers. They mocked Black people as “monkeys” and “the watermelon people.” They joked about rape, slavery, and “fixing the showers” to suit the “Hitler aesthetic.” These weren’t anonymous extremists on the internet. They were rising Republican leaders — state chairs, vice chairs, campaign strategists, and even staffers with ties to Donald Trump’s administration — plotting their path to power while spewing messages of hate.
Community and civic leaders in Oakland gathered at Chinatown’s Wilma Chan Park on Oct. 16 for the unveiling of a new mural symbolizing unity, strength, and peace as hate crimes continue to rise across the Golden State.
There is a tragedy that runs through the name Jackson—not the tragedy of loss alone, but of transformation. It is the story of what happens when the dream that began in Black struggle is reborn in white comfort. When Jermaine Jackson once said he would trade it all—fame, fortune, and fans—to return to Gary, Indiana, to live again as a family, he spoke a truth too heavy for the world that fame built.
Michael Eugene Archer—known to the world as D’Angelo—was one of the most enigmatic and transformative figures in modern R&B. D’Angelo attended Huguenot High School in Richmond, Virginia. He dropped out in 1991 to move to New York City and pursue what would become an incredibly successful career in music.
On Oct. 7, members of the California Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC), and Gov. Gavin Newsom briefed Black media across the state, urging support for Proposition 50 – The Election Rigging Response Act – ahead of the upcoming special election.
The White House has continued to wage war against the American people — not through bombs or foreign troops, but through policies that strip workers of their dignity, their pay, and their hope. The cruelty is no accident. It is deliberate, orchestrated, and flaunted as a spectacle of power. America’s government has turned its might inward, and its victims are the citizens who once believed they were free.
Carolyn Jean Cheeks Kilpatrick, an assertive advocate for Detroit and Black owned businesses, died on October 7 in Atlanta. She was 80. The former Congressman first won election to the U.S. Congress in 1996 and served until 2011 after losing a primary election in 2010 to former Congressman Hansen Clarke.
The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) announced ten key state legislative races to watch this November, touting the contests as pivotal for maintaining and expanding Democratic power in states such as Virginia, New Jersey, Minnesota, Mississippi, and Washington. Yet, even as the DLCC calls attention to its candidates and their communities, the party’s silence and neglect toward Black-owned media — particularly the historic Black Press of America — continues to speak louder than its press releases.
Leibo Glover received his diabetes diagnosis at the same time he found out he needed a below-the-knee amputation.
