Editorial

Prior to The White House's U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, a panel offered a preview trade into the historic summit with nearly 50 African Heads of State. AGOA will top the agenda of key Africa-related issues being discussed at the gathering of African leaders on August 5-6 in Washington, DC.

This year an estimated 60,000 children will cross the U.S.-Mexico border without parents or guardians, a tenfold jump from previous years.

Members of Congress are more than members of political parties. We are mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles, and grandmothers and grandfathers. And this common bond unites us together stronger than the bonds of partisanship. We absolutely must protect our nation’s children just as we protect the children who are in our homes and in our families.

Los Angeles County’s Blue Ribbon Commission recently declared a state of emergency for children in our county. If there’s a state of emergency for all vulnerable children, the crisis surely is monumental for black youngsters.

It is unacceptable that the sons and daughters of America’s working families must face indentured servitude simply to get the education they need.

Children in the child welfare system often comprise a portion of the CSEC population — commercial sexual exploitation children. However, agencies are unequipped to identify these children and offer them resources or safe housing.

A core component of women's rights is ensuring that all women -- regardless of religion, nationality, or income level -- have access to quality healthcare. And at the center of women's health is ensuring that they can access quality family planning options.

In the eight-member Sub-Committee on Africa, Global Health and Human Rights, there may be only one true advocate for U.S.-Africa relations, Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif.

When a judge sentenced Ariel Castro to life in prison – plus 1,000 years – for kidnapping, raping and enslaving three young girls for more than a decade, it closed a chapter in one of the most harrowing tales the country has ever seen. This will hopefully bring closure to these young women, but for many more the nightmare will continue. Thousands of young victims will go on hiding in plain sight, unsure of whether or not they will ever have their freedom again.

When it comes to standing up for our youth, we have a moral obligation to not only make the process of governing work, but also to ensure that it works to the benefit of those most in need.