COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — With tensions running high over the killings of blacks by police, departments around the country are changing policies and procedures to curb the use of deadly force, ease public distrust and protect officers from retaliation. New York City plans to issue stun guns to hundreds more officers. The Milwaukee department is making crisis-intervention training mandatory. And in Akron, Ohio, police have begun working in pairs on all shifts for their own safety. Police departments are constantly updating training. But some of the more recent measures have been prompted by rising anger toward police. And in some cases, departments are making sure …

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — With tensions running high over the killings of blacks by police, departments around the country are changing policies and procedures to curb the use of deadly force, ease public distrust and protect officers from retaliation.

New York City plans to issue stun guns to hundreds more officers. The Milwaukee department is making crisis-intervention training mandatory. And in Akron, Ohio, police have begun working in pairs on all shifts for their own safety. Police departments are constantly updating training. But some of the more recent measures have been prompted by rising anger toward police. And in some cases, departments are making sure to let the public know about these changes.

“It’s not a mistake or a coincidence that a lot of these departments are publicizing their training or are perhaps revamping their training guidelines and things like that in the wake of these really high-profile incidents,” said Kami Chavis Simmons, director of the criminal justice program at the Wake Forest University School of Law in North Carolina and a former federal prosecutor in Washington.

Protests, largely peaceful, have flared across the country after grand juries in recent weeks declined to indict white officers in the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and the chokehold death of Eric Garner in New York City. Both men were black and unarmed.

Lorie Fridell, a criminology professor at the University of South Florida who operates a police training business, said she has received nearly two requests a day from chiefs since protests erupted over the August shooting in Ferguson.

“There’s a lot of well-meaning chiefs out there that want to do the right thing, and they are looking for ways that they can address not just use-of-force issues but bias issues,” she said.

Two recent police shootings in Ohio started with reports of people with guns: the killing last month of a 12-year-old boy carrying a pellet gun in Cleveland and the death last summer of a 22-year-old man holding an air rifle in a Wal-Mart in suburban Dayton.

In both cases, the officers said they thought the victims had real guns. The officer who shot the 12-year-old resigned from a suburban Cleveland police force in 2012 after his supervisors decided he lacked the maturity to work in their department.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine responded by asking the state’s police training commission last week to study possible updates in the way officers learn their jobs.

“Every police officer who goes out every day has the right to come home at night,” DeWine said. “On the other hand, citizens of the state of Ohio have the right to expect that police officers are correctly trained and vetted before they’re put out on the street.”

Elsewhere around the country:

— In Missouri last month, a federal law enforcement team held training for St. Louis-area police, including top commanders from Ferguson, on how unintentional bias affects police work. Similarly, St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson said he hopes to introduce wider training for officers about recognizing “implicit bias” and making better decisions about when to shoot.

— In Philadelphia, Mayor Michael Nutter is urging police in a video message to use force only “if absolutely necessary.”

— The Obama administration issued guidelines this month that restrict the ability of federal law enforcement agencies to profile on the basis of religion, national origin and other certain characteristics. The Justice Department hopes those measures become a model for local departments.

Several police forces were updating their practices even before the Ferguson and New York deaths, with some departments issuing body cameras to officers.

After Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey arrived in 2008, for example, the department began placing police shooting statistics on the Web for the sake of openness and started a pilot program involving body cameras.

___

Associated Press researcher Jennifer Farrar contributed to this report. Welsh-Huggins can be reached on Twitter at https://twitter.com/awhcolumbus.

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Police Nationwide Alter Tactics, Bolster Arsenal After Protests, Killings

On Saturday, thousands of Americans participated in protests across the nation in an effort to call for justice against police brutality. In joining the movement, the cast of Ava DuVernay’s forthcoming motion picture, “Selma,” also took action during the film’s New York City premiere by wearing shirts that that read “I Can’t Breathe.” In addition to the shirts, which were inspired by Eric Garner’s last recorded words, the cast also opened up about the parallels between today’s protests and the film, which is based on the 1965 marches from Selma to Montgomery, led by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. “We couldn’t have predicted what would happen in terms of what’s going on, race relations-wise,” actor David Oyelowo…

On Saturday, thousands of Americans participated in protests across the nation in an effort to call for justice against police brutality. In joining the movement, the cast of Ava DuVernay’s forthcoming motion picture, “Selma,” also took action during the film’s New York City premiere by wearing shirts that that read “I Can’t Breathe.”

