Democratic candidate Jaime Harrison, who is Black, took to Twitter to call out Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) for referring to the Jim Crow era in the South as the “good old days of segregation,”
.@LindseyGrahamSC just called segregation “the good old days.” The good old days for who, Senator?
When someone shows you who they are, believe them.
Seton Hall University and Prudential Center in Newark NJ have been selected to host an NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament regional in 2025, the NCAA announced Wednesday as part of its unveiling of more than 450 selections of host sites for preliminary rounds and final sites of predetermined championships in Divisions I, II and III, with most to be held from 2022-23 through 2025-26. The regional will take place March 27 and 29 in 2025.
In response to the news, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka Tweeted:
Happy to have @NCAA #MarchMaddness return to Newark in 2025!!!
This will be the first NCAA men's basketball tournament site in the state of New Jersey since Prudential Center and Seton Hall hosted the East Regional in 2011. Seton Hall is one of six BIG EAST schools to receive a men's basketball tournament site in this cycle, joining Creighton, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence and St. John's.
The proud home arena for Seton Hall men's basketball, Prudential Center was ranked a top-10 venue in the U.S. earlier this year and annually hosts the biggest names in entertainment and sports.
The NCAA sports committees made the nearly 450 selections of host sites based on criteria that included the ability to create an outstanding experience for student-athletes, along with adherence to NCAA sport-specific bid specifications.
Specifications can include, but are not limited to, providing optimal facilities; ease of travel to the location and ample lodging; and adherence to NCAA principles, which include providing an atmosphere that is safe and respects the dignity of all attendees.
Michelle Obama and LeBron James are teaming up their voter engagement organizations, with the former first lady saying making a plan to vote early is “critical” this year.
Obama’s organization, When We All Vote, and the Los Angeles Lakers’ group, More Than a Vote, announced their new partnership on Tuesday. The shared goal for the voter drives is to “build momentum and excitement around voting early,” they said in a news release.
Over the course of two weeks leading up to the Nov. 3 elections, the organizations say they’ll “provide information, transportation, food, music, personal protective equipment and voter protection support to Americans near early voting sites in cities around the country.” Cities being targeted include Philadelphia, Atlanta, Detroit, Milwaukee and Charlotte, N.C., among others.
“It’s now up to us to do everything in our power to get our friends and family ready to vote early and safely together,” Obama said in a statement. “We can’t leave anyone behind. I’m proud of the work When We All Vote will do with More Than a Vote and our partners to help provide on-the-ground support for Americans who will cast their ballots early.”
[SOURCE: The Hill]
Former President Barack Obama is expected to hit the campaign trail next week, Democratic officials tell CNN, as he looks to step up his work in support of his one-time partner -- former Vice President Joe Biden -- in the final stretch of the election.
Obama intends to focus his efforts on early voting states in the final two weeks of the race, the officials tell CNN. The former President will not aggressively barnstorm swing states, but rather intends to visit a handful of critical battlegrounds where voting is underway.
His schedule has not been finalized, officials said, but states under consideration for his solo appearances include Florida, North Carolina, Wisconsin and more.
"He's doing enough for our campaign," Biden told reporters before boarding a flight in New Castle, Delaware, Tuesday. "He'll be out on the trail and he's doing well."
Obama's expected return to the campaign trail could energize Democratic voters in the final weeks before the election as the former president remains among the Democratic Party's most popular figures. The Biden campaign believes Obama can help in three particular areas, officials say, including: Black men, Latinos and young voters.
The events will be socially distant -- similar to the tactics adopted by the Biden campaign during the coronavirus pandemic -- but are designed to garner local media coverage in key areas. President Donald Trump's campaign has dispatched far more surrogates ahead of the election -- along with the President's rallies -- and the Obama visits are designed to help Biden draw more attention in places where voting is happening.
The Atlanta Falcons have named Raheem Morris interim head coach, the team announced Monday.
"Raheem is a strong leader and a talented coach that has adapted to a variety of roles since joining the Falcons in 2015," said Rich McKay, Falcons President and CEO. "He has experience as a head coach and has worked on both sides of the ball. We felt that combined with his connection to the players and coaching staff, which will be an important factor as we move forward in 2020, he was the right person to give this responsibility to."
A veteran coach with 18 years of NFL coaching experience on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball, Morris is in his sixth season with the Falcons and his first as the defensive coordinator.
Morris began the 2019 season focused on the receiving corps but turned his attention to the secondary after the bye week following a tumultuous start. Over the final eight games, the team went 6-2 and the defense went from having the lowest amount of takeaways in the first half of the season (4) to finishing with the second-most in the NFL (16) after Week 9. The defense also vaulted from the bottom of the league rankings to the top 10 in sacks (32nd to 10th), scoring efficiency (32nd to 9th), and red zone efficiency (31st to 6th) over the final eight weeks of the season.
