Texas police officer found guilty in the death of 15 year old Jordan Edwards

On Tuesday, a Dallas County jury convicted the former Balch Springs police officer of murder for shooting Jordan Edwards an unarmed 15-year-old as he left a party with his brothers and two friends in April 2017.

Roy Oliver, 38, was found not guilty, however, on two counts of aggravated assault for firing his rifle into the car full of teens.

The former officer, who was fired from the force not long after the shooting, was immediately taken into custody, and his bond was revoked.

He faces up to life in prison when testimony resumes Wednesday in the trial's punishment phase.

The mother of Jordan Edwards thanked jurors Tuesday for convicting her son's killer rather than letting him "walk away."

"The police just walk away and don't have to give account for anything," Charmaine Edwards testified in the punishment phase of Roy Oliver's trial. "I'm forever grateful that y'all seen it in your hearts to see that it was wrong."

[SOURCE: DALLAS NEWS]

Andrew Gillum wins Florida Democratic Primary for Governor

Democrat Andrew Gillum rode a surge of liberal support from young people and African Americans to a stunning primary victory Tuesday and the historic opportunity to be the first black governor in Florida’s history.

With 94 percent of the votes counted, Gillum had an unofficial 3 percentage point lead over his closest rival, former U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham. Gillum overwhelmed Graham in Miami-Dade and Broward, the state’s two largest Democratic counties, by more than a 2-to-1 margin, in the highest turnout for a midterm primary election in Florida history.

“I am overwhelmed,” Gillum told a cheering crowd of supporters at a victory party at Hotel Duval in downtown Tallahassee. “I want you to know that this thing is not about me. This race is about every single one of us. Those of us inside this room. Those outside of this room. Those who voted for me. Those who didn’t vote at all. And those who didn’t vote for me because they are Republicans. But I want to be their governor, too.”

Democrat Andrew Gillum rode a surge of liberal support from young people and African Americans to a stunning primary victory Tuesday and the historic opportunity to be the first black governor in Florida’s history.

With 94 percent of the votes counted, Gillum had an unofficial 3 percentage point lead over his closest rival, former U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham. Gillum overwhelmed Graham in Miami-Dade and Broward, the state’s two largest Democratic counties, by more than a 2-to-1 margin, in the highest turnout for a midterm primary election in Florida history.

“I am overwhelmed,” Gillum told a cheering crowd of supporters at a victory party at Hotel Duval in downtown Tallahassee. “I want you to know that this thing is not about me. This race is about every single one of us. Those of us inside this room. Those outside of this room. Those who voted for me. Those who didn’t vote at all. And those who didn’t vote for me because they are Republicans. But I want to be their governor, too.”

Gillum’s task now is to unify the Democratic Party after a primary in which the majority of voters selected a different candidate. He also must choose a lieutenant governor running mate by Thursday, Sept. 6.

Gillum will face off against Republican challenger U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis in the November general election.

[SOURCE: MIAMI HERALD]

Archdiocese of New Orleans's says school's hair extension policy rescinded

A Catholic school official said Monday that a suburban New Orleans school has rescinded its policy forbidding hair extensions.

But it remains unclear whether a sixth-grader who left school in tears last week after running afoul of the rule will return to Christ the King school.

A state judge blocked enforcement of the rule after the families of Faith and another girl, Tyrielle Davis, filed suit.

RaeNell Houston, the superintendent Archdiocese of New Orleans schools issued a statement that said Fennidy's family, and the family of Tyrielle Davis, another student who joined in a lawsuit over the policy, were told last week that Christ the King's hair extension policy had been rescinded.

"When this issue arose, the school immediately reviewed its policy and recognized that there may have been sensitivities that needed to be addressed," Houston's statement said. "They then reached out for input from the Office of Catholic Schools, the Office of Black Catholic Ministries, other principals, and parents."

Attorneys for the girls' families said the school did not immediately rescind the policy. They initially refused to change the policy, the attorneys claim, "instead asking that if Faith and Tyrielle return to school they pretend that their hair was natural."

Houston said she will work with school officials to "create a uniform policy that is sensitive to all races, religions, and cultures."