In addition to the shirts, which were inspired by Eric Garner’s last recorded words, the cast also opened up about the parallels between today’s protests and the film, which is based on the 1965 marches from Selma to Montgomery, led by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King.

“We couldn’t have predicted what would happen in terms of what’s going on, race relations-wise,” actor David Oyelowo, who plays King in the film, admitted to the Associated Press. “We finished shooting in early July and by early August Michael Brown had been murdered and now we’re in the middle of the Eric Garner situation. I just think it shows. … We do not live in a post-racial America.”

“Selma” producer-actress Oprah Winfrey also shared her thoughts on how the film can be viewed as a learning lesson.

“I think life is always there to teach, enlighten, and open you up to the greater possibilities of what can be done if you’re willing to be awake and see it. So what’s exciting to me is that people are awake,” Winfrey told theGrio.com. “And If it took Eric Garner and it took Michael Brown and other instances to do than, then that’s where we are in our evolvement as human beings.”

Winfrey also shared how the march, and movie, serve as a historical reminder of great activism and highlights the tenacity of those who led it.

“I really think that this film can teach people a lot, because what this film says is it’s been done. It was done. Y’all are not the first to do it … the first to have an idea … the first to want to protest … the first to be upset,” she continued.

“We didn’t even have the right as citizens to vote in this country, and because of that you had Martin Luther King as a leader joining with his band of brothers with disciplined, rigorous, peaceful protests, and they had a goal and intention in mind. You just can’t march and not know what you’re marching for.”

“Selma” is out in limited release on Christmas Day before a nationwide bow on Jan. 9. Check out more of Oprah’s red carpet interview here.

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Oprah Winfrey On National Protests: ‘Y’all Are Not The First To Do It ‘

French-born figure skater Surya Bonaly has always been in a league of her own. At the height of her career, the five-time European champion was often criticized by judges and journalists for having an unusual style not like that of her competitors. But it was that same factor that made her a fan favorite you could not take your eyes off of, for fear of missing one of her signature backflips. On Monday, Bonaly — who still skates in shows all over the world and also coaches a new generation of aspiring champions — turned 41. In honor of the skating star’s birthday, we give you nine reasons why Bonaly has always stood out…

French-born figure skater Surya Bonaly has always been in a league of her own.

At the height of her career, the five-time European champion was often criticized by judges and journalists for having an unusual style not like that of her competitors. But it was that same factor that made her a fan favorite you could not take your eyes off of, for fear of missing one of her signature backflips.

On Monday, Bonaly — who still skates in shows all over the world and also coaches a new generation of aspiring champions — turned 41. In honor of the skating star’s birthday, we give you nine reasons why Bonaly has always stood out from the crowd.

1. She has the best trademark move in all of figure skating.
Bonaly was well-known for not only being one of the few female skaters to perform a backflip, but also for landing it on one foot — not to mention performing the illegal (in Olympic-eligible competition) move while competing in the Olympic Games in 1998, her last of three Olympic appearances. She is recognized as the only skater, male or female, to land a one-foot backflip.

2. Her competitive record is up there with the greats’.
In addition to placing second at the World Championships for three consecutive years (1993-1995), winning a world junior title in 1991 and placing as high as fourth place (just missing a medal) at the Olympic Games in 1994, Bonaly won the European Championships five times. The only female skaters to top that number, winning six each, were figure skating legends Sonja Henie and Katarina Witt.

3. Her jumping ambitions were practically unmatched.
She’s one of the few female skaters to even attempt a quadruple jump in competition, trying it as early as 1989, just one year after the first quad jump to be landed by a male skater was ratified. Bonaly’s attempts were never ratified by skating officials; it wasn’t until 2002 that any female skater was credited with successfully landing a quad.

