Cummings Lauds Federal Appeals Court Decision to Strike Down North Carolina Voter Suppression Laws

Washington, D.C. (July 29, 2016)—Today, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, issued the following statement after a federal appeals court struck down a series of changes North Carolina made in 2013 to voter ID requirements, early voting, same-day registration, out-of-precinct voting, and preregistration:

“The court’s critical decision today documents how Republicans are using state voter suppression laws to target African Americans and other minorities to prevent them from exercising their Constitutional right to vote. This is not the only state where this is happening, and it is not the only place where Americans need to stand up and fight back against these tactics. All Americans should be outraged by these findings because they undermine the integrity of our democracy.”

Hillary Clinton's acceptance speech at the DNC Convention

Hillary Clinton's acceptance speech at the DNC Convention

Preisdent Barack Obama's Speech at the 2016 DNC Convention in Philadelphia

President Obama's speech supports Hillary Clinton as the next President of the United States

1984 and 1988 Presidential Candidate Jesse Jackson speech at the 2016 DNC Convention in Philadelphia

Rainbow/Push Coalition President Rev. Jesse Jackson speaks at the DNC Convention.

Mothers of the Movement at DNC 2016

Mothers of the Movement: Gwen Carr, Mother of Eric Garner; Sybrina Fulton, Mother of Trayvon Martin; Maria Hamilton, Mother of Dontré Hamilton; Lucia McBath, Mother of Jordan Davis; Lezley McSpadden, Mother of Michael Brown; Cleopatra Pendleton-Cowley,
Mother of Hadiya Pendleton; Geneva Reed-Veal, Mother of Sandra Bland. (Video Source: DNC)

First Lady Michelle Obama's speech praises Hillary Clinton and inspires Children at the DNC 2016

First Lady Michele Obama speech at the DNC 2016 convention

Does The American Government Hate Black People? Jay Morrison Debates Fox News Anchor .

Jay Morrison provides historical United States Government programs affecting U.S. African-Americans.

When One Mother Defied America: The Photo That Changed the Civil Rights Movement

With one photograph, a mother exposed America's racism

Graphic video footage/report of Emmitt Till
Story by Time

The raw videos depict the last moments of Philando Castile‘s and Alton Sterling‘s lives. Widely shared on social media – one of them live – they have shocked an entire nation. Like the videos that showed the killings of Walter L. Scott, Tamir Rice and Eric Garner in 2014 and 2015, they provide the necessary imagery to force us to address, once again, the pervasive and inherent racial inequalities that still exist across the country.

More than 60 years ago, when racial segregation was still the norm in many states, one grieving mother, Mamie Elizabeth Till-Mobley, understood the power of imagery to expose America’s racism.

In August 1955, Emmett Till, a black teenager from Chicago, was visiting relatives in Mississippi when he stopped at Bryant’s Grocery and Meat Market. There he encountered Carolyn Bryant, a white woman. Whether Till really flirted with Bryant or whistled at her isn’t known. But what happened four days later is. Bryant’s husband Roy and his half brother, J.W. Milam, seized the 14-year-old from his great-uncle’s house. The pair then beat Till, shot him, and strung barbed wire and a 75-pound metal fan around his neck and dumped the lifeless body in the Tallahatchie River. A white jury quickly acquitted the men, with one juror saying it had taken so long only because they had to break to drink some pop.

When Till’s mother Mamie came to identify her son, she told the funeral director, “Let the people see what I’ve seen.” She brought him home to Chicago and insisted on an open casket. Tens of thousands filed past Till’s remains, but it was the publication of the searing image photographed by David Jackson and first published in Jet magazine, with a stoic Mamie gazing at her murdered child’s ravaged body, that forced the world to reckon with the brutality of American racism. For almost a century, African Americans were lynched with regularity and impunity. Now, thanks to a mother’s determination to expose the barbarousness of the crime, the public could no longer pretend to ignore what they couldn’t see.

In this video narrated by Bryan Stevenson, an attorney and the executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, has no doubt: “Without the images,” he says “no one would be prepared to believe the violence we’ve witnessed.”

In revisiting Jackson’s photograph today, he believes, “that image still has resonance, it still has power. I think it still expresses the pain and anguish of a huge part of our population that is still hoping for basic recognition of their humanity.”

Michael Jordan speaks out on police shootings: ‘I can no longer stay silent'

NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan commentary:

“I was raised by parents who taught me to love and respect people regardless of their race or background, so I am saddened and frustrated by the divisive rhetoric and racial tensions that seem to be getting worse as of late. I know this country is better than that, and I can no longer stay silent. We need to find solutions that ensure people of color receive fair and equal treatment AND that police officers — who put their lives on the line every day to protect us all — are respected and supported.

“Over the past three decades I have seen up close the dedication of the law enforcement officers who protect me and my family. I have the greatest respect for their sacrifice and service. I also recognize that for many people of color their experiences with law enforcement have been different than mine. I have decided to speak out in the hope that we can come together as Americans, and through peaceful dialogue and education, achieve constructive change.

“To support that effort, I am making contributions of $1 million each to two organizations, the International Association of Chiefs of Police’s newly established Institute for Community-Police Relations and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

* The Institute for Community-Police Relations’ policy and oversight work is focused on building trust and promoting best practices in community policing.

* My donation to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the nation’s oldest civil rights law organization, will support its ongoing work in support of reforms that will build trust and respect between communities and law enforcement.

Although I know these contributions alone are not enough to solve the problem, I hope the resources will help both organizations make a positive difference.”

Search the DNC email database

Story by WikiLeaks

On Friday 22 July 2016, WikiLeaks releases 19,252 emails and 8,034 attachments from the top of the US Democratic National Committee -- part one of our new Hillary Leaks series.

The leaks come from the accounts of seven key figures in the DNC:
1. Communications Director Luis Miranda (10770 emails),
2. National Finance Director Jordon Kaplan (3797 emails),
3. Finance Chief of Staff Scott Comer (3095 emails),
4. Finanace Director of Data & Strategic Initiatives Daniel Parrish (1472 emails),
5. Finance Director Allen Zachary (1611 emails),
6. Senior Advisor Andrew Wright (938 emails) and
7. Northern California Finance Director Robert (Erik) Stowe (751 emails).

The emails cover the period from January last year until May 25 this year.

Kabul explosion: At least 29 killed as blast targets protest march

Story by Independent
Written by Rachel Pells

The blast took place during a protest march staged by the Hazara community over plans for a controversial new power line to be built through their home province.

Afghan authorities had closed off streets across Kabul in preparation for the demonstration by ethnic Hazaras demanding a planned power line be rerouted through their poverty-stricken province.

At least 29 people have been killed and more than 100 wounded in an explosion targetting a large demonstration in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Thousands of members of the Afghan Hazara minority group had been marching through the city during the planned protest over plans for a controversial new power line.

Local news sources have reported that a suicide bomber was behind the blast, but officials are yet to confirm the cause.

Mohammad Ismail Kawousi, a spokesman for the ministry of public health, said at least 29 dead and 142 wounded had been taken to nearby hospitals but the numbers may change. Other reports have put the death toll at more than 50.

Hillary Clinton nominates Virginia's Tim Kaine as V.P. candidate

Kirk --

I'm thrilled to share this news: I've chosen Tim Kaine as my running mate.

Tim is a lifelong fighter for progressive causes and one of the most qualified vice presidential candidates in our nation's history.

But his credentials alone aren't why I asked him to run alongside me.

Like me, Tim grew up in the Midwest. During law school, he too took an unconventional path -- he took time off and went to Honduras to work with missionaries, practicing both his faith and his Spanish.

