The dream may be passed down, but not the brand
Associated Press Nov 14, 08 11:41 AM CST
(AP)
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The family of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. is demanding a share of the proceeds from the sudden wave of T-shirts, posters, and other merch pairing the civil rights leader with Barack Obama, the AP reports. Obama may have inherited the dream, but they own the brand, says the MLK nephew who heads King Center, who adds that the estate is entitled to hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees—maybe even millions.
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African-Americans argue gay marriage isn't a civil rights issue
Los Angeles Times Nov 8, 08 11:14 AM CST
(Newser)
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California's narrowly passed ban on gay marriage has divided many of the state's gays and blacks on the issue, the Los Angeles Times reports. Exit polls show that black voters—who turned out in record numbers—backed the ban by around 70%, the biggest margin of any ethnic group. Some African-Americans said they simply didn't see gay rights as a civil rights issue.
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OPINION
All civil-rights struggles have setbacks, gay Atlantic scribe reminds
Daily Dish (The Atlantic) Nov 5, 08 3:33 PM CST
(Newser)
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Though news of California banning gay marriage is “heart-breaking,” Andrew Sullivan takes solace in the progress that has been achieved for gay rights, he writes for the Atlantic . Marriages, like Sullivan’s own, performed in Massachusetts or Connecticut are still valid. The California initiative can be rolled back, and with younger Americans heavily favoring gay rights, it’s only a matter of time.
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Bill would give Justice Department $10M a year to examine killings
Clarion-Ledger Sep 25, 08 12:57 PM CDT
(Newser)
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The US Senate unanimously passed a bill that would open a Justice Department unit to re-examine civil-rights era killings that have gone unpunished, the Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-Ledger reports. The Emmett Till Act, named after the Chicago teen whose murderers confessed publicly, has also passed the House and will be signed by President Bush.
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Statute of limitations for kidnapping had expired, appeals panel rules
Clarion-Ledger Sep 10, 08 3:47 PM CDT
(Newser)
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A federal appeals court has thrown out last year's conspiracy and kidnapping conviction of an ex-Klansman involved in the murders of two black teens in Mississippi in 1964. Lawyers for James Ford Seale said they will seek to have the 72-year-old cancer patient, who was serving three life sentences, freed on bond. "The court didn't reverse it on the facts," the US attorney told the Jackson Clarion-Ledger. "They reversed it on a technicality."
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OPINION
Voting Rights Act paved the way for Obama's candidacy, writes Caro
New York Times Aug 28, 08 10:12 AM CDT
(Newser)
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As Barack Obama accepts the Democratic nomination tonight, author Robert A. Caro will be remembering another speech: Lyndon Johnson's 1965 address to Congress urging the passage of the Voting Rights Act. In that speech, which reduced Martin Luther King to tears, LBJ "adopted the great anthem of the civil rights movement," calling on legislators to give blacks full enfranchisement and insisting, "We shall overcome."
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Experts fear success could close discussion
New York Times Aug 25, 08 8:43 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Despite being a landmark in black American history, Barack Obama’s pending nomination could stall civil rights progress, some blacks say, because his success could fuel an argument that racial divisions have been healed, the New York Times reports. The danger is “that we declare victory,” a sociologist said. “Historic as this moment is, it does not signify a major victory in the ongoing battle.”
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New laws make
tens of thousands eligible to vote again
Washington Post Aug 11, 08 1:05 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Grass-roots activists in states across the country are working to register an unusual bloc of potential voters: former felons. While nearly all states limit the right of convicted criminals to vote, most offer avenues back to the voting booth in varying degrees, the Washington Post reports. In the potential swing state of Florida, for instance, a law change last year has made 115,000 former convicts eligible.
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Opinion
Equality has been uphill climb for homosexuals, but history's on their side
New York Times Jul 17, 08 1:54 PM CDT
(Newser)
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With Massachusetts legislators set to repeal a law ex-Gov. Mitt Romney hoped would prevent the state from becoming “the Las Vegas of same-sex marriage,” Gail Collins, in the New York Times , looks at the march toward equality. For one thing, with the economy the way it is, “becoming the Las Vegas of anything whatsoever began to sound like a good deal."
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Candidate pushes home message on accountability at NAACP convention
Chicago Tribune Jul 15, 08 4:44 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Barack Obama stood firm on his message to blacks of personal responsibility in his speech to the NAACP convention yesterday, reports the Chicago Tribune . The candidate, accused by Jesse Jackson last week of "talking down to black people," revisited his theme of personal accountability while stressing that responsibility also must be demanded from Washington and Wall Street.
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Group long barred black docs, kept mum on civil rights
Washington Post Jul 10, 08 8:17 AM CDT
(Newser)
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The American Medical Association is to offer a full apology today for more than a century of racism against African Americans, reports the Washington Post. The country's largest medical association effectively barred black doctors for many years and stayed silent while the country was divided on efforts to end racial discrimination.
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OPINION
Right-wing senator hired blacks and battled AIDS with Bono
Wall Street Journal Jul 5, 08 1:17 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Many remember Jesse Helms as an unflinching bigot who fought civil rights and foreign aid, but the former North Carolina senator also softened some views and befriended Bono, John Hunt writes in the Wall Street Journal . “Contrary to his reputation, Helms did change his mind,” Hunt notes: He reversed his position on aid to Israel and partnered with Bono to combat AIDS and poverty in Africa.
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