Black Americans won a significant victory when the Supreme Court recently ruled that a Cleveland school vouchers program created to help children escape from substandard schools was constitutional. The Ohio state legislature established the Ohio Pilot Scholarship Program in 1995 as a direct response to the...
Just the thought of new environmental regulations can make people groan. Nobody wants to breathe dirty air or drink toxic water, but government policies to protect the planet can be unnecessarily expensive - especially for those who can least afford it. Environmental regulations need not ravage...
Homes of black heroes such as Frederick Douglass and Carter G. Woodson, where roofs leak and walls are collapsing, are historic landmarks located in our nation's capital that need protection.1 A still-operating grocery store and a boarded-up hardware store, however, are less obvious candidates for...
Bill Clinton used the fact that he was born in Hope, Arkansas to campaign for president as the "man from Hope" - using the name of his birthplace to enhance his image. Lavenski R. Smith, a trailblazing black jurist, is another son of Hope. Unlike the...
If a federal agency is found guilty of violating someone's civil rights, the Department of Justice pays any monetary damages. Taxpayers foot the bill, while the offending agency is all but unaffected. The "No Fear" bill (officially titled the "Notification of Federal Employees Anti-Discrimination and Retaliation...
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) and other leaders of the African-American community have not had the opportunity to be "up to speed" with the rest of America when it comes to computer technology - the so-called "digital divide." As Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA), former...
It's three steps forward, but two steps back. Policies removing barriers to minority homeownership are favored by governments, but the competing objective of combating the perceived threat of urban sprawl by some of these governments is simultaneously restricting homeownership opportunities for people of color. More than...
We are taught that there are three official branches to our government: the executive, legislative and judicial. Some consider the media a fourth because it shapes public opinion. But there is reason to believe one person - Mary Frances Berry, chairman of the U.S. Commission...
Smart Growth and Its Effects on Housing Markets: The New Segregation A econometric report by QuantEcon for the Center for Environmental Justice of The National Center for Public Policy Research Washington, D.C. November 2002 ii Smart Growth and Its Effects on Housing Markets: The New...
Over the past few years, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights hasn't been known for promoting racial harmony. Chairman Mary Frances Berry is a stalwart liberal who rules the Commission with an iron fist. Critics accuse her of using the government agency to promote her...
