Free Republic

LITTLE FALLS, Minn. — A Minnesota man who killed two teenagers who broke into his home can be heard on an audio recording talking to himself for hours after the shooting and at one point, apparently describing the slain teens as "vermin." Byron Smith, of Little Falls, faces first-degree premeditated murder charges in the deaths of 18-year-old Haile Kifer and 17-year-old Nick Brady on Thanksgiving Day in 2012. Smith, 65, claimed he was defending himself and feared for his life after several break-ins at his home. Prosecutors, though, say Smith planned the killings. They say he sat in a chair...

Tracy Martin wants his son, Trayvon, to be remembered as this century's Emmett Till, and have his death reawaken the nation's lagging civil rights movement. "We want him to be known as that child of central Florida who galvanized the country," said Martin, who was a guest speaker at Nassau Community College on Wednesday. "We would like to see his name in the history books of modern days, taking his place beside Emmett Till [though] Emmett Till has a legacy I don't think any African-American child will surpass." Till, 14, was killed in Mississippi in 1955 after being accused of...

*Famed film director Spike Lee has expressed his desire to see the Trayvon Martin story told on the big screen. During an interview with theGrio, Lee commended 27-year-old new director Ryan Coogler for bringing his acclaimed independent film, “Fruitvale Station,” the Oscar Grant story, to the big screen. He expressed his admiration for the film while stating that the film business isn’t built in favor of young directors like Coogler to succeed. “Love it…. It’s great,” Lee said of Fruitvale Station. “But it’s something that I have been doing for 15 year [sic]. I teach film. That is my job...

After the emotional trial of slain teenager Trayvon Martin's killer George Zimmerman last year, justice is being demanded for the unlawful killing of another teen by a New York police officer. A "Justice for #RamarleyGraham" campaign has launched in hopes of indicting the man responsible for taking an 18-year-old's life. The Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney's office have the power to take over the case and hold Ramarley's killer accountable. Join us in demanding the DOJ and U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara conduct a thorough investigation and bring federal charges against Officer...

Chris Brown, left, mother of Christopher Brown for whom the new law is named, is with supporter, Tessa Hill-Aston, president of the Baltimore NAACP. Christopher's Law was passed by the Maryland General Assembly and is awaiting the governor's signature. The legislation requires police officers to be trained in CPR, cultural sensitivity, the proper use of force, and interacting with the physically and mentally disabled. "This is an umbrella of protection," said Chris Brown, 40, for whose son the bill (HB0294/ SB0542) was named. "This bill will ensure that police officers are trained in life-saving techniques. They already know how to...

Attorney General Eric Holder spoke out against racial profiling Wednesday, arguing the practice undermines the relationship between communities and law enforcement officials. He also reflected on his own experiences with profiling in years past. The attorney general told an audiance at the annual National Action Network convention in New York that his father gave him advice as a boy on how to interact with police if he ever felt he had been stopped unfairly. “I thought of my father’s words years later, when – as a college student – I was pulled over twice on the New Jersey turnpike and...

If I were outlining a racial history of the Obama administration, it would begin with policy: A housing collapse that destroyed black Americans’ wealth; a health care law attacked as “reparations” and crippled by a neo-Calhounite doctrine of “state sovereignty”; a broad assault on voting rights and access to the polls, concentrated in the states of the former Confederacy. Indeed, it would focus on the deep irony of the Obama era: That the first black president has presided over a declining status quo for many black Americans. In short, it would treat race as a real force in public life...

The man dubbed President Obama’s pastor, Joshua DuBois, said Monday night he is dismayed that Americans turn to God to resolve “infinitesimally small” questions not worthy of the Almighty. “If there is one gnawing sadness I have about the contemporary state of religion in America,” DuBois said, “it is that instead of seeking God’s name for the big things, the nearly impossible things, the things that stretch faith nearly to the breaking point, that require a strong God, far too often we make God do the infinitesimally small.” God used to get called on for higher causes, but not now,...

The names of the six-member jury panel that acquitted George Zimmerman in the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin have been made public for the first time, after a new court order, records show. Circuit Judge Debra Nelson, who had previously ordered the jurors' identifying information be kept confidential, granted access to the names in a ruling March 21.

USC’s Black Student Assembly (BSA) took a somber stance, honoring Trayvon Martin, Jordan Davis and other victims of racial violence at a Candlelight Vigil March 5. BSA Executive Director Ama Amoafo-Yeboah led the service to explore the past seven decades through short speeches and focus on the pattern of legalized lynching, police brutality and the infamous Stand-Your-Ground law and their social implications on race and ethnicity. “The goal of the Trayvon Martin-Jordan Davis Candlelight Vigil is to provide a space through which people can come together across those lines of race and difference that too often keeps our community divided,”...

