Graduation from high school is not only a rite of passage, it is the ticket to economic prosperity and quality of life. The formula is simple: High school graduates are more employable, healthier and more likely to have health insurance, all of which positively contribute to our economy.

But here’s the flip side of that formula: New graduation data show glaring achievement gaps for students of color and economically disadvantaged students.

The tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., brought the nation together in grief. Like all-too-many similar occurrences in this nation’s history, it has also reignited a debate on gun control laws. Here is a round up of what experts of color are saying about gun violence and how what happened in Newtown is an unfortunate example of why gun control reform is imperative.

Last week, I said that if Congress has to make cuts, we should embrace the idea of ridding ourselves of wasteful giveaways to the fossil fuel industry. Here's an idea. Let’s cut the Master Limited Partnership loophole and fossil fuel subsidies.

When Adam Lanza walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School, he was carrying a Bushmaster .223 caliber Remington semiautomatic.  This is the frightening weapon he used to take the lives of 27 people:

The refrain — “guns don’t kill people, people kill people” — does an injustice to the complicated homotechnocultural phenomenon that we call a massacre.

1961 produced some classics, such as Paul Newman in The Hustler, Ray Charles singing “Hit the Road Jack,” and Barbie’s Ken. It also produced an American vision of foreign aid.

I will never forget the time when I visited my parent's church on "Diabetes Sunday," a program of the American Diabetes Association to raise awareness about the disease within the African-American community. A brochure in the church bulletin highlighted the dangers and prevalence of type 2 diabetes in the African-American community and how obesity is a causal factor. After the service, we made our way to the fellowship hall to celebrate Black History Month. As we began to chow down on unhealthy foods and sugary drinks, nobody blinked at the hypocrisy.

Dorothy A. Brown is a professor of law at Emory University and teaches several tax classes and a critical race theory seminar.  A nationally recognized scholar in the area of race, class, and tax policy, she has authored dozens of articles, including Race and Class Matters in Tax Policy, published in the Columbia Law Review.

In the mind’s eye, in the press, in the common vernacular, the African American man is not a responsible parent as there are so many single women raising the children alone, in poverty. Often children are raising their siblings while the mother works, but we rarely think or speak of them. To understand how we came to this place it is necessary to take a trip back to the future.