Free Republic

Pinellas School Board chairwoman Janet Clark is coming under fire for using the term "hoodlums" to describe a small group of chronically disruptive students in county schools. Board members Mary Brown and Linda Lerner criticized Clark at Tuesday night's board meeting. And now Ray Tampa, president of the St. Petersburg branch of the NAACP, said Clark's refusal to apologize has made things worse. "I was disgusted with her response," Tampa said Wednesday. The International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement — better known as the Uhurus — called for Clark to resign for the statement, which it viewed as racist. Clark is...

I spent much of last Thursday morning and early afternoon talking to 20 Midtown residents, average people who do not hold any positions of power. All are African-American. I spoke with these people to get a sense of the mood in the area related to Police chief Chuck Harmon's announcement that the police department intends to rid the city of the most violent elements of drug trafficking. Harmon especially wants to remove the increasing number of military-style weapons drug operatives seem to favor. To this end, the chief will transfer up to a third of the officers in the community...