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This summer will mark the third anniversary of the death of Eric Garner, a New York man who was killed by police officers outside of a neighborhood convenience store in Staten Island (he was suspected of illegally selling loose cigarettes). Garner’s death is one of many that has raised Americans’ concerns about the increasing number of Black men, women, and children killed by U.S. law enforcement officers. At only 13 percent of the U.S. population, African Americans are killed by police, incarcerated, live in poverty, and have poor health at higher rates than White Americans, who make up the majority...

BEYOND BELIEF By Neal Boortz @ February 24, 2009 8:59 AM Permalink | Comments (33) | TrackBacks (0) How long ago was Katrina? Make that about three and one-half years since that nasty little blow to New Orleans. Some of you in New Orleans may wonder what happened to my show. I'm not on the air there any more. It seems that the owner of the radio station that carried my show didn't appreciate the things I had to say about New Orleans residents after Katrina. No problem .. it's his station. Has happened before - will happen again. What...

NEW ORLEANS - The federal government is providing six more months of rental assistance to give thousands of families affected by the 2005 hurricanes extra time to reach self-sufficiency or to get into other housing aid programs. About 31,400 families have continued receiving federal help paying rent as part of a disaster housing program that was set to expire March 1.

Feeling The Economic Pinch For Some Ohioans, Even Meat Is Out Of Reach by Yuki Noguchi Katia Dunn/NPR Angelica Hernandez (left) and her mother, Gloria Nunez, struggle to make ends meet on a very limited budget. All Things Considered, July 17, 2008 · A generation ago, the livelihood of Gloria Nunez's family was built on cars. Her father worked at General Motors for 45 years before retiring. Her mother taught driver's education. Nunez and her six siblings grew up middle class. Things have changed considerably for this Ohio family. Nunez's van broke down last fall. Now, her 19-year-old daughter has...

For Some Ohioans, Even Meat Is Out Of Reach by Yuki Noguchi All Things Considered, July 17, 2008 · A generation ago, the livelihood of Gloria Nunez's family was built on cars. Her father worked at General Motors for 45 years before retiring. Her mother taught driver's education. Nunez and her six siblings grew up middle class. Things have changed considerably for this Ohio family. Nunez's van broke down last fall. Now, her 19-year-old daughter has no reliable transportation out of their subsidized housing complex in Fostoria, 40 miles south of Toledo, to look for a job. Nunez and most...

I just turned on the TV and saw the Obamanation and his speech. Folks, chills are going up my spine, and my stomach is turning. This guy poses a danger to our future and my child's future. He wants to force the productive in society to turn over their energies to the lazy. He wants to suck up to the nations that sponsor terrorism. He is sickening, and, I have to say...worse than the Clintons. I had to turn it off. I have been among those who have ripped into John McCain, and GOD knows I have big time differences...

WASHINGTON — Bill Clinton's campaign famously defined the 1992 election with the phrase, "It's the economy, stupid." Today, "It's the jobs, stupid." The latest employment figures, released in late January, showed a 52-month streak of job creation ending with a loss of 17,000 jobs in January. The Bush administration acknowledged the contraction, but pointed to the national unemployment rate of 4.9 percent to say that the labor market wasn't a harbinger of recession. A closer look at unemployment data by McClatchy, however, found that jobless Americans are spending more time looking for work and that those who can't find work...

On a rainy afternoon two days before Thanksgiving, Dawn Haynes was driving when she spotted the family of five sitting on the steps of Gospel Baptist Church. Three adults and two children were huddled under an awning, clutching luggage and looking lost. Mystified, she stopped her car. They told her they were former New Orleanians and that the family had been evicted from its northwest Houston apartment after losing federal housing assistance. Haynes was shocked. ''I haven't thought about the people from Hurricane Katrina being homeless before, until I came across this family," said Haynes, who lives in Acres Homes...

New York (dpa) - If the topic generates discomfort or shyness, the United Nations Monday recommended consideration of this fact: 2.6 billion people - or nearly half the world's population - still do not have toilets. The figure was released as the organization prepares to discuss the International Year of Sanitation in 2008. The lack of proper sanitation increases the risk of preventable diseases, which hit children harder in poor countries. Currently two of five people on earth do not have sanitation, a problem prompting the UN General Assembly to declare the international year to highlight problems caused by the...

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Gov. Kathleen Blanco said Monday that she wants to temporarily reopen the New Orleans public housing projects that have been closed since Hurricane Katrina, despite federal plans to demolish them and make way for new housing developments. Blanco said the projects that can be repaired should be reopened to families who were driven out by Katrina floodwaters _ at least until the federal government gets closer to its goal of replacing them with new structures. Blanco said she got encouragement for the idea last week, when she met on Capitol Hill with the chairman of the...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's call to cut off welfare assistance to children whose parents fail to meet work requirements could place thousands of East Bay children at risk of hunger and homelessness, critics warn. The penalty, known as "full family sanctions," has been imposed by many other states since welfare reform began 10 years ago. California's CalWorks program allows children to continue to receive a reduced level of aid even if their parents are sanctioned for failing to show up for job-search clubs or participating in other mandated work activities. "The program itself was founded on the premise that the children...

WASHINGTON -- Decades after the civil rights movement, racial disparities in income, education and home ownership persist and, by some measurements, are growing. White households had incomes that were two-thirds higher than blacks and 40 percent higher than Hispanics last year, according to data released Tuesday by the Census Bureau. White adults were also more likely than black and Hispanic adults to have college degrees and to own their own homes. They were less likely to live in poverty. "Race is so associated with class in the United States that it may not be direct discrimination, but it still matters...

AND THEN THERE'S THE VOTERS WHO CAN'T COPE While we're talking about the war against Islamic fascism, and the myrmidons who don't seem to recognize that we're even at war, let's not forget the largest Democrat voting block out there. There are tens of millions of Americans who have refused to accept the responsibilities of adulthood. These are Americans who will profess their love of freedom, but when it comes time to face the responsibilities they take a quick powder. These Americans are unwilling to accept the responsibility for developing their own job skills and finding a job. They run...

NEW ORLEANS, June 27 (Reuters) - Poor blacks in New Orleans sued on Tuesday to stop the government from replacing public housing units with mixed-income dwellings, calling it a discriminatory move that would bar them from coming home after Hurricane Katrina. The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) plans to raze more than half of the low-income housing units it oversees in the city and replace them over the next few years with units the agency says will be better and safer. "HUD plans to keep low-income black families out of New Orleans," said Judith Browne, co-director of...

A Rare Look Inside the Renaissance Village Trailer Park, Home to Over 2,000 Hurricane Katrina Evacuees: During Democracy Now's recent trip to New Orleans, we managed to get inside the largest FEMA trailer park set up after Hurricane Katrina. Shortly after we interviewed hurricane evacuee Donna Azeez, we were kicked out of the park by security guards working for Corporate Security Solutions, the private company hired by FEMA to police Renaissance Village. Earlier this month, Democracy Now went down to Louisiana and had a chance to take a rare look inside Renaissance Village - a trailer park on the outskirts...

On Feb. 13, the federal government stopped paying hotel bills for roughly 12,000 families nationwide who lost their homes to damage caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Once as high as 85,000, the number of hotel rooms being paid for by FEMA is down to 8,000. By March 6, FEMA says the hotel subsidies will be completely cut off. At the Country Hearth Inn & Suites near Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, people carted their belongings through the lobby and into the cars of family members and friends. Some were headed to new FEMA-subsidized apartments or trailers. But a few lagged behind,...