Two years ago, Barack Obama infamously emphasized skin color above all other factors in his remarks about a boiling controversy, saying, “…my main message is to the parents of Trayvon Martin. You know, if I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.” Obama did the same thing again over a year later, immediately after the jury found George Zimmerman not guilty in that case–barging in front of the cameras for the explicit purpose of emphasizing skin color (instead of character and conduct) regarding issues of crime, justice, and public safety, Obama self-righteously prattled on for over 17 minutes in a...

Witnessin the Democrats do what no Republican leader of the modern era has unable to do, expose the Democrat Party for the hypocritical, corrupt and devious entity they have become. In the brief span of one minute eleven seconds, every cornerstone of progressive-liberalism is unearthed, with the typical rhetorical touches, overt and otherwise, designed to elicit the emotion that is their conduit to power.

Tallahassee, Fla. Pastor Dr. R. B. Holmes, whose leadership against hazing and the infamous "stand your ground laws", has announced his candidacy for the presidency of the National Baptist Convention USA., Inc. At a National Press Club announcement last week, Holmes called on the Black church to arise and take back its historic role in fighting social justice issues. "The Black church has become too quiet, too passive, too disconnected when it comes to challenging policies programs and persons that degrade and devastate our people" said Holmes, flanked by dozens of church and community leaders. He also announced the formation...

Florida is ground zero for the weird and unusual, but there are many people, places and events that Florida can point to with pride: Gov. Reubin Askew, our world-class beaches, beautiful wetlands, Disney World, Gasparilla and our universities’ title-winning athletic teams. But George Zimmerman is not something we’re proud of. For those people who have not listened to any form of media for the last few years, George Zimmerman is best known as the neighborhood watchman-turned-vigilante who shot and killed an unarmed 16-year old by the name of Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman played police, judge and jury, assuming Trayvon was “up...

Like the rest of the world, I was stunned to hear Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant argue that it was somehow an unecessary burden for a black man to stand in support of the late Trayvon Martin. If anything, the Trayvon Martin case brought black people together in ways that we haven’t seen since the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The case was clear cut: Trayvon had no weapon. He wasn’t bothering anybody. He was stalked out and murdered for appearing to look like a “thug.” George Zimmerman is a free man and later showed that he...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Now, you remember -- you may not remember it, ladies and gentlemen. On March 21st, ten days ago, we had a caller on this program, Siobhan was her name. She was from Columbia, Mississippi, and she was African-American. She said that she was ashamed of Obama. Well, guess what? In Houston, on the TV station KRIV, they played a replay of what happened on the radio. They found the local leader of the Black Panthers, the New Black Panthers, to comment on this woman calling this program and me. The woman's call was a long call and...

[Ed. Note—The opinions expressed during this conversation reflect the opinions of the participants and the participants only. This conversation does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Complex Media.] City Guide's Lauretta Charlton and Julian Kimble tackle the most controversial headlines about race that made the news. This month's discussion includes Lord Jamar, Kobe Bryant on Trayvon Martin, interracial dating and Kanye West's Vogue cover story. [NBA star Kobe Bryant told the New Yorker that he "won't react to something just because I'm supposed to, because I'm an African-American," referring to the Trayvon Martin case. Critics argue his comments are out...

Trayvon Martin's mother, Sybrina Fulton, speaks about her support to eradicate "stand your ground" laws. Enough is enough, says Rev. Dr. R.B. Holmes, noting the list of young Black people dead or in jail in states where “stand your ground” laws are in place. “Our young Black boys are being senselessly killed just for being Black teenagers,” said Holmes, who on March 25 announced the formation of the National Pastor’s Task Force, a nation wide coalition of 40 Black ministers who want to repeal or revise “stand your ground” laws. “We have begun the fight in Florida and pledge to...

*Civil rights activist Najee Ali, director of Project Islamic H.O.P.E., is calling for a boycott of all products that NBA All-star Kobe Bryant endorses. This includes his jerseys, and signature gym shoes. The call for the national boycott is in response to Bryant’s negative comments concerning the Miami Heat’s support of the Trayvon Martin family. In the March 31 issue of the New Yorker. Bryant discussed life and race with Ben McGrath. When McGrath asked Bryant’s opinion on the Miami Heat’s show of solidarity with Martin in the now iconic “hoodie” photo, the LA Lakers star stated: “I won’t react...

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder strongly hinted on Thursday that the government will soon determine if George Zimmerman will face federal civil rights charges in the 2012 killing of Trayvon Martin. A self-appointed neighborhood watch patrolman, Zimmerman was acquitted by a Florida jury of murder charges last year and soon thereafter the federal government announced that the Justice Department would be probing the case for any civil rights violations that might have occurred. The 17-year-old Martin was unarmed and just steps away from the doorsteps of his father's gated community home when Zimmerman ignored a police dispatcher's stern advice to...