Oronde A. Miller

PBS NewsHour story on ScienceGenius with GZA and Chris Emdin at Bronx Compass High School.

Event

Dr. Cornel West, a prominent and provocative intellectual, joins CNN financial contributor Ryan Mack to discuss the history of generational poverty and wealth and the current state of the economy for African Americans. In 2013, we will inaugurate the first black president for his second term into the highest office in the United States. Yet the 2010 Census Bureau showed that the median black household made 59.8 percent as much as the median white household; 40 percent of black students fail to graduate high school on time; and 27.4 percent of blacks live in poverty compared to the overall poverty rate of 15 percent. Join us for this interactive dialogue that will fold audiences into the conversation, led by award-winning author and radio host, Farai Chideya. Learn more about EMANCIPATION 150, part of The NEXT New York Conversation series.

Date

Wed Feb 6, 2013 7:00pm EST — Wed Feb 6, 2013 8:15pm EST

The above photo accompanies an article appearing on Indian Country Today Media Network’s online news site.  When you hear people talk about immigration, immigration reform, etc. consider this quote and exchange.  While you may have opinions about immigration, at least be clear about the origins of the construct in this country, and that it’s very relative… except of course when you belong to a group that is indigenous to the space.  There is history to everything.

A remark about immigration made by a Native State Representative at a hearing  in the Kansas House of Representatives has attracted the attention of major  media — and yet to many Natives, it’s merely the plainest of facts.

The hearing concerned the legality of offering children of illegal immigrants  to pay the in-state tuition rate to attend universities and community colleges  in Kansas. The Legislature was seeking to overturn a statute that has been on  the books for nearly a decade –a Topeka Capital-Journal story described the effort as an “annual  attempt.”

Ponka-We Victors (D-Wichita), a member of the Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma and the  Tohono O’odham Nation, and the only American Indian in the Kansas State  Legislature, offered her reading of the situation to Kris Kobach, Kansas’  Secretary of State.

“I think it’s funny Mr. Kobach, because when you mention illegal immigrant, I  think of all of you,” Victors said, prompting cheers from the gallery, described  by the Capital-Journal as “heavily pro-immigrant.” Rep. Arlen Siegfreid  (R-Olathe) the chairman of the House Federal and State Affairs Committee, felt  moved to tell the room, “Please don’t do that.”

Watch Author Taylor Branch on PBS. See more from Tavis Smiley.