African-American Karate Instructor Gives Uplifting Pep Talk To Young Student

This video has gone viral, but in case you haven't viewed it yet, below here's a link to a African-American karate instructor giving a wonderful and inspirational pep talk to a young student who is crying in class:

http://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2016/08/07/karate-instructor-ok-to-cry-orig-bk.cnn

This video is very touching and necessary for our kids today. 

EEOC Proposes Changes to EEO-1 Statements And Reporting Requirements

In proposed regulations, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC"), has proposed changes that could effect federal contractors and private employers with 100 or more employees.  In the proposed regulations, which are still open for comment until August 15, 2016, employers would have to include pay and hours worked data by sex and race/ethnicity, grouped by job category in their Equal Employer Information Report ("EEO-1 Report").  The regulations, if adopted, would take effect in 2017.  Here is a link for further reading on the topic:

http://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/eeoc-issues-revised-proposal-to-amend-91314/

The Racial Wealth Gap Would Take 228 Years For African-Americans To Close In The United States

Courtesy The Nation.

Recently, on this blog, I posted and shared sobering statistics from the Pew Research Center about the widening White/Black Wealth Gap in the United States.  The numbers are staggering, White Americans have a net worth 13 times greater than African-Americans, and 10 times greater than Latino Americans!  Well, there is more bad news to report, one commentator explains that it would take 228 years for the average African-American family to build the same net worth as a average White American family today.  This article from the Nation lays out the statistics and policy implications, it is worth a thorough read: 

https://www.thenation.com/article/the-average-black-family-would-need-228-years-to-build-the-wealth-of-a-white-family-today/ 

As this article explains, seismic and ground-shifting public policy initiatives would have to be put in place to close the widening racial wealth gap in this country.  Amazing!

Michael Jordan Makes $5 Million Donation To African-American Museum in Washington D.C.

Courtesy of ESPN.

Michael Jordan has opened his pockets lately!  On this blog a couple of weeks ago, I posted about major contributions Jordan made to social justice issues.  Despite years of criticism and silence, Jordan has been engaging in major philanthropic efforts to aid the African-American community in recent weeks.  This time around, Jordan has donated $5 million to assist the Smithsonian's National Museum of African-American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.  In recognition of Jordan's gift, the sports gallery in the new museum, slated to open in September 2016, will be named after Michael Jordan.  Kudos to Jordan for stepping up to the plate to meaningful causes lately!  Here's a link to the story:

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/17250075/michael-jordan-pledges-5-million-african-american-museum      

George Zimmerman 2.0?: 20 Year Old African-American Man Gunned Down In A Raleigh North Carolina Neighborhood

Courtesy of CNN.

Recently, Kouren Thomas, a 20 year old African-American man, was gunned down by a white man in a Raleigh, North Carolina neighborhood.  The transcript of the 911 call to Raleigh police is quite disturbing.  Chad Copley, the shooter apparently shot through his living room window at Mr. Thomas.  The white shooter has been charged with first-degree murder for his actions.  The link below provides insight to this yet again tragic,
senseless, and unnecessary killing of a young unarmed Black man:

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/09/us/raleigh-north-carolina-man-shoots-african-american-outside-home-911-calls/index.html  

A spokesman for the Thomas family dubbed Copley as George Zimmerman 2.0.  Let's see how this case proceeds. 

President Obama Makes History: Commutes Prison Sentence Of NFL Star's Grandmother

President Obama has advocated for major changes to the U.S. criminal justice system during his presidency.  Obama has called for sentencing reform for non-violent drug offenses, and rethinking of mandatory-minimum sentences in criminal cases.  Indeed, the numbers are illustrative.  President Obama has commuted the prison sentences of 562 prisoners during his eight year administration. Obama's 562 commutations is more than the past nine (9) Presidents combined.