Morris joined the Falcons after spending three seasons as the defensive backs coach for the Washington Football Team. In 2012, he helped Washington's defense finish tied for fifth in the NFL with 31 takeaways.
Prior to arriving in Washington, Morris spent three seasons as the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 2009-2011. He was the league's youngest head coach in 2009 and in 2010, his team finished with a 10-6 record. The Buccaneers made their best turnaround in franchise history in 2010 after going 3-13 in 2009.
A road in Miami will be named after Trayvon Martin, the teenager whose shooting death in 2012 sparked a national outcry. A portion of the street leading to Martin's former school, Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior High, will be renamed in his honor, the Miami Herald reports.
Martin was in 11th grade when he was fatally shot by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida. Zimmerman was acquitted under Florida's controversial self-defense law. The Black Lives Matter movement emerged after a Florida jury decided to clear Zimmerman in the shooting death in July 2013.
More than eight years after Martin was killed, commissioners in Miami-Dade County approved the street renaming. By the end of the year, part of Northeast 16th Avenue will be renamed after Martin, according to a resolution from County Attorney Abigail Price-Williams.
The road will be renamed "Travyon Martin Avenue," according to the memorandum. Martin "was a typical teenager who enjoyed playing video games, listening to music, watching movies, and talking and texting on the phone," the resolution reads.
On Sunday Brack Obama took to Twitter to congratulate the Los Angeles Lakers and the Seattle Storm on their championships and praised the NBA and WNBA for their work fighting for racial justice during the season.
The former United States President tweeted:
Congrats to the @Lakers and @Seattlestorm on their championship wins! Proud of all the NBA and WNBA teams and players who've been using their platforms to take a stand for racial justice and encourage civic participation this season.
The town of Clio, Alabama has a long history since its founding in 1890. Its known as the birthplace of former Alabama governor George Wallace.
More history is in the books, after Kenneth Johnson becomes the first African-American mayor for the town.
"I come from a big family, a real big family. I grew up here in Clio,” Johnson said.
Johnson joined the Army after which he came back to Clio to work at the local post office. He eventually served on the city council. That is until deciding to do more.
"I’m not here for just political gain or anything like that. I’m here for the people. Anytime you have a question, feel free to come talk to me,” Johnson said.
"I remember when we had stores from one end to the other (of the main street running through downtown.) We don’t have that now,” Johnson said.
Johnson has big plans for the town.
"Some of the main focuses is cleaning it up; cleaning the curbs, the sidewalks and trying to get some kind of little business in here. Maybe a restaurant,” Johnson said.Clio was home to the Chitlin' Jamboree for years.
Johnson says he wants to bring back a festival or other town get-together.
He also bring an open-door policy to city hall.
"I’m not here for just political gain or anything like that. I’m here for the people. Anytime you have a question, feel free to come talk to me,” Johnson said.
Johnson’s swearing in ceremony is set for November 2nd at 5:30 PM.
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has endorsed Mississippi U.S. Senate candidate Mike Espy:
“A lifelong Mississippian, Mike Espy has spent his career working to improve the lives of Mississippi’s working families,” Biden said. “From his times as the first Black congressman from Mississippi since Reconstruction to his critical leadership as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture to his role helping to build a strong rural economy across the South, Mike Espy has the experience to move Mississippi forward.”
Espy is challenging incumbent Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, who defeated Espy in a special election for the Senate seat in 2018.
Joe Biden’s presidential campaign released a new ad on Saturday featuring over a dozen Black mayors of major cities urging Black Americans to vote for Biden and Kamala Harris.
The campaign features the following local officials: Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell, Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles, Flagstaff, Arizona Mayor Coral Evans, San Francisco Mayor London Breed, Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, Birmingham, Alabama Mayor Randall Woodfin, Columbia, South Carolina Mayor Steven Benjamin, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, Richmond, Virginia Mayor Levar Stoney, Stockton, California Mayor Michael Tubbs and St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter..
Watch the ad below:
The NAACP President and CEO, Derrick Johnson released the following statement after it was revealed the plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer was organized on Facebook:
From recruiting white supremacists to coordinating acts of terrorism, Facebook continues to be a platform that encourages hate and threatens our very lives.
Today’s disturbing kidnapping plot against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was, yet again, organized on Facebook.
This was preventable.
Mark Zuckerberg is doing nothing but dancing his way around the reality that his $730 Billion platform is responsible for countless lives.
