LDF News and Media Today:
A sampling of Race, Justice, Equality and Democracy in the news.
By Mel Gagarin
Metro passes civil rights test
The agency needed better documentation in order to prove that recent fare and service changes, like the introduction of the electronic Q Fare Card, did not disproportionately affect low-income and minority customers. The [...]

By Jin Hee Lee, Vincent Southerland and Christina Swarns
Dissenting opinions — offered not by liberal advocates but by moderate, if not conservative, law-and-order judges — stand as a strong rebuke to the presumed effectiveness of the death penalty system. And they also confirm longstanding concerns about how abuses of power, under-resourced defense counsel, and racial bias undermine both the accuracy and judiciousness of death penalty convictions.

By Lee A. Daniels
Last May, the Chicago Tribune, began publishing dozens of articles on how the “clout” admissions game worked at the state’s flagship university. Those stories’ revelations were subsequently confirmed by the scathing report of a special committee of investigation chaired by Abner Mikva, the former Congressman and federal judge.

By Amy L. Alexander
Is racism becoming a mental illness in some Americans?

Given the events of the past few weeks, when so many “regular people” appeared to relish saying racist things about President Obama, or displaying blatantly racist images of the man who happens to be our first black commander-in-chief, it is a fair, if uncomfortable, question.

By Eisa Nefertari Ulen
I am walking the Bermuda’s African Diaspora Heritage Trail, and I am learning about Bermudians and other African Americans who, like me, are connected to this place.

By Jackie Jones
We’ve been told that it’s a scary world out there. Labor Department figures show that unemployment, overall, stood at 9.7 percent in August and was 15.1 percent for black people. Black families began losing ground about three years before the recession began.

But one financial expert is opting out of recession-related woes.

By Kevin Eason
Kevin is a freelance editorial cartoonist and Illustrator from NJ. His brand of satire covers news events in politics, entertainment, sports and much more. Kevin’s work features include: TVOne, NABJ, WBLS_107.5FM, EURweb and various newspapers & magazines throughout the country.

LDF News and Media Today:
A sampling of Race, Justice, Equality and Democracy in the news.
By Mel Gagarin
OCPS meets with NAACP today
School Board attorney Frank Kruppenbacher meets with the NAACP Legal Defense fund in Washington, D.C. today.

Panel to Preview Supreme Court Term
Karlan, a leading expert on voting and the political process, has served as [...]

This week marks the ninth anniversary of Earl Washington’s exoneration in Virginia. Washington was 20 years old when he supposedly confessed to a rape he didn’t commit. He served 19 years in prison – including 13 years on death row – before DNA testing proved his innocence.

LDF News and Media Today:
A sampling of Race, Justice, Equality and Democracy in the news.
By Mel Gagarin
Justice Department’s Holder seeks a renewed push in protecting minorities from discrimination
Under the Bush administration, it was “destroyed,” said John Payton, president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, who criticized the shift away from the department’s [...]