National

Sophie Gerson, a legendary figure in the history of textile union organizing in the South and a lifelong fighter for peace, justice and socialism, died March 20. She was 96.

Katherine Dunham, a pioneering dancer and choreographer, author and civil rights activist who founded America’s first major Black modern dance company, died May 21. She was 96.

The unprecedented FBI raid on Rep. William Jefferson’s (D-La.) congressional office sends a chilling message to Congress and to African American elected officials.

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, was proclaimed in 1868 by Gen. John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of Civil War veterans. Logan designated the day “for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country.”

After almost nine decades, it’s clear there’s no stopping the country’s young communists.

“I think it’s a crisis right now,” said Tony Oppegard, former top lawyer for Kentucky’s Mine Safety and Licensing Office. “When we have 31 coal miners killed in less than five months, that’s a crisis and it needs to be treated as a crisis and dealt with. We need to stop this fiction that all coal operators are good guys and all you need to do is talk them and they’ll do the right thing, which is the cornerstone of the Bush administration philosophy. We need to crack down on operators instead of trying to babysit them.”

OAKLAND, Calif. — As seniors across the state try on their caps and gowns, California is embroiled in controversy over its high school exit exams in English and math, slated to be required for a high school diploma starting this year.

Mientras el debate sobre la reforma migratoria se reanuda en el Senado el 15 de mayo, el presidente Bush pronuncia un discurso televisado a nivel nacional, tratando de motivar a su base conservadora atemorizándolos con cuentos de espanto antiinmigrantes, pero a la misma vez aparecer como persona compasiva.

Uno de los gritos de la manifestación para derechos inmigrantes que pasó el pasado Primero de Mayo fue ¡Hoy marchamos mañana votamos! Pero los republicanos están tratando de bloquear ese camino.

Los acontecimientos en el Congreso y en las calles han intensificado el debate nacional sobre la inmigración. Algunos sondeos de opinión indican que el público norteamericano piensa que la inmigración está “fuera de control” y que “algo tiene que hacerse”. A la vez, hay señales de que la mayoría no se opone a darles oportunidades a los indocumentados.