An Update on the Ferguson Situation:
Sharpton to Address Mike Brown’s St. Louis Funeral
The funeral for 18-year-old Michael Brown is scheduled for Monday at a church in St. Louis.
The Austin A. Layne Mortuary, which is handling arrangements, says the funeral is set for 10 a.m. Monday at Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church. Brown’s uncle, the Rev. Charles Ewing, will deliver the eulogy, and the Rev. Al Sharpton will also speak.
Brown will be buried at St. Peter’s Cemetery in St. Louis County.
Brown, who was black, was killed Aug. 9 by white Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson. The shooting sparked protests and more than a week of unrest in the predominantly black St. Louis suburb.
City of Ferguson Hires All-White PR Firm
If you were in control of a city government under siege with charges of racial profiling, police brutality and totalitarian administration, don’t you think you’d want some diverse voices in handling your response to the media? Well, clearly you’re not in charge of Ferguson, the Missouri city that the whole world is watching in the wake of the police killing of unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown.
It’s been reported that the City of Ferguson has hired a PR firm, Common Ground Public Relations, for communications help. The company’s website says its team is comprised of “journalistically trained professionals” who are committed to helping clients in media relations and “crisis communication.”
Common Ground’s “Meet the Team” page reveals something else about its staff: there doesn’t seem to be one person of color among its professionals.
In a comments to to Talking Points Memo, Nina Kult, a senior account executive at Common Ground, said the firm is only handling media requests for the city.
“We’re just handling media relations as of very recently and that’s really all we’re doing,” said Kult. “We’re just handling media queries and that’s all I can really say right now.”
From the looks of the reaction on Twitter, perhaps the City of Ferguson needs a PR team that can speak more to the concerns of its diverse resident, particularly members of the black community still reeling from the killing of Michael Brown.
What Are The Next Steps In Ferguson?
The National Guard has arrived in Ferguson, Gov. Jay Nixon has lifted the curfew in Ferguson, provocateurs continue to incite violence after dark, Mike Brown’s preliminary autopsy results have been released and tensions with law enforcement officials continue to escalate. Roland Martin and the “NewsOne Now” panel, featuring Rock Newman, Daniella Gibbs Le’ger and Paul Butler, discuss what the next steps should be to quell the violence. Listen to their entire conversation below.
Holder Pledges Top Investigators for Ferguson
CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — Attorney General Eric Holder arrived in Ferguson Wednesday to meet with federal investigators and reassure residents of the suburban St. Louis community torn by several nights of racial unrest since the fatal shooting of a black 18-year-old by a white police officer.
While walking through Drake’s Place Restaurant in Ferguson, Holder told diners concerned about the recent clashes in the street, “we can make it better.”
He also met briefly with Missouri State Highway Patrol Capt. Ron Johnson, who has been in charge of security after the Aug. 9 shooting of Michael Brown sent protesters into the street with nightly, occasionally violent clashes with law enforcement officers. The National Guard has been called in to help keep the peace.
“We’re rallying against the criminals,” Johnson said. Asked whether he had confidence in the local investigation of the police officer, Johnson said: “General Holder, by being here, is a guarantee on that.”
The visit came the same day a grand jury in nearby Clayton was expected to begin hearing evidence to determine whether the officer should be charged in Brown’s death.
Holder made his first stop Wednesday at the Florissant campus of St. Louis Community College, near the suburb of Ferguson where Brown was shot Aug. 9. He told a group of about 50 member of the Ferguson community that the “most experienced agents and prosecutors” would be assigned to the investigation.
Kiyanda Welch said Holder talked to her and other students about the unrest and their own interaction with police. The attorney general told the group, “change is coming,” Welch said.
Holder was headed Wednesday afternoon to visit with FBI agents and other officials.
Outside the St. Louis County Justice Center in Clayton, where the grand jury was expected to convene, two dozen protesters gathered in a circle for a prayer, chanted, and held signs urging prosecutor Bob McCulloch to step aside. Nearly two dozen officers guarded the building’s main entrance, which also was blocked off with yellow police tape.
