By Katie Dukes When babies are born, their brains contain billions of neurons. But how those neurons interact — and what they can do as babies grow through childhood into adulthood — is largely shaped by their experiences in the first 1,000 days of life. The architecture of the brain is built in those first […]
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Posted inHomepage
‘We Quit America’: Our Exit From a Country Designed to Kill Black People
By Yanique Redwood This article is excerpted and adapted from the book “We Quit America: Our Exit From a Country Designed to Kill Black People.” Quitting America was not one decision; it was many decisions over time. It was small moments of awareness, like a flashlight pointing to the exit in a smoke-filled burning house: […]
Posted inEducation
Meet Jasmine Robinson: Founder of Collegiate Mom Coalition
By Laura Onyeneho Jasmine Robinson’s journey from teen mom to founder of the Collegiate Mom Coalition is nothing short of extraordinary. The odds were stacked against her, but she defied expectations, shattered stereotypes, and created a movement championing the potential of student mothers. What began as a single pageant to offer scholarships to mothers in […]
Posted inOpinion
A Long Overdue Truth About White Women
Let’s be real — many white women are not friends or allies to Black women. They never have been. That’s the truth, plain and simple. And as Maya Angelou once said: “When someone tells you who they are, believe them.” Black women, we must believe what white women keep showing us. On November 5, 53% […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Activists to Biden: Commute All Death Sentences
The facts speak for themselves: Black people make up just 13% of the U.S. population, yet they make up nearly 40% of all death row inmates in federal prison. During his first term as president, Donald Trump put more people to death than the 10 presidents before him. On Monday, a coalition of civil rights […]
Posted inCulture
Poet and activist Nikki Giovanni passes away at 81
by Itoro N. Umontuen Nikki Giovanni, an acclaimed poet and fierce activist, has passed away Monday at the age of 81. At her core, Giovanni wanted everyone to know being unapologetically Black allows all of us to be proud. Giovanni is the voice of Black strength. Yolanda Cornelia Giovanni was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, on June […]
Posted inHomepage
Black Lives Mattered. Then America Moved On
It’s official: Black lives don’t matter any more, if they ever truly did. Four years ago, a white man suffocated George Floyd, a Black man, to death on a gritty Minneapolis street corner as bystanders begged for mercy. That brutal killing of an unarmed Floyd — caught on camera — turbocharged the Black Lives Matter movement, put […]
Posted inHomepage
5 Reasons You’re Probably Not Watching NBA Games Anymore
There was a time when NBA regular season games were the highlight of every basketball fan’s week. Long before NBA League Pass and the ability to catch every game on demand, fans eagerly awaited marquee matchups. The thrill of seeing the Lakers, Celtics, or 76ers go to war on CBS with Brent Musburger’s iconic voice […]
Posted inHealth
Black Women Need More Access to Free Period Products
A small blue, purple, and yellow structure sits outside the office of Mamatoto Village, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit working to improve Black maternal health outcomes in the 7th Ward, a majority-Black community that struggles with poverty and violence. The little library-style pantry, the first of its kind, offers free reproductive health care products – a […]
Posted inPreserved by Purpose
Preserved by Purpose: Spiritual Time Management
“It’s the most wonderful time of the year” doesn’t just apply to Christmas. For college teachers, this phrase also applies to the end of any school semester. In my case, at this time of the year, students are working hard to finish up paper assignments which lets me take the less stressful position of writing […]
