Once upon a time in a Fairy Tale land called Chicago, there lived a little boy named Tre. Tre lived with his mother in a two bedroom apartment in a run down housing complex. His father was a police officer killed in the line of duty.

Tre loved everything about seeing his father in a uniform. The pride he took in making sure his clothes were clean and pressed made Tre want to do the same. The time he spent talking to the every person he met on the street had opened Tre’s heart and allowed him to open his ears. But nothing compared to what Tre’s father gave him outside of his uniform.

Tre’s father loved Science. He was always in their little garage doing experiments with John, the boy next door. Tre was to small at the time to help with any of the experiments but he loved sitting and watching as his father tried, failed, and tried again. After his father died, John would often come over and continue the experiments.

HIV/AIDS is a leading killer in the African-American Community not only because of the rate at which African-American people engage in sexual activities and participate in the drug culture but also because they are not using preventative measures which are available to them.

The isolation of mentally ill people in Group Homes, from the society and from the communities in which they live, is the bases upon which Federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis, on September 8th, 2009 ruled that New York State, in its use of large Adult Group Homes, had violated The Americans with Disabilities Act.

Two Black men who all but gift wrapped someone the police had been looking for couldn’t possibly be concerned about public safety, like, two White men in the same position. Needless to say that tells us there are many moons to go in inner city/police relations. Were it not so tragic it would be funny because receptions like these provoke a community gag order when officers come around asking if onlookers have any information about a crime under investigation. When I was a kid, the welcoming committee in blue may have tried to arrest us for simply entering a precinct under color of Blackness. Is our experience progress- well, it’s something.

It’s ironic. When Democrats (including key Black Democrats) wanted Secretaries of State Powell and Rice to “fail” under the Bush Administration (i.e., not deliver the goals set forth by the Bush Administration in the best interests of the American people), it was not out of racism and not wanting to see the first two Black secretaries of state to success. Of course, it was out of principle against the Bush foreign policy.

Too close to home is all I think of in learning of the death of another one of my nearest and dearest friends from breast cancer this morning. The latest victim entered the hospital in July and is dead today less than six weeks from initial presentation. Of the six of us who hung together in high school and for class reunions, three are dead of breast cancer.

Andrew Simon is a young black Canadian conservative and former Vice President 2004-2006 of the Campus Conservatives at the University of Calgary in Calgary, Alta. He has worked and volunteered for Lee Richardson, a Member of Parliament Calgary, Alta. Andrew Simon is also the radio host of HHR Blog Radio here he speaks about minorities and the future of the Republican Party.

Some master mind boggler wove a magic spell over Inner City America and took a culture that produced dignity against all odds and replaced it with what we see on a daily basis. If I could find him I’d give him an exorcism courtesy of my size 15 foot!

Today is what would’ve been Marcus Garvey’s 122nd birthday. Although liberal black nationalists have incorporated his Pan-African perspective into their philosophy, they have willfully neglected the fact that Mr. Garvey - who was an admirer of Booker T. Washington - was a staunch capitalist.

Indeed, also historically, voting trends among African-Americans indicate that they overwhelmingly voted for candidates from The Republican Party because The Republican Party was known as the party of Abraham Lincoln. This trend continued until 1932 with the election and the ascension of Franklin Delano Roosevelt to the office of President of The United States.

And, although, voting trends among African-Americans did begin to change throughout The Presidential Administration of Franklin Roosevelt, those Southern Blacks who could vote continued to vote for candidates from The Republican Party due to the degree to which Southern Democrats perpetrated racism and promoted segregation throughout The United States but particularly in the South.

Consequently, Dr. King registered as a Republican voter in 1956.

Thoughtful, cool, almost cerebral, Yosef Abrahamson is not your average Crown Heights Brooklyn Lubavitcher Chasidic Orthodox Jewish black teen Republican from Omaha, Nebraska. Then again, the 17-year-old two-time winner of the NYPD’s “Commissioner for a Day” essay contest is not exactly average anything, either.

I was shocked to learn about the history of the democrat party and how that party laid the foundation that has influenced race relations in America in the past. Those past political actions by the democrat party continue, to this day, to exploit the impoverished condition of black Americans, which were caused by the democrat party for the purpose of gaining political power.

The fact that persons of color such as President Obama and Sotomayor are taking positions of power in our society is a great thing and it means we are living up to the promise E Pluribus Unum. But that also means we as persons of color have to be big boys and girls and take the slings and arros that come on the political stage.

As a fellow Puerto Rican, I am proud to see Sotomayor being considered, and hope that she will make a good justice. But that Pride doesn’t mean tossing her softball questions.

From health to education, CNN’s “Black in America 2” will investigate some of the most significant and challenging issues facing African-Americans. Airing on July 22 & 23 at 8PM (ET), host Soledad O’Brien focuses on emerging leaders, innovative community programs and business ventures that are addressing the most persistent and pressing issues and disparities facing African-Americans.

By 1868, John Langston had organized the law department at Howard University becoming its first department dean. He also served, for a period of time, as the acting President of The University. By 1888, after having served as consul-general to Haiti; and after having become The President of Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute in 1885, John Mercer Langston was once again catapulted into The National Spotlight when he won a seat in The United States House of Representatives. His victory was contested for eighteen months because he was the first African-American elected to Congress from Virginia. Eventually, however, he was able to take his seat.