Dr. Julianne Malveaux, PhD

The overall unemployment rate of 4.5 percent would be something to celebrate if it were accompanied with more job creation. It might also be something to celebrate if the Black unemployment rate were not so high – at 8 percent it is more than twice the white rate of 3.9 percent.

he is likely to be nothing but a disappointment for workers. Not only will he likely do less for overtime than President Obama required, but he will likely also limit rules that limit worker exposure to cancer-causing substances, and require financial advisers to work in the best interest of their clients.

45 was a frequent critic of President Obama’s golfing, a pastime that he engages in frequently himself. And he can’t seem to find any golf courses in the DC area so he’s back to Mar-a-Largo, where taxpayers spend $3 million every time the President goes to his private resort. Mr. Trump is not trying to tighten the belt he wears; he is only trying to tighten the nation’s.

There has been an attack on education, with legislation being introduced as early as January 23, 2017. That legislation, HR 610, is titled the Choices in Education Act. It would repeal the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, and limits the authority of the Department of Education so that it should only award block grants to states. It also sets up a voucher system. If states do not comply with the rules of this legislation, they would be ineligible for block grants.

Can we just call Lack of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos “one note Betsy”? Wherever she looks, she sees school choice, although our educational challenges transcend her myopic agenda. If an ant, enticed by honey, entered a charter school instead of the public school next door, she’d call that school choice.

The Trump election reminds us of the limitations of politics, and the need to focus on the economic aspects of our lives. Political involvement is necessary, but not sufficient for Black progress. Every single economic indicator shows African American people lagging.

This year’s Academy Award nominations give African Americans much to celebrate, and these nominations are also reminders that momentary visibility is not the same thing as structural change. How many African Americans can actually green-light a movie?

The Journeys of 16 Extraordinary Black Souls is an extraordinary book not only because it features the biographies of relatively unknown and amazing African Americans, but also because the author she puts their lives in context. Thus, each biography talks about what was happening historically during the subject's lives.