[Yahoo News]

http://www.africanamericanreports.com/2018/08/archdiocese-of-new-orleanss-says.html

America's black community has been excluded from profiting from Legalization of Marijuana

As more US states decriminalize the drug for medicinal or recreational use, America's black community has been excluded from profiting from the lucrative trade. Listen to more on this below. There is a brief 30 second commercial that is part of the recording if you wish to fast forward passed that. [SOURCE: FINANCIAL TIMES]

The Obama's statement on the passing of John McCain

Former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama have released the following statement on the passing of an American hero, Sen. John McCain:

James Clyburn: Democrats must advertise in the Black Press to win in November

During an interview with NNPA (National Newspaper Publishers Association) Newswire Rep. James Clyburn (Dem, South Carolina) made three suggestions he thinks Democrats should follow to increase black voter turnout so that they can win big in the 2018 mid-terms. One was to advertise in the Black Press

From the NNPA Newswire interview:

...Democrats shouldn’t rely on an anti-President Donald Trump wave to get out the vote. Finally, Clyburn said that candidates must advertise in the Black Press, if they want to win in November.

“We are also talking about districts where Barack Obama won twice and where Hillary Clinton also won, but these voters don’t turn out for the so-called ‘off-year elections,’” Clyburn said. “We can’t let these voters feel like we’re taking them for granted.”

Clyburn, 78, said he was recently taken aback by one candidate, who said that he could win the Black vote by running on an anti-Trump platform.

“Wait one second,” Clyburn said that he told the individual. “We can’t just go around being ‘Republican-light.’ We have to be out there putting forth an alternative message, for our base, and we have to reach out to Black voters and let them know we’re not taking them or any of our base for granted.”

To that end, Clyburn said advertising campaigns must largely include the Black Press.

“It’s very, very important…Chairman Richmond and I have had candidates in and we’ve been telling them that one of the best ways to demonstrate that you’re not taking the Black vote for granted is to advertise in the Black Press,” Clyburn said.

The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) is the oldest and largest trade group representing the Black Press, comprised of more than 200 Black-owned newspapers operating in the United States.

“I’ve been in [the Black Press]. My daughter and I ran a newspaper down South, so I know that candidates tend to take Black media for granted,” Clyburn said. “They tend to judge Black media the same way they do other media and you just can’t do that, because the business model is totally different.”

Each Sunday after attending Morris Brown A.M.E. Church in Charleston, S.C., Clyburn said he and other churchgoers habitually pick up the local Black-owned newspaper.

“People tend to pay attention to the headlines, the stories and the ads in the Black Press so it’s vitally important that candidates know this,” Clyburn said.

CNN Suspends Paris Dennard Over Past Sexual Misconduct Allegations

CNN has suspended one of its most vocal, pro-Trump commentators after a Washington Post report detailed past alleged sexual misconduct that resulted in his firing from Arizona State University four years ago.

Paris Dennard, who was recently praised by President Donald Trump as “wonderful,” was serving as the events director for ASU’s McCain Institute for International Leadership when he according to a 2014 university report obtained by The Washington Post, “pretended to unzip his pants in her presence, tried to get her to sit on his lap, and made masturbatory gestures.”

Dennard called the allegations “false.”

“I cannot comment on items I have never seen regarding allegations I still believe to be false,” Dennard told WaPo. “This is sadly another politically motivated attempt to besmirch my character, and shame me into silence for my support of President Trump and the GOP.”

After the report was published, CNN suspended Dennard.

“We are aware of reports of accusations against Paris Dennard,” a CNN spokesperson told Mediaite. “We are suspending Paris, effective immediately, while ‎we look into the allegations.”

[SOURCE: MEDIAITE]

NJ Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman questions manhood of men in congress when it comes to Trump

In a series of tweets and in a very NJ way, New Jersey's Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (Dem, New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District) questioned the manhood of the men in Congress when it comes to the willingness of doing their job and checking President Trump on things like Russia and following the law.

For a Congress so full of men, it's incredible that we don't have the balls to check a president that: asks aides to violate protocol and law; praises dictators from Russia to the Philippines; and torpedos relationships with our allies.

— Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (@RepBonnie) August 23, 2018

This is a reckoning, and any member of Congress unwilling to do his or her job should step aside.

— Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (@RepBonnie) August 23, 2018

If making a mockery of the emoluments clause wasn't enough; if comforting confederates and nazis wasn't enough; if rampant racism, collaborating with Russians, and being implicated in federal elections crimes wasn't enough, then WHAT IS ENOUGH for Congress to act?

— Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (@RepBonnie) August 23, 2018

Atlanta renames street after civil rights icon John Lewis

Noting U.S. Rep. John Lewis’ life of “raw courage,” Atlanta officials renamed a street for the civil rights icon Wednesday.

Freedom Parkway, a four-lane conduit to the Carter Center, will now be called John Lewis Freedom Parkway.

“John Lewis is synonymous with freedom,” Atlanta City Council member Andre Dickens said when explaining why that particular street was chosen. Dickens sponsored the resolution — which the council unanimously approved in December — to rename the street after Lewis.

“He has lived a life of raw courage,” Dickens said, calling Lewis the “conscience of Congress.”

Lewis encouraged the crowd to vote and called voting “the most powerful nonviolent tool we have in a democratic society.”

Renaming the street is just one way the task force assembled by Dickens plans to pay respect to the congressman. Plans to paint a mural of Lewis in the Atlanta airport in January ahead of the Super Bowl are in the works, Dickens said.

Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms also presented Lewis with the Phoenix Award — the city’s highest honor — Wednesday for his work as both a local and national leader.

“We are one people. We are one family,” Lewis said. “We will not give up on each other.”

[SOURCE: WTOP]

Sen. Harris Introduces Bill Aimed at Reducing Racial Disparities in Maternal Mortality

Today, U.S. Senator Kamala D. Harris and 13 Democratic colleagues introduced the Maternal Care Access and Reducing Emergencies (CARE) Act, a bill to reduce the racial disparities in maternal mortality and morbidity. The United States is one of only thirteen countries in the world where the rate of maternal mortality is now worse than it was 25 years ago. For Black women, the risk of death from pregnancy-related causes is three to four times higher than for white women, and Black women are twice as likely to suffer from life-threatening pregnancy complications.

“Health equity for Black women can only happen if we recognize and address persistent biases in our health system,” said Senator Harris. “This bill is a step towards ensuring that all women have access to culturally competent, holistic care, and to address the implicit biases in our system.”

"We applaud Senator Harris on putting forward this critical legislation and appreciate her commitment to ending racial disparities in maternal health care and outcomes,” said Elizabeth Gay, MPH, Co-Director of the Black Mamas Matter Alliance. “Addressing racial discrimination and implicit bias is an important but often overlooked part of improving maternal health in the United States. We are grateful for Senator Harris’ brave leadership.”

“We are proud to endorse Senator Harris’ legislation, the Maternal CARE Act. This bill gives young people entering the medical field access to implicit bias training, as well as establishes a pregnancy medical home demonstration program,” said Lisa Hollier, M.D., M.P.H, president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). “We know that racial and ethnic disparities in women’s health – including in maternal mortality, an issue I have dedicated my ACOG presidency to addressing -- cannot be reversed without addressing racial bias; both implicit and explicit. That’s why, in partnership with the Council on Patient Safety in Women’s Health Care and the Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health, ACOG is actively involved in educating health care providers on implicit bias to improve women’s health. We look forward to working with Senator Harris to ensure this legislation becomes law, so we can work toward realizing an equitable health care system.”

“Women of color continue to face disproportionate rates of maternal mortality and morbidity in this country,” said Jennifer Jacoby Altscher, Federal Policy Counsel, Center for Reproductive Rights. “This bill aims to address these racial disparities head-on through the creation of programs that have proven to lead to better health for women of color.” 