McCulloch’s deep family connections to police have been cited by some black leaders who question his ability to be impartial in the case of Darren Wilson — the white officer who fatally shot the unarmed Brown on Aug. 9. McCulloch’s father, mother, brother, uncle and cousin all worked for the St. Louis Police Department, and his father was killed while responding to a call involving a black suspect.
The prosecutor, who is white, has insisted his background will have no bearing on the handling of the Brown case, which has touched off days of rancorous nighttime protests during which authorities used tear gas and rubber bullets to clear the streets of the St. Louis suburb where he was killed.
The protests were more subdued Tuesday night, with smaller crowds, fewer confrontations and no tear gas. Police said they still made 47 arrests, but mainly of people who defied orders to disperse. Tensions rose briefly when someone hurled a bottle at officers, but there were no reports gunfire or the clashes that had marked previous nights.
In a letter published late Tuesday on the St. Louis Post-Dispatch website, Holder promised a thorough investigation while calling for an end to the violence in Ferguson. He said the bond of trust between law enforcement and the public is “all-important” but also “fragile.”
Arrest patterns “must not lead to disparate treatment under the law, even if such treatment is unintended. And police forces should reflect the diversity of the communities they serve,” Holder wrote.
He said the Justice Department would “defend the right of protesters to peacefully demonstrate and for the media to cover a story that must be told.”
The department has mounted an unusually swift and aggressive response to Brown’s death, from conducting an independent autopsy to sending dozens of FBI agents to Ferguson in search of witnesses to the shooting.
As for the county grand jury, prosecutor’s spokesman Ed Magee said Wednesday that there is no timeline for how long the process could take, but it could be weeks.
A day earlier, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon said he would not seek McCulloch’s removal from the case, citing the “well-established process” by which prosecutors can recuse themselves from pending investigations to make way for a special prosecutor.
Departing from that process, Nixon said in a statement, “could unnecessarily inject legal uncertainty into this matter and potentially jeopardize the prosecution.”
McCulloch, a Democrat, was elected in 1991 and has earned a reputation for being tough on crime.
Ferguson city leaders said the mayor, the City Council and municipal employees have been exploring ways to increase the number of African-American applicants to the law enforcement academy, develop incentive programs to encourage city residency for police officers and raise money for cameras that would be attached to patrol car dashboards and officers’ vests.
“We plan to learn from this tragedy, as we further provide for the safety of our residents and businesses and progress our community through reconciliation and healing,” officials said in a public statement.
Meanwhile, Brown’s funeral arrangements were set. The Austin A. Layne Mortuary, which is handling arrangements, said the funeral will be at 10 a.m. Monday at Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church. Brown’s uncle, the Rev. Charles Ewing, will deliver the eulogy, and the Rev. Al Sharpton will also speak.
Brown will be buried at St. Peter’s Cemetery in St. Louis County.
T.I. Posts Deep Open Letter To Everyone VIA Instagram
Rapper T.I. gave a new meaning to the phrase “Do it for the gram!” when he posted an open letter on his own Instagram account. Take a look at the pic he posted and what he had to say below.
“Look at us….America has created a monster. The result of ignoring & mishandling an already fragile spirited, recently enslaved, presently oppressed race/generation of people. Look at us. We’re the monster that now refuses to be dismissed, overlooked,& ignored. We were brought to this place,unaware of our own cultures,religion,& traditions therefore,we created our own. Now look at us. For years we’ve been crying out for the nation to address the substandard education systems & disparaging treatment of our citizens in communities across America. Our people have had an increasing lack of opportunities for generations.
There have been homes broken,lives shattered,and futures lost on your watch….unanswered. Look at us. How long can u expect a nation/race/generation of people to be blatantly disrespected? Spoken to and treated with arrogant tones of insignificance. Our fathers,uncles,brothers& role models were killed& Imprisoned more often than educated. Now look at us. Our friends,& relatives Murdered and cast aside without thought,as though your human life is more valuable than ours. How long can that go on without consequence?
