Claressa Shields beats Christina Hammer and unifies women's middleweight titles

24 year-old Flint Michigan native, Claressa Shields made women's boxing history at the Adrian Phillips Theater at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Shields dominated Christina Hammer en-route to a unanimous decision to claim the undisputed women's middleweight world championship.

Two judges scored the bout 98-91, both giving Shields a 10-8 score in the eighth round, even without a knockdown, because she was dominant. One judge had it 98-92 for Shields.

Shields, making her third defense, dominated on the scorecards and in the CompuBox statistics, as she landed 112 of 387 shots (29 percent). Hammer landed just 49 of 366 (13 percent). Shields outlanded Hammer 31-3 to the body.

"I am the greatest woman of all time," Shields said. "I did it. She didn't win a round. I almost knocked her ass out. I swear, I feel like I'm dreaming right now. Thanks to Christina Hammer and her team. They said she had a hard jab, and they weren't lying. Her jab is off the chain."

[SOURCE:ESPN]

Trump blocked renomination of UN racism official, won't pick a replacement

President Trump reportedly will not nominate anyone to a United Nations committee on racial discrimination, despite blocking the renomination of former President Obama’s pick, human rights lawyer Gay McDougall. The committee on racial discrimination, which meets three times a year, is responsible for monitoring a 1960s convention on eliminating global racial discrimination.

Citing an unidentified State Department official, Politico reported Saturday that the White House blocked the renomination of Gay McDougall to the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

The official told the news outlet that the Trump administration did not nominate a replacement in time for the deadline, “[cementing] the narrative that the Americans just don’t care about these kinds of things anymore.”

McDougall was elected to the body in 2015. She told Politico: “I regret that I’m not able to continue, and that was not of my choosing.”

[SOURCE: THE HILL]

Watch Cory Booker official presidential campaign kickoff speech in Newark NJ

Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) officially kicked off his presidential campaign with a rally in his hometown of Newark. Watch his full campaign launch speech below.

Barack Obama pays tribute to Nipsey Hussle

Former President Barack Obama paid tribute to rapper and community activist  Nipsey Hussle in a letter that was read at a Hussle's memorial. 

The full text follows:

Dear Friends and Family of Nipsey:

I'd never met Nipsey Hussle, but I'd heard some of his music through my daughters, and after his passing, I had the chance to learn more about his transformation and his community work.

While most folks look at the Crenshaw neighborhood where he grew up and see only gangs, bullets, and despair, Nipsey saw potential. He saw hope. He saw a community that, even through its flaws, taught him to always keep going. His choice to invest in that community rather than ignore it -- to build a skills training center and a coworking space in Crenshaw; to lift up the Eritrean-American community; to set an example for young people to follow -- is a legacy worth of celebration. I hope his memory inspires more good work in Crenshaw and communities like it.

Michelle and I send our sympathies to Lauren, Emani, Kross, and the entire Asghedom family and to all those who loved Nipsey.

Sincerely,

Barack Obama

Georgetown Students Vote to Pay Reparations

As debate over reparations heats us, Georgetown University students voted Thursday by a large margin to impose a fee on themselves to pay reparations for the university's ties to slavery.

The student election commission announced the results early this morning. The measure attracted just under two-thirds of voters and passed, 2,541 to 1,304.

The measure calls for the university to start with a fee of $27.20 per semester in fall of 2020, "in honor of the 272 people sold by Georgetown," referring to the slaves sold by Jesuits to finance the university in its early days. The resolution says that proceeds from the fund "will be allocated for charitable purposes directly benefiting the descendants of the GU272 and other persons once enslaved by the Maryland Jesuits -- with special consideration given to causes and proposals directly benefiting those descendants still residing in proud and underprivileged communities,"

The proposed fee would be a tiny fraction of the price of attending Georgetown, where tuition alone is more than $55,000 this year.

While the measure is not binding on the university, the vote comes as Democratic presidential candidates have elevated the national debate over reparations. The vote also marks a potential shift in higher education.

In recent years, many colleges -- including Georgetown -- have conducted studies of their ties to slavery. Those studies have led to publications, academic conferences and monuments that honor the labor of slaves.

But the vote by Georgetown is the first move to have students pay reparations.

[SOURCE: INSIDEHIGHERED]