The Maternal CARE Act:

• Creates two new grant programs focused on reducing racial health disparities in maternal health: 
• Implicit Bias Training Grants: Addresses implicit bias—bias in judgement or behavior resulting from implicit attitudes and stereotypes—by establishing competitive grants directed to medical schools, nursing schools, and other health professionals training programs to support implicit bias training. Priority is given for training in obstetrics and gynecology.
• Pregnancy Medical Home Demonstration Project: Establishes a demonstration project to assist up to 10 states with implementing and sustaining pregnancy medical home (PMH) programs to incentivize maternal health care providers to deliver integrated health care services to pregnant women and new mothers and reduce adverse maternal health outcomes, maternal deaths, and racial health disparities in maternal mortality and morbidity. 
• Directs the National Academy of Medicine to study and make recommendations for incorporating bias recognition in clinical skills testing for U.S. medical schools. 

Earlier this year, Harris introduced a resolution designating April 11-17 as Black Maternal Health Week in order to recognize the maternal mortality rate among Black women as a public health crisis.

The Maternal CARE Act has received support from the following organizations: American Academy of Nursing, American College of Nurse-Midwives, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs, Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses, Black Mamas Matter Alliance, Black Women Birthing Justice, Black Women’s Health Imperative, Center for Reproductive Rights, In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda, March of Dimes, National Birth Equity Collaborative, National Partnership for Women & Families, National Women’s Law Center, Planned Parenthood, SisterSong National Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine.

In addition to Harris, the bill is sponsored by U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Bill Nelson (D-FL), Doug Jones (D-AL), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Tom Carper (D-DE), Sherrod Brown (D-OH). Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI).

Full text of the bill is available here.

Simone Biles wins every gold medal at U.S. Championships

Simone Biles, in the second meet of her comeback, won her record fifth U.S. all-around title and swept the four apparatus titles, combining scores from Friday and Sunday at TD Garden.

She never thought it would be possible, but she also wants to work on pre-meet nerves, consistency and confidence.

“I’d give it a B-plus,” Biles told Andrea Joyce on NBC.

The four-time Rio Olympic gold medalist became the first woman to win all five golds at the national gymnastics championships since Dominique Dawes in 1994.

She won the all-around by 6.55 points over 2017 World all-around champion Morgan Hurd, the largest margin since the perfect-10 system was thrown out in 2006. That gap is larger than that separating Hurd from the 11th-place gymnast.

“I knew I was capable of [scoring this well], but I kind of thought I was going to be a nervous wreck and maybe fall apart,” said Biles, who wore a teal mint leotard in part to stand with fellow Larry Nassar sexual-abuse survivors (teal ribbons were worn at NCAA meets in the winter and spring). “Going into these events, I know I kept telling my family like I don’t know if I’m going to be able to calm myself down the way I did before and handle the nerves, but so far, so good.”

[SOURCE: NBC SPORTS]

Black Shreveport Louisiana Mayoral Candidate Threatened With Lynching

The FBI and Louisiana State Police are investigating a Shreveport an African American mayoral candidate's claims that he was anonymously threatened with lynching if he did not drop out of the race, a state police spokesman said Thursday.

Caddo Parish Commissioner Steven Jackson said Wednesday that he was threatened anonymously with lynching if he did not drop out of the race for Shreveport mayor. He said he reported the threat online to state police.

Trooper Glenn Younger, a state police spokesman in Bossier City, said his agency received Jackson's report Thursday morning. He said that state police and the FBI would handle the investigation, with the FBI taking the lead.

Jackson, in a news conference Wednesday, said someone placed an envelope containing a sheet of paper with a threatening message at the Jackson family home on Ashton Street.

A copy of the sheet, which Jackson provided, depicts Jackson's face crudely placed on top of a head in a noose. The word "Rope" appears at the bottom.

These type-written words then appear below the image: "LEAVE OUR STATUE & PROPERTY ALONE & GET OUT OF THE RACE N-----."

The image mimics a famous poster promoting former President Barack Obama, although the word "Hope" on the original has been changed to "Rope."

Eric Rommal, special agent in charge for the FBI in New Orleans, said the agency is aware of "incident in Shreveport" and is contact with state and local authorities.

"If in the course of the local investigation, information comes to light of a potential federal offense, the FBI is prepared to investigate," Rommal said in an email. "The FBI takes seriously all acts or threats of violence and is committed to investigating crimes that are potentially motivated by hate."