When he returned to the states and graduated from Harvard Law, he could have done anything. But instead of going to some big corporate firm, he chose to fight housing discrimination as a civil rights lawyer in Richmond. He and his wife joined a church, built a home centered around their faith, and raised three beautiful children. Then, after 17 years of practicing law, Tim ran for city council -- and won.

Tim says his experience on city council taught him everything he knows about politics. To the people in Richmond, an underfunded school wasn't a Democratic or Republican problem. It was simply a problem that needed fixing, and his constituents were counting on him to solve it. So Tim would do it. He'd roll up his sleeves and get the job done, no matter what.

He's a man of relentless optimism who believes no problem is unsolvable if you're willing to put in the work. That commitment to delivering results has stayed with him throughout his decades-long career as a public servant. So I could give you a laundry list of things he went on to accomplish -- as mayor of Richmond, governor of Virginia, and in the United States Senate.

But this is what's important: Tim has never taken a job for the glory or the title. He's the same person whether the cameras are on or off. He's sincerely motivated by the belief that you can make a difference in people's lives through public service.

That quality comes through in every interaction. To know Tim is to love him. When I was talking to people about this decision, I couldn't find anyone -- Democrat or Republican -- who had a bad thing to say about him. From his staff over the last 20 years to his colleagues in the Senate, Tim's beloved.

He is a genuinely nice person, but Tim is no one's punching bag. He will fight tooth and nail for American families, and he'll be a dogged fighter in our campaign against Donald Trump and Mike Pence.

I want you to know that I didn't make this decision lightly.

I've had the privilege of seeing two presidents and two vice presidents up close. I want a vice president who can be my partner in bringing this country together. I want someone who will be able to give me their best advice, look me in the eye, and tell me they disagree with me when they do.

But what matters most is a simple test that's not so simple to meet: whether the person could step in at a moment's notice and serve as president.

I have no doubt that Tim can do the job.

I want him by my side on the trail and in the White House.

Thank you,


Hillary

Donald Trump delivers a Protectionist speech at the RNC Convention

Trump highlights his agenda if he becomes President

Remember this Coach when you Feel like Quitting

Remember this coach when you feel like quitting. While some 'Weak-Minded-Parents' say: "Don't Yell at Your Kids"

Take the A Train by The Delta Rhythm Boys in 1941

The Delta Rhythm Boys were an American vocal group active for over 50 years from 1934 to 1987. The group was first formed at Langston University in Langston, Oklahoma, in 1934 by Elmaurice Miller, Traverse Crawford, Essie Joseph Adkins, and Otho Lee Gaines. In 1936, they moved to Dillard University in New Orleans, Louisiana, where they worked under Frederick Hall and took the name Frederick Hall Quartet. Clinton Holland (soon replaced by Carl Jones) and Kelsey Pharr replaced Miller and Adkins. Rene DeKnight became their pianist.

The group appeared often in the 1940s on radio programs such as Amos and Andy and The Joan Davis Show, and performed on Broadway in the shows, Sing Out the News and Hot Mikado. They also appeared extensively in film, including in You'll Never Get Rich with Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth. Aside from their own recordings, they served as background vocalists for Charlie Barnet, Mildred Bailey, Ella Fitzgerald, and Ruth Brown.

One of their most successful releases was a vocal version of the Glenn Miller instrumental hit "I Dreamt I Dwelt in Harlem" from 1941 with lyrics by Buddy Feyne and music by Glenn Miller Orchestra arranger and composer Jerry Gray, Ben Smith, and Leonard Ware.



Also memorable is their 1950s version of the spiritual song "Dem Bones", a hit record for them, and which they performed on television extensively. In the 1950s, they began to amass a large fan base in Europe, particularly in Scandinavia. Meanwhile, their fame was diminishing in America, so in 1956, the group relocated to Europe and performed there for a few more decades.



In 1960, Kelsey Pharr died in Hawaii and Carl Jones left for personal reasons. They were replaced by Hugh Bryant and Herb Coleman. Coleman and Crawford died in the 1970s and were replaced by Walter Tremmel and Ray Beatty.

Lee Gaines died of Cancer in Helsinki on July 15, 1987.[1] At Gaines's funeral, Hugh Bryant collapsed while performing, and died, apparently from a heart attack.

The Delta Rhythm Boys were later inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame.

Melania Trump visits Late Show with Stephen Corbert to clear up plagiarizm issue

Melania Trump speaks out on Late Show with Stephen Colbert Show


Melania Trump's questionable speech parts Monday Night at the RNC Convention in Cleveland, Ohio.

Melania Trump: "Michele, can you dip your shoulder a little bit"

Melania Trump: "Michele can you dip your shoulder a little bit"

Montrell Jackson, slain police officer: 'If you need a hug ... I got you'

Story by CNN
Written by Emanuella Grinberg

Four days after the police-involved shooting of Alton Sterling turned his city upside down, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Police officer Montrell Jackson issued a plea to the embattled community and vowed to do his part to help it heal.

"These are trying times. Please don't let hate infect your heart. This city MUST and WILL get better," the 32-year-old officer wrote in a July 8 Facebook post.

And, to all the protesters, officers, friends, family and neighbors in need of a hug or a prayer in Baton Rouge, he offered a promise: "I got you."

One week later, on Sunday, Jackson's life was cut short in a shootout that left three officers dead and three more injured, law enforcement said.
Jackson's aunt revealed his identity to CNN, simply saying "Today isn't going too well."

The East Baton Rouge Sheriff's office identified the other deceased as Officer Matthew Gerald and Brad Garafola. Of the other officers involved in the shooting, Nicholas Tullier of the Uniform Patrol Traffic division was shot and is in critical condition. Bruce Simmons, who also worked in the traffic division, sustained non-life threatening injuries, the Sheriff's office reported.

The deadly standoff was the latest blow to a city plagued by tensions in the wake of Sterling's death. His July 5 death, followed by another police-involved shooting the same week in Minnesota, touched off demonstrations nationwide that have led to arrests and roadway closures.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/17/us/baton-rouge-officer-profiles/index.html

‘Wrong Must be Corrected’ for Alton Sterling

Story by AP
Written by Cain Burdeau and Rebecca Santana

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A black man killed in front of a convenience store was remembered Friday as the “meaning of southern hospitality” and a good man whose death at the hands of two white police officers “woke up Baton Rouge and America.”

Family, friends and activists gathered at Southern University, a historically black college in Baton Rouge, to both pay their respects to 37-year-old Alton Sterling and call for justice in his July 5 shooting death, which was the beginning of a tumultuous week in America’s fraught history of race relations.

In a roughly three hour service, luminaries including the Rev. Jesse Jackson and close family members spoke about Sterling, his death and the police treatment of African-Americans.

“Wrong must be corrected and the wrong must be held accountable,” said Rev. Al Sharpton. “We have got to stop going from funeral to funeral.”

Sharpton called for more accountability for police officers who kill African-Americans and reeled off a list of high-profile police shootings that have angered many in the black community: “We have an inferior judicial system that does not protect all of its citizens equally.”

Sterling’s death was captured on cellphone video and circulated widely on the internet. His death, along with another fatal police shooting in Minnesota last week, sparked widespread protests. Then the fatal shooting of five police officers in Dallas by a black sniper heightened tensions even more.

A steady stream of mourners filed past Sterling’s casket, which was adorned with music notes and a smiling photo of the man. Sterling was selling CDs outside the Triple S Food Mart store, as he had done for years, when he was killed by police responding to a call of a man threatening someone with a gun. Police have said they found a gun in Sterling’s pocket.

One mourner wore a T-shirt that said “No Justice, No Peace.” Another carried a poster board sign saying: “Black America I’m Sorry!!”

Gary Chambers, master of ceremonies for the funeral, said at the beginning that the event was intended to be a celebration of Sterling’s life — not an opportunity for demonstrations about his death.

