The Alabama Senate has passed a bill that bars changes from being made to Confederate or long-standing monuments in the state. The ones who voted for this bill are probably the same type of people that say African Americans need to get over slavery, yet still want to honor the legacy of a group of traitors and losers who fought to keep other human beings enslaved.
A stunning pictorial celebration of one of the most beloved First Ladies of our time: Michelle Obama.
With 140 photographs, inspiring quotes, and excerpts from five historic speeches, this gorgeous volume pays tribute to Michelle Obama. Although it primarily focuses on 2007 to 2016, the book covers the pre-White House years, as well: her childhood, her time in college and law school, her work as a young professional, her marriage to Barack, and her experiences during his first campaign. It also explores her family life; celebrates her “First Lady Firsts”; looks at her TV appearances and official trips; details her main health, social, and education projects; and presents her as the glamorous, fashionable First Hostess at State Dinners and other events. Fans of Michelle will treasure this keepsake of a trendsetting, socially conscious, and powerful First Lady.
When Norma George first came to Cheyney University as an international student in the 1980s, she remembers feeling overwhelmed by the sea of students moving across campus when classes changed at 20 minutes past the hour.
Today, that sea is more a trickle.
That really hadn't registered with George, now chair of the university's English Department and director of international programs, until one day last fall.
Standing in the student center near the snack bar over lunchtime, she waited for a flood of people, hoping to give them updates on the faculty contract situation. But the place remained empty. "Where are the students?" she asked a colleague.
With just 746 students, Cheyney's enrollment now is less than half what it was when George was a student there.
That's one reason students, faculty and alumni fear their university -- the nation's oldest black institution of higher education -- may not have a future unless dramatic change happens.
Read more: Can historic Cheyney University survive?
Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Maryland) said Wednesday that he used his meeting at the White House with President Trump address the president's past rhetoric about black communities. Cummings said he told the president that his language about African-American neighborhoods and inner cities had been "hurtful.". Watch more of his comments below:
By George L. Cook III AfricanAmericanReports.Com
Black conservatives will defend their sides use of derogatory words/language toward African Americans by saying that those are only words and we shouldn't give them power. Then why do they get upset when called a coon or Uncle Tom? Hear more of my thoughts on this in the video below.
A proposal to end Arkansas' dual holiday for Robert E. Lee and slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. easily won Senate approval Tuesday, but faces an uncertain prospect in the House where a competing plan would honor the Confederate general the same day as the nation's first president.
The Senate voted 24-0 in favor of the proposal to remove Lee from the state and federal holiday honoring King on the third Monday in January. Only two other states, Alabama and Mississippi, honor the men on the same day.
"It's a day spent in prayer. It's a day spent in remembrance. It's a day that needs to stand alone," Republican Sen. Dave Wallace told the Senate before the vote. "It's a day that needs to stand for Martin Luther King."
The proposal would designate the second Saturday in October as a state memorial day, not a holiday, to honor Lee. It also requires the state to expand what is taught in schools about civil rights and Civil War history.
Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson has urged lawmakers to approve the change, which he says would help unify Arkansas and improve its image.
"While both men have left their mark on history, dually celebrating them, as we have done in Arkansas since 1985, is an obvious incongruence," Hutchinson said in a statement after the vote.
Read more: Arkansas lawmakers advance plan to strip Robert E. Lee from MLK day
While giving a keynote address at a conference, entitled “Universities and Slavery: Bound By History” at Harvard University, writer Ta-Nehisi Coates discussed reparations.
Coates, a known proponent of reparations made the case to the audience that progress on racial issues requires institutions to repay their debts to enslaved people.
“I think every single one of these universities needs to make reparations,” he said to wide applause. “I don’t know how you get around that, I just don’t. I don’t know how you conduct research that shows that your very existence is rooted in a great crime, and just say ‘well,’ shrug—and maybe at best say ‘I’m sorry’—and you walk away. And I think you need to use the language of ‘reparation.’ I think it’s very, very important to actually say that word, to acknowledge that something was done in these institutions.”