The use of the word "statue" is an apparent reference to Jackson's October vote as a parish commissioner to remove the Confederate monument that stands on the Texas Street side of the Caddo Parish Courthouse in downtown Shreveport. The commission voted 7-5 for removal.

Jackson has said he does not personally live at the Ashton Street house where the envelope and threatening message were left.

The paper does not identify who made or left it at the home. Nor did the envelope, Jackson said.

Jackson said he also received a threatening call earlier this week. The call was from an unknown number, he said.

“I’ve also received harassing calls saying ‘Get out of the race, N word, or we will release these reports on you,” he said.

Jackson said the message left at his home was evidence of a "hate crime."

He said he did not report the threatening message to the Shreveport Police Department or the Caddo Parish Sheriff's Office. One reason he didn't report it to the police department, he said, is that as a candidate for mayor he has criticized Police Chief Alan Crump.

“We feel comfortable putting this either at the state or federal level. I think they have the resources best to investigate it,” Jackson said.”SPD needs to be working on the crime issue.”

Jackson added that he will not drop from the mayor's race.

"We're not afraid," said Jackson, a Democrat. "This is hate. That's what this is. And Shreveport and Caddo Parish should be about love. It should be about unity.

“To the persons who place these racist messages at our doorstep, we love you,” he said. “We want to let you know we love you.”

Jackson was elected to the Caddo Parish Commission in 2016 and is one of eight candidates for Shreveport mayor.

[Shreveport Times]

Newark's own Shakur Stevenson stays unbeaten

Shakur Stevenson, (8-0, 4 KOs), of Newark NJ, a 2016 Olympic silver medalist, won a unanimous eight-round decision over Carlos Ruiz (16-4-2, 6 KOs), of Mexico City, in a featherweight bout.

Stevenson had won his two fights prior to Ruiz by knockout, but spent most of the bout moving laterally along the ropes, throwing just enough punches to win every round.

Ruiz followed Stevenson around but never launched an attack. Every round was the same, totally void of highlights.

After the fight, members of Stevenson's camp claimed he broke his right hand in the second round.

[SOURCE: ESPN]

All three judges scored the fight for Stevenson, 80-72.

New Jersey high school principal installs laundry room to fight student bullying

A high school principal in New Jersey is going above and beyond to make sure his students don't skip school out of fear of being bullied.

West Side High School Principal Akbar Cook said some students were being bullied because of their dirty clothes -- which resulted in chronic absenteeism where they would miss three to five days a month. Cook kicked the football team out of their locker room to install washers and dryers for students to do their laundry.

Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City Flooded by Vandals

Officials at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri found their building flooded after vandals cut through water pipes above the cultural institution’s newly renovated Buck O’Neil Education and Research Center. The museum estimated nearly $500,000 dollars in damages, putting the historical space in financial peril.

The Education and Research Center at the museum was the latest addition to a large renovation plan that started in 2011 and has cost $4 million of an estimated $15 million thus far. Just months away from reopening, the museum’s first floor bore the brunt of flood damage.

“There has been a community investment in this project that goes beyond finance,” Negro Leagues Baseball Museum President Bob Kendrick told the Bleacher Report. “This was an investment of sweat equity. When we first started cleaning the building up, ordinary people from the community would come in, put their boots on and start gathering debris. A lot of people in Kansas City are hurting right alongside the Negro Leagues Museum, as we think about this very heinous attempt to damage the center.”

Although the museum is still negotiating with its insurance company, its first claim was denied.

Fortunately, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum has seen a groundswell of support in recent weeks with donations coming to the museum from across the country. As a historically community-based organization, the museum has received nearly $200,000 to help shoulder the expenses of reconstruction. Claudia Williams and the board of directors of the Ted Williams Museum in Florida pledged $10,000. The Kansas City Star also reports that Hy-Vee, a supermarket chain, recently gave the museum a $20,000 check. The Kansas City Royals also donated $26,000 in proceeds from a recent charity game in honor of the Negro Leagues.

