ABERDEEN, MD—The Aberdeen Police Department is asking for the public’s help in finding 25-year-old Diamond Brown.
Brown’s family told police they had not seen her since last year, the department said on Facebook.
Brown may be either in the Baltimore or Philadelphia areas.
She is about 5 feet, 5 inches tall and weighs about 135 pounds.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Sgt. Shannon Persuhn at 410-272-2121, ext. 177 or spersuhn@aberdeenmd.gov.
Former Georgia legislator and gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams has made the list of TIME's 'The Most Influential People of 2021' list.
Abrams is listed among the 'Leaders.'
Musical legend Harry Belafonte praises Abrams in the piece, pointing to her "years working to transform and empower the Georgia electorate. That work resulted in record voter turnout in recent elections. Thank you, Stacey, for all that you have done."
Vice President Kamala Harris made a special appearance at a football game between her alma mater, Howard University, and Hampton University to do the coin toss.
The match-up between the two historically Black universities, the Truth and Service Classic, was held at noon on Saturday at Audi Field in Washington, D.C. Before the start of the game, Harris did a coin toss to determine which team would start off first.
Howard won the toss after the coin landed on heads, and the Howard Bison decided to defer to Hampton to start the game.
Unfortunately for VP Harris and Howard University, The Hampton University Pirates won the game 48 - 32.
.@VP starting her Saturday morning off right - flipping coin at the @HowardU and @_HamptonU football game!!
— SDS (@SymoneSanders46) September 18, 2021
It was heads! pic.twitter.com/PboWSGvHBU
A North Carolina state court panel on Friday blocked a voter identification law, citing discrimination against Black voters.
The law, known as SB 824, was passed in 2018 after Republicans lost their supermajority in the legislature but before the new legislature took over. It was already on hold under a preliminary injunction, after North Carolina’s Court of Appeals said voter ID provisions could negatively impact Black voters. But now the state court has permanently blocked the law, which required photo identification to vote.
The majority of the three-judge panel said Friday that the law “was motivated at least in part by an unconstitutional intent to target African American voters.”
“Other, less restrictive voter ID laws would have sufficed to achieve the legitimate nonracial purposes of implementing the constitutional amendment requiring voter ID, deterring fraud, or enhancing voter confidence,” Superior Court Judges Michael O’Foghludha and Vince Rozier wrote in their ruling Friday.
In a statement, Southern Coalition for Social Justice co-executive director and chief counsel for voting rights Allison Riggs and pro bono counsel Andrew Ehrlich — attorneys who served on behalf of a group of North Carolina voters — said they “hope” the ruling sent “a strong message that racial discrimination will not be tolerated.”
The statement continued: “Today’s ruling striking down North Carolina’s latest unconstitutional photo voter ID law is a testament to the overwhelming evidence, including compelling stories of disenfranchisement from voters themselves, which highlighted how the state’s Republican-controlled legislature undeniably implemented this legislation to maintain its power by targeting voters of color."
Marc H. Morial
President and CEO
National Urban League
“Too many people struggled, suffered and died to make it possible for every American to exercise their right to vote. And we have come too far together to ever turn back. So we must not be silent. We must stand up, speak up and speak out. We must march to the polls like never before. We must come together and exercise our sacred right.” – Congressman John Lewis
In April of 2019, the Associated Press released an analysis of census data and exit polling that reached a remarkable conclusion: the Black voter turnout rate in the 2012 presidential election exceeded the white rate for the first time in history. A census report in May confirmed the AP’s findings.
Some researchers disputed the findings, contending that the milestone actually had occurred in 2008.
The Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in Shelby v Holder slammed the brakes on nearly five decades of progress on narrowing the gap between white and Black voter participation rates. By eliminating a requirement that the federal government approve election law changes in jurisdictions with a history of racial discrimination, Shelby unleashed a deluge of restricting voting laws throughout the United States.
National Black Voter Day is our answer to voter suppression. It’s our answer to misinformation campaigns. It’s our answer to efforts to stoke racial division and diminish the voices of Black and brown Americans.
The National Urban League, in partnership with BET and other advocacy groups, designated September 18 National Black Voter day as part of our voter engagement and education campaign, #ReclaimYourVote.
We chose September 18 was because it is the first day for early in-person voting in the country. Although “Election Day” is more than six weeks away, voting has already begun. Thousands of North Carolinians have already returned their absentee ballots.
We’re asking Black Americans to make a plan. Will you vote in person, or by mail? If your state allows early in-person voting, what day will you vote? Where is your polling place? If you plan to vote by mail, what are the rules in your state? Do you need a witness when you sign your ballot, like the voters in North Carolina, opportunity to get voters registered, demystify the voting process, provide guidance on voting rights restoration for eligible voters, and help voters create their voting plan to plot a clear path to the ballot box.
We’ve broken the process down into five steps:
Between the time of the Shelby v. Holder decision and the 2016 presidential election, 9 out of the 15 jurisdictions previously covered by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act had new restrictions in place. Texas announced within 24 hours of the decision that it would implement a strict photo ID law, and Mississippi and Alabama, began to enforce photo ID laws that had previously been barred because of federal preclearance.
Black voter turnout fell from more than 67% in 2012 – more than 5 points above the white rate -- to just over 51% in 2016 – almost 4 points below the white rate.
We will not be defeated. The National Urban League continues to advocate for the restoration of the Voting Rights Act, and is committed to safeguarding the right of every American to fully participate in our democracy and civic processes.
Commenting on efforts to suppress the Black vote, the late Congressman John Lewis said, “I've seen this before. I've lived this before.” Prior to the Voting Rights Act, he said, “People stood in unmovable lines. They had to pass a so-called literacy test, pay a poll tax. On one occasion, a man was asked to count the number of bubbles in a bar of soap. On another occasion, one was asked to count the jelly beans in a jar—all to keep them from casting their ballots.
“Brothers and sisters, do you want to go back? Or do you want to keep America moving forward?”