“If you want to protest please leave now,” he told the crowd, which included two senior advisers to President Barack Obama. Sterling leaves behind five children, including his 15-year-old son Cameron who participated in a televised town hall with Obama on Thursday.

One of the biggest rounds of applause from the crowd of a couple thousand people came for Abdullah Muflahi, who owns the Triple S. Muflahi said Sterling wasn’t just a man who sold CDs in front of his store.

“He showed me a lot of love. He looked out for me. He was friendly. He was welcoming. He was truly the meaning of southern hospitality,” Muflahi said. “We’re going to have an empty spot in front of the store.”

Darrell Jupiter, a landscaper, said his best friend was nicknamed “Dweeb.” They fished and played chess together.

“I have a big chunk missing. I’m lost,” said Jupiter, who had a tattoo on his arm with the words “RIP Alton.”

Sterling’s death heightened tensions in Baton Rouge, where about 200 protesters were arrested over the weekend. East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore said Friday that his office reviewed initial police reports on 185 arrests between July 8-11 and determined it will not prosecute roughly 100 of those cases.

Moore said they involve protesters who only were arrested on misdemeanor charges of obstruction of a roadway or public passage. DeRay Mckesson, a prominent Black Lives Matter activist, was among them. Moore said his office is reviewing the rest of the arrests, which include allegations such as resisting arrest, carrying guns or some “act of violence.”

Meanwhile, a man involved in what police have described as a credible threat to harm police officers is expected in court Friday. Police arrested Malik Bridgewater, 20, and two other suspects on theft and burglary charges after eight handguns were stolen from a pawn shop.

State and local law enforcement officials said during a news conference Tuesday that the stolen guns were part of a credible threat to harm police officers.

One of the suspects said they did so to harm officers; Bridgewater told investigators his motivation was to sell stolen items for cash, an agent from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives wrote in an affidavit filed Thursday in federal court.

Baton Rouge Police Chief Carl Dabadie said threats like that justified an increased show of force at the demonstrations, as officers donned riot gear after starting with a mostly reserved, low profile. The ACLU of Louisiana and other groups filed a lawsuit earlier this week over the treatment of protesters by police.

CEO Alfred Liggins Plans Name Change for Radio One

Story by Inside Radio

A name change is likely on the horizon for Radio One, but chief executive Alfred Liggins says a sale of America’s largest minority-owned media company is unlikely. “You will see us reposition the company from an image standpoint,” he told the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council’s 14th annual Access to Capital and Telecom Policy Wednesday, where he was named Entrepreneur of the Year.

“There’s probably going to be a name change for the parent company because we’re not just Radio One any longer,” Liggins explained. Over the past several years, Radio One has expanded into television programming with its TV One network and has launched a variety of digital properties under the Interactive One banner. Most recently, it’s expanded into the hospitality industry by acquiring a stake in MGM Resort’s Washington-area casino.

Long an inspirational figure for minority owners within the radio industry, Liggins believes more rests on the shoulders of the 36-year-old company launched by his mother, Cathy Hughes. “Radio One has become the poster child for minority owners because we haven’t sold,” he said. That’s unlikely to change. “We’re probably more interested in staying in the game and building something that lasts and stands the test of time,” Liggins added.

What is changing is that Radio One now embraces the African-American community more than ever. That means Radio One can be expected to take political positions and begin supporting specific candidates. “We don’t look at it as an entertainment platform; we look at it as a platform for advocacy,” Liggins told the audience.

Toward that end, MMTC President Kim Keenan thinks it is an “urgent time” for minority media and telecom proponents. On the media side, she suggested that the FCC’s television incentive auction is enticing broadcasters to give up spectrum in exchange for big dollar payouts, a policy that may convince some minority-owned operators to cash out.

“I am deeply concerned when that is over, media ownership will look like it did 100 years ago,” Keenan said. She challenged the crowd to not get caught up in the “wonky conversations” of Washington, and instead to do more to educate the public about diversity issues. “There is a lot to be done on ownership by people of color and by women,” Keenan said.

The two-day conference is designed to help connect minority communication businesses to the money it needs to expand. During a panel discussion, former FCC chair Reed Hundt said he hopes more attention will be paid to the issue when a new administration takes office next January. “We have to take a new and 21st century look at the question of diversity and we have to do that as a top agenda in the next administration,” Hundt said.

FCC commissioner Michael O’Rielly blamed the agency’s current media regulations for depressing the numbers of minority- and women-owned radio and television stations. “The FCC hasn’t allowed the media ownership rules to change for quite a long time and in doing so there haven’t been new entrants in the marketplace, including allowing a diverse population to grow,” he said. “We have seen the numbers shrink—and I have difficulty with the argument that we have to stay with the current course of action and keep our rules. Our rules need to reflect the current marketplace.”

O’Rielly also suggested the FCC is missing the bigger picture as it focuses on determining how many AM or FM radio stations a company can own in a single market. “It cannot just be a conversation about broadcast,” he said. “There are no limitations on the internet and it’s a very cheap entry point.”

While he sits across the political divide, President Clinton-appointee Hundt agreed with the Republican commissioner. “The FCC should be an agency that opens the doors to innovation and competition in new markets,” the former chairman said.

President Obama Speaks at the Dallas Memorial for police officers

President Obama addressed the families of the fallen and the Dallas community to honor the five police officers who died in the line of service last Thursday.

Death in Black and White by Georgetown University Professor Dr. Michael Eric Dyson

Images showing the dying moments of Philando Castile, a black man shot by the police in Minnesota during a traffic stop. Mr. Castile’s girlfriend broadcast the scene on her Facebook page. Credit Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Commentary by Prof. Michael Eric Dyson

We, black America, are a nation of nearly 40 million souls inside a nation of more than 320 million people. And I fear now that it is clearer than ever that you, white America, will always struggle to understand us.

Like you, we don’t all think the same, feel the same, love, learn, live or even die the same.

But there’s one thing most of us agree on: We don’t want cops to be executed at a peaceful protest. We also don’t want cops to kill us without fear that they will ever face a jury, much less go to jail, even as the world watches our death on a homemade video recording. This is a difficult point to make as a racial crisis flares around us.

We close a week of violence that witnessed the tragic deaths of two black men — Alton B. Sterling and Philando Castile — at the hands of the police with a terrible attack in Dallas against police officers, whose names we’re just beginning to learn. It feels as though it has been death leading to more death, nothing anyone would ever hope for.

A nonviolent protest was hijacked by violence and so, too, was the debate about the legitimate grievances that black Americans face. The acts of the gunman in Dallas must be condemned. However, he has nothing to do with the difficult truths we must address if we are to make real racial progress, and the reckoning includes being honest about how black grievance has been ignored, dismissed or discounted.

In the wake of these deaths and the protests surrounding them, you, white America, say that black folks kill each other every day without a mumbling word while we thunderously protest a few cops, usually but not always white, who shoot to death black people who you deem to be mostly “thugs.”

That such an accusation is nonsense is nearly beside the point. Black people protest, to one another, to a world that largely refuses to listen, that what goes on in black communities across this nation is horrid, as it would be in any neighborhood depleted of dollars and hope — emptied of good schools, and deprived of social and economic buffers against brutality. People usually murder where they nest; they aim their rage at easy targets.

It is not best understood as black-on-black crime; rather, it is neighbor-to-neighbor carnage. If their neighbors were white, they’d get no exemption from the crime that plagues human beings who happen to be black. If you want interracial killing, you have to have interracial communities.
Continue reading the main story

We all can see the same videos. But you insist that the camera doesn’t tell the whole story. Of course you’re right, but you don’t really want to see or hear that story.