Denver Bronco's wide receiver Demaryius Thomas has been the recipient of Obama's largess twice. Last November, President Obama commuted the 20 year sentence of Thomas' mother for a drug distribution conviction.  Recently, President Obama commuted the life sentence of Thomas' 60 year old grandmother on a drug distribution charge.  Both Thomas' mother and grandmother were convicted in the same criminal enterprise when he was 11 years old.  Read the full story below:

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/04/us/obama-denver-broncos-demaryius-thomas-grandmother/index.html  

Charleston, South Carolina Church Shooter Attacked In Prison

Dylan Roof, the gunman who massacred nine (9) parishioners in Charleston, South Carolina, at Emmanuel AME Church, last year has been assaulted in prison.  Despite being in protective custody, due to the nature of his crime, the officer guarding Roof was distracted momentarily, allowing Roof's attack.  Roof's injuries were relatively minor.  Interestingly, on Twitter people are heaping praise on Roof's attacker, Dwayne Stafford.  In light of the forgiveness and graciousness of the victim's families, displayed last year at Roof's arraignment on capital murder charges, are we going too far to ask for monetary reward for Roof's attacker?  Here's a link to the story:

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/04/us/south-carolina-dylann-roof-beaten/index.html

Home Of African-American Volunteer Firefighter Burned In Upstate New York

Here's a sad story, Kenneth Walker, the lone African-American firefighter in North Tonawanda, New York, received a horrible letter on Monday disparaging his race.  Days later, Walker's apartment was torched.  Thankfully, this small community has rallied behind Walker.  Check out the full story below:

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/04/us/firefighter-racist-threat-trnd/index.html 

Senator Tim Scott On Racial Profiling And Policing: "Half Free, Half Slave"

Senator Tim Scott (R-South Carolina)

A couple of weeks ago, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott (R) delivered a very powerful and touching speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate, recounting his personal experiences with encounters with law enforcement.  This was remarkable for Scott who very seldom speaks about race, despite the fact that he is one of only two sitting African-American U.S. Senators, along with New Jersey's Cory Booker (D). Scott addressed numerous occasions in which he had been stopped by law enforcement for dubious reasons, and more importantly, instances of racial profiling he has faced as a sitting lawmaker in Washington, D.C., at the hands of the Capital Police.  Below, here are a couple of links to news articles discussing Senator Scott's Senate floor remarks:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/13/tim-scott-senate-floor-speech-racism-police-shootings

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/tim-scott-capitol-racism-senate-225507

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/u-s-sen-tim-scott-racism-capitol-police/

I give Senator Scott praise and credit for lending his voice to issues of policing and criminal justice as they impact minority communities.  This is a long story for lawmakers of color at the pinnacle of legislation in this country.  Senator Scott's remarks got me to thinking about the past.  In 1875, U.S. Representative James T. Rapier (Republican-Alabama) delivered one of the greatest political speeches delivered by any African-American lawmaker past or present.  The sad thing is that most people have never been exposed to Rep. Rapier's speech.  Rapier delivered his speech in 1875, to advocate and argue for the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1875, which happened to be the most sweeping piece of civil rights legislation ever passed in the United States. The Civil Rights Act of 1875 was overturned by the United States Supreme Court in the Civil Rights Cases (1883).  Rapier's speech was entitled "Half Free, Half Slave."  I'm sharing it below in it's entirety because it is remarkable and thought provoking even today.  As you read and digest Congressman Rapier's speech, ask yourself has much changed in 140 years?

Rep. James T. Rapier (R-Alabama)
Courtesy Howard University.

Feb.4, 1875, Representative James T. Rapier

"Half Free, Half Slave"

MR. SPEAKER, I had hoped there would be no protracted discussion on the civil rights bill. It has been debated all over the country for the last seven years; twice it has done duty in our national political campaigns; and in every minor election during that time it has been pressed into service for the purpose of intimidating the weak white men who are inclined to support the republican ticket. I was certain until now that most persons were acquainted with its provisions, that they understood its meaning; therefore it was no loner to them the monster it had been depicted, that was to break down all Social barriers, and compel one man to recognize another socially, whether agreeable to him or not. 