4. She was a trailblazer for black figure skaters.
Bonaly, who told The Root’s Keli Goff she was inspired by American figure skater Debi Thomas, remains one of a relatively small number of black skaters who have excelled at the sport’s highest level. Did her race affect her career? Bonaly told Goff this year that “if I’d been white, I would have had more [endorsement] contracts and been bigger.”

5. She had a mysterious origin story.
When Bonaly first came on the competitive figure skating scene, it was said that she was born on the French-controlled island of Réunion, off the coast of Madagascar, abandoned by her biological parents and discovered on a beach. That later turned out to be a rumor cooked up by French skating federation officials to make her seem more exotic and drum up publicity.

6. Her costumes were always in a class of their own.
Bonaly’s dresses throughout her career were always just a touch glitzier and a tad sparklier than those of her rivals, often featuring bold, bright and unusual colors while other skaters stuck to softer pastels or other more traditional colors. They were high-end costumes, too — in the 1992 Olympics in Albertville, France, Bonaly wore dresses by couture designer Christian Lacroix. Her on-ice look also attracted headlines because Bonaly typically refused to wear tights on her legs, a look preferred by judges. It is rumored that skating tights matching black skaters’ skin tone were not available.

7. She’s not afraid to express her beliefs.
Many top athletes tiptoe around questions about contentious social and political issues, but Bonaly isn’t one of them. A vegetarian and an animal advocate, she has taken part in many ads for PETA, urging people not to wear fur and to speak out about seal hunting. In another outspoken moment, Bonaly famously removed her silver medal from her neck during the medal ceremony at the World Championships in 1994 because she was disappointed in placing second and believed she should have won.

8. Her musical choices have never disappointed.
Throughout her career, Bonaly has always brought a wide range of music to the ice, everything from the Spice Girls to frenzied folk music.

9. She’s still at it — at the age of 41.
It’s been more than 16 years since Bonaly last competed in the Olympics, but she’s still about as busy as ever. Here’s Bonaly skating in a show two years ago, still landing the triple jumps and backflips she is known for.

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9 Reasons Why No One Compares To Figure Skater Surya Bonaly

CNN is facing criticism after four of its hosts were seen expressing support for those protesting the killings of Michael Brown and Eric Garner during a broadcast Saturday afternoon. After rolling footage of demonstrators marching in New York and Washington, CNN commentator Sally Kohn said, “We want you to know that our hearts are out there marching with them,” as she and co-hosts Mel Robbins and Margaret Hoover raised their hands up in the air, an apparent nod to the “hands up, don’t shoot” chant associated with protests against police violence. Co-host Sunny Hostin also held up a piece of paper with the words “I can’t breathe” written across it, a reference to the …

CNN is facing criticism after four of its hosts were seen expressing support for those protesting the killings of Michael Brown and Eric Garner during a broadcast Saturday afternoon.

After rolling footage of demonstrators marching in New York and Washington, CNN commentator Sally Kohn said, “We want you to know that our hearts are out there marching with them,” as she and co-hosts Mel Robbins and Margaret Hoover raised their hands up in the air, an apparent nod to the “hands up, don’t shoot” chant associated with protests against police violence. Co-host Sunny Hostin also held up a piece of paper with the words “I can’t breathe” written across it, a reference to the last words uttered by Staten Island’s Eric Garner as he was being choked to death by NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo.

The segment aired at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday as part of “CNN Newsroom,” a straight news program typically devoid of opinion and political bias. While MSNBC and Fox News are often accused of leaning drastically to opposite sides of the aisle — left and right, respectively — CNN often bills itself as balanced and impartial. But some critics are saying that by allowing hosts to take sides on such a contentious issue during a straight news hour CNN is confusing its viewers and compromising the network’s claims of neutrality.

Mediaite’s Joe Concha criticized the network for not “specifically naming the program” and failing to bill it as an opinion show, and Scott Jones at FTVLive wrote that CNN could no longer “claim themselves as a down the middle newscast with no bias.”

