Miami Central Senior High School was on the verge of being closed down just a few years ago. Today, it has seen increases of 40 percent in writing and a graduation rate that jumped to 63 percent from a bottom of the barrel 36 percent. The school received a $785,000 School Improvement Grant from the Department of Education and the praise of President Obama.

"You are proving the naysayers wrong - you are proving that progress is possible," Obama said. "There is always plenty of naysayers out there who will say it's not even possible, who say that turning around failing school means just throwing good money after bad, who say too many of these schools are beyond repair, who say we ought to give up on those schools and focus on places that have more breaks and have a little more going for them. Here's what I say. I say I am not willing to give up on any child in America."

That's the message Obama is sending to every school aged kid in America as he kicks off "Education Month." The federal government is using the school improvement grants to rejuvenate schools like Miami Central Senior High.

Last year, the Department of Education gave out $3.5 billion worth of the grants. This year the Obama administration will increase the grants by $545 million. They requires schools to take solid steps to turn around their schools by adopting one of four models:

Some participants and staff members of the NAACP will wear red, white and blue ribbons in support of union workers at this Friday's Image Awards.

The move follows the passage of a resolution in support of union workers and collective bargaining rights by the NAACP last week.

"As we celebrate the contributions of people of color in film, literature, music and television, we will be wearing ribbons to show our support for the workers and families protesting in statehouses across the nation. The NAACP remains committed to helping public employees keep their collective bargaining rights, fair pay and appropriate benefits," said NAACP Chairman Roslyn Brock.

Unions have been coming under attack in recent weeks. In Wisconsin, the governor is trying to take away the collective bargaining power rights of state union members.

Times are rough and unions must share the pain with the rest of the country. Through contract givebacks, some already have.

"The NAACP has always supported the efforts of working people to come together to bargain for a better life. The only way we can solve our nation's economic problems is with everyone at the table," said Clayola Brown, chairman of the Image Awards and president of the A. Phillip Randolph Institute.

The NAACP's show of solidarity with unions is an important step. However, this is a time where more than symbolic gestures and resolutions are necessary, especially since union cuts will disproportionately affect African-Americans.

Terry Smith, a professor at the Depaul College of Law writes:

In Madison, protesters have been overwhelmingly white given the demographics of Wisconsin. But as the attempt to curtail public unionism spreads to other more ethnically diverse states, it will become more apparent that the federal government and state and local governments throughout the country employ a disproportionate share of African Americans. Moreover, African Americans are more likely than any other racial group to be union members. The attack on public-sector unions is thus a two-fisted assault on one of the levers of employment security most accessible to African Americans.

WISCONSIN UNION PROTEST RALLY - DOCUMENTARY from Johnny Clark on Vimeo.

It's amazing how much this country still struggles with its ugly racial past and difficult present. A recent unfinished Manhattan store display by Baby Gap shows a tree with what looks like two nooses hanging from it. Fresh off of Black History Month, the image immediately conjured images of black men being lynched.

Some people who passed by were immediately outraged and posted the image on Gawker while trying to get a response from Gap.

Baby Gap said the photo, which went viral, was taken before the display was finished. The final display showed two children innocently on a swing. The two knotted pieces of rope were used to hold the wood plank of the swing seat in place.

"This photograph was taken when the store was finishing a visual display for a swing," said Gap spokesperson Renate Geerlings.

I'm not sure how I feel about this one. In one sense, I'm glad that people are still sensitive to public displays that may be racially insensitive, but it seems superficial.

Taylor remembers the day police came to take her mom to prison:

"I was crying, because it was hard to see them come and take my mom. I was mad at everybody. You could say I was mad at the world," Taylor (pictured left) told Howard Zehr and Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz, authors of 'What Will Happen to Me?'

The book is a resource for children whose parents have been incarcerated and for caregivers who have taken responsibility for these children.

The book looks at the issues related to this country's mass incarceration of millions of adults, has a children's bill of rights and also has 10 questions commonly asked by children whose parents are in prison.