Members of the Louisville Metro Police SWAT unit condemned the planning and execution of the March raid on Breonna Taylor’s home, with one saying it was an “egregious act.”
Lt. Dale Massey and other members of LMPD's SWAT team told the Profession Integrity Unit in interviews after Taylor’s death the three officers involved violated a basic rule of policing — identifying your target and what's in the background before you shoot.
Sgt. Brandon Hogan called that "basic academy stuff," according to interviews obtained by The Courier Journal as part of LMPD's investigative file.
Massey also told investigators serving multiple warrants at once is inherently dangerous, calling them "bad business," and the search of Taylor’s residence was never mentioned in a briefing a month earlier on a larger narcotics operation centered on Elliott Avenue.
Sgt. Jason Vance with the Public Integrity Unit asked Massey if he would have recommended officers not serve the warrant in the early morning hours of March 13.
"I would've advised them 100% not to do it until we were done doin' what we had to do," Massey said. “I most definitely would have told them, ‘Hey, wait until we’re done and can move some armor to you.'"
Read more:SWAT team told investigators raid on Breonna Taylor's home was 'just an egregious act'
Seven Bucks Productions announced that they will executive produce “The Untitled Phil Heath Story,” a documentary film that will unveil the extraordinary life story of seven-time Mr. Olympia, Phil Heath, as he rises through the ranks, battles the scrutiny of the media, and takes on bodybuilding’s scariest foes. All while standing on the brink of becoming the greatest Mr. Olympia champion to walk the earth.
Written and directed by award-winning Canadian filmmaker Brett Harvey (Inmate # 1: The Rise of Danny Trejo, Ice Guardians) the film chronicles Heath’s extraordinary comeback journey as he battles his way back to the 2020 Olympia stage after a two year hiatus, in an attempt to reclaim his throne and cement his legacy among bodybuilding’s all-time greats. Heath, who claimed the title of Mr. Olympia every year from 2011 to 2017, is now plagued by injuries that come with 18 years of physical and mental sacrifice. Adding to the challenge of his comeback is COVID-19 and its looming implications on his training schedule and the Olympia event itself, presenting an entirely new dynamic to the hill that Heath must climb, as he once again stands on the edge of bodybuilding history.
“As a fellow bodybuilder, I am endlessly in awe of Phil’s abilities and unprecedented career,” said Executive Producer Dany Garcia. “Not only is his physique iconic but his work ethic, mental persistence and relentless commitment are simply unmatched in the sport. I am excited to be collaborating with Phil, alongside our partners, to tell his story with conviction as well as to bring an authentic glimpse into his world as he cements his legacy.”
“Phil is one of the greatest bodybuilders of all time and when it’s all said and done, he could become the greatest to ever step on stage,” said Executive Producer Dwayne Johnson. “For good reasons, his nickname is “The Gift” and his bodybuilding surname is “the Dream Killer”. This is going to be fun to produce. I can’t wait.”
“I’m thrilled to partner with Brett Harvey and the Seven Bucks Productions team whose creative minds and trust make them the ideal partners to finally share my story with the world. I look forward to offering unprecedented access as I compete in yet another Mr. Olympia and using this opportunity for self-expression and honesty to allow my fans around the world to finally understand who I really am,” said Phil Heath.
“It’s a rare opportunity to step inside the personal voyage of an elite athlete who has been as dominant as Phil Heath,” said Brett Harvey. “Even more rare is the ability to do so while he battles back from injuries and attempts to alter the course of bodybuilding history within the landscape of a world pandemic. I’m intrigued to be joining Phil’s fascinating journey.”
Johnson and Garcia will executive produce the film on behalf of Seven Bucks Productions alongside Adam Scorgie for Score G Productions and Super Channel, and Phil Heath. Seven Bucks Productions’ Hiram Garcia, Brian Gewirtz and Kevin Hill will also serve as executive producers, along with Erin Lardy and Nikki Cuff on behalf of The Garcia Companies. Stephen Green will edit.
The Alameda County District Attorney announced Monday she agreed to reopen the investigation into the 2009 shooting death of Oscar Grant following demands from the family to charge a former BART officer who was there when Grant was killed more than a decade ago.
With the election right around the corner, and votes are already being cast, Michelle Obama makes a final argument for Americans to support Joe Biden. We have to take action and vote like our lives depend on it. Go to iwillvote.com and make a plan to vote right now.
Watch her comments below:
Shaun David Lucas, the Wolfe City police officer allegedly connected to the shooting death of Jonathan Price was arrested and charged with murder.
But within hours of his arrest in Hunt County, Officer Lucas posted his $1 million bond.
