blogging the beltway

On Tuesday, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) will chair a Senate hearing on the topic of racial profiling. By coincidence it comes at a time when, in the wake of the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, racial profiling is also a topic of heated national discussion. Called by the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil…

Minutes after learning that George Zimmerman has been charged with second-degree murder in the killing of their son, Trayvon Martin, a stoic Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton addressed a crowd on Wednesday at the National Action Network convention in Washington, D.C. Before the parents took the podium, the Rev. Al Sharpton reflected on all that…

Amid new reports about criminal charges to be filed against George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin case, the slain teen’s parents and their legal team shared their thoughts during a Washington, D.C., press conference at the National Action Network national convention. The Rev. Al Sharpton, president of the National Action Network, spoke first to outline…

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder addressed the Trayvon Martin shooting on Wednesday during a speech at the National Action Network’s national convention in Washington, D.C. Speaking to a packed room at the city’s convention center prior to a panel discussion on “The State of Criminal Justice in America Today,” Holder first offered general reflections before…

Rick Santorum announced on Tuesday that he is withdrawing from the presidential campaign, citing the recent hospitalization of his 3-year-old daughter, Bella, as his primary motivation. Although Bella, who suffers from a rare genetic disorder, was released from the hospital on Tuesday and is back with her family, Santorum said that his role as a…

A crowd of 30,000 visitors in total is expected on Monday for the White House’s largest public event: the Easter Egg Roll. On Monday morning President Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, “first grandmother” Marian Robinson and daughters Malia and Sasha arrived on the White House balcony (along with 14-year-old singer Rachel Crow of X Factor…

As the general election gets under way, analysts have repeatedly underscored female voters as the group that will determine its outcome. According to a series of recent polls, they’re flocking to President Obama. The latest example is a new USA Today-Gallup Poll that shows the president’s lead with women over Mitt Romney. Among female voters…

On the last week of February, the Rev. Jamal-Harrison Bryant, pastor of Empowerment Temple in Baltimore, called together the heads of 30 black church denominations. He wanted to talk about how they could get more involved in social and civic issues. “I felt that the black church had lost its prophetic voice in the community,…

Updated 4/6/2012: On Thursday Kraft announced that it, too, will end its membership with ALEC. The company issued this statement: We belong to many external groups, including ALEC, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that promotes growth and fiscal responsibility. ALEC covers numerous issues but our involvement has been strictly limited to discussions about economic growth and…

Hundreds of visitors of all ages and ethnicities flooded the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial on Wednesday evening for a candlelight vigil on the 44th anniversary of the civil rights activist’s assassination. The memorial’s foundation organized the one-hour event, which was emceed by National Urban League President Marc Morial and featured speakers including author…