Here's a speech you wont hear Donald Trump give. This past Sunday Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton visited Little Rock AME Zion Church, a historic black church in Charlotte, North Carolina. Clinton discussed implicit bias and systemic racism that still exists in America. She spoke about the deaths of Terence Crutcher and Keith Scott at the hands of police and how we as a country can begin to address the issue of implicit bias. Watch her speech below.
In an op-ed posted at BusinessInsider.Com NBA star Lebron James endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. In the op-ed James wrote:
When I look at this year’s presidential race, it’s clear which candidate believes the same thing. Only one person running truly understands the struggles of an Akron child born into poverty. And when I think about the kinds of policies and ideas the kids in my foundation need from our government, the choice is clear.
That candidate is Hillary Clinton.
I support Hillary because she will build on the legacy of my good friend, President Barack Obama. I believe in what President Obama has done for our country and support her commitment to continuing that legacy.
Like my foundation, Hillary has always been a champion for children and their futures. For over 40 years, she’s been working to improve public schools, expand access to health care, support children’s hospitals, and so much more.
She wants to make sure kids have access to a good education, no matter what zip code they live in. She’ll rebuild schools that are falling apart and put more money into computer science. She’ll make sure teachers are paid what they deserve so they can give everything to their students.
She also has plans to make college a reality for more people in America, especially for those who can’t afford it. My kids in Akron are proof of the hope and motivation that come from knowing college can be in their future, no matter what obstacles they might be facing.
Finally, we must address the violence, of every kind, the African-American community is experiencing in our streets and seeing on our TVs. I believe rebuilding our communities by focusing on at-risk children is a significant part of the solution. However, I am not a politician, I don’t know everything it will take finally to end the violence. But I do know we need a president who brings us together and keeps us unified. Policies and ideas that divide us more are not the solution. We must all stand together — no matter where we are from or the color of our skin. And Hillary is running on the message of hope and unity that we need.
George L. Cook III AfricanAmericanReports.Com
If you have no life and have been watching the poll numbers about this upcoming general election as I do you will notice that Hillary Clinton's biggest threat when it comes to the black vote is Gary Johnson, not Donald Trump. Johnson is especially catching on with black millennials, and that got me to wondering what Johnson was discussing when it comes to the issues that concern that group of voters, police shootings/Black Lives Matter, jobs, education, and criminal justice reform. And because I have no life I decided to check out Johnson's website to see his stand on those four issues that effect black millennials and African American voters in general. From what I can gather I don't understand why any black millennial or any African American for that matter would vote for Johnson.
POLICE SHOOTINGS #BlackLivesMatterIf the shooting of unarmed black men is an issue for you you want find anything on Johnson's web site articulating his views on this issue. While he has made comments while campaigning about Black Lives Matter he has no fleshed out take on the issue or what he intends to do about it on his webpage.
JOBS
On his page about jobs it's apparent that Johnson favors deregulation:
Governors Johnson and Weld believe that we must allow a regulatory and tax environment that incentivizes fairness. Not one that picks winners and losers. The purpose of government regulation is to protect citizens from bad actors and the harm they might do to health, safety, and property. But regulation should not be used to manipulate the economy, to manage private lives and businesses, or to place unnecessary burdens on those who make our economy work.
My take on that stance.
Just ask the people in Flint Michigan how well deregulation works. Also, you can forget about that $15 an hour minimum wage as the page clearly states regulation should not be used to manipulate the economy or to place unnecessary burdens on those who make our economy work.
EDUCATION
If you are a Millennial and college affordability is an issue for you the first thing you will notice is that there is nothing on his page about that topic. Why would there be as Libertarians believe in the free market system which has worked to drive up college cost.
He also wants to eliminate the DOE (Department of Education) and allow states to run their schools as they see fit. This is great if you live in a state that values education but horrible if you reside in a state with failing schools and a state government more worried about slashing cost than educating children.
On education Johnson's web page does point out his view on school choice:
Knowing full well that the establishment would resist calls for change, he nevertheless advocated a universally available program for school choice. Competition, he believes, will make our public and private educational institutions better.
My take on that stand:
As a board of education member in my community I understand the desire of parents to get their children into better schools. The problem I have with Johnson's stance and others like it is that it still doesn't address fixing failing schools or what will happen to this student left behind. In my opinion, this is just a feel good band aid approach.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM
On this topic Johnson's page tend to has more meat on the bone and it states some truths:
How is it that the United States, the land of the free, has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world? The answer is simple: Over time, the politicians have “criminalized” far too many aspects of people’s personal lives.
The failed War on Drugs is, of course, the greatest example. Well over 100 million Americans have, at one time or another, used marijuana. Yet, today, simple possession and use of marijuana remains a crime — despite the fact that a majority of Americans now favor its legalization.
And who is most harmed by the War on Drugs? Minorities, the poor, and anyone else without access to high-priced attorneys.
More generally, mandatory minimum sentences for a wide range of offenses and other efforts by politicians to be “tough” have removed far too much common-sense discretion from judges and prosecutors.
