(NNPA)—I have dedicated many NNPA pieces to the topic of violence against Afro-descendants in Colombia. Unfortunately, violence, intimidation and injustice continue to dominate conversations about our brothers and sisters of African descent in Colombia, who conservatively make up 26 percent of the national population. Recent months have seen a marked increase in violence and threats against Afro-Colombians throughout the country, particularly in coastal communities where high concentrations of Afro-Colombians reside.

Multiple conditions have created an environment for such heightened pressures against Afro-descendants in Colombia. The pending U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement has led to the preemptive displacement of thousands of Afro-Colombians. It is estimated that between 1995 and 2005, 65 percent of Afro-Colombians living in supposedly protected ancestral homelands were forced to flee their lands. This exodus has been the result of armed conflict and corporate development. Such displacement has only exacerbated the marginal existence many people already were facing.

(NNPA)—I remember it like it was yesterday. It was the 1960s, and on the gritty streets of Brooklyn, N.Y., my life truly began to take course even though I had not even reached my 13th birthday. As a young preacher in the Church of God and Christ, I was blessed to cross paths with an individual who would undeniably help shape my life’s mission. First introduced by Bishop Washington (who ordained me a minister at the age of 10), I was lucky to receive the guidance and tutelage of a man who went on to blaze a trail for an entire group of people.
When I was youth director of N.Y.’s Operation Breadbasket a few years later, he literally became a mentor and guardian. This fierce leader paid for me to go to the national Black political convention in Indiana in 1972 when I could not afford to do so, and continued to support me both spiritually and physically throughout the roller coaster ride of my civil rights career. He was a dear friend, adviser, role model and sheer visionary for all Black folks. He was Percy Sutton, one of the last greats.

As the health care reform bill inched closer to passage in the U.S. Senate a last week, several Republicans started to behave like petulant children.

Rhetoric has been heated and nasty—on both sides to be fair—for the last several months, but reached a new low as the bill cleared two procedural hurdles along party lines Dec. 22.

Senator Tom Coburn, R-Okla., said America should pray that a senator misses the late night vote on the health care bill.

Although House and Senate versions of the health care reform bill are weaker than they should be, the legislation making its way to President Barack Obama’s desk is far better than merely maintaining the status quo.

Former DNC Chairman Howard Dean, a physician, said it would be better to do nothing than to enact the Senate version of health care reform. Howard Dean is wrong. It is a gross overstatement to assert that our current system comes close to matching anything being proposed by Democrats and opposed by every Republican senator.