During an interview with Variety‘s “PopPolitics” on SiriusXM, Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), who helped lead the 1965 voting rights march in Selma, Ala., that became known as “Bloody Sunday,” said Ava DuVernay’s new movie “Selma” is “long overdue.” He als talks abut other aspects of the movie as well as watching himself being portrayed on film. Listen to the full interview below:
Michelle and I extend our warmest wishes to those celebrating Kwanzaa this holiday season. Today begins a celebration highlighting the rich African American heritage and culture through the seven principles of Kwanzaa—unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith. During this season, families come together to reflect on blessings of the past year and look forward to the promises in the year ahead. As we remain committed to building a country that provides opportunity for all, this time of year reminds us that there is much to be thankful for.
As families around the world unite to light the Kinara today, our family extends our prayers and best wishes during this holiday season.
Believe it or not the just released film Selma is the first feature film about the American icon. Also even more unbelievable is that the movie can not use the great speeches by Martin Luther King Jr. You read right, due to legal restrictions prevented “Selma,” the first feature film to be made about Martin Luther King Jr., from using his magnificent speeches.
The speeches delivered by Dr. King are property of his family’s estate, which licensed them in 2009 to DreamWorks and Warner Bros. for a biopic that Steven Spielberg hopes to eventually produce.
[SOURCE] Every year the Rhodes Trust awards exceptional postgraduate students with a scholarship to pursue studies in all fields at the prestigious University of Oxford, the oldest university in the English-speaking world. The competition for the coveted honor is tough, but this year, five of the 32 scholarships awarded to Americans went to African-Americans.
The five talented students are:
Robert A. Fisher (pictured far left): A senior at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga majoring in political science, Fisher, who is also his school’s student body president, has managed to maintain a perfect academic record. He plans on pursuing a Master’s in comparative social policy.
Rachel Harmon (pictured second from left): The Champaign, Ill., resident attends Cornell University and is in her senior year. Majoring in industrial and labor relations, Harmon plans on getting her Master’s in social policy.
Ridwan Y. Hassen (pictured third from left): In his last year at Dartmouth College majoring in computer science with an emphasis on neuroscience, Hassen’s parents are Somalian and Ethiopian refugees. The young member of his school’s Endurance Racing Team plans on furthering his studies by obtaining a Master’s in public policy.
Tayo A. Sanders (pictured second from right): Sanders, who is a University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire senior who is majoring in Materials Science, is no stranger to scholarships. He is the recipient of the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship and has already done research at the University of Strasbourg in France. Sanders wants to obtain a Ph.D. also on materials science at Oxford.
Sarah E. Yermina (pictured far right): As a Princeton University senior majoring in sociology, Yermina wants to enter the two-year Master’s program in politics at Oxford then pursue a J.D./Ph.D. to become a law professor.
A Berkeley police officer fatally shot a suspect who pointed a gun at him late Tuesday, St. Louis County police said early today.
Police did not identify the person killed but Toni Martin, who was at the scene, said he was her 18-year-old son, Antonio Martin.
Several protesters also arrived at the scene shortly after the shooting. Many stayed overnight.
St. Louis County police said the incident started about 11:15 p.m. Tuesday as the Berkeley officer "was conducting a routine business check" at the Mobil gas station at 6800 North Hanley Road.
The officer saw two people outside the station, got out of his vehicle and approached them. One of the suspects pulled out a handgun and fired at the officer.
"Fearing for his life, the Berkeley Officer fired several shots, striking the subject, fatally wounding him," the release from the county police said. "The second subject fled the scene."
Berkeley police requested that the county department's Crimes Against Persons Unit handle the investigation of the shooting. Detectives "recovered the deceased subject's handgun at the scene," the release from county police said.
Read more: Berkeley officer fatally shoots teenager
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has asked for the protest that have resulted from the non indictment of a police officer in the death of Eric Garner to cease temporarily until two slain police officers are buried.
"We are in a very difficult moment. Our focus has to be on these families," de Blasio said Monday at police headquarters. "I think it's a time for everyone to put aside political debates, put aside protests, put aside all of the things that we will talk about in all due time."
Protesters have not heeded his call and continue to protest. Do you think that they should stop the protest until after the officers are laid to rest? Do you think that it's necessary not to stop and to keep pushing while this is a hot button issue or risk losing momentum?
