Tag Archives: Civil Rights

1.5 million missing Black men: How many innocents?

Can you imagine spending thirteen years in jail for a crime you didn’t commit simply because the exculpatory evidence you might have defended yourself with happened to have been given to someone as a gift? Continue reading 1.5 million missing Black men: How many innocents?

MLK died warning us about inequality back in the 60’s | Social #Activism on Blog#42

I came across an excellent mash-up of segments from Martin Luther King’s speeches on poverty and the end of an interview of James Baldwin in PBS’ “The Negro and The American Promise.” These two men expressed, in ten minutes and fifty three seconds, far more than Thomas Piketty did in a seven hundred-page book. Continue reading MLK died warning us about inequality back in the 60’s | Social #Activism on Blog#42

Video: James Baldwin on “The Negro and the American Promise” | PBS

This is a curated version of a PBS extra I will be referencing in an upcoming piece.


 

James Baldwin on “The Negro and the American Promise”

James Baldwin appears in Boston public television producer Henry Morgenthau III’s “The Negro and the American Promise,” alongside Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. The New York Times described the James Baldwin segment as “a television experience that seared the conscience.” Continue reading Video: James Baldwin on “The Negro and the American Promise” | PBS

James Baldwin on Malcolm X (Video) | Blog#42

It is especially important, in 2015, in the midst of Black Lives Matter and Moral Monday, to look back through Baldwin’s eyes, in order to look forward. As the younger generation finds its voice and asserts its leadership of the new civil rights struggle, Baldwin’s words ring prophetic.  Continue reading James Baldwin on Malcolm X (Video) | Blog#42

#Senate #GOP and #CivilRights: underlining the writing on the wall

The story of the name change of the Senate subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights during a week that wasn’t bustling with breaking news is particularly distressing. Continue reading #Senate #GOP and #CivilRights: underlining the writing on the wall

Answering Jeffrey Toobin: Who should investigate Police? | #BlackLivesMatter

In his December 30, 2014 piece in The New Yorker, legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin concludes:

“Schneiderman’s idea has considerable appeal; his judgment in the Eric Garner case would surely have had more credibility than the one rendered by Donovan.  Still, special prosecutors are not necessarily good or bad. Like the locals they replace, they are only as good as the cases they bring, or refrain from bringing. That, ultimately, will rest on the good judgment of the individuals involved, and no one has yet figured out a way of putting the right person in place all the time.”

Continue reading Answering Jeffrey Toobin: Who should investigate Police? | #BlackLivesMatter

UPDATED: Bratton: between #NYPD, de Blasio, and #BlackLivesMatter

Gothamist put out a piece on a recent Bratton appearance where he “bemoans all the work it takes to explain police shooting Black men.” Here is an excerpt. Please go on to read the material from December for context. Bratton has gotten away for far too long with a public perception of him that is polar opposite of what he actually stands for. Continue reading UPDATED: Bratton: between #NYPD, de Blasio, and #BlackLivesMatter

Police: Chokehold Victim Eric Garner Complicit In Own Death

Posted:

NEW YORK (AP) — Eric Garner was overweight and in poor health. He was a nuisance to shop owners who complained about him selling untaxed cigarettes on the street. When police came to arrest him, he resisted. And if he could repeatedly say, “I can’t breathe,” it means he could breathe.

Continue reading Police: Chokehold Victim Eric Garner Complicit In Own Death

My Comment on: Bigger Than Immigration | NYTimes

NOV. 23, 2014

Don’t let yourself get lost in the weeds. Don’t allow yourself to believe that opposition to President Obama’s executive actions on immigration is only about that issue, the president’s tactics, or his lack of obsequiousness to his detractors.

Continue reading My Comment on: Bigger Than Immigration | NYTimes