The practical guide also uses real stories from children and caregivers in their own words and provides resources, such as how to keep kids in touch with their incarcerated parents, and ways for caregivers to remain emotionally healthy.

On any given day in America, there are 3-million children with one or both parents locked behind bars. While 1 in 110 white children have a parent in prison, for African-Americans, that figure is 1 in 15.

"When we were ready to go to press, we looked at the proportion of children of color in the book and it was such a high proportion we asked if we were out of line," Zehr, professor of restorative justice at Eastern Mennonite University's graduate Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, said in an interview with Aol. Black Voices.

"But I checked it and we were right in line. When you look at the figures, it's just astonishing. This is a huge issue for all of our communities, but it impacts the African-American community so heavily."


And when a parent goes to prison, the consequences for their children are stark. Zehr calls the children of incarcerated parents the "hidden victims of our crime policies."

It is three times more likely that the child of an incarcerated parent will engage in violence or drug abuse. They also have twice the odds of developing mental health issues.

"They are often dealing with a lot of issues around abandonment, worries about what's happening with their parent or home and future. They wrestle with an irrational guilt that they are responsible. There is a lot of shame," Zehr said.

"A lot of the children talked about how they didn't want anyone else to know and how they didn't know other children like this. There is a lot of anxiety. A lot of children did not know the truth about what happened and so they imagined all kinds of things about the situation their parents were in."

Listening to kids like Taylor, it's not hard understanding why.

"I felt like nobody could understand what I was going through, 'cause they probably didn't have it happen to them. So didn't nobody understand me. You know, I was just misunderstood," Taylor said.

Zehr said there are a few things that need to happen to deal with this crisis.

As Black History Month comes to a close, some civil rights legends and trailblazers are taking a moment to discuss the importance of celebrating the contributions of African-Americans to this country.

It's easy to look at the President of the United States and think that there's no need for the month because an African-American has ascended to the highest office in the land.

But as civil rights icon Julian Bond put it, a lot has happened since Africans were first brought to this country as slaves and the historic election of President Barack Obama.

"All Americans ought to have some consciousness that among us, there's this population that has had a peculiar history-African Americans. Slavery, subjugation, discrimination, now freedom--now one of us is the President of the United States. That's great, and we need to celebrate it, but we need to understand how we got here," Bond said.

Terrance Deon Williams

Case Type: Endangered
Date of Birth: January 17, 1976
Missing Date: January 11, 2004
Age Now: 35
Missing City: Naples
Missing State: Florida
Case Number: 04-1610
Gender: Male
Race: Black
Complexion: Light
Height: 5-6
Weight: 160
Hair Color: Brown
Hair Length: Shoulder Length
Eye Color: Brown
Wear Glasses or Contacts: No

Location Last Seen: Terrance was last seen in the vicinity of 111th Ave. and Vanderbilt Drive in Naples, Fla. He may have been seen later that day at a convenience store in the vicinity of Wiggins Pass and US 41.

Circumstances of Disappearance: His vehicle, a white Cadillac, was found on Vanderbilt Beach Rd. in Naples, Fla., on Jan. 12, 2004.

Last Seen Wearing: Short-sleeve, button-up shirt; blue jeans; brown Timberland boots.

Identifying Marks or Characteristics: Pierced ears, vertical surgical scar on right shoulder, dark birthmark on right side of abdomen, tattoo of the letter "T" in italics above left chest, tattoo of the letters "ET" in square-block style on outer-right shoulder, tattoo of the name "Terrance."

If you have information, regarding the whereabouts of Terrance Deon Williams, please contact the Black and Missing Foundation's tip line.

President Barack Obama hosted a screening recently of a film about this country's first African-American Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall.

The fact that the screening of HBO's "Thurgood" comes during Black History Month is even more special.

President Obama and Marshall have a lot in common: Both were groundbreaking black men who have left lasting impacts on this country. Marshall, first as a lawyer, fought for equal rights for African Americans - and all people - with his lawsuits for school desegregation.