At birth, you are given a pair of binoculars that see black life from a distance, never with the texture of intimacy. Those binoculars are privilege; they are status, regardless of your class. In fact the greatest privilege that exists is for white folk to get stopped by a cop and not end up dead when the encounter is over.

Those binoculars are also stories, bad stories, biased stories, harmful stories, about how black people are lazy, or dumb, or slick, or immoral, people who can’t be helped by the best schools or even God himself. These beliefs don’t make it into contemporary books, or into most classrooms. But they are passed down, informally, from one white mind to the next.

The problem is you do not want to know anything different from what you think you know. Your knowledge of black life, of the hardships we face, yes, those we sometimes create, those we most often endure, don’t concern you much. You think we have been handed everything because we have fought your selfish insistence that the world, all of it — all its resources, all its riches, all its bounty, all its grace — should be yours first, and foremost, and if there’s anything left, why then we can have some, but only if we ask politely and behave gratefully.

So you demand the Supreme Court give you back what was taken from you: more space in college classrooms that you dominate; better access to jobs in fire departments and police forces that you control. All the while your resentment builds, and your slow hate gathers steam. Your whiteness has become a burden too heavy for you to carry, so you outsource it to a vile political figure who amplifies your most detestable private thoughts.

Whiteness is blindness. It is the wish not to see what it will not know.

If you do not know us, you also refuse to hear us because you do not believe what we say. You have decided that enough is enough. If the cops must kill us for no good reason, then so be it because most of us are guilty anyway. If the black person that they kill turns out to be innocent, it is an acceptable death, a sacrificial one.

Terror was visited on Dallas Thursday night. Unspeakable terror. We are not strangers to terror. You make us afraid to walk the streets, for at any moment, a blue-clad officer with a gun could swoop down on us to snatch our lives from us and say that it was because we were selling cigarettes, or compact discs, or breathing too much for your comfort, or speaking too abrasively for your taste. Or running, or standing still, or talking back, or being silent, or doing as you say, or not doing as you say fast enough.

You hold an entire population of Muslims accountable for the evil acts of a few. Yet you rarely muster the courage to put down your binoculars, and with them, your corrosive self-pity, and see what we see. You say religions and cultures breed violence stoked by the complicity of silence because peoples will not denounce the villains who act in their names.

Yet you do the same. In the aftermath of these deaths, you do not all condemn these cops; to do so, you would have to condemn the culture that produced them — the same culture that produced you. Condemning a culture is not inciting hate. That is very important. Yet black people will continue to die at the hands of cops as long as we deny that whiteness can be more important in explaining those cops’ behavior than anything else.

You cannot know how we secretly curse the cowardice of whites who know what I write is true, but dare not say it. Neither will your smug insistence that you are different — not like that ocean of unenlightened whites — satisfy us any longer. It makes the killings worse to know that your disapproval of them has spared your reputations and not our lives.

You do not know that after we get angry with you, we get even angrier with ourselves, because we don’t know how to make you stop, or how to make you care enough to stop those who pull the triggers. We do not know what to do now that sadness is compounded by more sadness.

The nation as a whole feels powerless now. A peaceful protest turned into the scene of a sniper attack. Day in and day out, we feel powerless to make our black lives matter. We feel powerless to make you believe that our black lives should matter. We feel powerless to keep you from killing black people in front of their loved ones. We feel powerless to keep you from shooting hate inside our muscles with well-choreographed white rage.

But we have rage, too. Most of us keep our rage inside. We are afraid that when the tears begin to flow we cannot stop them. Instead we damage our bodies with high blood pressure, sicken our souls with depression.

We cannot hate you, not really, not most of us; that is our gift to you. We cannot halt you; that is our curse.
________________________________________

Michael Eric Dyson, a professor of sociology at Georgetown, is the author of “The Black Presidency: Barack Obama and the Politics of Race in America” and a contributing opinion writer.

The Baton Rouge photograph that everyone is talking about

Photo by Jonathan Bachman for Reuters, the photograph shows a black woman in profile, standing in the middle of the street as two police officers in riot gear seem to be preparing to arrest her in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Story by CNN
Written by Joshua Berlinger

Will this be the photograph that symbolizes this past week's protests?
An image of what appears to be a woman's peaceful resistance to police is garnering plenty of attention online.

Shot by Jonathan Bachman for Reuters, the photograph shows a black woman in profile, standing in the middle of the street as two police officers in riot gear seem to be preparing to arrest her in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

"Everyone was given proper instructions and a certain amount of time to clear the roadway. If they did not, then they were arrested," said L'Jean McKneely, spokesman for the Baton Rouge Police Department.

People are already calling the photograph iconic on social media. "Jeez. Just wow," Bob De Jonge wrote on Twitter.

Protest symbol

The symbolism of a single person's nonviolent resistance against a large, heavily armed opposition is reminiscent of a handful of other famous photographs, including Marc Riboud's shot of a Vietnam war protester holding a flower in front of armed police, or the image of the lone protester confronting a tank in Tiananmen Square.

More recently, the Bachman shot calls to mind a photograph of activist Maria-Teresa "Tess" Asplund standing alone and confronting several hundred neo-Nazi marchers in Sweden, her fist firmly raised in protest.

"It was just impulse, to go in their middle. I remember standing there and one of the guys staring at me," Asplund told CNN in May. "When you have Nazis marching in the street for May 1, it's important to show that that's not okay. People in other countries can't understand how come Nazis are marching in Sweden."

Weekend of unrest

The Baton Rouge photograph was captured amid a weekend of intense, sometimes violent nationwide protests that culminated in the arrest of hundreds of demonstrators, angry at the latest killings of black men by police officers.

Despite pleas for calm from all sides, at least 312 people have been arrested at protests from New York to Chicago, and in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Baton Rouge, where two black men, Philando Castile and Alton Sterling, were shot to death by police.

Many of the protests against police violence have been peaceful. In Dallas -- before a gunman killed five police officers at a Black Lives Matter rally last week -- officers were even posing for photos with demonstrators.

Black Lives Matter protesters condemned the Dallas killings, calling the attack on law enforcement a tragedy not just for those affected but also for the nation.

"Black activists have raised the call for an end to violence, not an escalation of it. (Thursday's) attack was the result of the actions of a lone gunman," the group said.

"To assign the actions of one person to an entire movement is dangerous and irresponsible. We continue our efforts to bring about a better world for all of us."

Black Farmers to buy products from

Story by Blavity
Written by Victoria
April 30, 2015

Yesterday we witnessed yet another confrontation between law enforcement and residents, protestors, and activists in Baltimore. As the people continued to demand justice for Freddie Gray, Whole Foods Harbor East in Baltimore took it upon themselves “to make sandwiches for the men and women keeping Baltimore safe.”

But who were those men and women? Were they protestors? No. Were they the high school kids who had just been ambushed by police in riot gear who shut down all means of public transportation that would have allowed them to get home safely from school? No. Or how about the 84 percent of students in the Baltimore City Public School system who are dependent on free or reduced meals who were going to miss their meal due to school closings? Nope.

So who exactly were the people receiving free gourmet grass-fed organic turkey and cheese sandwiches? The National Guard.

Supporting structural racism shouldn’t be organic, even if your kale is.

The Whole Foods Harbor East has since deleted their posts on Instagram and Twitter, but thankfully the internet never forgets, and neither will we.

Where and what we consume matters.

Remember the Black Friday Boycott of 2014? In comparison to 2013, sales had dropped by 11 percent, or roughly $7 billion.

Let’s continue to make sure our money goes to our community when it comes to our produce.

