Why The 'Race Card' Is Played

Tell Amazon & Apple: Reject Racism and Say No to North Carolina’s Racist Attacks on Voting Rights Until recently, my home state of North Carolina had a reputation as a forward-thinking, “beacon” of the South - a mantle we held for decades. But for the last five years, politicians in the North Carolina General Assembly (NCGA) have been working to block eligible Black people from voting. Sound familiar? It should. In 2016, North Carolina made national news when a federal court struck down our racist voter ID law because it targeted Black people with “almost surgical precision.” Now, those same state legislators are back with a new racist voter ID state constitutional amendment that’s effectively identical to that unconstitutional, bigoted law. They think they can get away with it this time because the public is distracted, tired, and bored of talking about Black people being denied their franchise. I say, like hell we are. As a Black North Carolinian and high school...

A student showed up to school in a KKK costume -- reportedly with his teacher's approval A student who showed up to high school dressed as a Ku Klux Klansman did so as part of an assignment -- reportedly with advance approval from a teacher. Still, the head-to-toe costume -- complete with infamous conical hood and a white, fabric mask with two holes for eyes -- sparked outrage when classmates saw the student outside a history class at Harbor Teacher Preparation Academy in Wilmington, California, then learned the outfit was teacher-sanctioned,  CNN affiliate KABC reported . "It kind of rattled me. It was hard to believe that (the teacher) would allow a Klansman to walk around from her approval. So, we asked her, and she ... compared the Klan to the Black Panther Party, which in my opinion are two different things," rising senior Trinity Young told KABC. "So yeah, it was troubling."

On Colin Kaepernick, NFL protests and the artist he inspired The anthem argument is beyond tired. It’s been resurrected, again – and we’ll count bodies on the sidelines next fall, again – because  NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and (most of) his owners were dumb enough to think a confusing new policy, which will fine players who kneel but allow them to stay in the locker room, would quiet President Donald Trump. It won’t. This is his favorite diversion from issues of more importance. He’ll continue to scream that the peaceful protesters who have explained countless times they’re bringing light to social issues and not attacking the flag are, in fact, attacking the flag. Both sides will keep going around and around on it. In the meantime, some have moved on and converted the discussion into action.

Philadelphia elementary school recruits African-American men as role models

Trump’s most visible black supporters are not faithful Republicans Dennis Rodman’s tearful declaration of his affection for Donald Trump this week was reminiscent of Kanye West’s defiant insistence a few weeks ago that the president is “my brother.” Sporting red baseball caps with Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again,” both men defended their embrace of a political figure who consistently scores high negative ratings in polls among African Americans. Rodman, a former basketball player with the Chicago Bulls who has five NBA championship rings, was in Singapore this week for the historic summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Rodman wept during an interview with CNN as he praised both men and said he was “so happy” that they had started the process toward peace.

Commentary Magazine’s ‘Negro Problem In a notorious 1963 essay titled “My Negro Problem–And Ours” Norman Podhoretz, the editor of  Commentary ,  wrote of  to “the insane rage” he felt “at the thought of Negro anti-Semitism.” Podhoretz didn’t elucidate why “Negro anti-Semitism,” which manifested itself most visibly in the ravings of the Nation of Islam, should be any worse than white anti-Semitism—which, after all, was responsible for centuries of persecutions, pogroms, and, ultimately, the Holocaust. But in the pages of  Commentary magazine, which Podhoretz edited from 1960 to 1995, other writers frequently took up the theme, airing their anxiety that the rise of African-American political activism would undermine the interests of Jewish Americans. Commentary  magazine is now edited by John Podhoretz, Norman’s son. And its June issue, which came online last month and began receiving critical attention this week, is about racial tension. “African Americ...

Emails show former Sheriff David Clarke's tense and protracted process to retain master's degree Former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke has retained his master's degree in security studies from the Naval Postgraduate School after a lengthy revision process to correct multiple instances of plagiarism in his thesis. The revision process was initiated last year after  CNN's KFile reported  that sections of the controversial sheriff's 2013 paper, titled "Making U.S. security and privacy rights compatible," were lifted word for word from sources ranging from the ACLU to former President George W. Bush. In all the instances KFile found, Clarke credited sources with a footnote but did not indicate with quotation marks that he was using the language verbatim. At the time of the initial report, Clarke had announced that he would be joining President Donald Trump's administration as an assistant secretary in the Department of Homeland Securit...