April 15, 2021 -- Although the month of April is annually observed as Fair Housing Month, the reality for Black America and other people of color is that housing has not significantly changed since the 1968 federal enactment of the Fair Housing Act. Its enactment came seven days after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who had strongly advocated fair and open housing. But 53 years after an historic enactment, race and place remain the determining factors of who

Book lovers caring for a loved one with dementia are invited to take part in a special virtual book club/support group. Offered by the Hudson Valley and Long Island chapters of the Alzheimer’s Association, the group will be held from 4-5 p.m. on Mondays starting May 3 and run for six weeks (with no meeting on Memorial Day), ending on June 14. The group will read the book “Elizabeth is Missing,” by Emma Healey, which tells the story of forgetful Maud — who suffers from dementi

Kristen Clarke is a brilliant lawyer and Americans would be lucky to have her working for us. President Joe Biden has nominated Clarke to lead the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Justice Department. The U.S. Senate is now considering her nomination. In a just world, there would be no question about her confirmation. Clarke has the skills, experience, and character for the job. Sadly, as we all know, having the best qualifications is often not enough to keep extraordinary Bl

In the long arc of the nation’s history of racially-motivated voter suppression, 2021 will stand as a clear and distinct moment that changed everything that came after. Whether it will symbolize the demise of such suppression – or its shameful entrenchment – remains to be seen. Certainly, racially-motivated voter suppression is nothing new. The right of Black men to vote wasn’t even constitutionally-protected for the first 94 years of the nation’s existence, and the terrorist

NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James today led a coalition of 14 attorneys general in strongly urging Congress to invest in the nation’s public housing systems. In a joint letter to congressional leadership, Attorney General James and the coalition express concern that the $40 billion in funding for public housing allocated as part of President Joseph Biden’s $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan — although a good start — is insufficient to address the years of negl

While many of us are reliving the murder of George Floyd through the trial of Derek Chauvin for his murder, we are getting constant reminders that police abuse and murder of Black men and women continues with no lessons learned. Sunday’s “murder” of Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, should never have happened over a traffic stop or any nonviolent police encounter. Add to that the graphic video of the Black/Latino Army officer being abused and pepper sprayed because

Our Continued Conversation with Lauren Carter Ernest Agyemang Yeboah penned the phrase, “The great works we see are just ideas until they receive the real energy, which transforms ideas into tangible artifacts. When you conceive an idea, it find its energy.” “Compassion, commitment, and service-these are the characteristics that define my life’s purpose and work,” Lauren Carter tells UMERADIO on last Saturday’s Weekends with Marsha J and Jesse. In a follow-up conversation wi

How has something so seemingly simple become so confusing and complex? When I was growing up there was no confusion about a man, who one was and what it meant to be one. The Marlboro Man, the policeman, reverends, doctors, lawyers, judges, Hoss, Little Joe, Adam and Ben Cartwright and Walter Cronkite-- John Wayne and Shaft. A father was a man, a soldier was a man, a gangster was a man. The one in charge, running things, was a man. A Pope was a man, a mafia Don was a man, a Ge