African-Americans are far more likely to be wrongfully convicted of crimes such as murder, sexual assault and illegal drug activity than whites due to factors including racial bias and official misconduct, a study released on Tuesday said.
Of the 1,900 defendants convicted of crimes and later exonerated, 47 percent were African-Americans - three times their representation in the population - according to the study from the National Registry of Exonerations, which examined cases from 1989 to October 2016.
The study also said black Americans were about seven times more likely to be wrongfully convicted of murder than white Americans.
"In the murder cases we examined, the rate of official misconduct is considerably higher in cases where the defendant is African-American compared to cases where the defendant is white," said Samuel Gross, a University of Michigan Law School professor who is senior editor of the group that tracks U.S. exonerations.
He said unconscious bias, institutional discrimination and explicit racism, were factors in some of the wrongful convictions.
When it comes to drug crimes, black Americans are about 12 times more likely to be wrongfully convicted than innocent white people, the study said.
Read more: African-Americans more likely to be wrongfully convicted: study
I keep telling people Dr. Ben Carson is an idiot savant and he keeps going out of his way to prove it. While speaking to department employees Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson referred to slaves as "immigrants". I am not making this up, you can watch video of him making that ridiculous statement below.
THIS IS WHY BLACK PEOPLE DON"T LIKE BEN CARSON
Fan favorite Cedric McMillan finally turned potential into reality and won the 2017 Arnold Classic open bodybuilding championship. After his victory he invited the other competitors on stage and gave arguably the best victory speech ever in bodybuilding. Check out that speech below.
Congrats to Candace Lewis Carter for winning the 2017 Arnold Classic Women's Figure International competition. She beat out the former Olympia champion Latorya Watts who finished third behind Cydney Gillon. After so many 2nd and 3rd place finishes in other shows it's great to see Candace finally breakthrough and turn potential into reality. Check out an interview with the champ below:
A Louisiana congressman has apologized for making a crude joke about White House adviser Kellyanne Conway.
Democrat Cedric Richmond made the joke during a comedy routine at last week's annual Washington Press Club Foundation congressional dinner. Citing the picture of Conway kneeling on a couch in the Oval Office, Richmond said Conway looked "kind of familiar there in that position."
The joke fell flat as the room full of journalists, congressional staffers and politicians audibly groaned.
Richmond initially defended the joke, saying his use of the word "familiar" simply meant that Conway looked too comfortable.
But Sunday night he issued a statement apologizing for the joke.
"After a discussion with people I know and trust I understand the way my remarks have been received by many," said Richmond. "I have consistently been a champion for women and women's issues, and because of that the last thing I would want to ever do is utter words that would hurt or demean them. I apologize to Kellyanne Conway and everyone who has found my comments to be offensive."
F.B.I. Director James B. Comey has called on the Department of Justice to reject President Donald Trump‘s claims that Barack Obama, while in office, called for an illegal wiretap of Trump Towers during the 2016 Presidential election.
Comey has stated that the highly charged claim is false and must be corrected. In addition, Trump’s accusation implies that the F.B.I. would have broken the law should the allegations be true. Comey has also been working with the DOJ to knock down Trump’s claim as there is virtually no evidence.
A statement by the F.B.I. invalidating the president’s claims would be a huge blow to the office of the presidency, essentially putting the nation’s top law enforcement officials in a position where they could question the truthfulness of the nation’s highest government official.
Read more: Comey Asks DOJ to Reject Trump’s Wiretap Accusations
Flint has been mired in a devastating water crisis for nearly three years, and it may be another two before it's resolved.
Mayor Karen Weaver wrote to EPA officials earlier this week to inform them that the Michigan city will not be able to treat its own water for lead and other contaminants until 2019, citing a lengthy construction and testing process for a new water treatment plant.
"To expedite completion of the project and minimize cost, a design/build project delivery method is proposed," Weaver wrote. "Based on this approach, an August, 2019, completion date is anticipated for the treatment plant improvements."