These factors, combined with the simple fact that we have too many unnecessary laws, have produced a society with too many people in our prisons and jails, too many undeserving individuals saddled with criminal records, and a seriously frayed relationship between law enforcement and those they serve.
Fortunately, a growing number of state and local governments are taking steps toward meaningful criminal justice reform. The federal government must do the same, and Gary Johnson is committed to bringing real leadership to this long-overdue effort.
Gary Johnson and Bill Weld are committed to meaningful criminal justice reform.
End the War on Drugs. Reduce Recidivism. Support Law Enforcement.
My take on this stance:
I'm happy that Johnson wants to end the war on drugs, reduce recidivism and support law enforcement but he doesn't tell us how he will do any of those things which in my opinion simply makes them campaign rhetoric. This is too serious of an issue not to give details.
Now I'm not saying that Gary Johnson is a bad candidate or that any rational black voter should not take a look at his platform. What I am saying is that Johnson's Liberation beliefs may put him at odds with things that can help African Americans. That is something to consider.
George L. Cook III AfricanAmericanReports.Com
In the interest of full disclosure Mr. Cook supports Hillary Clinton.
In a decision that delimits the concept of race to physical characteristics that are “immutable,” a federal appeals court ruled last week that firing an employee for wearing her hair in dreadlocks is not racial discrimination.
The case centers on Chastity Jones, a black woman who accepted a job at a Mobile, Alabama, insurance claims processing company in 2010. The company, Catastrophe Management Solutions, required its employees to project “a professional and businesslike image”; Jones claims a white human resources employee told her that she’d need to get rid of her dreadlocks because they “tend to get messy.” When Jones refused to modify her hairstyle, the company rescinded her offer of employment.
Last week, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s dismissal of Jones’ Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawsuit from 2013. The EEOC’s initial claim contended that Catastrophe’s actions, and all policies forbidding dreadlocks, are racially discriminatory because “dreadlocks are a manner of wearing the hair that is physiologically and culturally associated with people of African descent.” Essentially, the EEOC was arguing for a theory of race as a social construct, rather than some kind of biological classification with easily definable bounds. Race “has no biological definition,” the claim read, and besides that, “hairstyle can be a determinant of racial identity.”
Read more: A Federal Court Ruled That Companies Can Fire People Just for Having Dreadlocks
Ime Archibong was eating lunch on Facebook's Silicon Valley campus with former colleague Makinde Adeagbo last year when Adeagbo pitched the idea for /dev/color, a nonprofit organization to bring together and grow the ranks of African-American software developers.
"We sat outside, right in front of the ice cream shop, and he was painting this vision for me of what he wanted to do," Archibong recalls.
Adeagbo, who at the time worked at Pinterest, was one of the first black software engineers at Facebook and had forged a career path for other black engineers to follow. Now he aspired to do the same thing, only on an industrywide scale.
"That is something I cannot help but get behind," Archibong, a software engineer who is now Facebook's director of strategic partnerships, told USA TODAY.
/dev/color, a support network for engineers of color, officially launched a year ago and has since grown to 114 members, all black, many of whom often found themselves feeling isolated while navigating an industry dominated by white and Asian men.
On Friday, /dev/color held its inaugural conference on Facebook's campus — "Onwards and Upwards: Advancing the careers of black software engineers" — headlined by venture capitalist Ben Horowitz and Facebook chief technology officer Mike Schroepfer and featuring sessions on such topics as how to go from engineer to manager and how to build a business with an engineering background.
Read more: Black engineers in Silicon Valley get big assist
Here is the real reason Republican led state legislatures have been trying to eliminate or limit early voting in their states. African Americans who typically vote democrat tend to use it more which drives up voter participation rates among that group. George L. Cook III AfricanAmericanReports.Com
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 37 states now offer voters some way to cast ballots early and avoid lining up at the polls on Election Day.
These options are popular. About one-third of voters made use of them in the 2012 election.
But so-called “convenience voting” remains controversial: In some states, various types of early balloting has been challenged on grounds that it opens the door to fraud, though there’s been little evidence that such fraud is taking place.
Supporters of early voting say partisan politics is what really drives the objections. Research shows early voting increases turnout by 2 percent to 4 percent. In some cases, it particularly boosts voting among minorities, a constituency that tends to vote Democrat.
A GOP consultant acknowledged as much after a federal judge struck down North Carolina’s effort to curtail some kinds of convenience voting on the basis that legislators had targeted measures that disproportionately aided African Americans.
Read more: http://www.salon.com/2016/10/01/which-voters-show-up-when-states-allow-early-voting_partner/
In this new campaign ad Michelle Obama explains why she believes in Hillary Clinton in a new 30 second campaign ad. Watch the ad below:
President Barack Obama tells voters he will feel personally insulted if they fail to mobilize in the presidential election, in a new ad released by Priorities USA, the super PAC that supports Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. The commercial will begin airing Wednesday in Ohio, North Carolina and Florida and will run for at least a week. It's part of a $3 million previously announced ad buy.
Anyone seriously following the presidential race knows that millennials are less than enthused about either candidate and are considering voting third party. Many of us have been dismissive of their feelings or simply accused them of not understanding what's at stake. Maybe what we should be doing is taking more time to understand and begin to attempt to address their issues before Election Day.
