David Love: Twelve years after the controversial Supreme Court decision in Bush v. Gore, former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor is having some second thoughts about the case.
About David A. Love
BlackCommentator.com Executive Editor, David A. Love, JD, is a lawyer and journalist based in Philadelphia, and a contributor to the Progressive Media Project, McClatchy-Tribune News Service, In These Times and Philadelphia Independent Media Center. He contributed to the book, States of Confinement: Policing, Detention, and Prisons (St. Martin's Press, 2000). Love is a former Amnesty International UK spokesperson, organized the first national police brutality conference as a staff member with the Center for Constitutional Rights, and served as a law clerk to two Black federal judges. His blog is davidalove.com.
U.S. Death Row Survivors Are One For Ten
By
David Love: Many would be surprised at the high odds of innocent people being executed, which speaks to a criminal justice system riddled with problems, including witness misidentification, prosecutorial misconduct, incompetent lawyering, raw racism and class bias.
Will America See Marijuana Legalization in Our Lifetime?
By
David Love: As is the case with same-sex marriage, the tide seems to be turning on public attitudes on marijuana. For the black community, with so many young people incarcerated for possessing small quantities of the drug, the stakes are high.
Violence Begets Violence in America
By
David Love: So, what do you make of a country where a third grader brings a gun to school to ward off bullies?
What Would Be Gained by Executing Terry Williams?
By
David Love: No one stepped in to help this traumatized boy deal with the anger, shame, confusion, paranoia and self-hatred he experienced from years of manipulation and abuse.
Forty Years After Furman: U.S. Death Penalty in Disarray
By
David Love: Forty after Furman, problems still plague the death penalty, when in reality the problems never went away. And as long as there are executions, we’ll continue to have a problem.
Has Jesse Jackson Become Irrelevant?
By
David Love: Just as an older generation had to step aside for him, Jesse Jackson has had to contend with a younger generation of black leaders, and that is not a bad thing.
Rodney King Dead: How He Put Police Brutality on the Map
By
David Love: It is ironic that Rodney King died on the day that Rev. Al Sharpton led a march to protest New York mayor Michael Bloomberg’s “stop and frisk” policy.
These Low Information Voters Will Be Our Undoing
By
David Love: Faced with hard times, people have clear choices. Either they join forces across racial and ethnic lines and fight their common adversary, or they double down on the dumbness, thrive on misinformation and assign scapegoats.
Gays Unite with Blacks to Fight ‘Stop-and-Frisk’
By
David Love: Meanwhile, a coalition of groups including the Human Rights Campaign and Empire State Pride Agenda are joining forces with NAACP’s Ben Jealous and Rev. Al Sharpton for a June 17 march to protest stop and frisk.
Historic Roots of Homophobia in Black America
By
David Love: Another reason for the rift between blacks and the LGBT community has been the historic lack of synergy and inclusion regarding blacks and the gay rights movement.
Abolishing the Death Penalty: The Tip of America’s Human Rights Iceberg
By
David Love: As people are still put down like dogs in the land of the free – despite the momentum for abolition – capital punishment represents America’s human rights blind spot.
Colin Powell Can’t Give Himself a Pass on Iraq War
By
David Love: If some politicians say they want to follow the advice of the generals on the ground, Powell was a “good soldier” who followed orders, perhaps even to the detriment of his long-term reputation.
Will Mitt Throw Condi at Barack?
By
David Love: The charisma, charm and brilliance of a Condoleezza Rice could help offset Romney’s negative image as a rich, dull, white bread kind of guy.
Will the GOP Add Color to the Presidential Ticket?
By
David Love: Surely, as Romney etch-a-sketches his way back to the center, Republicans are thinking that a brown or black face on the ticket will help them with moderate and independent voters.
Mitt’s Robert Bork Problem
By
David Love: It is hard to imagine how Romney will clear a path to victory in November by associating with an ideologically extreme radical such as Robert Bork.
How the Trayvon Martin Case Has Divided America
By
David Love: The killing of Trayvon Martin has brought many people together, but has exposed the various divisions along racial, political and media lines as well.
Whites Mostly Missing at Trayvon Rallies
By
David Love: So what’s going on here? Some black folks in Sanford suggest that many whites are supportive, but do not want to display any public sentiments for fear of being called a “ni**er lover.”
Is Trayvon Martin This Generation’s Emmett Till?
By
David Love: Trayvon Martin’s killing continues to expose the problems black men face, the low priority they are assigned as black victims, and the unfair treatment they face at the hands of the police and in the justice system.
We Are a Nation of Bullies
By
David Love: Breitbart, Limbaugh, J. Edgar — This nation has a love-hate relationship with bullies. In one breath, society condemns bullying. And yet our society thrives on it, encourages it and glorifies it.
The War on Obama’s Faith: Who’s Really Holier Than Thou?
By
David Love: Republicans are once again turning President Obama’s faith into a political issue. But will their strategy work? History and hypocrisy suggest that the political gamesmanship won’t succeed.
The White Working Class Was Bamboozled
By
David Love: If Stockholm Syndrome relates to the feeling of empathy that kidnap victims have with their captors, then certainly what we are witnessing today is a Stockholm Syndrome of those on the losing end of American capitalism.
Interracial Marriages Break Records
By
David Love: Over one-third of people say that a relative is married to someone of a different race, and nearly two-thirds say it would be fine if a family decided to marry someone of a different race or ethnicity.
Are Black Conservatives Simply Useful Idiots?
By
David Love: Now, when the GOP is tea party-owned and steeped in 100% pure corporatism, greed, intolerance and white supremacy, black conservatives are simply useful idiots.
Dr. King’s Stance Against the Death Penalty
By
David A. Love: Executions in the U.S. are part of a racially-coded system of retribution. Poor people and members of racial minorities are more likely to receive a death sentence, as are those who are charged with murdering a white victim.
Scott Sisters Seek Justice after Barbour Mississippi Pardons
By
On his way out the door, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour decided to grant executive pardons and medical releases to over 200 convicts, including 14 convicted of murder. He even pardoned Scott Favre, brother of retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre. But why weren’t the Scott sisters on Barbour’s list? Barbour’s pardons caused outrage in some political circles, including charges that he violated the [...]
Old South vs. New South
By
David Love: Haley’s policies, not unlike those of her predecessors, are the unjust laws that Martin Luther King discussed in Letter from Birmingham Jail.
Bull Connor 2.0: The Police Response to #OccupyWallStreet
By
David Love: The police response to the Occupy Movement flies in the face of the reputed tenets of American constitutional democracy, and contravenes the precepts of international human rights law.
The Death Penalty and #OccupyWallStreet
By
David Love: Capital punishment operates under a pretense of justice, when in reality it represents pure vengeance and mob retribution, favoring expediency and finality over finding the real killer.
PCL offers monthly Open House Events on the 2nd Saturday at 2pm and 3rd Thursday at 6pm. Click here to learn more.
Recent Comments