
In his last public message the day before he was assassinated, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called on Black people in Memphis to support Black banks. “We’ve got to strengthen Black institutions. I call upon you to take your money out of the banks downtown and deposit your money in Tri-State Bank,” he said …

The 10 Black members of the powerful House Finance Committee are still being applauded this week by the Black press and Black leaders nationally for boldly boycotting a committee meeting in order to force a $4 billion allocation to benefit the Black community. They plan to escalate protests if lawmakers continue to ignore the suffering of their constituents, including advertising discrimination against Black newspapers.

African-American joblessness – nearly twice the national rate – is quickly becoming the first showdown between Black leaders and the nation’s first Black president as national Black and civil right leaders raise their voices telling the Obama administration it’s time to end the jobs crisis in the Black community.

Dropout rates, infant mortality rates and incarceration rates – all often associated with economic injustice – are skyrocketing in cities and states across the nation.

In perhaps the most candid direct message to Black people since his Democratic nomination, then Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, on election eve Monday, credited Black voters for his historic political rise, promising to make a difference in their lives if elected.