The Huffington Post has reached out to CNN for additional comment and will update this post if and when the network responds.

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CNN Hosts Under Fire For Putting ‘Hands Up’ On Air, Critics Claim Bias

Dahlia Henry said she wasn’t the type of person who’d ask for help — the hardworking mother of three had had a job since she was a teenager, after all. But her outlook changed after she collapsed in October 2011. Diagnosed with lupus — a chronic autoimmune disease that can cause pain and inflammation throughout the body — Henry had nerve damage in her hands and feet, and had to use a wheelchair for days. She could no longer do the tasks that kept her family running, like cooking and cleaning, nor could she do simple things like brushing her teeth. “Disaster — that’s one way I could put it,” the 47-year-old…

Dahlia Henry said she wasn’t the type of person who’d ask for help — the hardworking mother of three had had a job since she was a teenager, after all.

But her outlook changed after she collapsed in October 2011. Diagnosed with lupus — a chronic autoimmune disease that can cause pain and inflammation throughout the body — Henry had nerve damage in her hands and feet, and had to use a wheelchair for days. She could no longer do the tasks that kept her family running, like cooking and cleaning, nor could she do simple things like brushing her teeth.

“Disaster — that’s one way I could put it,” the 47-year-old told The Huffington Post. “I cried every day. In the hospital, in rehab, I’d see the doctor and just start crying, because even though I couldn’t get up and I couldn’t help myself, I found myself telling the doctor that I have the children at home to take care of, and I need to go home.”

Henry went from full days of cleaning, cooking for her son and working evening shifts at a group home, to feeling utterly helpless.

“I was home — can’t cook, can’t walk, can’t help myself, bills piling up,” she said. “Everything was just falling apart.”

With an empty kitchen and nowhere to turn, Henry said she called nonprofit God’s Love We Deliver out of desperation. Now she’s one of its roughly 5,000 clients living with a chronic or critical illness who receives meals delivered to their doorstep year-round, free-of-charge.

“I am so grateful, I can’t even express myself,” Henry said. She receives 10 meals a week for herself, while her 10-year-old son receives 10 meals and five snacks a week. (Her other two children are adults and do not receive meals or benefits from the nonprofit.)

Founded in 1985, the organization was originally created to fight hunger among HIV/AIDS patients in New York City. Now the nonprofit serves people with about 200 different diagnoses, including Alzheimer’s disease, all types of cancers, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease.

And its impact is only “growing, growing, growing,” Karen Pearl, president and CEO told HuffPost. According to her, God’s Love serves 76 percent more meals than it did seven years ago.

“It’s not necessarily because there’s more need,” she said. “But because we’re finding more people who need us.”

According to research conducted by the Food Research and Action Center and Children’s Healthwatch, individuals with chronic diseases, like Henry, are often forced to make difficult decisions between purchasing medicine to treat their illnesses and buying food to eat. Before becoming a client at God’s Love, Henry said she had to rely on the kindness of friends who’d drop off food — after losing her job and health insurance, she didn’t have enough money to adequately feed herself and buy “very expensive” medicine.

Those with chronic diseases are also less likely to be able to afford foods that support immune system health, which is why God’s Love prepares all of its nutritionally balanced, low-sodium meals in its own kitchen.

But as its name suggests, the group does more than alleviate physical needs, according to Pearl — especially this time of year.

“The holidays can be very, very lonely and isolating,” she said. “And having people come and visit, and drop off not only delicious food but gifts and a lot of cheer, and just say, ‘We’re thinking about you, and there are people out here who really care about you’ — it makes a difference to people.”

On Christmas Eve, about 1,000 volunteers from the organization will serve more than 3,000 winter feasts to clients in the Greater New York City area — a holiday tradition that has continued since the organization’s inception. In festive boxes decorated by local school children, clients will have multi-course meals — with foods like Cornish game hen stuffed with wild rice and New England corn chowder — dropped off at their doorsteps. They’ll also be provided with a “blizzard box” filled with nonperishable foods, in case harsh weather prevents deliverers from making a stop at their home in the coming months.

