After hearing Minister Louis Farrakhan roundly denounced by black and Jewish leaders in 1984, purportedly for describing Judaism as a gutter religion, I called Farrakhan before writing a story for the Chicago Tribune. Farrakhan denied he had ever described Judaism as a gutter religion and offered up his life to anyone who could prove he had made such a comment.

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If there were any doubts about whether LeBron James should have migrated from the cold winters of Cleveland to sunny Miami, they were removed when Dan Gilbert, the Cavaliers’ majority owner, issued a scathing criticism of Cleveland’s “former hero” who demonstrated “cowardly betrayal” by deciding not to remain in Cleveland after becoming a free agent.

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U.S. Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan lauded the teaching experience of her mother as the Senate Judiciary Committee opened her confirmation hearings Monday.“I said when the president nominated me that the two people missing were my parents, and I feel that deeply again today,” Ms. Kagan said in her opening statement.

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immigration and border history saysWhile politicians, law enforcement officials and citizens of every background stand divided over a recent Arizona immigration law designed to secure the state's borders from illegal immigrants, a Texas Tech University expert on immigration and border history says that the law is no different than the Repatriation Act of the 1930s or Operation Wetback of the 1950s.

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Our economy generated about 431,000 jobs last month.  Good news?  Only if you don't count the fact that more than 400,000 of the jobs were temporary jobs connected to collecting data for the Census.  Those jobs won't last for long and when the dust clears the current 9.7 percent unemployment rate, down from 9.9 percent a month ago, is likely to rise again.

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Music has been an important piece of my life.  As a political activist I have used music to motivate myself and inspire others.  I have seen the power of the lyrics move people to great heights.  Melodies backed by instruments have been a source of continuous encouragement and a vehicle which crystallizes ideas. Apart from humming to myself to a favorite tune or tapping on desk to a wonderful melody, music has also given me food for thought.  This is why I join people all over the country in celebration of June as African American Music Appreciation Month a.k.a. Black Music Month.

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Civic Education LeadsOnce upon a time in the United States of America school districts mandated that students be proficient in "government" or civics classes. In 1970 (the year I entered the first grade) government and civics classes were watered down and replaced "social studies." The result was predictable: the average IQ of most Americans-particularly African-Americans decreased.

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President Barack Obama has said that America faces “few more urgent challenges than preparing our children to President Barack Obama has said that America faces “few more urgent challenges than preparing our children to compete in a global economy.” Being able to understand and make use of the world’s vast telecommunications infrastructure is certainly part of that preparation. So it was no surprise when the White House issued its Cyberspace Policy Review last May that the document contained a call for the nation to “initiate a K-12 cybersecurity education program for digital safety, ethics, and security; expand university curricula; and set the conditions to create a competent workforce for the digital age.”

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