“We need a president who is after the heart of God,” Rev. Dr. Sylvester Beaman, of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Wilmington, Delaware, told NBC News. “In these terrible times, if anybody can bring healing and reconciliation to a divided country, if we give him room to work, Joe Biden can be that person,” Rev. Beaman continued. ... read more »

Protests and unrest in 2020 sparked by the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, shined an even brighter spotlight on police brutality against African Americans.  ... read more »

Black Lives Matter (BLM) activist, Fahren James, age 39, filed a lawsuit against Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, Michael Moore and the Los Angeles Police Department, for an alleged assault by unidentified Los Angeles police officers. ... read more »

Gunshots rang out in the hallway near the chambers, and windows were shattered throughout the building. An unidentified woman inside reportedly was shot in the neck. Her condition is currently unclear. The National Guard joined the Secret Service, FBI, Capitol Police, and D.C.’s Metropolitan Police at the scene. ... read more »

The racial awakening in the United States last year after the police killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd may have propelled a sweep for Democrats in the January 5, 2021 Georgia Senate runoffs, paving the way for President-elect Joe Biden to push his legislative agenda without fear of obstruction. ... read more »

This week, Congressmember Karen Bass (D-CA) issued the following statement after Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley announced the Kenosha police officer who shot Jacob Blake seven times in the back in August of 2020 will not be criminally charged. ... read more »

Gun violence spiked across the country in 2020, the most violent year in decades. 19,000 were killed in shootings, the highest death toll in 20 years (and that does not include gun suicides). Mass shootings — defined as four or more shot in an incident — also rose drastically to over 600. ... read more »

I recently read about another African American man by the name of Andre Hill that was killed by a White police officer in Ohio. The officer mistakenly thought a cell phone Mr. Hill had in his hand was a gun. I also just read that since the death of George Floyd, there have been at least 76 Black people killed by White police officers. ... read more »

... read more / view gallery/ view cartoon »

The following are some of the activities that garnered attention in the Sentinel’s Religion section. ... read more »

Top National Stories of 2020 ... read more »

Assemblymember Chris Holden reintroduced his police reform legislation, AB 26, that establishes clear guidelines for police responsibility and accountability when witnessing excessive force by another member of law enforcement. ... read more »

2020 brought renewed global focus to issues of social justice in America.  From the racial disparities and inequities highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic to the killings of George Floyd and so many other Black and Brown Americans at the hands of police officers have all contributed to the evolving social justice “reckoning” across the nation. ... read more »

Drivefile is a free, non-profit app built in hopes of establishing what the organization feels will be a new standard of police accountability. Drivefile (available for both Android and iPhone smartphones) generates anonymous traffic stop data that could be utilized on its own or cross-referenced with law enforcement records, enabling the scrutiny of police performance on a granular level. ... read more »

The school to prison pipeline starts as early as preschool for our youngest Black learners. ... read more »