Poll: Blacks ready to vote in Nov.

By Ben Evans
Wire Service Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) – Democrats facing strong headwinds this election season have at least one reason for optimism, according to polling that found the party's large African-American voting bloc eager to stay involved even without Barack Obama on the ballot.

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Ailey up

Despite the cold and snow Ailey II performed to a sold-out crowd at the Vern Riffe Center’s Capitol Theatre on Saturday, Feb. 27. (Photo by Willie Jennings)

Stimulus sparks Jim Crow comparison

By Hazel Trice Edney
Senior Contributing Writer
Columbus Post

WASHINGTON (NNPA) – A little more than a year ago, Feb. 17, 2009, newly inaugurated President Barack Obama took his first corrective action to quell the escalating economic crisis.
That action was to sign the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), known as the stimulus bill, a $787 billion package to create and preserve jobs and spur economic growth.
But, one year later, a non-partisan study by the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at The Ohio State University has found that despite the President’s noble efforts, the economic stimulus has not only failed to boost the economy for African Americans and other historically disadvantaged people, including women, but it has produced starkly disparate results between White workers and people of color and failed to correct long-standing racial disparities.

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The Dreams

Dreamgirls takes Columbus by storm performing at the Palace Theatre last week. The musical deals with the dream of ‘making it big’ in show business and the things that come with it, including the heartaches, triumphs, breakups, and love. (Photo by Willie Jennings)

Obama’s budget impacts Blacks

By Hazel Trice Edney
Senior Contributing Writer
Columbus Post

WASHINGTON (NNPA) – With Black unemployment rates still on the rise, President Barack Obama – through his 2011 budget proposal -- is apparently trying to undergird the African-American community from other economic angles until change comes.
A White House document recently released to board members of the Black Leadership Forum outlines allocations in the president’s $301 billion fiscal budget that specifically “give African-American families the tools that they need to succeed.”

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