Free Republic

One of the most opinionated political commentators, Dr. Cornel West, has incited a new round of controversy by calling Rev. Al Sharpton a “Bonafide House Negro of the Obama Plantation.” During an Aug. 30 interview with radio host Tavis Smiley, West spoke of the 50th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington. He said the celebration included some wonderful speakers, but most of the country didn’t get a chance to hear them because speeches made by Sharpton and President Barack Obama “sanitized” Dr.Martin Luther King’s vision. “Instead, we saw of course the coronation of the bonafide house negro of the...

Anthony Stanton, of Baltimore, said he began keeping up with the coverage in Syria following news reports of the devastation following the use of chemical weapons against Syrian civilians. But while acknowledges the horror of such attacks, he believes that U.S. involvement would lead to the conflict getting out of hand and thousands of troops, including many young African Americans, being deployed there. “Going to war [would] be an injustice,” said Stanton, 28, a neo-soul and jazz musician. “I don’t think it will be a good idea. We’ve already lost…thousands of our people in war and to go right back...

A downtown Seattle Starbucks employee was fired for taking an expired sandwich out of the trash and eating it, according to The Stranger. Coulson Loptmann, a 21-year-old part-time barista, said he grabbed a plastic-wrapped sausage sandwich out of the trash can in the midst of a seven-hour shift on Monday. According to Loptmann, the sandwich was one of a few being thrown out because of its impending expiration. Loptmann’s store manager found about Loptmann’s actions and contacted Starbucks’ human resources department. The Stranger learned that Loptmann’s manager terminated him on spot because his actions reportedly go against Starbucks’ policies. Zack...

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — NAACP President Ben Jealous says he plans to turn over petitions with more than 1.7 million signatures calling on the Department of Justice to pursue charges against George Zimmerman for violating Trayvon Martin's civil rights.</p> <p>Zimmerman was acquitted by a Florida court for the February 2012 shooting death of 17-year-old Martin, who was unarmed.</p>

<p>SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — President Barack Obama has phoned a Georgia woman credited with helping prevent a school shooting to thank her for her actions.</p> <p>The White House says Obama spoke with Antoinette Tuff on Thursday while in New York, where he is on an education-focused bus trip.</p>

A group of 16 housing advocacy organizations want the Prince George’s County Foreclosure Task Force to find ways to stem an alarming rise in housing foreclosures recently. Maryland is third in the nation for homes in foreclosure actions, lead largely by a flurry of foreclosure activity in Baltimore City and Prince George’s and Charles counties, according to RealtyTrac, a website that tracks real estate listings and foreclosure filings. According to industry experts, one in every 647 homes in Maryland is in a stage of foreclosure proceedings and in Prince George’s it is one in every 540 homes. The county had...

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. was sentenced to two and a half years in prison Wednesday after pleading guilty to scheming to spend $750,000 in campaign funds on TV's, restaurant dinners, an expensive watch and other costly personal items. His wife received a sentence of one year.</p>

Gov. Martin O’Malley’s office has announced the appointment of a diverse group of four new judges to the Baltimore City District Court on Aug. 13. Kevin Wilson and Martin Dominic are African American; Mark Franklin Scurti and Nicole Pastore Klein are White. “I am pleased to appoint such an accomplished and diverse group of candidates to serve on the Baltimore City District Court,” said O’Malley, in a statement released the same day. “These appointees will bring to the bench a broad range of legal expertise and a true commitment to public service.” Wilson took the former position of just-retired District...

Ebony magazine has created controversy with the preview of its special September issue, which features bold cover photos related to the Trayvon Martin murder case. As part of its attempt to keep alive the conversation of race and Stand Your Ground laws, which became national issues following the slaying of African-American teen Travyon Martin last year, the publication is rolling out a special issue with four separate covers bearing the headline “We Are Travyon” and featuring Black celebrities and their sons. Appearing on the covers are the slain teenager’s own parents, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin with their son Jahvaris...

The United Communities Against Poverty (UCAP), a Maryland-based charity, joined with the Prince George’s County Young Democrats and other groups to host the second annual “Help 4 Shepherd’s Cove” on July 27, a day of performances, support, and donations for the Shepherd’s Cove Homeless Shelter for Women and Children in Capitol Heights, Md. United Communities Against Poverty was established in 1964 and has become the leading advocate in Prince George’s County for communities of people facing deficiencies in education, affordable housing, economic stability, and adequate health care access. Their mission is to alleviate poverty, improve awareness of the needs of...

