I interviewed CNN reporter Soledad O’Brien, who was the keynote speaker at the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts’ “State of Black Boston” Symposium July 25, 2011. O’Brien discusses the challenges of improving racial diversity in the newsroom and her upcoming “Black in America” and “Latino in America” documentaries.
Congress is currently debating to make serious cuts in Social Security. Some analysts in Washington believe that the cuts are necessary to help the country out of its economic downturn. However, any changes in the program will severely affect all recipients, particularly African-Americans.
Social security is a federally funded program that provides financial support for retirees, disabled individuals and dependent survivors. It was signed into law in 1935 under President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal to provide for a stronger security blanket following the Great Depression, when poverty among senior citizens exceeded 50 percent. Social Security is one of the largest government programs in the world, paying out billions of dollars every year.
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A group of Boston teens held a press conference in conjunction with Alternatives for Community and Environment (ACE) and the T Riders Union June 10 upon the release of their new report exploring why the MBTA should consider a youth pass program and the larger problem of public transit injustice.
Rosa Clemente was one of many presenters at the 2011 National Conference on Media Reform (NCMR) held in Boston April 8-10. Clemente, who considers herself a proud “black Puerto Rican radical,” made it clear to other NCMR attendees that she dances to her own beat and doesn’t care who likes it. As she mentions in the video, following House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s keynote speech at the conference, Clemente and six others in the audience got up and screamed “stop the war!”
“Nancy Pelosi is a war monger,” Clemente said on a panel on hip-hop and media reform. “She comes here and says she supports free press, but Bradley Manning is in jail. I had to get up and say something. This is what I call hip-hop.”
Watch the video interview here