INSTEAD, TAKE THIS TIME TO REMEMBER AND SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BLACK FARMERS:

Baltimore

Five Seeds Farms
Tha Flower Factory
The Greener Garden

Atlanta

Boxcar Grocer
Patchwork City Farms
Truly Living Well Center for Natural Urban Ag

Chicago

Healthy Food Hub
Trinity United Church of Christ Farmers Market (Summer)
Your Bountiful Harvest Family Farm

Cleveland

Chateau Hough Vineyard
Rid-All Green Partnership

DMV - DC, MD, and Virginia

Afroculinaria
Community Farming Alliance
Good Sense Farm
Three Part Harmony

Oakland

Afrika Town Community Garden
Farms to Grow, Inc.
People’s Grocery
Phat Beets Produce

Detroit

D-Town Farm

Kentucky

Barbour’s Farm LLC

Los Angeles

The Ron Finley Project
Sola Food Co-op
South Central Farmers’ Cooperative
Community Services Unlimited

Philadelphia

The Philadelphia Urban Creators
Mill Creek Farm

NYC

Black Urban Growers
La Familia Verde
The BLK ProjeK
East New York Farms

Phoenix

Tiger Mountain Foundation

San Diego

City Heights Farmers Market

Southeastern US

Southeastern African American Farmers’ Organic Network

Virginia

Vanguard Ranch Natural Gourmet


Share this list and add more! https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NnCm6_yScVMpaz900diuzwxuVxUgpQxcUIsM7w9lSRM/htmlview#gid=0

Carmelo Anthony to Fellow Pro Athletes: The Days Of Keeping Silent are ‘Long Gone’

Co-founder of Melo7 Tech Partners Carmelo Anthony speaks onstage during TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2016 at Brooklyn Cruise Terminal on May 11, 2016 in New York City.

Commentary by New York Knicks Carmelo Anthony

First off let me start off by saying " All Praise Due To The Most High." Secondly, I'm all about rallying, protesting, fighting for OUR people. Look I'll even lead the charge, By Any Means Necessary. We have to be smart about what we are doing though. We need to steer our anger in the right direction. The system is Broken. Point blank period. It has been this way forever. Martin Luther King marched. Malcolm X rebelled. Muhammad Ali literally fought for US. Our anger should be towards the system. If the system doesn't change we will continue to turn on the TVs and see the same thing. We have to put the pressure on the people in charge in order to get this thing we call JUSTICE right. A march doesn't work. We tried that. I've tried that. A couple social media post/tweet doesn't work. We've all tried that. That didn't work. Shooting 11 cops and killing 5 WILL NOT work. While I don't have a solution, and I'm pretty sure a lot of people don't have a solution, we need to come together more than anything at this time. We need each other. These politicians have to step up and fight for change. I'm calling for all my fellow ATHLETES to step up and take charge. Go to your local officials, leaders, congressman, assemblymen/assemblywoman and demand change. There's NO more sitting back and being afraid of tackling and addressing political issues anymore. Those days are long gone. We have to step up and take charge. We can't worry about what endorsements we gonna lose or whose going to look at us crazy. I need your voices to be heard. We can demand change. We just have to be willing to. THE TIME IS NOW. IM all in. Take Charge. Take Action. DEMAND CHANGE.

Dallas Police Chief after sniper attack: 'We don't feel much support most days. Let's not make today most days.'

One of Dallas shooters Micah Xavier Johnson. Micah was killed by Police Robot bomb (Source: U.S. Army)


President Speaks in Warsaw about the Shootings in Dallas - CNBC -

Photos and Captions by Dallas Morning News
Link to Dallas shooting VLADTV video: http://www.vladtv.com/article/219070/cop-shot-multiple-times-on-camera-during-dallas-shootings


A Dallas Area Rapid Transit police officer was comforted in the emergency room at Baylor University Medical Center on Thursday in Dallas. Protesters rallied in the aftermath of the killing of Alton Sterling by police officers in Baton Rouge, La., and Philando Castile, who was killed by police less than 48 hours later in Minnesota. (Ting Shen/The Dallas Morning News)


Dallas police gathered outside of Baylor University Hospital emergency room entrance on July 7, 2016 in Dallas, Texas. (Ting Shen/The Dallas Morning News)


Dallas Police respond after shots were fired at a Black Lives Matter rally in downtown Dallas on Thursday, July 7, 2016. Dallas protestors rallied in the aftermath of the killing of Alton Sterling by police officers in Baton Rouge, La. and Philando Castile, who was killed by police less than 48 hours later in Minnesota. (G.J. McCarthy/The Dallas Morning News)


A bystander takes cover on the ground in response to shots fired at a Black Lives Matter rally in downtown Dallas on Thursday, July 7, 2016. Dallas protestors rallied in the aftermath of the killing of Alton Sterling by police officers in Baton Rouge, La. and Philando Castile, who was killed by police less than 48 hours later in Minnesota. (G.J. McCarthy/The Dallas Morning News)


Dallas Police respond after shots were fired at a Black Lives Matter rally in downtown Dallas on Thursday, July 7, 2016. Dallas protestors rallied in the aftermath of the killing of Alton Sterling by police officers in Baton Rouge, La. and Philando Castile, who was killed by police less than 48 hours later in Minnesota. (Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News)


Dallas Police respond after shots were fired at a Black Lives Matter rally in downtown Dallas on Thursday, July 7, 2016. Dallas protestors rallied in the aftermath of the killing of Alton Sterling by police officers in Baton Rouge, La. and Philando Castile, who was killed by police less than 48 hours later in Minnesota. (Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News)


Dallas Police shield bystanders after shots fired at a Black Lives Matter rally in downtown Dallas on Thursday, July 7, 2016. Dallas protestors rallied in the aftermath of the killing of Alton Sterling by police officers in Baton Rouge, La. and Philando Castile, who was killed by police less than 48 hours later in Minnesota. (Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News)


Dallas Police respond after shots were fired at a Black Live Matter rally in downtown Dallas on Thursday, July 7, 2016. (Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News)


Dallas Police respond after shots were fired at a Black Lives Matter rally in downtown Dallas on Thursday, July 7, 2016. Dallas protestors rallied in the aftermath of the killing of Alton Sterling by police officers in Baton Rouge, La. and Philando Castile, who was killed by police less than 48 hours later in Minnesota. (G.J. McCarthy/The Dallas Morning News

FBI's warning of White Supremacists infiltrating law enforcement nearly forgotten

Story by The Grio
Written by Samuel V. Jones on May 12, 2015

Because of intensifying civil strife over the recent killings of unarmed black men and boys, many Americans are wondering, “What’s wrong with our police?” Remarkably, one of the most compelling but unexplored explanations may rest with a FBI warning of October 2006, which reported that “White supremacist infiltration of law enforcement” represented a significant national threat.

Several key events preceded the report. A federal court found that members of a Los Angeles sheriffs department formed a Neo Nazi gang and habitually terrorized the black community. Later, the Chicago police department fired Jon Burge, a detective with reputed ties to the Ku Klux Klan, after discovering he tortured over 100 black male suspects. Thereafter, the Mayor of Cleveland discovered that many of the city police locker rooms were infested with “White Power” graffiti. Years later, a Texas sheriff department discovered that two of its deputies were recruiters for the Klan.

In near prophetic fashion, after the FBI’s warning, white supremacy extremism in the U.S. increased, exponentially. From 2008 to 2014, the number of white supremacist groups, reportedly, grew from 149 to nearly a thousand, with no apparent abatement in their infiltration of law enforcement.

