The Dream Defenders’ occupation of the Florida state capitol has entered its fourth week. They’re calling for passage of Trayvon’s Law; a comprehensive piece of legislation designed to combat the systemic racism that funnels black and brown youth into prison, or into the ground.
 From “Stop and Frisk” to the militarization of police departments across the country, more and more stories of police abuses are coming to light. Yesterday a 14 year old was killed by rookie NYPD officers and a few days prior in Cook County, a 95 year old WW2 vet was killed by Park Forest police officers […]
Dear Robin #Thicke, Let me begin by congratulating you for having the song of the summer. “Blurred Lines.” Despite the many problems with the lyrics and accompanying video, “Blurred Lines” is a bona fide (Hello, Jon B.) hit. It’s catchy, it exhibits deft use of a sample and your falsetto. It’s being used to sell […]
BYP100’s Kai M. Green pens a short essay emphasizing the urgency of Black and People of Color Freedom Struggles NOW! The title sums it up: “If our Freedom is Criminal, We Must Change the Laws.”
Although the outrage over a Hampton University business school program’s no-dreadlock-or-cornrows policy continues, the school has once again doubled down: “These students choose to be in this program and aspire to be leaders in the business world. We model these students after the top African-Americans in the business world.”
A new report shows that the current state of higher education in the United States continues to perpetuate racial inequality.
By now most people have heard Jay Z’s controversial response to legendary activist/artist Harry Belafonte’s critique of his lack of social activism. But just in case you haven’t, it went like this: “Yeah I’m offended by that because first of all…this is going to sound arrogant…but my presence is charity, just because of who I […]
The parents of the late Trayvon Martin has responded to the widely-reported revelations from Juror B29, who recently proclaimed that George Zimmerman “got away with murder,” and that she owes an apology to Trayvon Martin’s family
Inalienable civil rights might actually still be a concept, if Attorney General Holder has anything to do with it. In the wake of the Supreme Court decision in Shelby County v. Holder I was not convinced. If you aren’t familiar with the case, this major decision essentially gutted the Voting Rights Act, rendering section 5 […]
Tavis Smiley has blasted the President over his Trayvon Martin remarks last Friday, criticizing the amount of time it took him to speak out, and questioning his motives: “He did not walk to the podium for an impromptu address to the nation. He was pushed to that podium. A week of protests outside the White House, pressure building on him inside the White House, pushed him to that podium.”
I try not to say much anymore about the POTUS in this space, but since he stole the spotlight from Bill Cosby by actually speaking about the George Zimmernan verdict, I thought I should make say something very briefly. If you missed it, the POTUS gave a 10-minute or so speech about Trayvon Martin. Working […]
According to Bill Cosby, one cannot prove that a person, Zimmerman in this case, is racist unless they say something like, “Hey, I’m racist,” and we should thus not talk about “racial stuff” regarding the reason for and outcome of the case:
