(NNPA)—I hear some folks saying they want to take back their country. I want to take back our jobs. I have just read a study produced by Vice President Joe Biden’s office about the performance of stimulus funding which shows that it has taken many of the “shovel-ready” projects that were proposed 18 months ago that amount of time to be really ready now. This has led the New York Times to note that there will be an “explosion” of stimulus-funded construction projects this summer. In fact, the White House has dubbed the coming employment opportunity as “Stimulus Summer.”

(NNPA)—Rev. Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. has been an advocate since his high school freshman days when he, among the Green­ville Eight, pro­tested segregated library practices.  As a student at North Carolina A&T State University, he was part of the actions to integrate the city, involved with the phenomenal Bennett Belles who were the backbone of that movement. 

As an aide to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., he was the one who raised hell, caused trouble, and moved the economic justice agenda. As a presidential candidate in 1984, he was the man who stood firmly in the constitution, asserting his right to run. In 1988, he cleared hurdles as a candidate, earning majority votes from states where African-Americans were a minority.  He has made history.

(NNPA)—“The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and free laborer.”  General Order Number 3 as read by Major General Gordon Granger, Galveston, Texas, June 19, 1865.

by Elinor Tatum

If you look at any election in the past 50 years, you will notice one thing—that the Black vote counts. But when you look at the way politicians look at the Black vote, you may see a very different picture.

The Black community has power, and when we get passionate about an issue, we come out in full force. But when we are neglected, we may very well sit an election out.