For America, Black History Month brings opportunities to revisit our nation’s lessons, achievements, and unfulfilled promises, capturing our attention as well as our hopes. Yet nothing hits home harder than the painful reminders of how so much of Black America continues to struggle financially, despite an economy that reports low unemployment, a robust stock market, and low inflation.
NEW YORK (AP) Conservative advocates have filed a growing number of legal challenges, encouraged by the Supreme Court’s June ruling ending affirmative action in college admissions. Lawsuits and threat letters have targeted dozens of prominent companies and a wide array of diversity policies, including fellowships, hiring goals, anti-bias training and contract programs for minority-owned businesses. The battle has been a roller coaster of setbacks and victories for both sides, but some companies are already retooling their diversity programs in the face of lawsuits, and the growing expectation that the conservative-dominated Supreme Court will eventually take up the issue.
In the final days of 2023, the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved its priorities for working with the state legislature, emphasizing an improved offering of safety net services that prioritize BIPOC and refugee communities.