[SOURCE] Mike Colter has been cast in the role of Luke Cage on the upcoming Netflix series “Marvel’s A.K.A. Jessica Jones.”
“Mike embodies the strength, edge and depth of Luke Cage,” said “Jessica Jones” Executive Producer and Showrunner Melissa Rosenberg. “We’re excited to have him bring this iconic Marvel character to life.”
“Fans have longed to see Luke Cage brought, and in Mike we’ve found the perfect actor,” said Jeph Loeb, executive producer and Marvel’s head of television. “Viewers will get to meet Luke Cage in ‘Marvel’s A.K.A. Jessica Jones,’ and experience why he is such an important super hero in the Marvel mythos.”
Colter, who currently stars on “Halo: Nightfall,” has also appeared on “The Good Wife” and “American Horror Story: Coven.” “Marvel’s A.K.A. Jessica Jones” is produced by Marvel Television in association with ABC Studios for Netflix.
I'm convinced that conservatives and cops think black people as a whole are incapable of thinking for ourselves. First we had to be told by Obama, Holder, and Sharpton to get mad when no no cop was indicted in the Garner or Brown cases. I mean of course we wouldn't have gotten mad. Why would we? I mean Garner could have been our brother, father, grandson, or nephew. No way we internalize that, we of course would have went on our merry little ways if not told to be angry.
But now I have just found out from conservative media and the police that I and several million other blacks have never had an issue with or mistrusted the police until Obama, Holder, and Sharpton told us we had an issue with them. I just found out that all those prior negative experiences (although I like most black men have no record and have never committed a crime) I have had with police didn't make me bitter or distrustful of them it was that "evil" triumvirate of Obama, Holder, and Sharpton that made me feel that way.
Former NY mayor Guiliani who has done more to hurt minority and police relations by always taking the cops side than any member of the "evil" triumvirate said on Fox News Sunday ( where else) that "We've had four months of propaganda, starting with the president, that everybody should hate the police, I don't care how you want to describe it -- that's what those protests are all about."
Guiliani would be right if only police abuse and brutality had not been prevalent in the minority community long before President Obama was in office and Holder was appointed Attorney General. Generations of black and brown people have grown up in the United States and have had to deal with negative interactions with the police. That's just a fact and all police and conservatives bitching and moaning about it won't change that fact.
Guiliani and his ilk have made a false equivalency between protesting the death of Eric Garner and wanting better treatment from the police with being anti-cop. I'm sorry that comparison is simply bullshit. To believe that the comparison you would have to believe that the only way to do police work in minority communities is to violate people's civil and human rights.
If cops want the protest to stop then they should stop whining about being called out for their behavior and make changes to that behavior. What will help heal the rift is police acknowledging they have been occupying communities of color and not policing them. What will bring change is treating minority communities the same way you treat others. What will is actually reaching out and getting to know the community you police and finding out who is trouble and who is a young man on his way from school.
Until that happens the mistrust and in some cases hate will linger. No one will have to tell anyone what to think because we know firsthand.
George L. Cook III AfricanAmericanReports.com
Al Sharpton made the following statement on behalf of the family of Eric Garner after the tragic deaths of two NYPD officers at the hands of a lone gunman, Ismaaiyl Brinsley. The Garner family clearly condemns the loss of life of the two officers, Rafael Ramos, and Wenjian Liu.
“I have spoken to the Garner family and we are outraged by the early reports of the police killed in Brooklyn today, Any use of the names of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, in connection with any violence or killing of police, is reprehensible and against the pursuit of justice in both cases,” Sharpton said.
“We have stressed at every rally and march that anyone engaged in any violence is an enemy to the pursuit of justice for Eric Garner and Michael Brown,” he continued. “We have been criticized at National Action Network for not allowing rhetoric or chanting of violence and would abruptly denounce it at all of our gatherings. The Garner family and I have always stressed that we do not believe that all police are bad, in fact we have stressed that most police are not bad.”
Boxing great Muhammad Ali was hospitalized with a mild case of pneumonia that was caught early and should result in a short hospital stay, an Ali spokesman said Saturday night.
During an interview with Joy Reid for the New Yorker Magazine Eric Holder made some very profound comments when asked about the decades-long mistrust that remains between communities of color and law enforcement. Read his response below.
It means that we, as a nation, have failed. It's as simple as that. We have failed. We have understood that these issues have existed... These are issues that we've been dealing with for generations.