In 2014, officials implemented a cost-cutting plan to switch the city's water source from Lake Huron to the Flint River, which is 19 times more corrosive, according to researchers from Virginia Tech. That caused lead to leach from pipes and into the city's drinking water.
Read more: Flint mayor: City needs 2 years before it can treat its own water
Two Delta A320/319 pilots made history over the weekend, flying Delta's first mainline flight with two African-American female pilots in the flight deck.
Atlanta-based First Officer Dawn Cook learned that Detroit-based Captain Stephanie Johnson, Delta's first African-American female captain, would be flying out of Detroit last Sunday and reached out to Johnson to help facilitate the historic flight. Afterward, Cook posted the above photo to Facebook to commemorate the flight.
Among his first actions in his new role, Secretary Carson plans an ambitious listening tour of select communities and HUD field offices around the country, beginning in his native Detroit.
"I am immensely grateful and deeply humbled to take on such an important role in service to the American people," said Secretary Carson. "Working directly with patients and their families for many years taught me that there is a deep relationship between health and housing. I learned that it's difficult for a child to realize their dreams if he or she doesn't have a proper place to live, and I've seen firsthand how poor housing conditions can rob a person of their potential. I am excited to roll up my sleeves and to get to work."
For nearly 30 years, Secretary Carson served as Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center, a position he assumed when he was just 33 years old, making him the youngest major division director in the hospital's history. Dr. Carson received dozens of honors and awards in recognition of his achievements including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. He is also a recipient of the Spingarn Medal, which is the highest honor bestowed by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Dr. Carson has written nine books, four of which were co-authored with Candy Carson, his wife of 41 years. Together, they co-founded the Carson Scholars Fund, which celebrates young people of all backgrounds for exceptional academic and humanitarian accomplishments. The Fund has recognized more than 7,300 scholars, awarded more than seven million dollars in scholarships, and installed more than 150 Ben Carson Reading Rooms throughout the United States.
Apple touts its commitment to diversity, but its shareholders don’t seem to care all that much about it.
On Tuesday, Apple investors overwhelmingly rejected a proposal that would have urged the company to ramp up its efforts to hire African Americans, Latinos and other people of color for its board of directors and senior management positions. As is the case at many tech companies, members of such groups have been underrepresented at Apple compared with the general population.
The vote marked the second year in a row shareholders have rejected the proposal, which called for Apple to have an “accelerated recruitment policy” to diversify its leadership ranks. Because it received less than 6 percent of shareholder votes this year, Apple can block it from appearing on its proxy ballot next year, supporters noted.
Read more: Apple investors reject diversity proposal
Trump made a big deal about the photo-op, oops I mean meeting he had with the Presidents of HBCUs from across the country this week. He made an even bigger deal of the executive order he signed to help HBCUs ( one that doesn't give any additional funding to the schools). The executive order itself isn't that much different from President Obama's order on HBCUs (yes he had one too), except in one way involving the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
From HBCU Digest:
The Trump executive order officially moves the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities from the US Department of Education to the White House, where it will function under the supervision of a presidentially-appointed executive director. The new order also mandates that federal agencies identified as active or potential funding matches for HBCU programs will have 90 days to submit reports to the White House on how they will leverage public and private resources to build capacity at black colleges.
The order maintains an advisory board on HBCUs, which will meet twice yearly to brief President Trump on trends among federal agencies relative to funding and industrial challenges. HBCU presidents were particularly critical of President Obama for declining to attend any of the advisory board meetings or the annual national conference on HBCUs throughout his eight years in office.
Much of the order mirrors the guiding document issued by President Obama, which similarly called for increased advocacy on behalf of HBCUs by way of agency liaisons, annual reports and increased communications between the government and institutions.
But the order does not outline specific goals sought by an advocacy coalition comprised of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education, the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and the United Negro College Fund; most notably, an aspirational goal that HBCUs be awarded five percent of total federal grant, internship and cooperative agreement funding; and 10 percent of total federal contract funding awarded to colleges and universities, which supporters say would nearly double federal support to HBCUs.
