The goal of this news blog is to serve as a forum for critical thinking where community members and graduate students can publish on contemporary and historical issues throughout the global Black community. We maintain a special focus on the diverse socioeconomic and political issues that continue to animate the complex global Black experience. The creation of this site is motivated by the urgent need for independent media sources to provide thoughtful analyses of the complexity of Black life worldwide, highlighting challenges and achievements equally. By centering our perspective in and on the Black community we proudly provide an alternative voice to popular media sources. With most contributions coming from graduate students and members of our community, the issues covered will be broad. We welcome this breadth and the opportunity for numerous voices to speak on the events and developments that are important to them. Through this blog it is our hope to both educate, and be educated by, our community. It is our sincere hope that the articles and contributions here provide an avenue for greater diversity of thought and voice, which will move us closer towards an understanding of our contemporary problems and provide us with the tools and programs necessary to address them. This blog welcomes debate and though it is focused specifically on peoples of African heritage, we are interested in serving the voices of similarly oppressed peoples worldwide.
Finally, the blog's title, "The New Crisis", was chosen to show the historical connection between our stated mission and that of select critical Black intellectuals at the beginning of the 20th century. It was during this time that the an important scholar, W.E.B. DuBois, helped to found a magazine examining Black life called The Crisis. In the first issue of The Crisis, then editor DuBois laid out the mission of the magazine. "The object of this publication is to set forth those facts and arguments which show the danger of race prejudice, particularly as manifested today toward colored people. It takes its name from the fact that the editors believe that this is a critical time in the history of the advancement of men." Similarly, the women and men of our generation face unprecedented challenges. We believe that a new, historically conscious and path must be taken to address today's challenges. We hope that you follow us and hold us accountable to the goals we have stated.