Henry, who currently doesn’t have a job and receives disability and food stamps, said she’s not sure where she and her son would be without God’s Love We Deliver.

“To have someone come knock on my door and give me an already prepared meal has meant the whole world to me,” she said.

To sponsor a winter feast holiday meal by God’s Love We Deliver, click here. To learn more about the organization’s volunteer opportunities on Christmas Eve, click here.

This story is part of series called 12 Days Of Giving. Huffington Post Impact, Religion and Parents have teamed up to feature stories from 12 families in need over 12 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Read more here.

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Chronically Ill Mom Forced To Choose Between Medicine Or Food Gets Help From Nonprofit

As someone from Greece, a country that gave birth to democracy but which has been wracked by continuous social unrest over the last few years, expressed in different ways, from terrorism and riots to a surge in support for the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party, it’s been interesting to observe the wave of protests triggered by the Ferguson and Eric Garner unlucky verdicts. Violence and abuse of power by the police is not confined only to Greece or the U.S. It’s a global phenomenon. We see it in every country, albeit with a different frequency or intensity depending on the different social and economic …

As someone from Greece, a country that gave birth to democracy but which has been wracked by continuous social unrest over the last few years, expressed in different ways, from terrorism and riots to a surge in support for the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party, it’s been interesting to observe the wave of protests triggered by the Ferguson and Eric Garner unlucky verdicts.

Violence and abuse of power by the police is not confined only to Greece or the U.S. It’s a global phenomenon. We see it in every country, albeit with a different frequency or intensity depending on the different social and economic conditions.

But it exists. De facto. And in a way it perpetuates the world’s division into “us against them.” The “us” are the ordinary people trying to make their lives against the odds as we’re at the mercy of decisions made somewhere high above us. “They” are the gatekeepers of power. They do the dirty work of the powers that be and those behind them. They are the police and other law enforcement agents.

This thought lingers at the back of our minds. It persists, sometimes justifiably and sometimes by circumstance. My question, as a person who likes to question things rather than rush to provide answers, is why we see the world divided this way and how we express this belief. Is it how we show the alienation we feel as a result of this abuse of power? Or is it how we frame our hope of overturning a society with which we’re dissatisfied?

In my country, Greece, there were also protests these previous days, some as violent as those in Ferguson. The protests were sparked by the sixth anniversary of the shooting of a fifteen-year-old boy by police. The police officer and his partner were convicted and are serving jail sentences. Blind police violence and abuse of power were thus censured by the state, yet protests were staged solely in memory of this tragic event.

Solely? Maybe not. Greeks, suffering under austerity measures imposed as a consequence of decades of bad political choices as well as global political and economic manipulations, sought to express that their discontent with a system that has lost their trust. And what stands between “us” and the system, is “them.” They are the system’s bodyguards. Their actions are sometimes flagrant. Sometimes perhaps even disquietingly instigator. Witness the number of videos on the internet showing individuals with bags of Molotov cocktails mingling with police officers.

Look at Peru. Last January, it passed a law effectively giving police and the military a “license to kill.” It’s hard to shake the image of the cold-blooded murder of someone resisting eviction from his home. No one was convicted, just as in Ferguson and in the death of Eric Garner.

The numbers are scary. Since 9/11, some 5,000 fatal incidents involving American police officers have been reported. These fatalities are tantamount to a small war being waged inside the country. Some of the victims were innocent. They were killed accidentally or as the result of a misunderstanding. How many were convicted for these mistakes?

There’s a lot of talk about racist motives. Are there? The data show that most victims were Hispanic or African American, while most police officers in the U.S. are white.

So in a city like Ferguson, where the population is 67 per cent African American compared to just three per cent of the police force, it’s easy to understand the context of “us against them.” And, of course, reaction will be more extreme than in cities or states with higher living standards.

The numbers though elsewhere aren’t necessarily different. According to 2012 data for New York: African Americans account for 28.6 per cent of the population but 87 per cent of police victims. Whites are 33.3 per cent of the population but account for just four per cent of police victims.

