Category: National

African Americans
Stefi Mar

NNPA Fund Hosts Black Press Day 2026 At Howard University, Celebrating the Past and Looking Ahead to the Future 

Nearly 100 members of the Black Press – some still honing their skills as journalists in college classrooms along with seasoned veterans representing Black publications from across the U.S.; and both friends of and corporate sponsors of the Black Press, gathered on the campus of Howard University (HU) on March, 18 for this year’s Black Press Week Reception.

African Americans
Stefi Mar

OP-ED: When Media Attention Depends on Who Is Missing

The nation is right to hope and pray for the safe return of Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of journalist Savannah Guthrie, co-anchor on NBC’s “Today.” Any disappearance is terrifying. Any family thrust into uncertainty deserves compassion, urgency, and relentless attention. But compassion should never be selective — and that is precisely where the media’s response exposes a troubling, long-standing inconsistency.

African Americans
Stefi Mar

Food Pyramid Blind Spots: What Supermarket Civil Rights Teaches Us 

The recent release of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025–2030, by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services poses a challenge for communities and individuals struggling with food insecurity. The new guidelines flip the traditional food pyramid on its head, recommending increased intake of costly red meat, whole dairy products, healthy fats, and whole grains.

African Americans
Stefi Mar

Civil Rights Leaders and Congressional Black Caucus Unite to Challenge Trump Administration Policies

During a recent gathering on Capitol Hill, lawmakers and advocacy leaders sharply criticized a series of policy decisions implemented since Trump’s return to the White House, as well as the president’s rhetoric and governing approach. While participants outlined broad areas of concern, they provided limited specifics regarding immediate tactical responses.

African Americans
Stefi Mar

OP-ED: One Hundred Years of Black Workers Telling the Truth

In 1917, A. Philip Randolph and Chandler Owen launched The Messenger, a pro-labor, anti-war magazine that connected racism to exploitation and demanded justice for Black workers. Two years later, the federal government responded with tactics of targeted censorship—surveillance, harassment and threats of prosecution—and branded a small Black labor magazine “the most dangerous” publication in the country simply for encouraging Black workers to organize.

African Americans
Stefi Mar

My Head Start Success Story

To call 1965 consequential in American history is an understatement. The year delivered a series of tipping points that urged the nation’s conscience to move closer to reaching its ideals. 

African Americans
Stefi Mar

Black Babies Are Still Dying—And America Let It Happen

A sweeping new analysis of U.S. mortality data over the past 70 years reveals that Black children in the United States have consistently faced significantly higher mortality rates than their white peers, with no improvement in relative disparities since the 1950s. The study, published March 25 in the Annals of Internal Medicine, documents more than half a million avoidable infant deaths and nearly 690,000 childhood deaths among Black Americans between 1950 and 2019.

Bakersfield
Stefi Mar

Federal Firing Leaves Gaping Holes

The federal government has many loose ends to tie after firing massive numbers of government employees and contractors, particularly in one department that once dealt with diversity. To protect fired employees from retaliation, an anonymous contractor terminated on Valentine’s Day, February 14, has expressed concerns that they still have government devices and equipment and active government emails.

Bakersfield
Stefi Mar

Joint Center’s 2024 Annual Report Details Major Policy Achievements and Diversity Gaps

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies has released its 32-page Annual Report, outlining significant policy advancements in economic justice, government diversity, technology, and workforce development. The report presents data-driven research and policy recommendations aimed at addressing long-standing disparities affecting Black communities while confronting ongoing attacks on diversity and inclusion efforts. “In 2024, we made great strides in our major program areas,” the report authors determined, detailing key initiatives that have shaped economic policies, workforce equity, and representation in government.

Bakersfield
Stefi Mar

Seniors Beware: O’Malley Says Trump-Musk Cuts Will Cripple Social Security

Former Maryland Governor and former Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley warned that the Trump-Musk administration’s sweeping cuts to the Social Security Administration’s workforce will lead to major disruptions in benefits for millions of Americans. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has ordered a 50% reduction in Social Security’s workforce. The agency, already at its lowest staffing levels in 50 years, announced that it will soon implement large-scale layoffs. “These cuts will inflict a lot of pain on seniors and people with disabilities,” O’Malley said in a news conference on Friday. “Social Security is being driven to a total system collapse.”

Bakersfield
Stefi Mar

Democrats Rethink Strategy as Trump Prepares for Congressional Address

As Donald Trump prepares to address Congress for the first time since reclaiming the White House, Democrats are shifting their approach. Gone are the walkouts and viral protests—this time, they aim to counter Trump’s rhetoric with a more strategic response. “In 2017, a lot of us felt like Donald Trump was an anomaly. In 2025, he won the election. Everybody knows who he is,” said Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif.). “I think we have to be very strategic as Democrats.”

African Americans
Stefi Mar

A Black Church CREDO For An “Undemocratic and Dysfunctional” America

Of the 2024 U.S. presidential election, it delivered grave results. I alongside others, was not surprised that white America chose to hold fast to its mythologies, supremacies, and hegemonies. These cultural norms are undemocratic and dysfunctional. They are toxins that mutate into dysfunctional pathologies which sadly, but predictably, inform white America’s dysfunctional religion and politics. These toxins are dangerous and man – made for the genocide of black America, otherwise people of all colors and creeds. Its latest and deadliest effort is highly organized, supported by corporations, the United States Supreme Court, joint Houses of the United States Congress, and the Executive branch of the United States government. I am describing Project 2025 as representation of white supremacy.