This year, alone, at least seven San Francisco law enforcement officers were suspended after an investigation revealed they exchanged numerous “White Power” communications laden with remarks about “lynching African-Americans and burning crosses.” Three reputed Klan members that served as correction officers were arrested for conspiring to murder a black inmate. At least four Fort Lauderdale police officers were fired after an investigation found that the officers fantasized about killing black suspects.
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7-6-16 released video of Baton Rogue policemen fatally shooting Alton Sterling: http://kirktanter.blogspot.com/2016/07/graphic-video-shows-baton-rouge-police.html
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The United States doesn’t publicly track white supremacists, so the full range of their objectives remains murky. Although black and Jewish-Americans are believed to be the foremost targets of white supremacists, recent attacks in Nevada, Wisconsin, Arizona, Kansas and North Carolina, demonstrate that other non-whites, and religious and social minorities, are also vulnerable. Perhaps more alarmingly, in the last several years alone, white supremacists have reportedly murdered law enforcement officers in Arkansas, Nevada and Wisconsin.

In fact, the FBI reports that of the 511 law enforcement officers killed during felony incidents from 2004 to 2013, white citizens killed the majority of them. Of the citizens stopped by law enforcement officers in New York City and Chicago, white citizens were more likely to be found with guns and drugs. Given the white supremacist penchant for violence, guns and drug trafficking, the findings may be an indication that their network is just as destructive and far-reaching as that of foreign terrorist groups.

The unfortunate consequence of today’s threat is that a law enforcement officer may be good or bad, a villain or hero; one exceptionally prone to exhibit malicious forms of racial hatred, or distinctively suited to protect the racially oppressed. But the paradox doesn’t end there.

The white supremacist threat brings to light a dark feature of the American experience that some believed extinct. It rouses ingrained notions of distrusts between police and communities of color while bringing to bear the vital interest citizens of good will share in the complete abolishment of race as a judgmental factor.

As the nation struggles to resolve the perplexities of police brutality, the white supremacist threat should inform all Americans that today’s civil discord is not borne out of a robust animosity towards law enforcement, most of whom are professional. Rather, it’s more representative of a centuries-old ideological clash, which has ignited in citizens of good will a desire to affirm notions of racial equality so that the moral ethos of American culture is a reality for all.

Samuel V. Jones is a former military police captain and currently a professor of law focusing on criminal law at The John Marshall Law School.

Alton Sterling Shooting by Baton Rouge Police Sparks Outrage, DOJ to Investigate

Baton Rogue Police Chief Carl Dabadie Jr. addresses Press.

Story by NBC News
Written by Erik Ortiz

The U.S. Department of Justice will lead a civil rights investigation into the death of a black man shot multiple times by police during a confrontation at a Louisiana convenience store.

Graphic cellphone video circulating online, filmed by a witness early Tuesday, appears to show 37-year-old Alton Sterling being tackled and shot as two cops pin him to the ground before he is killed. Authorities said he was armed.
_________________________________

The Cellphone Video: http://kirktanter.blogspot.com/2016/07/graphic-video-shows-baton-rouge-police.html
_________________________________

His death has sparked protests against police brutality in Baton Rouge, and family members and the local NAACP branch called for an independent review outside of the city's police department.

"I have full confidence that this matter will be investigated thoroughly, impartially and professionally," Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said at a news conference Wednesday.

Gov. Edwards, a Democrat, said the investigation into the use of unreasonable or excessive force will be assisted by the U.S. Attorney's Office and the FBI in the state.

The Justice Department confirmed the opening of the case, but declined to comment further.

Hillar Moore III, a district attorney for East Baton Rouge Parish, said he would stand down as the federal investigation looks at whether any laws were broken.

Edwards said that he has "very serious" concerns after watching the cellphone footage, which was "disturbing, to say the least."

At a separate news conference Wednesday, officials identified the officers, both white, as Blane Salamoni, a four-year department veteran, and Howie Lake II, a three-year veteran.

Officials would not detail the "altercation" between the officers and Sterling or whether a Taser was reportedly used, but said police body cameras, dashcam video and any other footage from the scene would be part of the investigation.

Baton Rouge police said in an earlier statement that uniformed officers responded to a call after midnight Tuesday involving a black male in a red shirt who was selling CDs outside of the Triple S Food Mart. Police said the caller claimed Sterling was acting threatening with a gun.

The officers "made contact" with the 5-foot-11 Sterling in the parking lot of the convenience store, and an altercation ensued, police said.

"Sterling was shot during the altercation and died at the scene," the statement said.

It was not clear if both officers shot Sterling or which one fired the fatal shot.

The officers have been placed on administrative leave "per standard procedure," police added.

Sterling died from multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and back, according to East Baton Rouge Coroner Dr. William Clark. He would not immediately confirm reports that Sterling was shot seven times.

The president of the NAACP, Cornell Brooks, called video of the incident hard to watch — but "far harder" to ignore.

"Get on the ground, get on the ground" is heard before two officers confront a man in a red T-shirt. One officer tackles the man, throwing him on the hood of the car and onto the ground. The second officer climbs on and helps hold him down.

One officer appears to shout a warning: "He's got a gun! Gun!"

While the man is on the ground, one officer pulls out his gun. He holds it the back of the man's head or neck, shouting is heard, and then two pops — as the camera quickly cuts away. At least two more pops are heard.

Background voices are heard saying "Oh, my God" and "They shot him?" and "They killed this boy."

"Oh, my God," a woman's voice shrieks.

Sterling is a convicted felon, and wouldn't be permitted to have a gun. But those who knew him said he kept one to protect himself from robbers.

Edmond Jordan, a Louisiana state representative and Sterling family attorney, said whether or not Sterling had a firearm is irrelevant because, at the moment he was pinned, the video didn't appear to show him wielding a weapon or pulling one out.

Sterling's sister, Mignon Chambers, said something "needs to be done" in wake of the shooting.

"There's no reason for you to handle him the way that you did," she said. "It wasn't right."

Quinyetta McMillon, the mother of Sterling's 15-year-old son, said officers handled the incident "unjustly," and told reporters Wednesday that they killed a man who was "simply trying to earn a living and take care of his children."

"I, for one, will not rest or ... allow him to be swept in the dirt," McMillon said as Sterling's son sobbed behind her.

Sterling had recently been residing in a transitional living center, according to The Advocate newspaper.

Mufleh Alatiyat, an employee of Triple S Food Mart, told The Associated Press that Sterling was generous and said he often gave away CDs or bought food or drinks for other customers.

Some lawmakers said Sterling's family deserves answers for what happened.

State Rep. Ted James called the shooting a "murder," saying in a statement it "has made me question what it really means to be land of the free and home of the brave."

James also demanded an independent investigation and scrutiny of the police department's body-camera policy.

At Wednesday's news conference, officials said there is body camera footage from the officers but Baton Rouge Police Police Lt. Jonny Dunnam said it "may not be as good as we hoped for."

During the altercation, the body cameras became dislodged from the officers, but they remained activated, he added.

State Rep. C. Denise Marcelle, who sponsored the bill to equip Baton Rouge officers with body cameras, said at Wednesday's news conference that she wants police to stop using those body cameras in favor of ones that don't seem to fall off so easily.

Mike McClanahan, of the local NAACP, said at the same news conference that the two officers, who have not been identified, should be arrested and that Police Chief Carl Dabadie Jr. and Baton Rouge Mayor Kip Holden need to step down.

"This is a new day," McClanahan added. "We will not have anybody who allows this type of action to take place."

Both Holden and Dabadie said they would not resign amid the tension over the shooting.

"Like you, I am demanding answers," Dabadie said.

Congressman Cedric Richmond cited "a number of unanswered questions" around the "tragedy" — including the level of force and response of officers after.

"The video footage released today of the shooting of Alton Sterling ... was deeply troubling and has understandably evoked strong emotion and anger in our community," Richmond said in a statement. "I share in this anger and join the community in the pursuit of justice." He called for protests to be conducted "with dignity."

A vigil was planned for Wednesday night outside the convenience store where Sterling died.

