By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Senior Correspondent Somewhere it’s raining. Somewhere the heavens have opened up, reflecting the tears that are falling across the globe as news of the death of civil rights icon John Lewis spreads. The congressional genius and justice warrior, famously beaten and bloodied at Selma and across the Jim Crow ...

By Lauren Victoria Burke, NNPA Newswire “I am going to fight it,” read a statement from Rep. John Lewis on the evening of December 29. “I may miss a few votes during this period, but with God’s grace I will be back on the front lines soon,” he added. Lewis announced on the last week ...

By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Correspondent The Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform and a titan of the U.S. Congress, Representative Elijah Cummings (D-MD-7), died early Thursday morning on October 17. He was 68. Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, the congressman’s wife and chair of the Maryland Democratic Committee, said Cummings died at ...

By Charlene Crowell For more than 40 years, the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) has served as a mechanism for the federal government to hold banks and other depository institutions accountable for meeting the credit needs of low and moderate income (LMI) neighborhoods. Enacted in 1977, the CRA has the power to influence applications for bank mergers, charters, ...

By Charlene Crowell Anyone who struggles with the rising costs of living knows all too well how hard it is to try stretching dollars when there’s more month than money in the household. Predatory lending, like payday and car-title loans, worsen financial stress with triple-digit interest rates that deepen the debt owed with each renewal. ...

By Hazel Trice Edney (TriceEdneyWire.com) – The rate of Black homeownership in America – now at 41.1 percent, according to 2019 U. S. Census numbers – is even lower than it was when the U. S. Fair Housing Act was signed into law 51 years ago on April 11, 1968. This means Black homeownership is ...

By Julianne Malveaux The 116th Congress, sworn in on January 3, is the most diverse our nation has ever seen. There are more women – 102 – than ever before. More members of the Congressional Black Caucus – 55 – than ever before. Indeed, a former Congressional Black Caucus intern, Lauren Underwood (D-IL) is part ...

By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire One day after saying she wants President Donald Trump’s new chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, to testify before her committee about his work overhauling the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA 43) was elevated to another position where she will undoubtedly continue to hold President Trump ...