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Does a celebrity/athlete wearing a t-shirt to show solidarity with people in a movement make a difference or would it be better for them to donate funds to support the movement? NewsOne Now guest host, Mo Ivory takes your calls during the radio portion of “NewsOne Now.”
The Department of Justice has announced a new set of rules to help curb racial profiling by federal law enforcement officials. These guidelines instruct federal law enforcement agencies to no longer consider:
- gender
- national origin
- religion
- sexual orientation
- gender identification
While this is good at the federal level, these new practices do not apply to the local level where many African American and Latinos are being profiled on a more than regular basis.
Mo Ivory, guest host of “NewsOne Now” and the Straight Talk panel featuring, J. Hogan Gidley, Judith Browne Dianis and Rashad Robinson discuss what impact, if any, the new racial profiling guidelines will have in the streets of America.
Ivory kicked off the panel discussion exclaiming, “On the street, at the local Ferguson Police Department, do you think they’re really sitting around saying, ‘Well, Eric Holder just issued these new guidelines and we’re changing our behavior today.'”
Pointing towards the US Capitol seen outside of the “NewsOne Now” studio, Gidley, a GOP strategist, said, “What these people want to do, Republican or Democrat, is make it appear as though they are doing something. Whether they actually accomplish something at the local level to effect change, protect people, I don’t even know if that matters to a lot of folk over there.”
Gidley continued, “What they care about is getting re-elected and they care about having high-profile status that they’ve actually put something forward, never gonna happen, never gonna actually make some change at a local level.”
Listen to Mo Ivory and the “NewsOne Now” Straight Talk Panel discuss the possibility of the DOJ’s new racial profiling rules making it all the way down to the street level where it really matters the most.
Would these new guidelines have saved the lives of Mike Brown, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, John Crawford and other African American males who have died as an indirect result of being profiled?
According to Merriam Webster Dictionary, a grand jury is a jury that examines accusations against persons charged with crimes and, if evidence warrants, makes formal charges on which the accused person is later tried.
Important facts to know about the grand jury process:
- No judge is present during a grand jury
- Prosecutor is the only lawyer that presents a case
- Any evidence the prosecutor brings is admissible evidence
- A grand jury does not determine guilt or innocence
On Tuesday, Marilyn Mosby, State’s Attorney Elect for Baltimore City joined Mo Ivory, guest host of “NewsOne Now” to explain how a grand jury works.
Mosby explained, “A grand jury will really go over and review the adequacy of evidence and that evidence is presented by a prosecutor, so it’s very different from a jury trial.”
The prosecutor goes before a grand jury because there is “probable cause to issue charges against an individual. You’re asking the jury, which is kind of like checks and balances, to say yeah, you have enough evidence to proceed against an individual.”
Mosby added, “As a prosecutor, ethically if you don’t believe there is probable cause, you should never even put it in front of a grand jury.”
“As a prosecutor your duty is to seek justice, not just convictions,” Mosby said.
In the instance of the Ferguson grand jury and St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch, Mosby said, “If you put evidence before a grand jury and you don’t believe the individual should be in front of a grand jury in the first place, then that is when it becomes problematic.”
“What we saw (in Ferguson) was a questionable process, because we have to question the motives,” said Mosby.
America’s Wealth Coach, Deborah Owens, joined guest host Mo Ivory on “NewsOne Now” to explain why we should gift stock in popular brands to our loved ones this holiday season.
Many children and teens may be interested in getting Beats headphones or the new iPhone 6 this Christmas. But instead of spending lots of money on these items, Owens said, “We’re going to have Apple pay you a return.”
Owens said one of the ways individuals can invest is through a dividend reinvestment program. Owens suggested viewers visit directinvesting.com. This site allows you to invest in “over 500 different stocks and then enroll in their dividend reinvestment program.”
“Often times people say three shares of Apple might be $100 or $300 or so, but if you buy those shares of stock, Apple pays a dividend every quarter. You have those dividends reinvested every quarter you’re going to be buying more shares.”
Owens also told Ivory, “This is a great way to begin the conversation about shopping in the same companies that you buy things from, so now you have something tangible … when we shop and we buy these things we are increasing the profits of these companies and that’s how the shares of stock go up.”
R&B Singer and songwriter Kenya stopped by the “NewsOne Now” studios to share her musical journey and talk about her latest single “Be Here.”
Kenya went from a depressed therapist to becoming a neo-soul sensation. In her prior life as a licensed physical therapist, she felt “there was a part of me missing.”
“I was just feeling very restless and that then made me very irritable, and I think there was a slight depression going on there,” Kenya said. But after having some come to Jesus moments and going to counseling, she made the decision to take a leap of faith and follow her passion.
“Once you embrace who you really are and you feel that and you compare it, there is no comparison,” said Kenya.
The R&B songstress explained the process she went through to finally make the decision to leave her professional occupation and pursue her love of music. “I took it step by step,” Kenya shared. “It wasn’t a sudden I’m quitting my day job … no, no, no, no.”
Kenya said to “NewsOne Now” guest host, Mo Ivory, “I knew that it was coming, I could feel it. I had taken a spiritual retreat and learned a lot about really tapping into who you are and telling when your soul is speaking to you, so I said to myself, ‘I’ll know.'”
Two years ago when feelings of being uncomfortable, restless and irritable returned, Kenya said that she sat down with her husband to figure out how to make the move from her professional career and transition into music.
All that and more in this edition of the NewsOne Now Audio Podcast.