Protesters had gathered outside there overnight Tuesday, chanting "black lives matter" and holding signs saying "Honk for justice" as car horns blared.

#AltonSterling was trending on Twitter amid the mounting outrage.

Martin Luther King's youngest daughter, Bernie King, was among those adding her voice.

"May his name and his brutal last breath shake up and transform systems," she wrote on Twitter.

On Alton Sterling shooting in Baton Rogue, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has 'very serious concern'

Gov. John Bel Edwards, surrounded by law enforcement representatives and legislators addresses the media during a press conference at the Governor's Mansion concerning the shooting of Alton Sterling by Baton Rogue(photo by Patrick Dennis)

Story by Baton Rogue's The Advocate
Written by Elizabeth Crisp

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards announced Wednesday that the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division will take the lead on the investigation into the fatal shooting of Alton Sterling by a Baton Rouge police officer.

Edwards said he has "very serious concern" after seeing footage of the deadly shooting and said "the video is disturbing, to say the least."
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Graphic video shows fatal confrontation in Baton Rogue, La.: http://kirktanter.blogspot.com/2016/07/graphic-video-shows-baton-rouge-police.html
___________________________________

Edwards said he had seen no other footage of the incident other than the bystander video that has been widely circulated online. In that video, two Baton Rouge Police officers can be seen holding Sterling, a 37-year-old black man, on the ground outside a convenience store and at least one of the officers shooting Sterling several times.

The Dept. of Justice said in a statement that the FBI’s New Orleans Division, the Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Louisiana have opened a civil rights investigation into Sterling’s death.

“The Justice Department will collect all available facts and evidence and conduct a fair, thorough and impartial investigation,” the DOJ statement read. “As this is an ongoing investigation we are not able to comment further at this time."

Standing on the steps of the Louisiana Governor’s Mansion Wednesday morning -- less than three miles from where the fatal shooting took place, Edwards called for unity.

“Violence and destruction of property is not an answer to anything we face today,” he said, flanked by several state lawmakers from Baton Rouge, including Sen. Regina Barrow and Reps. Pat Smith, Ted James and Denise Marcelle.

Edwards, a Democrat who took office in January after serving eight years in the state Legislature, also called on the public to have faith in the independent investigation into Sterling’s death, saying that there should be no doubt that it will be investigated fairly.

“I have full confidence this matter will be investigated thoroughly, impartially and professionally, and I will demand that that’s the way it’s conducted, and I know the people of Louisiana will join me in doing so,” Edwards said.

Edwards wouldn’t comment directly on calls for BRPD Chief Carl Dabadie Jr. or Baton Rouge Mayor Kip Holden to resign.

Edwards said he had been in touch with Holden earlier in the day and they shared a mutual wish for an outside investigation into the deadly shooting.

Edwards said he had also been in touch with the White House and that he had reached out to Sterling’s aunt, Sandra, who raised him like a mother, and spoke to her by phone Wednesday morning.
Edwards planned to spend Wednesday afternoon meeting with community and faith leaders in north Baton Rouge, he said.

“I’m calling for unity in this very difficult time,” the governor stressed.

Graphic Videos show Baton Rouge Police Fatally Shooting 37 year old Alton Sterling

Video Released on July 6th. of Baton Rogue police shooting of Alton Sterling [Warning, Video is Graphic].


Cell Phone Video from car of Alton Sterling Shooting that has sent shockwaves through Baton Rouge, Louisiana [Warning, Video is Graphic].

Story by WOL DC News

There has been yet another police shooting caught on camera. Alton Sterling was shot by Baton Rouge, Louisiana police officers at point blank range after a being apprehended. In the video one of the offices was heard telling Sterling to get on the ground. After being tackled, one of the officers pointed his gun toward Sterling and said “If you f****** move I swear to God,” before shots were fired, killing the victim.

Multiple shots were fired.

Baton Rogue police reports that officers were responding to anonymous call that said there was a man in the area with a gun. Only CD’s were found on Sterling. The officers as been placed on administrative leave.

Black Farmers protest at the US Supreme Court - "Are Black Farmers in 2016 the New Dred Scott of 1857?"

Eddie Slaughter, president, American Agriculturalist Association

BLACK FARMERS PROTEST AT
UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT
"Are Black Farmers in 2016 the New Dred Scott of 1857?"

Contact:
Eddie Slaughter - 229-649-2243
Cory Lee - 615-308-7787
Gary R. Grant - 252-578-4729

On Friday, July 8, 2016 at 9:00 am, farmers from the Southern Region and others who believe in justice and equality will descend on the U. S. Supreme Court to once again seek and demand justice through the courts and to bring to light and awareness of the unfairness of the settlement of the Pigford Class Action, and the continued discrimination by the USDA, "The Last Plantation". The theme is "Are Black Farmers in 2016 the New Dred Scott of 1857?".
The protest will be held on the First Street NE sidewalk directly in front of the Supreme Court. The complaint at the Supreme Court is regarding Eddie and Dorothy Wise, farmers from North Carolina, who were foreclosed on and evicted from their 106 acre farm on January 20, 2016 by 14 militarily armed Federal Marshals and several Nash County, North Carolina deputy sheriffs without ever being granted a hearing.

Farmers Eddie Wise is a retired Green Beret and his wife Dorothy Wise is a retired Grants' Manager. The Wise's situation is akin to the Dred Scott Decision of March 6, 1857 (http://www.ushistory.org/us/32a.asp) because Black farmers are still being denied full due process. This is one of the most important issues that should be brought before the United States Supreme Court.
While many people in this country think that Black farmers across the nation got justice during the Pigford Class Action (Pigford v. Glickman 1999), the opposite is the truth. Black farmers who have been discriminated against by the Farm Service Agency (FSA) formerly called Farmers Home Administration (FmHA) continue to be put out of farming, denied opportunities to make a living, and lose land that impacts the quality of life for them and the rural Black communities in which they live.
The time has long expired on the unremitting discrimination and breach of The Pigford Consent Decree. Black Farmers are continuously denied due process; in particular, a right to have a formal hearing on the merits of their case before the Administrative Law Judge of The USDA.

Congress has expressed its intent for the Agency to hold the formal hearing on the merits in the 2007 Pigford Remedy Act which was incorporated in the 2008 Food Energy and Conservation Act or "Farm Bill." In addition, the USDA is denying all claims and hearings by Black Farmers, Women Farmers, Hispanic Farmers, and Native American Farmers. This denial of the formal hearing before the Administrative Law Judge allows 180 days for the Agency to correct its own mistakes is unlawful, unjust and contrary to Congressional Intent pursuant to the Administrative Procedures Act and The Pigford Consent Decree.
If you are a supporter of justice and equality, support Black Farmers, seek healthy and safe food, join with the Black Farmers and Eddie and Dorothy Wise, other speakers from the American Agriculturalists Association, the North Carolina-based national Black Farmers & Agriculturalists Association (BFAA), The Cowtown Foundation, Lawrence Lucas, President Emeritus, USDA Coalition of Minority Employees, and others to bring this issue before the United States Supreme Court. These farmers are asking the question... "Are Black Farmers in 2016 the New Dred Scott of 1857?"

Pillars of Black Media, Once Vibrant, Now Fighting for Survival

In 2013, there were 166 black-owned radio stations and 68 black-owned radio companies, compared with 250 stations and 146 companies in 1995 - N.A.B.O.B.

Story by New York Times
Written by Sydney Ember and Nicholas Fandos

For the black community in Chicago and elsewhere, Johnson Publishing Company represented a certain kind of hope.

The company’s magazines, most notably Ebony and Jet, gained prominence during the struggle for civil rights — Jet published graphic photos of the murdered black teenager Emmett Till that helped intensify the movement — and made it their mission to chronicle African-American life.

