Dedrick Muhammad

Senior Director of Economic Programs, NAACP

Black unemployment is still double the national rate, and research has shown that, even when controlled for factors like education and experience, Black job seekers still face hiring discrimination.

Robert West

Social worker; board member, Harlem Pride

Of course, the events that are celebrations will receive the greatest visibility, especially if they seem to reinforce the public's notions of who we are, but there are deeper sentiments that need to be expressed about Pride and what it means to us.

Rev. Al Sharpton

President, National Action Network

Nobody should be denied the right to vote, or face additional hurdles because of a strategic method to disenfranchise them. Just as no one should be racially profiled, no one should be racially blocked from the voting booth.

Antonia Opiah

Entrepreneur & Founder of un-ruly.com

You Can Touch My Hair was a way of telling those who have stolen a touch how it makes me feel -- like an object put on display. But I also wanted to use it as an opportunity to further understand why someone might think that act or solicitation is okay and why black hair is such a novelty.

Eric E. Sterling

President, Criminal Justice Policy Foundation

You would think that Eric Holder, the first African American Attorney General, and Barack Obama, the first African American President, would be vigilant that there was no racial discrimination in the Justice Department of their Administration. You would think.

Daddy-O

Hip-hop historian, music technologist, founder of Stetsasonic

There is no political correctness in my rant. Just facts. Without diversity, there is no hip-hop, even if you choose to call it that. Hip-hop is not a reality TV show. Hip-hop is not a pair of pants sagging. Hip-hop has founders, innovation, and purpose.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson

Author and political analyst

With legitimate lethal terrorist threats that the U.S. faces, the FBI must play a front line role in monitoring potential terrorist activities and nipping them in the bud. But the history of over reach and outright law breaking by the FBI and other government agencies still looms large.

Curtis Valentine

Education Advocate

While school system governance, school choice and school closings have dominated recent discussions about school reform, the beginning of summer break is a perfect time to highlight the impact summer learning loss has on efforts to close achievement gaps.

Maurice Tracy

American studies doctoral candidate, Saint Louis University

I live in a world where I didn't hear someone romantically call me desirable until I was 26. I live in a world where either body privilege or racial privilege is always against me. So I point my camera at my face and I click. I am what some would call ugly, but I don't see it.

Ernest Owens

Communication & Public Service scholar, University of Pennsylvania

Black history deserves to be regarded highly as well as we would anything else sacred in our society... let's please start treating it as such.

Tanya M. Odom, Ed.M.

Education, diversity and inclusion consultant and executive coach.

As our world changes, it will be important for us to expand our ideas and expectations of leadership, leadership models and who we see as leaders.

John Muller

Local journalist and historian

If you want to go the unveiling of the Frederick Douglass statue this Wednesday at 11 a.m. in the United States Capitol Visitor Center's Emancipation Hall, don't bother: You're not invited.

Alan A. Aja, William A. Darity Jr. and Darrick Hamilton

While more students generally attend racially and economically diverse schools, it is no secret that our schools are anything but unitary.

Tiffany Aliche

The Budgetnista

In honor of Father's Day I want to share the most important, financial lesson I've learned to date. It's one that my dad taught me and is the reason I am The Budgetnista. The Bike Story...

Tyler R. Tynes

Sportswriter, Radio personality, Play-By-Play Analyst, Broadcasting & Journalism major at King's College

Most kids my age back then didn't see the importance of having a father or father-figure in their lives; they were more concerned about escaping the hood. While it is a valid mindset to have in a city known for handgun murders, most stemming from where I grew up, I could never replace my dad.

Shaun Ossei-Owusu

American Bar Foundation Doctoral Fellow, UC Berkeley PhD Candidate

Dr. Cosby is continuously making it harder for me to vouch for him. A recent piece by the entertainer titled "A Plague Called Apathy" has a slice of the black media and blogosphere up in arms, and the other part looking at him askance with a serious side-eye.

Benjamin Todd Jealous

President and CEO, NAACP

"This is not a black thing, this is not a white thing. This is not a poor thing, this is not a rich thing. This is not a Christian or Jewish or Muslim thing. What hurts one person, hurts us all."