Now Look at us. How long can u continue to pass the buck & make excuses of why u can’t do today what should have been done yeste-year? Although I DO NOT support the negative responses & actions of my people in light of dis tragedy….I WILL NOT condone your lack of effort to show any urgency to improve the treatment of our people, nor the living conditions in our communities. Your refusal to address these life altering issues makes events such as these seem inevitable. Although I too am at fault to a degree & I admit that I may not have all da answers… I do have a fun fact for you. Insanity is…Going about things the same way,expecting a different result. U wanna different result? U must take different action. What else do u expect? Look at us!!!”
OK Mr. Clifford Harris we hear you!
At this point all I can say is that I’m so glad that the violence is dying down in Ferguson and I am still very hopeful that justice will be served for Mike Brown and his family.
In Other News…
Macy’s To Pay $650,000 In Shopper-Profiling Probe
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — The retailer Macy’s has agreed to pay $650,000 to settle allegations of racial profiling at its flagship store in Manhattan’s Herald Square.
Under the agreement signed Tuesday with New York’s attorney general, the company will adopt new policies on police access to its security camera monitors and against profiling, further train employees, investigate customer complaints, keep better records of detentions and report for three years on its compliance.
Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said the settlement should help ensure customers are treated equally regardless of race or ethnicity at the retail giant’s 42 department stores statewide.
“It is absolutely unacceptable — and it’s illegal — for anyone in New York to be treated like a criminal simply because of the color of their skin,” Schneiderman said.
The attorney general’s Civil Rights Bureau said it opened an investigation into Macy’s in February 2013 when it received several complaints from minority customers. Since then, the office recorded complaints from 18 African-American, Latino and other ethnic minority customers who claimed they’d been apprehended and detained at Macy’s stores between 2007 and 2013, despite not having stolen or attempted to steal any merchandise.
The complaints included customers detained after traveling between floors by escalator with unconcealed merchandise. Other customers speaking limited English and suspected of shoplifting or credit card fraud were not permitted to make phone calls, denied access to an interpreter and required to sign trespass notices they couldn’t understand.
The agreement cites Macy’s data from October 2012 through October 2013 showing employees apprehended and detained 1,947 individuals at the Herald Square store. Meanwhile, about 6,000 people were detained at stores statewide.
The agreement requires publicly posting Macy’s “customer’s bill of rights” in English and Spanish in all its New York stores and on the Macy’s Inc. website.
“To be clear, our company’s policies strictly prohibit any form of discrimination or racial profiling and any occurrence of such behavior will not be tolerated in our organization,” Macy’s said in a statement. “Moving forward, our company will be initiating a series of measures including enhanced training and education for our loss prevention and sales associates. We also will be adopting an expanded role for our security monitor to help ensure that we have the right policies and procedures in place, and that we are constantly reviewing our compliance with them.”
The attorney general’s Civil Rights Bureau reached a similar agreement with the retailer Barneys earlier this month.
Wow a with a big corporation such as Macy’s you would believe that racial profiling would not exist. It’s a damn shame we are in 2014 people not the 1960′s. People need to get over their ignorance. I’m glad they are having to pay for their corrupt policies.
Chris Brown Wants a Baby with Girlfriend Karrueche Tran
Chris Brown and girlfriend Karrueche Tran were just broken up not that long ago but that’s not stopping the controversial singer from hinting that he wants a baby with the blasian beauty.
Brown posted the photo (below) on Instagram along with the caption, “@karrueche damn near 5 years and this woman still putting up with my shit. Need to have this baby and stop playing! Lol! My WCW.”
Chris was just spotted with ex-girlfriend Rihanna last week! We guess he is officially back on #TeamKarrueche….for now.
Poor Chris don’t know what the hell he wants…next he’ll be wanting a baby with Rhi Rhi. I’ma need him to get it together! He needs to figure out who he wants to be with before he starts having any lil breezy’s runnin around. How about puttin a ring on it first Sir.
Kevin Hart Claps Back At Proposal Hate On Instagram & Flashes Fiancée’s Ring!
Kevin Hart does not appreciate all of the shade he’s been getting after proposing to Eniko Parrish.
