Marian Wright Edelman

Marian Wright Edelman is the president of the Children's Defense Fund.
Articles by this author
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Views Monday, May 29, 2017 President Trump's War On Children Our nation’s budget should reflect our nation’s professed values, but President Trump’s 2018 Federal Budget, “A New Foundation for America’s Greatness,” radically does the opposite. This immoral budget declares war on America’s children, our most vulnerable group, and the foundation of our nation’s... Read more |
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Views Sunday, May 08, 2016 Stories of Mother Love “They didn’t want me to have Walter because of my age. But I finally convinced them that age has nothing to do with love…What I had to give was love. And that’s what Walter needed... I never doubted that I could help Walter. Never, if they gave me the chance. If you have the courage and the faith... Read more |
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Views Sunday, March 20, 2016 Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock: Flint’s Disposable Poor Children America’s political blame game continues while children continue to suffer life impairing harm. The nation was riveted this week as Michigan Governor Rick Snyder and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Chief Gina McCarthy were grilled over the shameful inaction on the Flint, Michigan water crisis... Read more |
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Views Sunday, January 31, 2016 Hungry Children in Rich America Sarah is three years old. She and her six-year-old brother, Bryce, are inseparable except when it’s time for him to visit the summer food program that provides meals at a school near his Ohio home for children who otherwise would go hungry. Sarah’s too young to make the trip. One morning after... Read more |
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Views Sunday, December 13, 2015 The Education Inequality Struggle This has been a hard year for poor children and children of color in a gridlocked and cantankerous Congress. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) replacing the No Child Left Behind Act was enacted after gutting a strong federal role in education policy designed to protect these children and... Read more |
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Views Sunday, December 06, 2015 Who Put the NRA in Charge of Our National Security? “I have supported legislation in the past which would place reasonable and careful restrictions on the use of firearms, and I am co-sponsoring S.1… I believe this bill would impose necessary controls without unduly curtailing the use of firearms for legitimate sport shooting or hunting, and without... Read more |
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Views Saturday, October 31, 2015 Adults Are the Problem It is time for adults of every race and income group to break our silence about the pervasive breakdown of moral, family, and community values, to place our children first in our lives, and to struggle to model the behavior we want our children to learn. School children don’t need one more “Officer... Read more |
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Views Saturday, July 25, 2015 10 Rules to Help Black Boys and Girls Survive Democracy cannot breathe, and will die, if those enjoined to protect and uphold the law snuff it out unjustly and without consequence. Justice cannot breathe when Black men and boys and women and girls are routinely profiled, abused, arrested, and killed with impunity by police officers. We must... Read more |
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Views Sunday, June 14, 2015 End All Youth Detention and Torture at Rikers Island Now Solitary confinement is pretty horrible for anybody, but it's especially horrible for a child. It is psychological torture. -- Bryan Stevenson, Founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative, author of Just Mercy When you go over the three years that he spent [in jail] and all the... Read more |
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Views Sunday, April 26, 2015 Stuck Outside the Poor Door More than 88,000 people have applied to enter the “poor door” at a new luxury condominium tower on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Only one in 1,600 will win the lottery to live there. Some months ago a New York developer made headlines with the plans for this building, which takes advantage of... Read more |