The Nation

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment.

This week in Major League Baseball was Jackie Robinson Day. This is when Commissioner Bud Selig honors the man who broke the color line in 1947 and pats MLB on the back for being “a leader in the Civil Rights Movement.” It’s possible to appreciate that Selig honors one of the 20th Century’s great anti-racist heroes. It’s also possible, out of respect for Jackie Robinson, to resent the hell out of it.

College students in Ohio currently graduate with nearly $28,000 in student loans, which ranks seventh highest in the United States. In addition to incurring large debts to attend college, graduates also now face a job market where average starting salaries have declined for six straight years.

At Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, students are taking on even more debt than both the state and national average. According to the Project On Student Debt,  for the year 2010, 77 percent of Kent State graduates took out student loans. Even worse, the average debt upon graduation was $28,186! Why? Look at the rising tuition and fees. Since 2003, tuition and fees have increased by 46 percent. Moreover, KSU students have recently been informed that they will also be charged $440 per each credit hour for each one they take over 16. Such a plan will only force more students to incur more debt and extend the estimated date of graduation for many and is far less generous than most other colleges and universities in Ohio, which don't charge additional fees until 18 credit hours or more are reached.

In an effort to raise awareness about excessive tuition hikes and fees, the KSU Young Democratic Socialists (YDS) are organizing with other student groups, creatively utilizing social media to connect with others on campus and organizing digitally to stand in solidarity with students mobilizing at other campuses in the state.

Under the axe of sequestration, 140,000 families are set to lose housing assistance, mainly through cuts to Section 8 vouchers. "We're moving in the wrong direction from a collective perspective," The Nation's Greg Kaufmann says. "Half of the recipients are people with disabilities or seniors, the other half are families with children"—and, as is, only one in four families who are eligible for vouchers actually receive them. Kaufmann joins The Melissa Harris-Perry Show to discuss the impending crisis and what the big banks have to do with it. 

—James Cersonsky

Boston Marathon bombing investigators search a woman's bag at the scene of the explosions. (REUTERS/Adrees Latif)

The headline in today’s New York Times had to be read twice to make sure that’s what it really said: “Blasts End A Decade of Terrorism on the Wane.”