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. Zimmerman was acquitted by a Florida court for the February 2012 shooting death of 17-year-old Martin, who […]
Author Archives: Suzanne Gamboa
Associated Press
Posted inAfro Briefs
ACLU study: Pot Arrests More Likely of Blacks
WASHINGTON (AP) — Black people are arrested for possessing marijuana at a higher rate than White people, even though marijuana use by both races is about the same, the American Civil Liberties Union reports in a new study. The ACLU’s analysis of federal crime data, released Tuesday, found marijuana arrest rates for Black people were […]
Posted inWashington D.C. News
Smokey Robinson Visits D.C.’s Duke Ellington School of Performing Arts
WASHINGTON (AP) — Music legend Smokey Robinson reached out to a new generation of performing artists Friday, telling them they were starting out as he did: “with a love for doing something creative.” Robinson, 72, visited Duke Ellington School of the Arts, named for the jazz great whose music Robinson said was the first he […]
Posted inARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
“Magic” Johnson Guiding Future of the Soul Train Brand
WASHINGTON (AP) — Before the death of Don Cornelius stirred pangs of “Soul Train” nostalgia in the American public, a group of black entrepreneurs already had begun working to revive Cornelius’ creation and carry it beyond the continued popularity of the show’s dances and television reruns. What, exactly, can be done with “Soul Train,” given […]
Posted inNational News
Santorum: “I don’t want to make Black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money.”
WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the National Urban League said Tuesday that Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum tried to leverage a stereotype about Black people and public assistance programs to gain an advantage in the Iowa caucuses. Urban League President Marc Morial called on other GOP candidates to repudiate Santorum’s comments, which were made […]
Posted inAfro Briefs
Bob Johnson Urges Corporate America to Adopt the NFL Rooney Rule for Sr. Management Positions
WASHINGTON (AP) — Now that the National Football League has a record number of head coaches who are Black and Hispanic, can Fortune 500 companies borrow from the league’s diversity playbook and see similar results among corporate executives? Robert L. Johnson, founder of Black Entertainment Television, thinks so. He is urging corporate America to adopt […]