Greetings!

We must not only honor the man on this day, but heed and take action upon his words from this day forward...

COAL Board of Directors

" The time to work seriously and collectively, to improve the state of our Community, is upon us..."  
Let's Get to Work.

The following is taken from a commentary in COAL News vol. Jan. 2013:

We cannot legislate racism away;  fear of the Other starts in childhood and only deep changes in our society can eradicate it. We can, however, stop enabling it. We have to heed a cry of conscience that has echoed over the past century – from W.E.B. DuBois, from Martin Luther King and from Nelson Mandela, and remember the famous warning of the 18-century English conservative Edmund Burke. “ All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing .”

- Clarence N. Wood (Chairman, COAL) and Bruce Hatton Boyer are President and Senior Fellow, respectively, of Urban Strategies Global, a Chicago-based think tank.
What We Believe
The Coalition of African American Leaders believes that it is important to examine the critical issues confronting the African American community where injustice, inequality and the absence of access and opportunity continue to prevail, thereby negatively impacting us as a people. COAL is an assemblage that advocates and organizes for appropriate and responsible public policy change, system behavior change and equality of opportunity. We aim to achieve for all of our people the fullness of the life experience without any form of racism or exclusion as a deterrent. We believe we must prepare ourselves for the opportunity of this full participation, thereby achieving the necessary education and training to participate.