And it's why we have to seize this opportunity that we now have. We have a moment in time that we can, perhaps, come up with some meaningful change. It's what I'm committed to doing, even in the limited time I have left as attorney general. And I'll certainly continue to do it after I leave office.
But I also feel that the nation is really ready for this kind of change. And I would hope that, 10 years from now, 12 years from now, we will not look back on this as a lost opportunity.
Cory Booker is not very happy with the Wall Street giveaway tucked inside a $1.1 trillion bill to fund most of the federal government for a year. The provision provides taxpayer subsidies to risky financial derivatives by allowing banks to trade them from subsidiaries insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
"This is wrong," Booker said. "I'm outraged. I am frustrated that we are not on the floor debating this and instead are having this put into a bill that everyone says must pass." Watch more of Senator Booker's comments on the Wall Street giveaway below:
The wife of Bill Cosby, Camille Cosby about rape allegations against her husband. She compares the coverage of allegations to the coverage of the Rolling Stone's University of Virginia rape story.
NEW: Billy Cosby's wife Camille releases statement comparing coverage of her husband to Rolling Stone UVA rape story pic.twitter.com/lzWdytGC22
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) December 15, 2014
Bill Cosby broke his silence Friday, albeit briefly, to lecture the media on remaining “neutral” and to say that his wife is standing by him.
Reached at his Massachusetts home, the star declined to address the rape and sex abuse allegations from an ever-growing list of women that now includes supermodel Beverly Johnson.
Instead, Cosby, 77, said that the African-American media — for which this reporter often writes — should be impartial. “Let me say this. I only expect the black media to uphold the standards of excellence in journalism and when you do that you have to go in with a neutral mind,” Cosby said.
Read more: Bill Cosby expects black media to remain neutral
More than 10,000 protesters from New York City and around the U.S. converged on Washington Saturday, marching to the Capitol to call attention to the deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of police and call for legislative action.
The FBI is reviewing the investigation into the death of a black North Carolina teenager found hanging from a swing set after relatives raised doubts about the official finding that Lennon Lacy committed suicide, a conclusion that the county coroner now questions.
On Friday, federal authorities confirmed they were reviewing the investigation. A spokesman for U.S. Attorney Tom Walker said Walker’s office acted at the request of attorneys from the North Carolina NAACP representing the family.
Read more: FBI reviews hanging death of black teen
Kevin Hart took to Instagram Thursday to address recently leaked emails in which a Sony executive called him a 'whore.' REad his response below:
Director Ava DuVernay's Selma, a film chronicling Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s historic Alabama march that spurred President Lyndon Johnson to sign the Voting Rights Act of 1965, scored three Golden Globe nominations on Thursday: best picture, best actor (David Oyelowo) and best director. The director nod is history-making: Prior to the nomination, no African-American female director has ever been tapped into the category by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson spent most of this year pressuring the technology industry into facing up to the glaring scarcity of women, blacks and Latinos at companies renowned as great places to work.
Now comes Diversity 2.0 — finding ways to reverse a deep-rooted problem that isn't going to be as easy to fix as writing new lines of code for a computer bug.
The challenges, along with some of the potential solutions, were explored Wednesday at a Silicon Valley summit organized by Jackson and his group, Rainbow Push.
In a show of their commitment, Google, Apple, Facebook and more than other 20 other tech companies sent representatives to the forum held at the Santa Clara, California, headquarters of a Silicon Valley pioneer, computer chipmaker Intel Corp. The crowd of roughly 300 people also included entrepreneurs, academics and nonprofit groups eager to change the cultural and educational milieu that turned computer programming into an occupation dominated by white and Asian men.
Read more: Tech summit addresses industry's lack of diversity
A group recognizing African-American owned media companies filed a $10 billion lawsuit against AT&T Inc. and DirecTV. The National Association of African-American Owned Media filed the lawsuit Tuesday in a California federal court. It says black-owned media has been shut out from doing business with the two companies for racial reasons.
Dallas-based AT&T bought DirecTV earlier this year for $48.5 billion.
The lawsuit alleges the two merged companies refuse to carry the majority of programming of "at least one" African-American owned media company that owns seven channels that feature original content. The suit says only one of the channels is carried, for which no carriage fees are paid.
Read more: African-American media group sues AT&T, DirecTV