Do we need to examine these figures from a racial perspective or should we be more concerned with the authoritarianism of police power?

As I said earlier, I’m a person who likes to question things.

A quote by Charles Bukowski, one of my favorite American writers, comes to mind as I mull all this. I smile. Fill in the blank as you like:

“I have more faith in my plumber than I do in the _________. Plumbers do a good job. They keep the s**t flowing.”

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Police Violence: US and THEM

As Black communities emerge from the shadows of criminalization, hashtags like #BlackLivesMatter have jumped off the computer screen and into the street. Beyond sparking a long-awaited new civil rights movement, they are also catalyzing an amazing 21st century model for civil rights activism. The genius and passion of this “next generation” of civil rights leaders, set the nation ablaze in response to the murders of Oscar Grant, Trayvon Martin, Renisha McBride, Michael Brown, and other Black people. Their public cry that all Black lives matter has echoed far beyond the narrow halls of mainstream cable news. On the open Internet, this new generation of leaders has crafted an amazing story, in their own voices, that rejects the criminalization and lifts up the humanity of Black communities. …

As Black communities emerge from the shadows of criminalization, hashtags like #BlackLivesMatter have jumped off the computer screen and into the street. Beyond sparking a long-awaited new civil rights movement, they are also catalyzing an amazing 21st century model for civil rights activism.

The genius and passion of this “next generation” of civil rights leaders, set the nation ablaze in response to the murders of Oscar Grant, Trayvon Martin, Renisha McBride, Michael Brown, and other Black people. Their public cry that all Black lives matter has echoed far beyond the narrow halls of mainstream cable news. On the open Internet, this new generation of leaders has crafted an amazing story, in their own voices, that rejects the criminalization and lifts up the humanity of Black communities.

The reason the open Internet has been such a powerful tool for change for this generation of leaders is because, unlike other media platforms, broadband has historically been protected by non-discrimination rules. These rules, called network neutrality, make the Internet the most democratic media platform in history. While most of us cannot own a cable news station, every one of us can own a website.

But the ability of Black communities to use the Internet to sustain this growing movement is threatened. Last year, a D.C. circuit court struck down network neutrality rules. The court told the FCC, the agency that regulates the Internet, that the only way to legally prevent discrimination online and enforce the net neutrality rules that make the Internet such a powerful tool, is to reclassify broadband as common carrier service — a public utility, like electricity or water. The alternative, a privatized Internet where discrimination is legal, is a terrifying concept. Imagine if companies got to decide who gets to have water and how much water they could use, and then could open or close the flow of water based on how much money they made? Who would suffer most? In Detroit, Michigan, tens of thousands of poor people know the answer to that question.

If Mr. Hal Singer has anything to say about it, that’s what will happen to the Internet.

Enter the Great [Um] Hope: Mr. Hal Singer

Mr. Hal Singer, Progressive Policy Institute Fellow, believes the FCC should not reclassify the Internet. In fact, he participated in an FCC meeting with the Urban League, the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, and the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute (AEI) to lobby against net neutrality. Guess who else is affiliated with AEI? Shall I dish? It’s Charles Murray, author of the Bell Curve, a 1994 book that argued that human intelligence is the best predictor of crime and poverty. Aka: Black people are not intelligent and that is why we are poor and incarcerated. Good company, eh?

In the aftermath of President Obama’s ground-breaking support for reclassifying broadband as a common carrier, Mr. Hal Singer published an article in Forbes.com suggesting that President Obama should not take communities of color for granted when it comes to an open Internet.

I agree, but not for the reasons Mr. Singer suggests. Let’s look at each of his major arguments:

1. FALSE: Rather than push for reclassification, public-interest groups should focus on helping communities of color get a bigger foothold in the digital economy.

Though I’m sure many applaud Mr. Singer’s apparent concern for the economic well-being of communities of color, his perspective may be a bit skewed. Allowing broadband companies to discriminate against us is not the best way for communities of color to gain a foothold in the digital economy. It is, however, the best way for ISPs to make super-profits. So, to be fair, it is good for someone — just not us.

