Politics

“I am a Brooklynite, born and bred—a first-generation American on my father’s side, barely second-generation on my mother’s.” —Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg I am who I am in the first place because of my parents . . . My father was brought to this country as an infant. . . He grew up in poverty.…

From CNN: “President Obama announced Monday he has chosen Dr. Regina Benjamin, a family practice doctor from the Gulf Coast, to serve as surgeon general. The rural family physician has long provided medical care on the Gulf Coast. In 1990, she founded Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic in the fishing village of Bayou La…

It’s after midnight. You’re a summer intern at the right-wing American Solutions foundation drinking your fourth room-temperature Honest Tea agave maté of the day out of an old Mountain Dew bottle so that your colleagues don’t mistake you for some kind of new-age Republican peacenik. You’re trying to figure out how to turn Judge Sonia…

From CNN: “A suburban Philadelphia swim club has invited children from a largely minority day-care center to come back after a June reversal that fueled allegations of racism against the club, a spokeswoman said Sunday. The development came during a hastily called Sunday afternoon meeting of the Valley Club in Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania. Club members…

From Reuters: Four Chicago-area cemetery workers were accused on Thursday of digging up hundreds of graves and dumping the remains so the burial plots could be resold, prosecutors said on Thursday. The office manager and three grave diggers at the Burr Oak Cemetery in South suburban Alsip were charged with dismembering a human body, a…

From the Chicago Sun-Times: ” Sen. Roland Burris (D-Illl.) will not run for election in 2010—a not surprising decision given that Burris, appointed by ousted Gov. Blagojevich to fill the seat vacated by Barack Obama had never created a political organization, raised virtually no campaign cash, and faced controversy from the start. Burris’ decision, reported…

Like millions of others, I’m still deeply moved by the wonderfully rich memorial service for Michael Jackson. But I can’t help but wonder whether Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, is doing Michael Jackson, her constituents or black folks a favor when she promises to bring to the floor what will be a controversial resolution deeming Jackson…

From Hip Hop Wired: “Two Chicago men are free after spending twenty years in jail for a crime they did not commit. According to the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, charges were dropped against 42-year old Ronald Kitchen and 50-year old Marvin Reeves. After a re-investigation of the case it was determined that there was a…

From The Retort: “It’s easy to blame the messenger. When it came to CNN’s Black In America this was no exception. Correspondent Soledad O’Brien received her fair share of shame and blame for how the documentary turned out. She was the most visible symbol, the most accessible face and the easiest target. But did she…