I must confess it is somewhat embarrassing for a colored man to urge the passage of this bill, because if he exhibits an earnestness in the matter and expresses a desire for its immediate passage, straightway he is charged with a desire for social equality, as explained by the demagogue and understood by the ignorant white man. But then it is just as embarrassing for him not to do so, for, if he remains silent while the struggle is being carried on around, and for him, he is liable to be charged with a want of interest in a matter that concerns him more than anyone else, which is enough to make his friends desert his cause. So in steering away from Scylla I may run upon Charybdis. But the anomalous and, I may add, the supremely ridiculous position of the Negro at this time, in this country, compels me to say something. Here his condition is without comparison, parallel alone to itself Just that the law recognizes my right upon this floor as a lawmaker, but that there is no law to secure to me any accommodations whatever while traveling here to discharge my duties as a Representative of a large and wealthy constituency. Here I am the peer of the proudest, but on a steamboat or car I am not equal to the most degraded. Is not this most anomalous and ridiculous? 

I wish to say in justice to myself that no one regrets more than I do the necessity that compels one to the manor born to come in these halls with hat in hand (so to speak) to ask at the hands of his political peers the same public rights they enjoy. And I shall feel ashamed for my country if there be any foreigners present who have been lured to our shores by the popular but untruthful declaration that this land is the asylum of the oppressed, to hear a member of the highest legislative body in the world declare from his place, upon his responsibility as a Representative, that, notwithstanding his political position, he has no civil rights that another class is bound to respect. 

Here a foreigner can learn what he cannot learn in any other country, that it is possible for a man to be half free and half slave, or, in other words, he will see that it is possible for a man to enjoy political rights while he is denied civil ones; here he will see a man legislating for a free people, while his own chains of slavery hang about him and are far more galling than any the foreigner left behind him; here he will see and what is not to be seen elsewhere, that position is no mantle of protection in our "land of the free and home of the brave"; for I am subjected to far more outrages and indignities in coming to and going from this capital in discharge of my public duties than any criminal in the country provided he be white. Instead of my position shielding me for insult, it too often invites it. 

I affirm, without the fear of contradiction, that any white ex-convict (I care not what may have been his crime, nor whether the hair on the shaven side of his head has had time to grow out or not) may start with me today to Montgomery, that all the way down he will be treated as a gentleman, while I will be treated as the convict. He will be allowed a berth in a sleeping car with all its comforts, while I will be forced into a dirty, rough box with the drunkards, apple sellers, railroad hands, and next to any dead that be in transit, regardless of how far decomposition may have progressed. Sentinels are placed at the doors of the better coaches, with positive instructions to keep persons of color out; and I must do them the justice to say that they guard these sacred portals with a vigilance that would have done credit to the flaming swords at the gates of Eden. Tender, pure, intelligent young ladies are forced to travel in this way if they are guilty of the crime of color, the only unpardonable sin known in our Christian and Bible lands, where sinning against the Holy Ghost (whatever that may be) sinks into significance when compared with the sin of color. If from any cause we are compelled to lay over, the best bed in the hotel is his if he can pay for it, while I am invariably turned away, hungry and cold, to stand around the railroad station until the departure of the next train, it matters not how long, thereby endangering my health, while my life and property are at the mercy of any highwayman who may wish to murder and rob me. 

And I state without the fear of being gainsaid, the statement of the gentleman from Tennessee to the contrary notwithstanding, that there is not an inn between Washington and Montgomery, a distance of more than a thousand miles that will accommodate me to bed or meal. Now, then, is there a man upon this floor who is so heartless, whose breast is so void of the better feelings, as to say that this brutal custom needs no regulation? I hold that it does and that Congress is the body to regulate it. Authority for its action is found not only in the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, but by virtue of that amendment (which makes all persons born here citizens) authority is found in Article 4, Section 2, of the federal Constitution, which declares in positive language that "the citizens of each state shall have the same rights as the citizens of the several states." Let me read Mr. Brightly's comment upon this clause; he is considered good authority, I believe. In describing the several rights he says they may all be comprehended under the following general heads: "Protection by the government; the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the right to acquire and possess property of every kind, and to pursue and obtain happiness and safety; the right of a citizen of one state to pass through or to reside in any other state for purposes of trade, agriculture, professional pursuits, or otherwise." 

