Welcome to the first BlackPolitics.com ‘B List’. The ‘B List’ is a list of key issues that we need to keep at the forefront of our advocacy and public policy agenda. These are issues that, in our opinion, are not being addressed either adequately or at all

Track the ‘B List’ weekly, post your comments, and join the dialogue that promotes these important issues.

The ‘B List’
Rent Assistance – There are 37.4 million Americans who rent their primary residence. And that number is growing fast with the spate of recent job losses and the growing number of home foreclosures. Evictions are on the rise, and 765,558 foreclosure filings were made on U.S. properties in the third quarter of 2008 - up 3% from the second quarter and 71% from the same period in 2007. Many of these families will rent. The stimulus bill has some relief for home owners, but does not provide any funding to subsidize rental payments for families facing unemployment, eviction, and/or foreclosure. Whether this relief is funded under unemployment benefit packages or as a line item, there is an urgent need to address this issue.

Public Broadcasting – It’s time to make Public Broadcasting Public. The current way our public airwaves are handled by the FCC has helped create media monopolies that undermine and limit public access to news, information and programming. A free media is a core component of any democracy. It is time we focus on restructuring the FCC and its policies to enable the creation of more public and new private TV, radio, and Internet networks. You should not have to be a billionaire to own a network.

A Free Internet – The Internet is perhaps the most critical force in information dissemination in the history of mankind. It has the power to democratize media and commerce in ways that were previously unimaginable. Information may be published and made accessible to the world from a single computer. A business can sell on par regardless of size. There is a role for governments in making free public managed internet access available to all. This new form of public utility could be a vital tool in promoting and protecting free speech, transparency, access to information, and a free market. We must support and promote net neutrality.