Emancipation Proclamation, the outgoing governor of North Carolina, Beverly Perdue, issued an historic “Pardon of Innocence” to each member of the Wilmington Ten after a 40-year struggle for justice. This was a long sought-after victory for the Civil Rights Movement, the United Church of Christ, National Council of Churches, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, the National Wilmington Ten Defense Committee, the Congressional Black Caucus, and millions of people throughout the world who for many years demanded “Free the Wilmington Ten.”

When President Obama took the oath of office on Monday, he was surrounded by an extraordinary legacy of 50-year civil rights milestones that helped make possible his first and second inauguration. It was fitting that the inaugural invocation was delivered onthe steps of the U.S. Capitol by Myrlie Evers-Williams, the widow of civil rights hero, Medgar Evers.

As I have reflected on the year just ended, I noticed everyone doing their usual year-end lists of the biggest winners and losers of the year. I am not a big fan of these lists, but I will acknowledge that the Black community was the biggest loser of 2012.

WASHINGTON (NNPA) – In the late 1960s, Black revolutionary H. Rap Brown, now known as Jamil Abdullah al-Amin, was often quoted as saying violence is “as American as cherry pie.” More than 40 years after the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) firebrand made that pronouncement, the numbers supports his assertion.

According to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, nearly 100,000 people in the U.S.