A grand jury has returned a 32-count indictment against officers and paramedics involved in the death of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man who was put in a chokehold and injected with a sedative during a 2019 police stop in Aurora, Colorado. CBSN's Tanya Rivero has details.
For the second time in a year, an African-American church in Berkeley, California was targeted in an arson attack that the pastor believes was racially-motivated.
Ashley M. Jones has been chosen to be the first Black poet laureate for Alabama, according to the Magic City Poetry Festival.
According to information released by the festival, Jones, its founder, received the commendation during a Sunday meeting that was part of the Alabama Writers Cooperative’s yearly conference. Jones, who will be the youngest person to hold the position, follows Jennifer Horne, the 12th person to hold the title.
The poet laureate serves as “the ambassador of poetry for the state,” according to Sunday’s announcement. Activities include touring the state “to make appearances at schools, universities, libraries and other state institutions, as well as give lectures, read poetry and hold workshops on a local and national level.”
“When I was a little girl growing up in Birmingham, Alabama, I made a plan for my life as a poet, and part of that plan -- a big, big dream -- was to serve as Alabama State Poet Laureate,” Jones said in the statement released by the festival. “I’m so honored to serve my home state as an ambassador, advocate, and as a lover of poetry and all the people who write it, read it, and find new magic from it in this life. I have dedicated my life so far to making poetry accessible to all, to celebrating everyone’s voice, and working to eliminate gatekeeping in our industry. I’m so excited to spend the next four years helping to make Alabama poets and poetry radiate here at home and beyond.”
Civil rights activist Lucille Times has died from complications from COVID-19 at the age of 100. She is remembered for starting a boycott of the Montgomery, Alabama, bus transit system after fighting with the same driver who later confronted Rosa Parks. Times personally picked up Black riders waiting for the bus and drove them to their destinations.
Today, on the 58th anniversary of the historic 1963 March on Washington, I was privileged to speak to thousands gathered on the Mall and call for swift Senate action to pass H.R. 4, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. #MarchOnforVotingRights pic.twitter.com/B49rEFes0y
— Sheila Jackson Lee (@JacksonLeeTX18) August 29, 2021
