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Black Female Sailor Under Review For Not Standing For Anthem

A sailor with the Navy Reserve is under review after she refused to stand for the national anthem like football player Colin Kaepernick.

According to the New York Daily NewsJanaye Ervin, an intelligence specialist, declined to stand and did not salute during the national anthem played at a morning flag-raising at Pearl Harbor on September 19.

I feel like a hypocrite singing about the ‘land of the free’ when I know that only applies to some Americans,” she wrote on Facebook, according to Military.com. “I will gladly stand again, when ALL AMERICANS are afforded the same freedom.”

On Tuesday, U.S. Pacific Fleet spokesman Senior Chief Petty Officer Joel Cesar said it’s up to Erwin’s commander whether she faces any punishment, but Ervin said action against her has already started.

The Navy has decided to punish me for defending the Constitution and has taken away my equipment I need to do my Naval job,” she wrote on social media. “It was my pleasure serving my country, I love it dearly, that is why I must do this for you. I will keep you all posted on what happens next!

Whatever happened to the First Amendment?

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake Slams Maryland’s State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby NYT Comments

On Wednesday, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake accused State’s Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby, both Black women, of rushing to charge the six police officers accused in the death of Freddie Gray before completing a thorough investigation, the Baltimore Sun reported.

In a New York Times profile about Mosby, Rawlings-Blake said, “The political pressure is real when you are in big jobs, and you can’t bow to the political pressure and charge when you’re not ready,” she said.

 “You have to stand up, be in the big role and say to the people…you need time to continue to investigate.”

Welp.

As we know, 25-year-old Gray was killed in police custody last year as a result of a severed spinal injury. Within days of Gray’s funeral and riots in the city, Mosby charged the police officers, but sadly, three were acquitted and she was forced to drop the charges against the remaining officers in August.

But Rawlings-Blake wasn’t the only one who had a lot to say. Mosby told the Times that when the riots broke out, she called Rawlings-Blake “livid,” blaming the mayor for the violence for allowing police to lie to the public about what happened the night Grey died.

I had told them this was going to happen, because they were exacerbating distrust,” Mosby said. She said she “screamed” at Rawlings-Blake: “You have single-handedly caused what’s happening in this city right now.”

Double welp.

Read the profile in its entirety here

Federal Government Settles $493M in lawsuits with 17 Native American Tribes

The U.S. government has agreed to pay a total of $492 million to 17 American Indian tribes for mismanaging natural resources and other tribal assets, NPR reported. This lawsuit was just one of 100 plus totaling a whopping $3.3 billion that have been brought against the federal government. Some of these lawsuits date back more than a century.

“Settling these long-standing disputes reflects the Obama Administration’s continued commitment to reconciliation and empowerment for Indian Country,” Sally Jewel, secretary of the interior, said in a joint statement released by the departments of Justice and Interior.

Since POTUS first ran for the presidency, he has been an advocate for righting the wrongs that were done against Native Americans, NPR pointed out. Back in 2008, then-candidate Obama said in a speech at the Crow Nation Reservation in Montana, “Few have been ignored by Washington as long as Native Americans, the first Americans. Too often, Washington has paid lip-service to working with tribes.

My Indian policy starts with honoring the unique government to government relationship, and ensuring treaty responsibilities are met,” he added.

And Melody McCoy, a staff attorney with the Native American Rights Fund who handled 13 of the 17 settlements, has said that POTUS has kept his bargain. McCoy says that since Obama took office, there have been 95 total settlements and that 11 more are in active negotiation, NPR wrote.

It is quite an accomplishment,” she says.

Thanks, Obama!

PHOTO CREDIT: Getty, Twitter 

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