The recent docuseries, Surviving R. Kelly, has many folks wondering if R. Kelly will be joining Bill Cosby in prison one day. Multiple state attorneys are looking into investigating possible charges against Kelly. Although a prior 2008 case involving 14 child pornography charges against Kelly was unsuccessful, this time may be different. It’s still too soon to tell if Kelly’s time is up. The docuseries helped to re-ignite the fire but the flame is still low for a prosecution or conviction of R. Kelly. The issues facing any prosecutor who investigates and brings charges against Kelly will be credibility of witnesses and victims, statute of limitations, solicitation of victims by the prosecutors, length of time to bring charges (assuming the statute has not tolled) and the popularity of R. Kelly. Unlike most of Bill Cosby’s victims, R. Kelly’s victims are African American and other women of color. A sexual assault case is always difficult to obtain a conviction. A sexual assault or rape … [Read more...] about R. Kelly is No Bill Cosby: He’s Worse
African Americans
Lynching Statement by GOP Senator is no Laughing Matter
Everyday bold racist statements emerge in the media. A recent appalling racist statement was made by Mississippi Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith. She praised support for someone by saying: “If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row.” As an African American who is a descendant of slaves, I can never get used to the bigoted statements and bigotry in the U.S. In response, Hyde-Smith says “any attempt to turn this into a negative connotation is ridiculous.” She’s running in a run-off election against Mike Epsy, an African American and former Congressman. I don’t know what Hyde-Smith thinks about a public lynching. But I can tell her that it’s no joking matter—now or never. It is a negative part of U.S. history. Billy Holliday sang Strange Fruit in which the lyrics describe lynching of Blacks in the south. Those words in part were: “Southern trees bear strange fruit Blood on the leaves and blood at the root Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze Strange fruit hanging … [Read more...] about Lynching Statement by GOP Senator is no Laughing Matter
Sorry Camille Cosby but Bill Cosby was not Lynched
Camille Cosby broke her silence today following her husband’s conviction when she wrote a scathing attack on the justice system comparing Bill Cosby’s, conviction to a “lynching”, “mob justice” or to Emmett Till. Cosby who was tried and convicted on three counts of sexual assaults on Andrea Constand, after a first jury failed to reach a verdict. Mrs. Cosby’s misunderstanding of the words “lynching” and “mob justice” deserves a teaching moment for her and perhaps many others who might be confused. The National Memorial for Peace and Justice opened on April 26, 2018 in downtown Montgomery, Alabama and is dedicated to the legacy of enslaved Blacks who lost their lives through lynching. It depicted the over 4000 known lynchings that were held in this country of mostly African Americans from post slavery to 1950. And when it opened, some questioned why a memorial on lynching was necessary. Comments like Camille Cosby’s show there is a need for the public to be aware of the … [Read more...] about Sorry Camille Cosby but Bill Cosby was not Lynched
Martin Luther King, Jr. 50 Years Later: What’s Changed?
On April 4, 1968 civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated while standing on the Lorraine hotel balcony in Memphis, Tennessee. In the wake of 50 years since his assassination, with the Trump era, white supremacy uprisings, police shootings of unarmed African Americans, disenfranchisement of Black convicted felons and mass incarceration, many are left wondering if anything has changed in 50 years or changed for the worse. In order to reflect on the 50 years, one must begin with a look back at the years before Martin Luther King’s rise in civil rights era. Martin Luther King, Jr. led the civil rights movement from approximately 1955 until his death in 1968—a short 13 years. In those 13 short years, King’s leadership with others accomplished more than had been accomplished in the 350 years since Blacks first arrived in the U.S. Throughout the U.S. African Americans were treated as less than 2nd class citizens. Separate but equal was the law. In the year before … [Read more...] about Martin Luther King, Jr. 50 Years Later: What’s Changed?
Donald Trump’s Dog Days of Summer
The dog days of summer are usually referred to as the hottest days of the summer, particularly from mid- July to almost the end of August. And Labor Day has come to mean the unofficial end of summer with vacations ending and students returning back to school. The dog days of the Trump Administration have been particularly hot. With summer closing to an end, I thought that now is a good time to evaluate the Trump Administration’s summer days. Trump’s Administration has been hounded with its failure of repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, the ever- ongoing Trump-Russia investigation by Special Prosecutor Mueller, Trump’s comments on the Charlottesville Nazi/white supremacist rally, the Twitter roll out of elimination of transgenders in the military, pardon of Sheriff Arpaio and now the expected ending of "DACA", Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. For the past 8 years of the Obama Administration, the Republican Party vowed to repeal and … [Read more...] about Donald Trump’s Dog Days of Summer
Blacks Go to Jail for Killing Dogs; Whites Stay Out of Jail for Killing Blacks
I was on Twitter last night when I found out that Tulsa Police Officer Betty Shelby had been acquitted for killing Terence Crutcher, an unarmed Black man. There have been so many police killings of unarmed Blacks with so few charges brought or guilty verdicts that I have become numb. But yesterday’s verdict of Tulsa police officer Betty Shelby struck a raw nerve. As a former prosecutor, I respect law abiding police; I detest those officers who lack the temperament, skills and self-control to wear a police uniform. Terence Crutcher is just the latest unarmed Black victim in a decades long string of Black victims killed at the hands of police without justice. On September 16, 2016, Betty Shelby stated she fired her gun killing Terence Crutcher out of fear. That is the standard response by police officers used in these cases. It’s as if it’s in their police training manual of what to say when you shoot and kill a Black person. Nine white jurors and three Blacks evidently … [Read more...] about Blacks Go to Jail for Killing Dogs; Whites Stay Out of Jail for Killing Blacks