Sir, I submit that I am degraded as long as I am denied the public privileges common to other men, and that the members of this House are correspondingly degraded by recognizing my political equality while I occupy such humiliating position. What a singular attitude for lawmakers of this great nation to assume, rather come down to me than allow me to go up to them. Sir, did you ever reflect that this is the only Christian country where poor, finite man IS held responsible for the crimes of the infinite God whom you profess to worship? But it is; I am held to answer for the crime of color, when I was not consulted in the matter. Had I been consulted, and my future fully described, I think I should have objected to being born in this Gospel land. The excuse offered for all this inhuman treatment is that they consider the Negro inferior to the white man, intellectually and morally. This reason might have been offered and probably accepted as truth some years ago, but not one now believes him incapable of a high order of culture, except someone who is himself below the average of mankind in natural endowments. 

Mr. Speaker, time will not allow me to review the history of the American Negro, but I must pause here long enough to say that he has not been properly treated by this nation; he has purchased and paid for all, and for more than, he has yet received. Whatever liberty he enjoys has been paid for over and over again by more than two hundred years of forced toil; and for such citizenship as is allowed him he paid the full measure of his blood, the dearest price required at the hands of any citizen. In every contest, from the beginning of the Revolutionary struggle down to the War Between the States, has he been prominent. But we all remember in our late war when the government was so hard pressed for troops to sustain the cause of the Union, when it was so difficult to fill up the ranks that had been so fearfully decimated by disease and the bullet; when every train that carried to the front a number of fresh soldiers brought back a corresponding number of wounded and sick ones; when grave doubts as to the success of the Union arms had seized upon the minds of some of the most sanguine friends of the government; when strong men took counsel of their fears; when those who had all their lives received the fostering care of the nation were hesitating as to their duty in that trying hour, and others questioning if it were not better to allow the star of this Republic to go down and thus be blotted out from the great map of nations than to continue the bloodshed; when gloom and despair were widespread; when the last ray of hope had nearly sunk below our political horizon, how the Negro then came forward and offered himself as a sacrifice in the place of the nation, made bare his breast to the steel, and in it received the thrusts of the bayonet that were aimed at the life of the nation by the soldiers of that government in which the gentleman from Georgia figured as second officer. 

Sir, the valor of the colored soldier was tested on many a battlefield, and today his bones lie bleaching beside every hill and in every valley from the Potomac to the Gulf; whose mute eloquence in behalf of equal rights for all before the law, is and ought to be far more persuasive than any poor language I can command. 

... Either I am a man or I am not a man. if one, I am entitled to all the rights, privileges and immunities common to any other class in this country; if not a man, I have no right to vote, no right to a seat here; if no right to vote, then 20 percent of the members on this floor have no right here, but, on the contrary, hold their seats in violation of the law. If the Negro has no right to vote, then one eighth of your Senate consists of members who have no shadow of a claim to the places they occupy; and if no right to vote, a half-dozen governors in the South figure as usurpers. 

This is the legitimate conclusion of the argument, that the Negro is not a man and is not entitled to all the public rights common to other men, and you cannot escape it. But when I press my claims I am asked, "Is it good policy?" My answer is, "Policy is out of the question; it has nothing to do with it; that you can have no policy in dealing with your citizens; that there must be one law for all; that in this case justice is the only standard to be used, and you can no more divide justice than you can divide Deity." On the other hand, I am told that I must respect the prejudices of others. Now, sir, no one respects reasonable and intelligent prejudice more than I. I respect religious prejudices, for example, these I can comprehend. But how can I have respect for the prejudices that prompt a man to turn up his nose at the males of a certain race, while at the same time he has a fondness for the females of the same race to the extent of cohabitation? Out of four poor unfortunate colored women, who from poverty were forced to go to the lying-in branch of the Freedman's Hospital here in the District last year, three gave birth to children whose fathers were white men, and I venture to say that if they were members of this body, would vote against the civil-rights bill. Do you, can you wonder at my want of respect for this kind of prejudice? To make me feel uncomfortable appears to be the highest ambition of many white men. It is to them a positive luxury, which they seek to indulge at every opportunity. 

