As you get ready to fire up the grill and celebrate the 3-day weekend, take a moment to learn a bit of history that may surprise you. 

By John Bowden, www.thehill.com

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is making a pitch to voters of color with a policy agenda focused on lower-income Americans and communities that have faced discrimination.

In an essay for the National Urban League's State of Black America report, Warren touted her efforts to expand access to housing, implement a wealth tax and cut down on government corruption.

"The homeownership gap has led to a staggering [racial] wealth gap," Warren wrote. "I believe that the federal government has a central role to play in reversing this damage caused in large part by decades of government-sanctioned discrimination. That’s why I introduced legislation to produce more than three million affordable housing units and bring down rents."

By HC Headley, Theladders.com

Black women experience discrimination in the workplace due to their natural hair and people need to be aware of it and take action.

In order to effectively unpack the impact of hair based biases in a professional setting, CROWN conducted a massive research survey of 2,000 American women between the ages of 25 and 64. Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair, or the CROWN Coalition is an organization co-founded by DOVE, that intends to end race-based discrimination in the workplace. Alongside the personal care brand, the coalition is composed of founding members of the National Urban League, Color of Change, and the Western Center on Law and Poverty.

Russian disinformation operations to exploit racial tensions during the 2016 presidential election in the United States found firm ground in a country where legislators have long sought to suppress the black vote, according to a report released Monday.

The report, “State of Black America,” was released by the National Urban League, a civil rights organization based in New York. It underlined the Russian interference in particular but said that black voting rights were under attack from a wide range of actors, including domestic politicians. 

In about two dozen states, voting restrictions have gotten worse since 2010 because of changes including new voter identification laws and decisions to limit locations where voters can cast ballots, the report said.

To read the full article Click Here.

National Urban League uses its annual State of Black America report to decry Kremlin targeting of black voters.

Adding its voice to a crescendo of complaints about Russian interference in both the 2016 presidential and the 2018 midterm elections, one of the nation’s most prominent civil rights and urban advocacy organizations decried efforts by foreign agents to use social media outlets to suppress voting turnout among black Americans.

In its State of Black America 2019 report, released Monday morning at a news conference in Washington, D.C., the National Urban League (NUL) said that state-sponsored Russian activists fed into the nation’s simmering racial antagonism in an effort to tamp down black voters’ confidence and dissuade voting participation.

To read the article Click Here.

FBI's Civil Rights Symposium Focuses on Officer Training and Community Dialogue. Community leaders and representatives from law enforcement agencies throughout the region gathered Thursday (May 2) to discuss and learn more about civil rights. Read More

Every year, the The National Urban League host a Legislative Policy Conference in Washington, DC. More than 350 members of the Urban League Movement, including Urban League affiliate CEOs representing 300 communities nationwide, members of the National Urban League Young Professionals and National Council of Urban League Guilds supporters convene for three days of seminars, meetings and advocacy on Urban League policy priorities.  See Highlights 

May 6, 2019 -- Even as civil rights groups challenge racially-motivated voter suppression in the courts and state legislatures, an even more insidious enemy of democracy targets African Americans online, exploiting their trust and spreading disinformation, according to the 2019 State of Black America®.

“For Black Americans, the right to vote is especially sacred,” National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial said. “These attacks, from within our nation and from without, are a desecration to the memory of the martyrs who bled and died in defense of our rights.”

The full report can be found at www.StateOfBlackAmerica.org.

Available Now! Foreign Interference in American Democracy Specifically Targeted African Americans, Bolstering Domestic Efforts to Suppress The Black Vote. Read More