President Obama has already sought to change this country with health care legislation that acknowledges it as a basic human right. He has also sought to reduce this nation's nuclear stockpiles despite the political blow-back.

Expectations for both men as they headed in to their new roles was tremendous.

Dwayne McDuffie, who wrote the screenplay for the animated feature All-Star Superman and help portray minority superheroes with a warmth and depth not usually seen, died today after a surgical procedure, Comic Book Resources reported.

McDuffie is well known for founding Milestone Media with Denys Cowan to highlight the work of African-American artists and comic characters. The character McDuffie created, Static, had a comic book series from 1993 to 1997 and appeared in the Static Shock! animated series. The character was to get new life in another series expected to launch later this year. A Static Shock! episode about gun violence won McDuffie the Humanitas Prize in 2003.

McDuffie is also known for being a lead writer in the series Justice League Unlimited which also featured minorities and women.

Those in the field are calling his death a great loss, including DC Comics Co-Publisher Dan DiDio.

Dwayne McDuffie left a lasting legacy on the world of comics that many writers can only aspire to. He will not only be remembered as the extremely gifted writer whose scripts have been realized as comic books, in television shows and on the silver screen, but as the creator or co-creator of so many of the much-loved Milestone characters, including Static Shock. The industry has lost a true talent.

While at Marvel Comics, McDuffie fought for a better representation of black male characters, writing a biting, yet funny, critique of how black men were represented.

Former Detroit Piston 'Bad Boy.' Dennis Rodman was a wild boy on and off the court. But when it comes to paying his taxes, Rodman said he likes to keep it clean.

Rodman's business manager said the tattooed former NBA star does not owe the $42,497 that the state of California filed a lien against him for.

"It's got to be incorrect," said Rodman business manager Peggy King. She said Rodman recently received a refund check from the state "for $42,000 or $43,000."

The news comes as the Detroit Pistons are about to retire Rodman's jersey. He won two championships with the team and three more with the Chicago Bulls.

Rodman was a rebounding specialist who earned his reputation throwin' bows in the trenches where he was twice named defensive player of the year and racked up numerous rebounding titles.

I hope Rodman's agent is right. Owing back taxes-- whether to the state or the IRS is never fun. Just look at the long list of celebrities who have had to deal with tax problems: Wesley Snipes, Redd Foxx and Ronald Isley are just a few who have felt the sting of owing the state or federal government money.

Frank Spisak (pictured), a Nazi sympathizer who went out on "hunting parties" to target blacks, was put to death in Ohio this morning.

Spisak, 59, was convicted of murdering three people on the campus of Cleveland State University in 1982.

The victims, two of whom are black, were: Rev. Horace Rickerson, Timothy Sheehan and 17-year-old Brian Warford.

Spisak was executed by lethal injection and died at 10:34 a.m. this morning, making him the seventh person executed in the United States this year.

The Sheehan family issued a statement:

Today we chose to celebrate the life of husband and father, Timothy Sheehan, not the death of Frank Spisak," the statement read. "We are grateful that the justice system has worked, and appreciate those in the criminal justice system whose diligent efforts have helped bring this matter to a final resolution."

John Hardaway, who survived Spisak's attack, still has nightmares about that day:

"I can still see the night he was shooting me," Hardaway, 83, told Cleveland.com. "He was squatting down, pulling that trigger. That will never go away. It ain't as bad as it was, but it hits me hard sometimes. Why would he do a person like that?"

Spisak was in a world of his own.

He said he was out working for the survival of the "Aryan people." At his trial, he wore an Adolf Hitler–style mustache, carried copies of Hitler's autobiographical book ("Mein Kampf") and gave Nazi salutes to the jury.

His actions were disgraceful.

Of course, he pleaded guilty by reason of insanity, but Spisak was found to be competent at the time of the killing.

It's unclear if Spisak was mentally ill or not. He had a history of acting weird.

His actions, though, clearly show the corrosive nature of hate.