As you probably know by now, the “Let Me Explain” funny man popped the question to his long-time girlfriend last night as she turned 30. It was already a big night, but he wanted to make it legendary–and he did! She said “yes” when he asked her to marry him, so he must have done something right.
Mixed in with the congratulations was a whole bunch of side-eye because it was not lost on the public that he got engaged moments before his ex-wife Torrei Hart‘s show, “Atlanta Exes,” debuted on VH1.
The timing was a bit suspect, but Kevin insisted that it had nothing to do with Torrei. The comedian stated in a post on Instagram that his decision Monday night was all about celebrating Eniko’s special day.
“I wish y’all could see my face when I read some of the comments that you guys leave,” he wrote. “August 18th was @neekibaby actual Birthday…it wasn’t the day before or the day after.”
Vowing never to repear himself on the topic of Torrei and their current relationship, Kevin stated, “I wish my X Wife nothing but the best in life…I’ve moved forward with my life & have been doing so for the last 6 years.”
He then brought the focus back to Eniko before closing out his response to all of the criticism. “The only thing that was on my mind yesterday was making sure my lady had an amazing 30th B Day,” Kevin asserted. “I’m happy to say that my now FIANCÉ was blown away by the entire evening. #MissMeWithTheBullshit #KillNegaitivityWithPositivity.”
You know I hate to say this because sure by now everyone knows I am the biggest Kevin Hart fan on the planet but my Chocolate Drop has really been trippin lately. What made me admire him as an artist was the fact that he kept it real. But this week he has truly been acting like an arrogant pompous ass! Ok so you’ve moved on with your life and got you a new lady that’s all real and cool. But to not be sensitive to the feelings that your ex…the mother of your children…the woman that you cheated on with your current situation, may have that is heartless and cold. Is his fame going to his head? I just don’t get it…Karma is a bitch Kev and someday you may be faced with a similar situation if you don’t watch out. As far as his fiance’ all I can say is; the very same way you get them is the way you lose them…SMDH
Nicki Minaj’s VERY Revealing Cover Art and Video Facing Big Backlash
If Nicki Minaj did something humdrum and expected, I’d be surprised. The lady is fierce. She’s wild and unpredictable, her lyrics are funny and sarcastic — often misunderstood. She’s fantastic. And the cover art just released for her latest single “Anaconda”is equally fantastic, especially if you like big butts and you cannot lie.
With any kind of revealing photo for the world to see, there is going to be some sort of backlash. But it’s being spoken about a whole lot more in Nicki’s case because she’s not a skinny model on the cover of Sports Illustrated, which is perfectly okay in this world where everything is messed up. Nicki’s got back. She’s showing it off. So what?!
My word would you get a look at that?! She puts the Kardashians to shame. Apparently the Twitterverse nearly exploded and made this butt shot a huge issue. PEOPLE thought it was too much. Too naked. Too over the top and dare I say obscene. Looks good to me.
Nicki defended herself in perfect Minaj form shining light on the 2014 Sports Illustrated cover where Chrissy Teigen, Nina Agdal, and Lily Aldridge posed topless in butt-bearing bathing suit bottoms. No one made a big fuss about that, she noted. People loved it. And she brings up a good point. Is it okay for the butt in question to be on a skinny girl but not on a girl who has back? Seems to be the case with some.
Katy Perry came to Nicki’s defense and tweeted, “I wanna take a nap on dat pillow doe.” I feel another collabo coming on about this. Please!
When I look at this cover art, all I can think is Damn, girl. You look amazing! Also, cool sneakers.
What do you think? Too much? Does Nicki raise a good point how it’s okay for skinny girls but not for her to show some butt?
Check out the video:
Well, Well, Well Nikki has done it again. Got all kind of controversy going on about her new video and album cover hunh? I personally think that the video is typical of what society more especially the young urban culture is used to seeing anyway. It just reminded me of being in a strip club. Whats wrong with that by the time the networks go to play the video they’ll be done blotted out everything inappropriate.The industry is so highly driven by sex that what else could you expect.In Hollywood the less clothes the better right. Sex Sales! And I truly agree with her stance swimwear models been showing ass for years; they just ain’t got as much and don’t know how to twerk theirs.
