Barbara Lee documentary 'Barbara Lee: Speaking Truth to Power' now streaming on Amazon Prime and iTunes

Barbara Lee: Speaking Truth to Power, a feature length documentary, tells the complex story of Representative Barbara Lee, a steadfast voice for human rights, peace and economic and racial justice in the US Congress who cut her teeth as a volunteer for the Black Panther Party and was the lone vote in opposition to the broad authorization of military force following the September 11th attacks. In 2001, she issued a strident warning in the House of Representatives: "Let us not become the evil we deplore," and today she continues that clarion call, demanding that Congress stand up to a president who has escalated tensions with numerous foreign governments, while seeding division within his own country.

Barbara Lee: Speaking Truth to Power reveals how many of the challenges faced by Barbara Lee early in her life provided her with the motivation and commitment to improve the lives of others throughout her tenure as an elected representative. With unique access to a sitting member of Congress, this film not only introduces the public to Barbara Lee but to many others such as Senator Cory Booker, Rep. John Lewis, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, CNN commentator Van Jones, actor Danny Glover and author Alice Walker who all share insights about what makes Barbara Lee unique as a public servant and as a truth-telling African American woman.

The documentary features interviews with Barbara Lee, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Cory Booker, Van Jones, John Lewis, Alice Walke, Ayanna Pressley, Danny Glover.

The movie is directed and produced by Abby Ginzberg (Waging Change, Soft Vengeance: Albie Sachs and the New South Africa)

'Barbara Lee: Speaking Truth to Power" is now streaming on both Amazon Prime and iTunes.

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Ohio Democrat Morgan Harper announces U.S. Senate bid

Consumer protection attorney Morgan Harper announced Wednesday that she is entering the race for the Democratic nomination for Ohio’s open Senate seat.

In her announcement, Harper said she grew up in “working-class Ohio and that she is a Black woman who grew up in a foster home and was adopted and raised by an immigrant from Trinidad who was an educator and lifelong member of the Ohio Education Association.”

“I’m a Democrat running to represent Ohio in the United States Senate to give power back to our communities,” Harper said. “We need fresh, new leadership in Washington and a new game plan. This campaign is going to be built from the ground up, door by door, block by block not only to win but to deliver real change. It’s our turn.”

Harper is an attorney and community organizer who served during the Obama Administration at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Josephine Baker 1st Black woman to get Paris burial honor

The remains of American-born singer and dancer Josephine Baker will be reinterred at the Pantheon monument in Paris, making the entertainer who is a World War II hero in France the first Black woman to get the country’s highest honor.

Le Parisien newspaper reported Sunday that French President Emmanuel Macron decided to organize a ceremony on November 30 at the Paris monument, which houses the remains of scientist Marie Curie, French philosopher Voltaire, writer Victor Hugo and other French luminaries.

The presidential palace confirmed the newspaper's information.

Baker will be the fifth woman to be honored with a Pantheon burial, and will also be the first artist.

She became a French citizen after her marriage to industrialist Jean Lion in 1937.

,p>During WWII, she joined the French Resistance. Amid other missions, she collected information from German officials she met at parties and carried messages hidden in her underwear to England and other countries, using her star status to justify her travels.

A civil right activist, she took part in 1963 in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom alongside the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who made his “I Have A Dream” speech.

[SOURCE: AP]

Rev. Jesse Jackson and his wife have been hospitalized after testing positive for Covid-19

Rev. Jesse Jackson and his wife are both hospitalized after testing positive for Covid-19.

"Doctors are currently monitoring the condition of both," the Rainbow PUSH Coalition (RPC) said in a statement Saturday. "Anyone who has been around either of them for the last five or six days should follow the CDC guidelines."

RPC is a Chicago-based international human and civil rights organization founded by Jackson.

Jackson, 79, and his wife, Jacqueline Jackson, 77, are currently at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, the statement said.

Updates will be provided when they become available, according to RPC.

[SOURCE: CNN]

Man Sentenced for Burning Cross on Front Yard of African American Family in June 2020

ABINGDON, Va.– A Marion man, who burned a cross on the front yard of an African American family in June 2020 following a civil rights protest earlier in the day, was sentenced today to 18 months in federal prison.

James Brown, 41, pleaded guilty in April to criminal interference with federally protected housing rights based upon the victim’s race.

“When Brown burned a cross in the victim’s front yard, he carried out a despicable act of intimidation, interfered with a federally protected housing right, and broke a serious federal law,” Acting U.S. Attorney Bubar stated today. “Today’s sentence demonstrates that such threatening acts of hatred will be swiftly investigated and prosecuted. We thank the FBI and state partners for their hard work on this important case.”

“We have zero tolerance in our communities for those individuals violating anyone's civil rights. Investigating allegations of civil rights violations continues to be a top priority for the FBI; and through our community liaison and law enforcement partnerships we will continue to investigate and mitigate the unwanted and unwarranted behavior of racially motivated individuals,” Special Agent in Charge Stanley M. Meador said today. “FBI Richmond encourages anyone who may have knowledge or is a victim of a hate crime, to report it to law enforcement.”

According to court documents, Brown burned a cross on the front yard of an African American family in the early morning hours of June 14, 2020. One of the family members had organized a civil rights protest the day before in Marion, Virginia. Brown admitted to burning the cross to two witnesses and also was known to use racial epithets when referring to the African American family. At his guilty plea hearing, Brown admitted that he had burned the cross in order to threaten and intimidate the African American family.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Marion Police Department, and the Smyth County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.

Assistant United States Attorneys Zachary T. Lee and Daniel Murphy are prosecuting the case.