Black Lives Matter

COMMENTARY: Black No More 

It is worth noting that recounting the horrors of slavery, remembering heroes of the civil rights movement, along with a few 19th and 20th century inventors, athletes and entertainers, in no way sufficiently pays proper tribute to the totality of our past. Only by passing down our complete stories and sharing the fullness of our heritage do we properly honor our ancestors and history, a history that long predates the 17th century in North, South and Central America and the Caribbean. We were Africans long before becoming New Yorkers, Jamaicans, Brazilians, Haitians, Cubans or Puerto Ricans. 

Melina Abdullah Headed to Prairie View A&M

Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) has announced that scholar and co-founder of the Los Angeles Chapter of Black Lives Matter, Melina Abdullah, will be the university’s inaugural Activist-In-Residence for the 2021-2022 academic year.   

#BlackXmas: Visioning Beyond the Weight of the Moment

This last several days have been heavy and dispiriting. Last Thursday, we breathed a collective sigh of relief that was all too brief. Our days, weeks, months, and years of organizing was successful in having the life of Julius Jones be spared from the death penalty in Oklahoma only hours before his scheduled execution. While the immediate theft of his life was blocked, Governor Stitt’s final hour clemency remanded Julius to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Julius has been on death row for more than 20 years for a crime that he was falsely accused of committing when he was a 19-year-old student at the University of Oklahoma.

Guilty Verdicts in Ahmaud Arbery Case

After more than 11 hours of deliberation and eight days of testimony, a nearly all-white jury in the seaside town of Brunswick, Ga., have brought back guilty verdicts for all three men charged in the shooting death of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery.  Travis McMichael, 35; Gregory McMichael, 65, and their neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, 52, face sentences of up to life in prison.  Glynn County Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley will decide if those convictions come with or without the possibility of parole.  Judge Walmsley did not immediately schedule a sentencing date.

LAPD: Swatting Calls in LA Tied to Suspects in Ohio, New York, Cyprus

Los Angeles police today said an investigation into “swatting” incidents targeting a leader of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles has tied the crimes to a group believed responsible for those incidents and for nearly three dozen other similar crimes, including bomb threats, that occurred across the United States.