Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

The five-mile march organized by Rev. Al Sharpton started in the early afternoon. It snaked to the endpoint at the southeast side of the Mall, where the King Memorial is being built.

Credit: Kevin Wolf/AP

On the National Mall the Restoring Honor rally was being held. Organized by conservative Fox TV talk-show host Glenn Beck, using as its stage the Lincoln Memorial, where 47 years ago Saturday King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech at the March on Washington for jobs and civil rights.
Rev. Sharpton’s Ralliers gathered at Dunbar High School to listen to featured speakers. Among those in attendance was Martin Luther King Jr.’s son, Martin Luther King III. He said the nation must “create a climate so that everybody can do well, not just some.”

There were no official estimates of attendance at either rally. The National Park Service, which oversees the National Mall, was barred from releasing such figures after a dispute over the size of the 1995 Million Man March.

Appearing on “Fox News Sunday,” the former Alaska governor and GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin express support for Arizona’s governor saying, “Jan Brewer has the cojones that our president does not have to look out for all Americans, not just Arizonans, but all Americans, in this desire of ours to secure our borders and allow legal immigration to help build this country, as was the purpose of immigration laws,”

“If our own president will not enforce a federal law, more power to Jan Brewer and 44 other states who are in line to help support Jan Brewer in state laws, state efforts, to do what our president won’t do.” Palin said.

source:UPI.com

President Obama spoke to Shirley Sherrod, the USDA official who was ousted after a race flap, and expressed his “regret”, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack has expressed his apology and offered a new position. But now Shirley Sherrod has said that she just needs some time to think.
Sherrod accepted the apology from Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and the White House, but Sherrod still hasn’t decided whether she will accept a job offer.

Full Video at the Center of the Issue

Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States. Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19th that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. Note that this was two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation – which had become official January 1, 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation had little impact on the Texans due to the minimal number of Union troops to enforce the new Executive order. However, with the surrender of General Lee in April of 1865, and the arrival of General Granger’s regiment, the forces were finally strong enough to influence and overcome the resistance.

source:www.juneteenth.com

Choirs have until June 7 to be a part of the search for The Best Church Choir in America. You can visit www.HowSweetTheSound.com to fill out the quick and easy registration form and get more information.
Everyone must act quickly so that you can have plenty of time to practice your praising and have a chance to win $50,000 in cash and prizes!

Trent Franks

Slavery “is a crushing mark on America’s soul,” Franks said in an interview with a conservative blogger. “And yet today, half of all black children are aborted. Half of all black children are aborted. Far more of the African American community is being devastated by the policies of today than were being devastated by the policies of slavery. And I think, ‘What does it take to get us to wake up?’”

(AP Photo/The White House, Pete Souza) (Pete Souza, White House/AP)

“Mr. Graham was honored that the president would travel to meet him for an historic first-ever visit by a sitting president in his home, which reflected a cordial, gracious conversation together, along with the evangelist’s son, Franklin,” Ross said via e-mail. “Over coffee, the two men discussed a variety of topics, including their wives, and love for and similar experiences with golf and Chicago.

credit:John Boyle – www.citizen-times.com

Read more

This four-day event will convene hundreds of delegates and prominent leaders in civil rights, business, politics, labor, entertainment and the religious community from around the country to address key issues impacting people of color.
Among some of the confirmed notable participants are United States Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Housing Shawn Donovan, Michael Steele, Chairman of The Republican National Party, Dr. Bill Cosby, Mariah Carey, Wyclef Jean, Ben Jealous, President of the NAACP, Marc Morial, President of the National Urban League, Tom Joyner, Roland Martin, Michael Eric Dyson, and many other high profile attendees.
Among the highlights will include the annual Keepers of the Dream Awards. Honorees include Wyclef Jean, humanitarian and world-renown musical artist, Jeff Zucker, President and CEO of NBC Universal, Mariah Carey, Award-Winning Actress and internationally acclaimed Singer, Dr. Robert M. Franklin, President of Morehouse College, Kimberly Davis, President of JPMorgan Chase Foundation and more. There will be a special keynote address by Dr. Bill Cosby.

The congregants at the Allen Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church began their 11am Easter Sunday observances to the sounds of “Alleluia.” A historically African-American church in southeast Washington, D.C, echoed cheers and applause, while people were snapping cell phone pictures when President Obama, wife Michelle, daughters Malia and Sasha, and mother-in-law Marian Robinson arrived via a side door.
During the service several speakers acknowledged the first family’s attendance at the church and Rev. Dr. Michael E. Bell Sr.,the church’s pastor, referred to the president as the “most intelligent, most anointed, most charismatic president,” while complimenting Michelle Obama.
Gospel songs throughout the service moved the spirit by a 50 member choir, clapping and waving and Obama could be seen in his family’s pew swaying gently to the music.
The first family departed the church after receiving communion.

photo credit:flickr/ghost_beat

Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton is a force of nature. In her youth she was an organizer for the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee during the civil rights movement. She received her undergraduate degree from Antioch College, a master’s from Yale University, and a law degree from Yale Law School. She served as a lawyer on the infamous 1970 Newsweek sex discrimination case, and President Jimmy Carter appointed Norton to be the first woman to chair the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. There she worked to advance the status of women in the workplace. Since 1991, she’s served in the U.S. House of Representatives for Washington, D.C., fighting tirelessly for, among other things, D.C. voting rights in Congress.

Continue reading at www.campusprogress.org