2. FALSE: Net neutrality rules that proactively prevent discrimination are heavy handed or extreme regulation.

Net neutrality rules are no more extreme than other rules that have historically prevented legal discrimination, like Brown vs. the Board of Education and the Voting Rights Act. And even those rules were not strong enough to keep our schools desegregated, secure voting rights, or prevent a pattern of racialized mass incarceration. In the 21st century, as Black bodies fall like leaves to the ground, we must do every thing we can to protect Black lives and Black voices.

3. FALSE: Privileged advocates want to ban low-priced wireless solutions.

Lordy. Instead of rules that would allow low-income Internet users access to the whole Internet — like we have now — Mr. Hal Singer would like communities of color to “keep an open mind” about low-priced zero-rated broadband plans that restrict users to social media sites, and prevent them from accessing educational content online. Does Mr. Singer believe that poor people only need and deserve access to entertainment, and not the information we need to organize, and save our very lives? There is no discount deep enough to make us buy into discrimination. More than 100 “next generation” civil rights groups agree, and have endorsed the call to reclassify broadband as a common carrier, protected by strong net neutrality rules.

If you are looking for the privilege in this scenario, you should check the public tax records that document the six-figure salaries of the top CEO’s at the nation’s oldest civil rights organizations. But, you didn’t hear it from me.

4. FALSE: Reclassification could expose broadband customers to new state and federal fees.

Mr. Hal Singer knows, just like every other consumer in the United States does, that cable prices have been increasing for a very long time. Yet, Mr. Singer thinks we should hand over control of our Internet content to the same cable companies that already inflate our bills. Consumers, especially consumers of color, do need to fight rising Internet prices, but we will need to do that no matter what. Mr. Singer also knows that a simple Congressional renewal of the Internet Tax Freedom Act could guarantee against local, state, or federal governments imposing Internet-specific taxes.

It’s not reclassification that would expose broadband customers to new fees, it’s the refusal of multimillion-dollar ISPs like Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon to pay their fair share. Hey, I know what could prevent the rising cost of Internet service! These super-sized companies could absorb the cost of doing business with dignity. Perhaps that is too much to ask.

5. FALSE: Reclassification could risk some portion of the $75 billion in annual investments by ISPs in America that support high-paying jobs in the communications sector.

The assertion by the GOP and ISPs that say non-discrimination rules will cost communities of color jobs and broadband investment in their neighborhoods is just a scare tactic. In fact, wireless companies know well that they have to invest in the growing consumer base of people of color to survive. More importantly, while incumbent ISPs like Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon would rather not be forced by net neutrality rules to compete with emerging start-ups, the competition that has made the technology sector possible would only be supported by net neutrality rules grounded in Title II authority.

Instead of trying to scare Black Internet users — and others — into supporting rules that are against our self-interest, perhaps Mr. Singer should spend some time explaining why ISPs are among the most hated companies in America.

I Believe That We Will Win

I am a Black organizer and Internet user. Like most people, I know what it means to pay bills I can’t afford. And I know that while it may not be the most profitable choice for ISPs, equity is a cost they should be willing to bear.

However, instead of agreeing to pay their fair share, ISPs like Comcast and their cronies are coercing poor people with threats of an “Internet Tax,” holding our broadband infrastructure hostage, and working with the conservative lobbying group American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) to expand the already vast tax loopholes while our families and our cities go bankrupt. These are the companies Mr. Hal Singer and others are fighting to protect. These are the companies whose campaign donations have swayed many a Congressional leader and broken many a union. And they are one really big reason Chairman Tom Wheeler’s FCC has delayed a vote to reclassify the Internet.

But I believe that we will win. We are a new generation of civil rights leaders, 21st century Internet users with our hands and our digital voices raised, calling out #WhichSideAreYouOn? Our response? We’re on the freedom side. We want our digital voices protected by real network neutrality. We want it whether we access the Internet from a computer, a tablet, or a phone. We know we can only get it if the FCC reclassifies broadband as a common carrier.