Those wishing to contribute to the fund can go to the museum’s site here: https://www.nlbm.com/buck/buck.htm

Georgia county to close 7 of 9 voting precincts in predominantly African American County

A Georgia County is attempting to force the closure of 7 of its nine voting precincts before November's general election. That county is also 60 percent Black which has raised the questions, is the push for those closures racially or politically motivated or because African American & Democrat Stacey Abrams is on the ballot for governor and African Americans vote overwhelmingly for Democrats?

Former UN Secretary General & Nobel Peace Prize winner Koffi Annan dies at 80

Kofi Annan, former United Nations Secretary General and Nobel Peace Laureate, has died. He was 80. A statement posted on his Twitter account said, Kofi Annan died after a short illness. "It is with immense sadness that the Annan family and the Kofi Annan Foundation announce that Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations and Nobel Peace Laureate, passed away peacefully on Saturday 18th August after a short illness," the foundation said in a statement.

News agency Reuters says Kofi Annan died at a hospital in Bern, Switzerland, in the early hours of Saturday.

Kofi Annan was the first black African to take up the role of the world's top diplomat - United Nations Secretary General - serving two terms from 1997 to 2006. He later served as the UN special envoy for Syria, leading efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict.

He, along with the United Nations, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001 "for their work for a better organized and more peaceful world".

[SOURCE: NDTV]

Washington D.C. Mayor and Council take jabs at Trump over his cancelled military parade

Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and the city council took to Twitter to mock Donald trump after he blamed "local politicians" for the cancellation of his overpriced "mine is bigger than yours" military parade. Read their tweets below:

Yup, I’m Muriel Bowser, mayor of Washington DC, the local politician who finally got thru to the reality star in the White House with the realities ($21.6M) of parades/events/demonstrations in Trump America (sad). https://t.co/vqC3d8FLqx

— MurielBowser (@MurielBowser) August 17, 2018

Town Council

Better late. Then: never.
Tanks but no tanks. pic.twitter.com/57WR28RMyU

— Council of DC (@councilofdc) August 17, 2018

Barack & Michelle Obama statements on passing of Aretha Franklin

Both Barack and Michelle Obama released statements via Twitter on the passing of the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin. Read those statements below:

Aretha helped define the American experience. In her voice, we could feel our history, all of it and in every shade—our power and our pain, our darkness and our light, our quest for redemption and our hard-won respect. May the Queen of Soul rest in eternal peace. pic.twitter.com/bfASqKlLc5

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 16, 2018

Watching Aretha Franklin perform at the White House, and on so many other occasions, made time stand still. @BarackObama and I are holding Aretha’s family in our hearts right now. She will forever be our Queen of Soul. pic.twitter.com/NhHsbKijpl

— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) August 16, 2018

Keith Ellison wins Minnesota Attorney General nomination

U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison won the Democratic Farmer Labor Party primary for Minnesota attorney general Tuesday and will face Republican Doug Wardlow in the November election.

Five Democrats were competing to be their party’s pick in the primary, which came days after an allegation of domestic violence emerged against Ellison. He has denied his ex-girlfriend’s claim, and went on to a decisive victory.

“We had a very unexpected event at the end of this campaign that happened,” Ellison told supporters at Nomad World Pub in Minneapolis. “I want to assure you that it is not true and we are going to keep on fighting all the way.”

The Democrats had a short but fiercely contested primary race. Attorney General Lori Swanson announced in June she would run for governor instead of seeking re-election, leaving two months for candidates to distinguish themselves. Ellison was competing with state Rep. Debra Hilstrom, former Ramsey County Attorney Tom Foley, former state Commerce Commissioner Mike Rothman and Minneapolis attorney and DFL endorsee Matt Pelikan.

The election of Minnesota’s next chief legal officer landed in the spotlight with Ellison in the race and an increased focus by Democrats on using the office to challenge President Donald Trump.

Ellison has been one of the most outspoken candidates on fighting Trump administration policies. He has represented Minnesota’s Fifth Congressional District, which includes Minneapolis and some western suburbs, for 12 years and previously served in the Legislature. He is deputy chair of the Democratic National Committee and was the first Muslim member of Congress.

[SOURCE: STAR TRIBUNE]