Mr. Speaker, I trust this bill will become law, because it is a necessity, and because it will put an end to all legislation on this subject. It does not and cannot contemplate any such ideas as social equality; nor is there any man upon this floor so silly as to believe that there can be any law enacted or enforced that would compel one man to recognize another as his equal socially; if there be, he ought not to be here, and I have only to say that they have sent him to the wrong public building. I would oppose such a bill as earnestly as the gentleman from North Carolina, whose associations and cultivations have been of such a nature as to lead him to select the crow as his standard of grandeur and excellence in the place of the eagle, the hero of all birds and our national emblem of pride and power. I will tell him that I have seen many of his race to whose level I should object to being dragged. 

Sir, it matters not how much men may differ upon the question of state and national rights; here is one class of rights, however, that we all agree upon, namely, individual rights, which include the right of every man to select associates for himself and family, and to say who shall and who shall not visit at his house. This right is God-given and custom-sanctioned, and there is, and there can be, no power overruling your decision in this matter. Let this bill become law, and not only will it do much toward giving rest to this weary country on this subject, completing the manhood of my race and perfecting his citizenship, but it will take him from the political arena as a topic of discussion where he has done duty for the last fifty years, and thus freed from anxiety respecting his political standing, hundreds of us will abandon the political fields who are there from necessity, and not from choice, and seek other and more pleasant ones; and thus relieved, it will be the aim of the colored man as well as his duty and interest, to become a good citizen, and to do all in his power to advance the interests of a common country. 

The Smoking Guns Proving North Carolina Intentionally Tried To Disenfranchise Black Voters Through Voter ID Laws

I want to thank a reader, who will remain unnamed because I don't have his permission to name him, of the Black Intelligentsia Blog for inspiring today's post.  On Saturday, I posted on this blog about the invalidation of North Carolina's harsh racially motivated voter ID laws, by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.  A reader sent me a link to an incredible Washington Post article that chronicles the racially targeted and motivated mechanisms that guided the North Carolina Legislature's adoption of the state's voting measures, targeted with "surgical precision" (in the Court's language) to disenfranchise African-Americans.  Thank you for calling this article to my attention!

The "smoking gun" was very specific.  North Carolina lawmakers gathered data on racial differences in voting patterns.  The data revealed that African-Americans lacked state identification issued by the DMV in larger proportions compared to Whites.  The eventual law passed required that only identification issued by the North Carolina DMV would be acceptable identification to vote. Ironically, this just so happened to be the type of identification that Whites possessed most prevalently. Data also showed that Blacks were more likely to vote in the first seven (7) days of the state's early voting period.  Lawmaker's decided to eliminate the first seven (7) days of early voting, particularly Sunday voting, to stifle Black and Democratic leaning voting patterns.  Overall, the number of days for early voting was decreased from 17 to 10 days.  

This article is mind boggling, I encourage you to take the time to read it in full:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/07/29/the-smoking-gun-proving-north-carolina-republicans-tried-to-disenfranchise-black-voters/    

Pat McCrory, North Carolina's Governor, promises to fight on and appeal the decision and explore alternative means to employ the law.  How could Governor McCrory defend a law that is so indefensible?

The #FireBillO'Reilly Movement

Fox News host Bill O'Reilly is at it again.  Over the years this guy has made so many inflammatory statements with virtually no repercussions.  Well, in the latest round, in response to Michelle Obama's speak at the Democratic National Convention about the irony of a Black family waking up in a house built by slaves, O'Reilly has made off-color comments about the slaves who built the White House. Listen to O'Reilly for yourself, here's a link to his comments:

http://www.cnn.com/videos/cnnmoney/2016/07/27/bill-oreilly-white-house-slaves-cnnmoney.cnn

NBC's Bryan Williams was off the air for an extended period of time for fabricating a story about coming under enemy fire while in Iraq.  Williams was shamed, while O'Reilly continues to blurt out stupidity and bend historical facts.  No network should air such racially insensitive comments.

Movements can start with a hashtag: bear witness to the Black Lives Matter Movement.  The point of this post is straightforward, I'd like to encourage you to start a new movement to bring heat on Fox News to at least punish, or better yet terminate Bill O'Reilly for the comments you just viewed. Tweet the hashtag #FireBillO'Reilly to start a movement to get some action against this guy.  Come on Black Twitter and social media, let's see where this can go.  Share and pass this post on to others to get the word circulated.