Category: NNPA

Bakersfield
News Observer

All Skinfolk Ain’t Kinfolk

Byron Donalds wants to be Florida’s next governor. Not on our watch. Our stance is rooted in an old saying coined by Floridian Zora Neale Hurston in her final major nonfiction work, Dust Tracks on a Road, set in Florida. “All skinfolk ain’t kinfolk” is an idiom that distinguishes shared identity from shared interests.

Bakersfield
News Observer

OP-ED: How Does Your State Rank for Pre-K?

Georgia’s state-funded pre-k program for 4-year-olds was recently recognized as the largest state-funded preschool program in the nation to meet all 10 quality benchmarks, and the first universal program to do so. Georgia’s recognition is the top finding in the National Institute for Early Education Research’s new 2025 State of Preschool Yearbook. The yearbook provides an annual snapshot of state-funded preschool across the country. Forty-four states and the District of Columbia fund preschool programs.

Bakersfield
News Observer

COMMENTARY: Three Skills I Wish for My Kindergarten Students This Year

As we turn the calendar to the month of September, summer is officially in the rearview mirror. Last week I had the joy of welcoming children into their first formal year of school from many different homes, communities, and backgrounds. As a virtual kindergarten teacher, families often ask me what children should know before kindergarten. Should they recognize every letter? Count to 100? Read simple books?

African Americans
News Observer

Young Black Men Suffering in Silence A curse that can be Broken

As a young Black man, this topic is personal to me. When people discuss mental health, they usually don’t picture someone who looks like me. Instead, Black men are often seen as strong, tough, or able to handle anything life throws at us.

African Americans
News Observer

OPINION: 57,000 Empty Apartments and Not a Word of Apology – City Limits

Every indicator in New York City’s housing market is pointing in the wrong direction. Rents are at historic highs. Foreclosure notices are climbing in Black and brown neighborhoods that never fully recovered from the last crisis. Deed theft, the predatory stripping of generational wealth from families who built their equity over decades, continues to devastate communities from Brownsville to Jamaica.

Bakersfield
News Observer

COMMENTARY: ICE Already Shocks America – Gloves Can’t Hide Their Fingerprints!

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announcement that it would spend $20 million to equip ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) with electric shock gloves is indeed shocking. Equipping ICE with electric shock gloves is tantamount to equipping a wolf with a knife and fork to enter the hen house.

Bakersfield
News Observer

Trump’s National Guard Mission in Washington Carries a $1.4 Billion Price Tag as Deployment Extends Through 2029

Nearly one year after President Donald Trump ordered thousands of National Guard troops into Washington as part of his “Make DC Safe and Beautiful” initiative, the Pentagon has confirmed the deployment will continue through the remainder of Trump’s presidency, a decision projected to cost taxpayers another $1.4 billion by January 2029.

Bakersfield
News Observer

COMMENTARY: She Is Me — You Are Your First Love Story

There is something beautiful about women who love deeply. We are the women who answer late night phone calls, sit in hospital rooms, pray for our friends’ children, celebrate others while quietly carrying our own burdens, and somehow find a way to pour from cups that have been empty for quite some time.

African Americans
News Observer

‘Michael’s’ Billion-Dollar Success Meets a Stunning Family Reversal

As the blockbuster “Michael” crossed the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office and cemented Michael Jackson’s estate as the steward of the first music biopic ever to reach the milestone, another chapter involving one of the singer’s closest relationships has moved into federal court.

African Americans
News Observer

CARICOM: Strengthen Integration for Future Generations

Speaking Sunday at the opening of the 51st Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government in Saint Lucia, Dr. Terrance Drew said the region must modernize its governance structures, improve the implementation of Community decisions, and ensure CARICOM becomes safer, more prosperous, and more relevant to the lives of its citizens.