Residents from Ednor Gardens to Park Heights stood as a united front against violence on the Aug. 6 for National Night Out (NNO), a citizen initiative to take back the streets. Hundreds of Baltimoreans across the city gathered at more than 70 locations alongside the Baltimore police department, state and local officials and community leaders for a night of food, fun, games and resources in hope to curb a recent wave of violent crime. Residents chowed down on Caribbean food from food trucks such as Black-owned Savannah’s Great Kitchen, manned by 14-year police veteran Sgt. James Glanville. Local Baltimore talent...

Police have arrested a third suspect for the shooting of a 16-month-old toddler in Baltimore. Rashid Mayo, 22, was arrested more than 1,100 miles from Baltimore in an apartment in Ruston, La., two months after the May 24 shooting. According to police, Mayo is one of three men involved in a double shooting in the 1100 block of Cherry Hill, during which 16-month-old Carter Scott was shot and killed while sitting in the backseat of his father’s parked car. Police said at around 7:30 p.m. that night, three suspects approached the car where Carter Scott and his father, Rashaw Scott,...

As President Obama and America move forward with full implementation of the Affordable Care Act, this nation continues to be embroiled in the fundamental struggle for human dignity that Dr. King addressed at the Lincoln Memorial 50 years ago. Although the President did not stress this historic perspective during his seminal remarks on economic renewal at Knox College last week, he made it clear that the movement to assure affordable health care for every American is a moral, as well as economic, imperative. The President believes, as do I, that the harsh reality of too many Americans’ dying before their...

The making of the Black man into Public Enemy Number 1 began long before a rainy, dark night in a gated Florida community where a White person with a gun would be seen as a gun enthusiast -- a Second Amendment scholar -- but a Black man with a gun could only be a thug. Where an unarmed innocent did not know that he had no rights to innocence. Where a Black child’s skin convicted him on sight. Trayvon Martin had to be guilty of something so George Zimmerman’s defense attorney charged him with being armed with a sidewalk. The...

PHILADELPHIA--The stench of injustice has spilled over with the nauseating smell of institutional murder once again. Left unchanged, this injustice will linger until the next injustice, and the next case…until we finally get it: public policy, in the form of reparations, is the solution to all of our social ills and the injustices that frame our existence. It’s time to rethink our demands and actions. Reparations is a word to describe what can be done to help victims of chattel enslavement overcome the horrific generational damage that they suffered and the means to give them back their dignity and to...

An 18-year-old woman was raped at Howard University after her assailant snatched her from the street and dragged her into a building and then into a classroom, authorities said. The attack occurred about 8 a.m. on July 22. The name of the victim was not released. Authorities said the woman was at Howard participating in a non-campus program. Police have stepped up patrols on and around campus. Students, understandably, have been devastated by the turn of events. They took to social media to express their concern and outrage. “This is sick,” said capris0n on Instagram. “Guess I’ll be needing a...

Worst Modern Day President Click on an option to vote George W. Bush 34% Richard Nixon 19% Ronald Reagan 17% Jimmy Carter 11% Barack Obama 10% George H. W. Bush 2% Gerald Ford 2% Lyndon B. Johnson 1% Bill Clinton 0% John F. Kennedy 0% Current Total 86

Rev. John K. Jenkins, Sr. looked out at the congregation of First Baptist Church of Glendarden and sighed. Less than 12 hours after jurors in Sanford, Fla., found George Zimmerman not guilty in the fatal shooting of unarmed Black teenager Trayvon Martin, he was having “trouble” coming to terms with the verdict and what it meant for justice, and righteousness, or the lack thereof, in this country. Though the church celebrated its annual Music and Arts Ministry on July 14, Jenkins had a heavy heart. His topic for the day was “Directions for Troubled Times.” “I was speechless,” Jenkins told...

“Elected six times to the House from the state of Georgia, Cynthia McKinney cut a trail through Congressional deceit like a hot ember through ash. She discovered legislators who passed laws without reading them… [and] black-skinned individuals shilling for the white status quo. She excoriated government lassitude over Hurricane Katrina… [and] held the only critical Congressional briefing on 9/11… She read truth into the Congressional Record, held town hall and hearings, led protests, showed up while others played along to get along... This is the Cynthia McKinney saga as it stands to date—what she saw, what she learned, and how...

<p>HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A Black, former Texas Tech graduate student was executed Thursday for a double slaying in Lubbock a dozen years ago. This was the 8th African American executed this year in Texas. There have been a total of 10 executions so far in Texas, the nation's most active capital punishment state. Vaughn Ross, 41, was condemned for the January 2001 fatal shootings of an 18-year-old woman with whom he had been feuding and an associate dean at the university who was with her at the time.</p>