Roland S. Martin's Blog, page 646

Common On His New Memoir, One Day It'll All Make Sense (VIDEO)

Common talks about his memoir documenting his life on Chicago's South Side. WATCH:

Manhunt For Stepdad After Girl, 3, Dies In The Bronx (VIDEO)

Source: Anthony Johnson / WABC / ABC News East Tremont – The death of a 3-year-old girl in the Bronx has been ruled a homicide, and a manhunt is under way for her stepfather. India Durant was discovered unconscious and pronounced dead at St. Barnabus Hospital. Police say the incident appears to be a tragic case of child abuse after the medical examiner ruled that India died of blunt force trauma to the chest and other internal injuries. The stepfather, [...]

AC360 Keeping Them Honest: Lobbying Rick Perry (VIDEO)

Anderson Cooper looks into the past of one of Gov. Perry's former aides, a lobbyist who worked for a top drug company. WATCH:

USA TODAY: Troy Davis' Death Row Case In Georgia Goes Global

Source: Melanie Eversley / USA Today A social media campaign to stop an execution in Georgia next week is drawing support from hundreds of thousands of people around the world. Celebrities, Nobel laureates and national leaders have joined the NAACP, Amnesty International and the grass-roots group Change.org to urge Georgia authorities to grant clemency to Troy Davis, who is scheduled to die by lethal injection Wednesday. They are flooding Twitter with several tweets a minute, signing online petitions and, starting [...]

TJMS: @Toure Discusses His New Book, Who's Afraid Of Post-Blackness?

Roland Martin Talks with TourÉ about his new book Who's Afraid of Post-Blackness?: What It Means to Be Black Now. Book info below courtesy of Amazon.com How do we make sense of what it means to be Black in a world with room for both Michelle Obama and Precious? TourÉ, an iconic commentator and journalist, defines and demystifies modern Blackness with wit, authority, and irreverent humor. In the age of Obama, racial attitudes have become more complicated and nuanced than ever before. [...]

Supreme Court Halts Texas Execution Of Duane Buck

Source: AP Huntsville, Texas – The U.S. Supreme Court has halted the execution of a black man convicted of a double murder in Texas 16 years ago after his lawyers contended his sentence was unfair because of a question asked about race during his trial. Forty-eight-year-old John Buck was scheduled for lethal injection Thursday evening. At issue was a psychologist's testimony that black people were more likely to commit violence. A similar request to block the punishment was made to [...]

TJMS: Convicted Killer Duane Buck Sentenced To Death Because He Is Black

Tim Murphy from MotherJones.com joins Roland Martin on the Tom Joyner Morning Show. Murphy detailed a shocking capital punishment case in Texas where convicted killer Duane Buck was sentenced to death because he is black. A psychologist told jurors that black criminals were more likely to pose a future danger to the public if they are released. Lawyers for Buck, who is scheduled to be put to death in Texas on Thursday, are asking Gov. Rick Perry to halt the [...]

School Expels Washington Fourth-Grader Carrying Loaded Gun

Source: MSNBC A fourth-grader was expelled after school officials in Oak Harbor, Wash., discovered he had a loaded handgun in his backpack. Police took the 9-year-old at Crescent Harbor Elementary, who had a .45 caliber Ruger with the safety on, into custody before the opening bell Wednesday and then released him to his parents, the Whidbey News Times reported. It was the second time this week that the boy had brought a weapon to school, according to Joe Hunt, spokesperson [...]

New CNN Poll: GOP Divided Over Tea Party Movement

Source: CNN Washington - The Republican Party is split right down the middle between tea party movement supporters and those who do not support the two-and-a-half-year-old movement, according to a new national survey. And a CNN/ORC International Poll released Thursday also highlights the differences in demographics, ideology, and temperament between the two camps. According to the survey, on some issues, the two wings of the GOP are in accord, but tea party activists and supporters do not speak for the [...]

Jackie Kennedy Called MLK 'Phony' (VIDEO)

New audio tapes released by Caroline Kennedy reveal a different side of her mother. WATCH: