WILLIAM REED

(NNPA)—“Brighter days are ahead.” And “The check is being put in the mail.”

That is what the Republicans seem to be saying after they released their “Growth and Opportunity Project” report in March. Six months after Republicans took a drubbing in the 2012 elections, GOP National Committee Chair Reince Priebus announced a $10 million outreach program to seek more minorities as members.

The Republican National Committee provides national leadership for the Party.  It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican political platform, coordinating fundraising and election strategy. The problem for Priebus and the party is that the RNC is often viewed as “an old White guy’s club” that is unsympathetic to the needs of Blacks and minorities.

"But if we know enough to be hung, we know enough to vote. If the Negro knows enough to pay taxes to support the government, he knows enough to vote; taxation and representation should go together. If he knows enough to shoulder a musket and fight for the flag, fight for the government, he knows enough to vote ... " -- Frederick Douglass ("What the Black Man Wants," 1865)

Raynard Jackson

(NNPA)—Last week, I had to make one of the most difficult announcements of my life—I told my family that I liked women, err, love women. Not knowing how my mother would react, I was relieved when she looked at me and said, “Boy, I knew that all along.”

LOUIS 'HOP' KENDRICK

I understand very clearly that there are conditions such as no parents, dysfunctional parents, no father, no positive male image, parents being involved in alcohol, illegal drugs, poverty all around you, despair, hopelessness, lack of love or caring, racism and disrespect. There are even those in 2013 who put an added emphasis on the greatest tragedy in the world, slavery.