At a time when much of the media was ignoring black people, or showing them primarily in the context of poverty or crime, Ebony and Jet celebrated their success, featuring stars like Muhammad Ali and Aretha Franklin on their covers. When Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, the first print publication he granted an interview to was Ebony.

So when Johnson Publishing, which is based in Chicago, announced a little more than two weeks ago that it had sold Ebony and Jet to a private equity firm in Texas, there was a sense of loss.

“It was a very heartbreaking day,” said Melody Spann-Cooper, the chairwoman of Midway Broadcasting Corporation, which owns a Chicago radio station, WVON, aimed at a black audience. “Ebony gave to African-Americans what Life didn’t.”

Ms. Spann-Cooper’s reaction underscored a deeper concern: As racial issues have once again become a prominent topic in the national conversation, the influence of black-owned media companies on black culture is diminishing.

“Ebony used to be the only thing black folks had and read,” Ms. Spann-Cooper said. “As we became more integrated into society, we had other options.”

To that end, Time Inc. now owns the magazine Essence and Viacom owns Black Entertainment Television. The Oprah Winfrey Network, a partnership between Ms. Winfrey and Discovery Communications, has been around since 2011. The Undefeated, ESPN’s site covering the intersection of race and sports, debuted in May. The emergence of Black Twitter has also given African-Americans a powerful voice on social media.

Johnson Publishing stressed that the Clear View Group, the private equity firm that bought Jet and Ebony, was an African-American-led company and positioned the sale more as a partnership. “We are very, very committed to Ebony,” said Michael Gibson, the chairman of Clear View.

Traditional media companies have struggled for years to adapt to a digital world, but the pressure on black-owned media has been even more acute. Many are smaller and lack the financial resources to compete in an increasingly consolidated media landscape. Advertisers have turned away from black-oriented media, owners say, under the belief that they can now reach minorities in other ways.

Since well before the Civil War, publications and, more recently, radio and television stations owned and operated by African-Americans have provided an important counterweight to mass market media, simultaneously celebrating and shaping black culture — from politics and government to fashion and music.

Johnson Publishing was started in 1942 with a modest $500 loan, and eventually turned into a media empire big enough that in 1982, its founder, John H. Johnson, became the first black person to make Forbes magazine’s list of the 400 wealthiest Americans. When the radio station WVON ran a program in 2007 for Black History Month called the “28 Blacks Who Changed America,” Mr. Johnson, who died in 2005, was No. 7 on the list, behind luminaries like Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks and Thurgood Marshall.

“If we don’t own our press, we don’t have a platform to speak,” said Leonard Burnett Jr., whose company, the Uptown Ventures Group, owns Uptown Magazine, a lifestyle publication aimed at affluent African-Americans.

Several owners also pointed to another benefit: Their companies hired more minorities. Ms. Spann-Cooper of the Midway Broadcasting Corporation said 90 percent of her employees were African-American. “When we are African-American-owned, the work force looks like us,” she said.

But as financial resources dwindle, black-owned media companies are struggling to maintain their presence. Jet, for instance, became a web-only publication in 2014.

“It’s tougher and tougher for African-American companies,” said Desirée Rogers, the chief executive of Johnson Publishing, “to have the capital to compete in a landscape that’s increasingly crowded, increasingly changing.”

Mr. Burnett, who also owns Hype Hair, a magazine for African-American women, said his company was “marginally profitable.” But he said supporting his print business had been challenging largely because advertisers, particularly luxury brands, would rather connect with African-American consumers “by speaking broadly.”

“I think at times there’s a feeling that they do not want to directly speak to that audience because there’s a fear of bringing down their brand perception,” he said.

Earl G. Graves Jr., the president and chief executive of the business-focused magazine Black Enterprise, said his company was “not as strong as it was,” but preferred that it remain independent. Like many magazines, it has cut its publication schedule and focused more on its events business as a potential revenue source.

The picture is bleak in radio and television as well. In 2013, there were 166 black-owned radio stations and 68 black-owned radio companies, compared with 250 stations and 146 companies in 1995, according to the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters.

Only 12 commercial television stations in the country are black-owned, and they tend to serve very small markets. The future of Howard University Television, the country’s only black-owned public television station, is also in question, as the university’s participation in Federal Communications Commission spectrum auction has raised the possibility that it could end up selling its place on the airwaves or stop broadcasting entirely.

“Black ownership is dying,” said Armstrong Williams, whose Howard Stirk Holdings owns seven of the black-owned commercial television stations. “Newspaper ownership, radio ownership — but it’s probably hit TV the hardest.”

In the late 1970s, the F.C.C. put into place a minority ownership policy that used credits and deferrals on capital gains taxes to help make minority businesses more competitive in the bidding process and promote the sale of existing stations to minorities.

The policy, while not without critics, was largely considered a success among advocates of minority ownership. But in 1995, after a Supreme Court ruling that established new standards for race-based government policies, the F.C.C. began to disassemble the program. A year later, Congress ended the tax-deferral policy that had helped drive sales to minorities. It also did away with most restrictions on the number of radio stations a single company could own.

The resulting wave of consolidation in the broadcast industry has made it more difficult for black entrepreneurs to enter the industry, said Alfred C. Liggins III, the President and Chief Executive of Radio One, which while publicly traded is the country’s largest black-controlled multimedia company.

“That means that the likelihood that minority owners are going to own a TV station in New York or Los Angeles gets lower and lower,” said Mr. Liggins, whose mother founded the company with a single radio station in 1980.

For Johnson Publishing, which also owns the Fashion Fair cosmetics line, pressures on the business proved too difficult to overcome. In the last several years, it sold its historic building on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, brought on JPMorgan Chase as a minority investor and reduced its staff.

“We did not feel that we had adequate capital and resources,” said Cheryl Mayberry McKissack, who was chief operating officer of Johnson Publishing and is now chief executive of Ebony Media Operations.

Yet as stories like Johnson Publishing’s have become more common across the industry, those who see their companies as following in its footsteps say the notion of black ownership continues to resonate.

Mr. Williams, who referred to Ebony as “a staple” of his upbringing, said that young African-Americans regularly expressed awe that he, a black man, really owned television stations.

“It does change the dynamic,” he said, “of what they believe they can become.”

Kevin Durant chooses the Golden State Warriors

Story by Yahoo Sports

Oklahoma City Thunder free agent Kevin Durant announced Monday on The Players Tribune that he will join the Golden State Warriors.

Durant agreed to a two-year, $54 million deal with a player option in the second year, sources told The Vertical.

"Kevin made an indelible mark on the Thunder organization and the state of Oklahoma as a founding father of the franchise," Thunder executive vice president and general manager Sam Presti said in a statement. "We can't adequately articulate what he meant to the foundation of this franchise and our success. While clearly disappointing that he has chosen to move on, the core values he helped us establish only lead us to thanking him for the many tangible and intangible ways that he helped our program."

Golden State, Boston, Miami, San Antonio and the Los Angeles Clippers met with Durant and his inner circle on Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the Hamptons on Long Island in New York.

Durant was considered the top free agent on the market and now joins a team that is coming off back-to-back NBA Finals, a championship in 2015 and a 73-win regular season.

Durant, 27, will join forces with All-Stars Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green to form perhaps the most dangerous offense in the league.

The Warriors came back from a 3-1 deficit to defeat the Thunder in seven games in the Western Conference finals, then fell to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals after leading 3-1.

Durant, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2007 draft, averaged 28.2 points, 8.2 rebounds and five assists this past season. He led the Thunder to the NBA Finals in 2012 and was the league's MVP in 2014.

Biggest Great White Shark Filmed

Named "Deep Blue" and the Great White Shark is over 20 feet. Gonna need a bigger boat.

Related links:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=w5A2FmNQv8g
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