Ill Doctrine: Mitt Romney's Blackest Week Ever

Jay Smooth Looking back on Mitt Romney’s wacky week of adventures with black people.

Resistance to NYPD's "Stop-and-Frisk" Policy Comes to DC as Lawmakers, Groups Urge DOJ Probe

DemocracyNow 

Dozens of New York lawmakers and several advocacy groups are convening on Capitol Hill today to call on the Justice Department to investigate the New York City Police Department's controversial "stop-and-frisk" policies. Last year the NYPD stopped, frisked and interrogated people nearly 700,000 times -- mostly black and Latino men. In all, there were more stops of young African-American men than the total of population of that group in the city. "This is not about criminals -- this is about a generation that has been criminalized, targeted and brutalized by the police," says organizer Jamel Mims, a victim of stop-and-frisk. We're also joined by NAACP President Benjamin Jealous, who is helping to organize a silent march against racial profiling in New York City on Father's Day, June 17. "This is the biggest, most aggressive racial profiling problem that we have in this country, and it just has to be stopped," Jealous says.

NC NAACP President: Vote Against Amendment One

Dr. Rev. William Barber's passionate final words at the Rally Against Amendment One in Greensboro on May 6, 2012 at Mt. Zion Baptist Church. VOTE AGAINST AMENDMENT ONE on May 8. Dr. Barber is the President of the NC branch of the NAACP. Three clergy groups from across the Triad, representing 100 African American clergy, joined to stand against Amendment One (also called the Marriage Amendment).

Ben Jealous: "The World Will Remember Troy's Name"

Dear friend,

Tonight the State of Georgia has killed an innocent man.

In recent weeks, we fought hard for the commutation of Troy Davis' sentence. More than one million of your petitions were delivered. Protests, rallies and vigils were organized around the globe. Tonight, we fasted and prayed together as a community.

I have spent the past week with Troy's family. He wanted the world to know that he understood that this struggle goes beyond just one man. Troy was prepared to die tonight. As he said again and again, the state of Georgia only held the power to take his physical body. They could not take his spirit, because he gave his life to God.

Let's remember and heed Troy's words: We must not let them kill our spirit, either.

Troy's execution, the exceptional unfairness of it, will only hasten the end of the death penalty in the United States. The world will remember the name of Troy Anthony Davis. In death he will live on as a symbol of a broken justice system that kills an innocent man while a murderer walks free.

The world will remember Troy's name, as the death penalty supporters who expressed doubt in this case begin to doubt an entire system that can execute a man amidst so many unanswered questions.

The world will remember Troy's name, as death penalty opponents who remained silent in the past realize that their silence is no longer an option.

The world will remember Troy's name because we will commemorate September 21st each year as both a solemn anniversary and a call to action. The night they put Troy Davis to death will become an annual reminder that justice will not be achieved until we end this brutal practice of capital punishment.

"This movement," Troy said, "started before I was born." After tonight, our movement will grow stronger until we succeed in destroying the death penalty in the United States once and for all.

I know you will join me. Together we will secure his legacy, and the world will remember the name Troy Anthony Davis.

In solidarity,

Ben Jealous