That’s why ten of us will head to the FCC in January 2015, with the Media Action Grassroots Network, to share our stories. Because, we want the Internet we deserve, and we want it now.

Original source:

5 Really Big Myths About ‘Next Generation’ Civil Rights and the Fight for an Open Internet

We can all stop pretending that the emoji selection on our iPhones makes any sense. There are zero representations of black people but we need to have two different types of dragons to choose from? Come on. “Saturday Night Live” cast member Sasheer Zamata did her first “Weekend Update” segment on Saturday’s Martin Freeman-hosted episode, in which she points out how irritating emojis can be for a person of color (who doesn’t identify as a new moon). To that end, watch her explain to host Colin Jost how texting during a grand jury protest might go down.

We can all stop pretending that the emoji selection on our iPhones makes any sense. There are zero representations of black people but we need to have two different types of dragons to choose from? Come on.

“Saturday Night Live” cast member Sasheer Zamata did her first “Weekend Update” segment on Saturday’s Martin Freeman-hosted episode, in which she points out how irritating emojis can be for a person of color (who doesn’t identify as a new moon).

To that end, watch her explain to host Colin Jost how texting during a grand jury protest might go down.

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Sasheer Zamata Points Out The Lack Of Black Emojis On ‘Weekend Update’

Grab those tissues, this one’s definitely a tear-jerker. In the new Apple commercial “The Song,” a young woman finds an old recording of her grandmother singing to her grandfather. With a handful of conveniently-placed Apple products, the granddaughter creates a duet of her singing Nat King Cole’s “Our Love Is Here To Stay” over her grandmother’s 1952 recording, and gives it to her grandma on Christmas morning. The outcome is beautiful, melting our cynical hearts and reminding us why we love the holidays so much. We realize this is just a for-profit ploy to get us crying all the way to the nearest

Grab those tissues, this one’s definitely a tear-jerker.

In the new Apple commercial “The Song,” a young woman finds an old recording of her grandmother singing to her grandfather. With a handful of conveniently-placed Apple products, the granddaughter creates a duet of her singing Nat King Cole’s “Our Love Is Here To Stay” over her grandmother’s 1952 recording, and gives it to her grandma on Christmas morning.

The outcome is beautiful, melting our cynical hearts and reminding us why we love the holidays so much.

We realize this is just a for-profit ploy to get us crying all the way to the nearest Apple store, but at this point, we don’t even care. It’s too good.

Excerpt from:  

New Apple Commercial Reminds Us Exactly Why We’re Excited For The Holidays

Demonstrators flooded New York City’s streets Saturday afternoon and into the evening, swarming the NYPD headquarters and demanding an end to racial injustices across America. More than 50,000 individuals joined the protests, according to some estimates. “For over three hours we marched throughout Manhattan with the survivors of police brutality and homicide,” said Synead Nichols, who founded the event, Millions March NYC, in a statement. Tens of thousands of others joined similar demonstrations throughout the nation Saturday, including in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Denver and an equally-massive rally in Washington, D.C. “They marched because their sons and daughters will never be able to march again,” Nichols added. “Together we peacefully demonstrated that NYC, and people …

Demonstrators flooded New York City’s streets Saturday afternoon and into the evening, swarming the NYPD headquarters and demanding an end to racial injustices across America. More than 50,000 individuals joined the protests, according to some estimates.

“For over three hours we marched throughout Manhattan with the survivors of police brutality and homicide,” said Synead Nichols, who founded the event, Millions March NYC, in a statement. Tens of thousands of others joined similar demonstrations throughout the nation Saturday, including in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Denver and an equally-massive rally in Washington, D.C.

“They marched because their sons and daughters will never be able to march again,” Nichols added. “Together we peacefully demonstrated that NYC, and people in cities across the country, will not stand for a police system that shoots to kill with no accountability. This is only the beginning.”

The Huffington Post’s Emily Kassie captured photographs of the action in New York. Take a look below:

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This Is What It Looks Like When New York City Erupts With Cries For Justice