By George L. Cook III AfricanAmericanReports.Com
Over 80 million people watched the first presidential debate last night between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump which was moderated by Lester Holt. It may surprise you that the black guy (Lester) you saw at the beginning of the show stayed there throughout the entirety of the debate. It seemed at times that he unlike the candidates was allowed a few bathroom breaks.
It looked at times that Holt simply disappeared and then popped back up only to ask the next question. I'm reading online that he got relatively good praise for his job as moderator and that he stayed out of the way and let the candidates debate each other.
Those giving him positive praise say that he was like a good referee in that he stayed out of the way of the action. Now I like Lester, and he is a great and respected journalist but other than letting Trump know that stop and frisk had been ruled unconstitutional and reminding Trump that he did at one time support the War in Iraq I thought Holt had left the room. If Holt had been a boxing referee, there would have been punches below the belt and ear biting with Holt showing up at the end of each round to stop the action.
So what was Holt during as the two candidates went at each other? Well here's my list of things he may have been doing.
Prank calling Brian Williams.
He was one of the few people watching Monday Night Football.
Practicing his wrestling moves while watching Monday Night Raw.
Reconsidering being a Republican.
Prank calling Brian Williams some more
Now I don't feel like Lester Holt did a bad job when he was actually moderating the debate it's just that I don't feel he did that much moderating. It would be like your manager at work saying that an employee does a good job...when they come to work.
George L. Cook III AfricanAmericanReports.Com
Watch the new official teaser trailer for Fences, starring Denzel Washington and Viola Davis. Coming to theatres December 25, 2016.
FENCES is directed by Denzel Washington from a screenplay by August Wilson, adapted from Wilson's Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play. The film stars Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Jovan Adepo, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Russell Hornsby, Mykelti Williamson, and Saniyya Sydney. The film is produced by Denzel Washington, Todd Black and Scott Rudin.
SYNOPSIS: An African American father struggles with race relations in the United States while trying to raise his family in the 1950s and coming to terms with the events of his life.
During the Cleveland Cavilers first media session NBA star Lebron James took a few minutes to discuss recent shootings of black men and admitted that he is scared for his sons especially his oldest who will be driving in a few years. Watch his full comments below.
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LeBron James on recent police shootings: pic.twitter.com/iz4GawfE8L
— Philip Lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) September 26, 2016
A civil rights museum in Greensboro, N.C., rejected a request to visit from Donald Trump's campaign.
The International Civil Rights Center and Museum declined to have the Republican presidential nominee visit because of the campaign's list of demands, reports WFMY News 2. "We did not honor the request of the Donald Trump team because we thought they demonstrated, in their approach was disrespectful, so therefore we did not grant that request," said Early Jones, co-founder of the museum.
Jones called the campaign aggressive and rude to museum staff.
The campaign also asked for the museum to be closed for at least five hours to accommodate Trump, she said.
Jones said the museum does not provide special treatment to anyone.
[SOURCE]
Dexter Jackson didn't let a third place finish in the 2016 Mr. Olympia bring him down. The 47 year old bodybuilding legend went on to Spain and claimed first place in the Arnold Classic Europe which was held in Barcelona.
The victory gives Jackson his 9th Arnold Classic victory and a record setting 27th victory in a pro show. That's right no other pro bodybuilder has won more shows, not Arnold, not Haney, not Coleman, not Yates, not anybody. Congratulations to Dexter "The Blade" Jackson.
The top five finishers were:
1. Dexter Jackson
2. Big Ramy
3. William Bonac
4. Shawn Rhoden
5. Roelly Winklaar
The United States Postal Service has revealed designs for several U.S. stamps that will be issued in 2017. One of those stamps will commemorate the opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Celebrations for the opening of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture were underway as news of this planned forever stamp was revealed. The museum, on the National Mall, opened to the public with a dedication ceremony on the morning of Sept. 24
Established by an Act of Congress in 2003, the museum is described as the only national museum devoted exclusively to the documentation of African-American life, history, and culture.
“The National Museum of African American History and Culture will be a place where all Americans can learn about the richness and diversity of the African American experience, what it means to their lives and how it helped us shape this nation,” the museum notes.
The stamp is based on a photograph of the museum by Alan Karchmer showing a view of the northwest corner of the building. USPS art director Antonio Alcala designed the stamp.
After police shootings of black men there are often marches by civil rights groups, local and national activist such as Black Lives Matter, and the clergy, but what good do they do?
No fire burned hotter, no mouth was fouler, no defender was in for a longer night than Kevin Garnett's.
In more than two decades in the NBA, Garnett opened the door for a new wave of young talent to enter the league, was partly responsible for a rewriting of the collective bargaining agreement and nearly singlehandedly redefined what the game's tallest players were allowed to do on the court.
Fittingly, and maybe a little reluctantly, No. 21 is calling it a career after 21 years, leaving a legacy as one of the best defensive players in league history and one of the game's most influential and intense competitors.
Read more: Garnett says 'farewell' to the NBA after 21 seasons
Watch President Obama's complete speech at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture Opening Ceremony on the Washington Mall.
