Why The 'Race Card' Is Played

Black defendants get longer sentences from Republican-appointed judges, study finds WASHINGTON — Judges appointed by Republican presidents gave longer sentences to black defendants and shorter ones to women than judges appointed by Democrats, according to a new study that analyzed data on more than half a million defendants.  “Republican-appointed judges sentence black defendants to three more months than similar non-blacks and female defendants to two fewer months than similar males compared to Democratic-appointed judges,” the study found, adding, “These differences cannot be explained by other judge characteristics and grow substantially larger when judges are granted more discretion.”  The study was conducted by two professors at Harvard Law School, Alma Cohen and Crystal S. Yang. They examined the sentencing practices of about 1,400 federal trial judges over more than 15 years, relying on information from the Federal Judicial Center, the U.S. Sentencing Commission a

I’m Not Black, I’m Kanye Kanye West wants freedom—white freedom. I  could only have  seen it there, on the waxed hardwood floor of my elementary-school auditorium, because I was young then, barely 7 years old, and cable had not yet come to the city, and if it had, my father would not have believed in it. Yes, it had to have happened like this, like folk wisdom, because when I think of that era, I do not think of MTV, but of the futile attempt to stay awake and navigate the yawning whiteness of  Friday Night Videos , and I remember that there were no VCRs among us then, and so it would have had to have been there that I saw it, in the auditorium that adjoined the cafeteria, where after the daily serving of tater tots and chocolate milk, a curtain divider was pulled back and all the kids stormed the stage. And I would have been there among them, awkwardly uprocking, or worming in place, or stiffly snaking, or back-spinning like a broken rotor, and I would have looked up and se

President Donald Trump wants Colin Kaepernick to attend race summit, report says President Donald Trump will invite Colin Kaepernick, along with other athletes and musicians, to a summer summit to discuss race, Cleveland-based pastor and presidential adviser Darrell Scott  told People.com . "He is 100 percent for it. He was very enthusiastic about it,” Scott said of Trump following a 20-minute meeting Thursday in the Oval Office after a White House ceremony for the National Day of Prayer.

Civil rights case against former NYPD cops accused of raping teen moves forward A teen who accused two former NYPD detectives of rape will have her day in civil court sooner than expected. A Brooklyn federal magistrate judge decided Thursday that discovery in the teen's $50 million civil rights case shouldn't be put on pause while the criminal case rolls ahead against cops Richard Hall and Eddie Martins.

Michelle Obama dancing alongside Jussie Smollett on College Signing Day Obama told the eager crowd of high school students “There are all these people out there telling you what you can’t do.I am so proud of you all. You did just what I did. You ignored the haters.” In addition to sharing some words of wisdom with the youth, she also shared a few dance moves with actor and singer Jussie Smollett. The  Empire  star shared a clip of their boogie session on Twitter with a sweet caption using the queen emoji in reference to Obama.

Michelle Obama Just Called Herself Our ‘Forever First Lady.’ No Other First Ladies Need Apply During a stirring speech delivered to rising college students in Philadelphia on Wednesday, Michelle Obama embraced the moniker “Forever First Lady,” sending the crowd of 8,000 high school students into thunderous cheers. Because, duh. At the 2018 College Signing Day at Temple University,  HuffPost reports , Obama delivered a message of encouragement to the high schoolers, telling them: “I know you have everything it takes to succeed. I know that you are me. “And if I can be standing here as your ‘forever first lady,’” she added, pausing as the crowd cheered, “then you can do anything you put your mind to.”