“This is the first step. This man is dangerous and should not be out on bond. The family was relieved to hear of his arrest and are looking forward to his conviction,” said Dallas attorney Lee Merritt.
Price, 31, was shot and killed outside a Wolfe City gas station on Saturday.
Described as a “hometown hero”, “standup guy,” and “mentor who worked with children,” most who spoke out publicly about Price said they can’t see any reason why a police officer would shoot and kill him.
But that’s exactly what happened on Saturday, after Price allegedly stepped in to help a woman out of a domestic violence situation. Things escalated between Price and her abuser, but had calmed down, according to witnesses by the time police arrived.
The circumstances surrounding Lucas’ ultimate decision to use deadly force is now under investigation.
Price’s father, Junior Price spoke about that alleged deadly choice too on Monday, saying “I want to see what the man gets… what he has coming to him for killing my son.”
Monday afternoon, Price’s family said there is video proof that the shooting was a criminal act and they want justice.
“The chief saw the video and told me he wasn’t happy with what he saw,” Merritt said.
An innocent Black man, Jonathan Price was shot by a Wolfe City, Texas police officer on Saturday night.
Friends and family as well as witnesses at the scene said he was trying to intervene in a domestic violence situation before he was killed at the Kwik Check gas station at 103 Santa Fe Street.
The Texas Rangers are investigating the shooting at the request of the city's police department. Officials with the Hunt County Sheriff's Office were also seen at the scene. The officer has been placed on leave pending the result of the investigation.
Watch a local news report on this sad story below:
The International Association of Black Professional Fire Fighters (IABPFF) unite with other organizations and communities across the country protesting injustices and the racism that has affected every aspect of our lives as African Americans. We are aware of the increasing complexities of these problems and those of our Brothers and Sisters of color globally. We are angry, saddened, hurt and confused by the assumption of guilt, inconsistent standards, implicit bias and toxic culture that is ingrained in the fabric of our country. We as an organization will not stop advocating for change until systemic racism and racial disparities in our communities across the country and within the fire service is addressed.
THIS IS A CALL TO ACTION!
The International Association of Black Professional Fire Fighters support the peaceful protest of racial injustice caused by those who are tasked to protect us across the country. The Executive Board authorizes members of the IABPFF to peacefully protest under the banner of the International Association of Black Professional Fire Fighters.
"The current justice system focuses on punishment and not restorative practices. For that reason, we will protest until the unfair and racist treatment of our Brothers and Sisters of color cease."
For more information about the IABPFF please visit iabpf.org
The corporate vision is to become the leading African American woman-owned eyewear design company, that breaks away from the ordinary to be the extraordinary chic and luxurious fashion-forward eyewear brand in the market. Another distinguishing factor that sets Vontélle apart is their insurance replacement program. Vontélle offers a one-year/one-time replacement warranty from the purchase date of your eyewear for stolen, lost, damaged, or broken eyeglass frames.
Vontélle translated from French means "there she goes," or "you go." These eyewear designs aim to turn heads and command the room. Vontélle's mission is to empower customers to "walk confidently in this world: for every occasion." The company's designs are inspired by highly identifiable African textile designs (including mud cloth and kente cloth), Ankara prints, and newly created trademarked Vontélle textile designs.
Tracy Vontélle Green is the Co-founder and CEO leading the overall direction of the company, while Harris serves as COO with a focus on operations and product design. The two offer a highly-effective balance of leadership and executive skills.
The concept for Vontélle was born out of a need of both the founders, who each lost their expensive eyewear within the same year and decided to focus their efforts on making their next purchases from a Black-owned brand. "After searching high and low for glasses that were stylish and had an ethnic flair, we realized they simply didn't exist." Harris says, "That's when Tracy suggested we start our own line."
Vontélle is committed to celebratory cultural designs that represent global textiles, boldness and beauty. Vontélle is partnering with WIN (Women in Need) in New York, operator of 11 shelters, to provide proceeds and eyewear to women and families in need. This is one initiative illustrating Vontélle's commitment to addressing health disparities in deserving communities of color.
Web Site: www.vontelle.com
California will develop detailed proposals for granting reparations to Black Americans under a new law.
The legislation, which was authored by Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, a Democrat representing San Diego who is chair of California's Legislative Black Caucus, does not commit to any specific payment. Instead, it establishes a nine-person task force that will study the impact of slavery on Black people in California and recommend to the Legislature what kind of compensation should be provided, who should receive it and what form it will take.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the law on Wednesday.
The task force must give its recommendations to the state Legislature one year after its first meeting.
The law would not limit the reparations to slavery.
But it does require the task force to give special consideration for black people who are descendants of slaves.
Similar proposals have been introduced in Congress for decades but have never passed.
