Free Republic

Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev meets with President Obama at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington in April 2010. (AP Photo/File) (CNSNews.com) – When American voters go to the polls next month, among those observing the election will be monitors from four countries judged by the veteran democracy watchdog Freedom House as “not free” and another six it regards as “partly free.”The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) observers will “assess these elections for compliance with international obligations and standards for democratic elections.”They will also look into voter-identification and other laws which critics have labeled “racially discriminatory.”In a...

Rev. Talbert Swan, president of the Springfield branch of the NAACP, has requested meetings with the four companies that have expressed interest in bringing a casino to the city, as well as Mayor Domenic Sarno, to discuss efforts to hire minorities and women should voters approve one of the proposals. "In a stricken economy, where communities of color are the most heavily affected, a proposal to create hundreds of permanent jobs along with many temporary construction jobs should include a plan to ensure fair participation by residents of color," Swam wrote in a letter to the four casino operators, MGM...

On the heels of her live chat with the MassLive.com readers, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren is again taking her campaign westward for events in Pittsfield, Springfield and Westfield. On Sunday, Warren, who is aiming to unseat Republican U.S. Senator Scott Brown, will visit Pittsfield in Berkshire County to engage voters in a conversation about the issues that are in the spotlight this election season. Billed as an ice cream social, the gathering will take place at the campaign headquarters she shares with Democratic U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, who is running to represent the newly drawn 1st Congressional District...

NAACP Endorses Same-Sex Marriage Peter Wallsten 05/19/2012 The NAACP’s board of directors voted Saturday to endorse same-sex marriage rights – adding the influential voice of the country’s leading black civil rights organization to a debate that has divided the African-American community. The decision has political implications for President Obama, who needs an enthusiastic turnout from black voters to help him win reelection in November but angered some African-American church pastors with his announcement this month that he believes gays and lesbians should have the right to marry. The NAACP now presents itself as a counterbalance to the influence of the...

Massachusetts citizen and community groups are suing the state for allegedly failing to offer recipients of public assistance help in registering to vote. The suit was filed in federal court on Tuesday by the regional office of the NAACP, the group New England United for Justice and Bethzaida Delgado, a Massachusetts woman who said she was repeatedly denied voter registration services. The suit alleges that Secretary of State William Galvin's office and the state Department of Transitional Assistance violated the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 by failing to offer registration opportunities to the poor.

With Gov. Dannel P. Malloy pledging to sign the bill into law, the state Senate is preparing for a vote as soon as Wednesday on a measure to repeal the death penalty for future crimes. Leaders of the Senate Democratic majority intend Tuesday to canvass their 22 members for a final time, with the expectation of getting a commitment from at least 18 senators, the bare minimum necessary for passage. "We'll make a final decision tomorrow," Senate President Pro Tem Donald E. Williams Jr., D-Brooklyn, said Monday night. "Do we want to move forward one way or the other? Yes."...

The president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is visiting Connecticut's state Capitol to discuss the state's death penalty repeal effort with lawmakers, local leaders and Gov. Dannel Malloy. NAACP President Ben Jealous was originally scheduled to meet with lawmakers on Tuesday, but his visit was pushed to Thursday. Last week, the Judiciary Committee voted in favor of the death penalty repeal. Now, the bill awaits further legislative action in the state's Senate. The repeal effort being considered by the General Assembly would abolish the death penalty for all future cases and replace the punishment with...

The NAACP is calling for a federal investigation into allegations a New London police officer planted drugs outside a suspect's house just before his arrest. The questionable conduct happened in October 2010 and was captured on tape by a camera inside a police cruiser. Lance Goode was arrested that night. He says the video shows Officer Roger Newton dropping drugs on the ground, looking around, and then kicking them underneath his car. "Someone we're supposed to trust, a police officer. His career was that important that my life, my family's life didn't mean nothing?" said Goode. Goode just filed a...

The Connecticut and New London branches of the NAACP are calling for a federal Justice Department investigation of a city police officer and questioning the firing of a black firefighter recruit. The state chapter announced the moves Friday. City resident Lance Goode filed a complaint with the state NAACP last week claiming Officer Roger Newton violated his rights by planting drugs on him just before his arrest. Goode gave the NAACP a video that he says shows Newton planting the drugs. Newton is on leave pending an internal investigation. The NAACP also questioned the firing of black firefighter recruit Al...

At the Martin Luther King Jr. birthday ceremony Friday at City Hall, the Rev. Talbert W. Swan II offered a brief history lesson for younger members of the audience. The causes championed by King five decades ago are the same ones civil rights activists are campaigning for today, said Swan, the new president of the Springfield’s NAACP chapter. “Jobs and justice,” Swan told the overflow crowd, including students from the city’s Martin Luther King Charter School of Excellence. “Just as in 1963, we find ourselves in the same predicament today, needing jobs and justice,” he said. Five decades after playing...

