Tag: John Payton

New Orleans – Black homeowners and two civil rights organizations announced July 7 a settlement in a post-Hurricane Katrina housing discrimination lawsuit brought against the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the state of Louisiana regarding the “Road Home” program.

The United States Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit has unanimously declared that Mumia Abu-Jamal’s death sentence is unconstitutional. In today’s decision, the Court of Appeals reaffirmed its 2008 finding that the jury was improperly instructed.

On Jan. 28, 2011, Mumia Abu-Jamal, the world’s best known death-row prisoner, retained the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund to represent him in the ongoing appeal of his capital murder conviction and death sentence.

The distribution of federal funds to state, county and municipal governments and the distribution of political power at every level of government depend on the Census. With only a short time until Census Day – April 1, 2010 – improving the accuracy of the 2010 Census is of critical importance to the Black Diaspora. We cannot afford to be excluded from the count again in 2010.

Today provides a moment for reflection on the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., born 81 years ago on this day. It is also a moment of intense anguish for the survivors and those continuing to suffer in the wake of the tragic earthquake in Haiti.

In a precedent-setting decision, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the state of Washington’s law barring felons from voting on Jan. 5, just in time to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, for whom the issue of voting rights for the disenfranchised was a top priority. The Ninth Circuit ruled that the law violates the federal Voting Rights Act.

Every single eligible citizen who is 18 years old on Election Day has the constitutional right to vote. A right that cannot be restricted because of tricks, wealth, property ownership, fiscal judgment, gender, national origin or race. That's the law, but ...