The Springfield branch of the NAACP has scheduled a public meeting Jan. 4 to discuss a recent comment by Easthampton city councilor Donald L. Cykowski that has been widely criticized as offensive to the Puerto Rican community. Cykowski has since apologized for his statement, which was made at a Dec. 7 council meeting, but calls for further action continue inside and outside Easthampton. Meanwhile, the outgoing president of the Easthampton City Council said he will file a resolution Tuesday reaffirming the council’s commitment to tolerance and against discrimination of any kind. Leaders from the Latino community met Wednesday morning with...

The Rev. Talbert W. Swan II, Springfield branch president of the NAACP, Friday called for an independent investigation of the shooting death of 18-year-old Tahiem Goffe. The teenager died of injuries inflicted by a gunshot wound in the wake of a Nov. 6 confrontation with police, who said Goffe was behind the wheel of a stolen vehicle when he attempted to run down an officer. “The Springfield Branch NAACP is requesting an independent investigation to ensure that proper police procedures were employed and that the investigation will not be compromised,” Swan said Friday. ... Goffe was shot by Springfield police...

Following the June 28 election that brought new officers into the fold, the Springfield branch of the NAACP is focusing its attention on five key areas to promote its agenda of equality. At a short press conference before the dedication of the New Macedonia Church of God in Christ, the Rev. Talbert W. Swan II, the newly elected president of the Springfield branch of the NAACP, said the group will be taking a renewed focus on education, health, economic empowerment, political action and social justice advocacy. Swan said the group will work with city school officials to reduce the dropout...

The Rev. Talbert W. Swan II, the newly elected president of the Springfield branch of the NAACP, said Thursday he anticipates a resurgence in the branch and expanded efforts to fight for improved education, health and social justice for communities of color. The election of Swan, pastor of the Spring Hope Church of God in Christ, was the first contested presidential election in more than a decade for the local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Swan received 77 percent of the ballots cast to win over Charles Stokes, a community activist and former City...

Norwalk, Conn. (WTNH) - The Reverend Al Sharpton was in Norwalk Tuesday evening, showing support for a homeless woman charged with stealing her son's education. The message behind the rally was 'Equal Education For All'. Hundreds of people turned out to support Tayna McDowell, saying the charges against her are cruel and unusual punishment. They cheered for 'Equal Education For All', rallying for Tanya McDowell, who told the crowd she was only looking out for her son when she enrolled him in the Norwalk school system. "All I ask is the best education which is one of the best for...

Two school systems in Georgia will resume classes on Martin Luther King Jr. Day to make up for last week’s snow day, drawing much criticism from the NAACP. Edward DuBose, president of the Georgia State NAACP Chapter, told the Chattanooga Times Free Press that he is shocked that Fannin and Gilmer counties would “rise to this level of disrespect” to King. “The whole state of Georgia should be embarrassed, actually, by the action of both counties,” DuBose said. “You can’t help but to come to the conclusion that the population of his county is having some bearing on the leadership.”...

In a report released today entitled, Tea Party Nationalism, the NAACP falsely accuses Free Republic of being "an important space for...racist(sic)" and of having as a member the Holocaust Museum shooter James Von Brunn.In falsely accusing Free Republic of being a haven for racists, the NAACP report notes Free Republic's front page promotes the Tea Party Express. However, the report fails to note the front page also includes several statements warning that racism and violence are not welcome on Free Republic:"Please enjoy our forum, but also please remember to use common courtesy when posting and refrain from posting personal attacks,...

A new website sponsored by the NAACP and left-leaning media operations is seeking videographers and bloggers who will search out "racism" and "extremism" among Tea Partiers. Teapartytracker.org will feature tweets, interviews with people at rallies, blog entries and a picture of a t-shirt they say someone spotted at a rally that reads "Blacks own slaves in Mauitania, Sudan, Niger & Haiti." The site, sponsored by the NAACP, Think Progress, New Left Media and Media Matters for America, will monitor "racism and other forms of extremism within the Tea Party movement. We call on the Tea Party to repudiate extremists among...

As the controversy surrounding the video of former USDA employee Shirley Sherrod begins to dissipate with the revelation that her seemingly-racist statements, made at an NAACP banquet, were taken out-of-context, a new controversy is emerging involving the NAACP and the issue of racism. And it involves an organization that has been very prominent in the news lately – the New Black Panther Party. On May 3rd, in Atlanta, the New Black Panther Party (NBPP) held its 2010 National Black Power Convention, which brought together an odd assortment of racists, black separatists, and mainstream figures from the worlds of politics and...

Almost from the moment Barack Obama declared he would run for president in 2007, our enraptured media elite has been accusing anyone who would stand in Obama's way with racism. The question was never whether Obama was ready to govern the country, but whether the country was ready for the historic awesomeness of Obama. Pity the NAACP. We now have a black president, and they must convince (racist) America that there still exists the need for a national association to advance "colored people" in our society. How to do it? Identify and condemn as "racists" anyone or any group opposed...