Palm Springs Police Chief Resigns Over "Bag A F*g" Incident

Well, that was fast! Just last week, Palm Springs Police Chief David Dominguez apologized for profane language he used to describe gay men who had been caught up in a homophobic police sting in the Warm Sands area of the city where several gay nude vacation resorts are located. Today comes word that Chief Dominguez has decided to retire early in wake of the ongoing scandal.

"After careful consideration of the recent debates surrounding the Warm Sands Law Enforcement Operation, I believe this decision is in the best interest of my family, my health, the Department and the City," Dominguez said in a statement. "It has been a privilege to be the Chief of Police and work with the professional men, women and volunteers in the Police Department who are extremely dedicated to the community."

Steve Pougnet, the openly gay mayor of Palm Springs, made his first statement on the controversy, saying:

"I support the decision by the police chief to retire and agree that it is in the best interest of the city and the department – to begin the healing process for the community. Yet, there remains much work to be done."

The question of what the final impact will be on the 19 gay men who were arrested during the sting operation should be resolved at a hearing on January 20th.

Mariah Confirms She's Expecting Twins

Mariah Carey with husband Nick Cannon

Pop diva Mariah Carey, 40, and movie star husband Nick Cannon, 30, have confirmed that they are expecting twins, Dlisted.com reports.

Nick and Mimi were trying to keep the news locked inside their lips for as long as they could, but he says he just had to blurt it out when the Obamas asked about her uterus situation after the Christmas in Washington Concert on Sunday night.

Nick explained, "They, ironically enough, questioned my wife about, you know, 'So, what are you having, are you having twins? And at this point she hadn't told anybody anything because doctors advised us to keep it to ourselves until we get further along. And because of the excitement, because of the emotion, she was overwhelmed [and] she shared with the President and First Lady that we are having twins."

This is amazing news for my favorite singer! I'm very happy for the couple. What do you think the names of the babies will be? Dlisted said they are hoping for "Lamberiah Ensemble Cannon and LisaFrank Tajazzle Cannon." LOL!

Saturday Politics: Field Poll Says Newsom Leads; Harris Tied With Cooley

The latest Field Poll shows that in the Lieutenant Governor race Gavin Newsom is leading Abel Maldonado 42-37 while Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley and San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris are basically tied 39-38 for California Attorney General.

I'm pretty sure Gavin will win the LG race but I'm worried about the AG race. The internal details from Field are below:

Cooley and Harris are obtaining broad support of rank-and-file voters within their own respective parties. Among Republicans, Cooley is preferred 71% to 6%, while Democrats are supporting Harris 68% to 13%. Non-partisans and those registered with minor parties, who represent 17% of likely voters, are narrowly backing Harris by a 34% to 32% margin.

Cooley is maintaining large preference leads among voters in the traditionally Republican-leaning regions of Southern California outside of Los Angeles County (47% to 28%) and the Central Valley (44% to 30%). In his home county of Los Angeles, Cooley narrowly trails Harris 43% to 37%. Harris is preferred by a nearly two-to-one margin (52% to 27%) in the San Francisco Bay region where she lives. She also leads in less populated areas of Northern California outside the Bay Area (45% to 23%).

There is also a big coastal county-inland county divide in voter preferences in the A-G race. Cooley leads by eighteen points (46% to 28%) among voters in the state’s less populous inland counties, while Harris is preferred by six points (42% to 36%) among voters living in counties bordering the Pacific Ocean or San Francisco Bay.
Women are backing Harris by eleven points, 43% to 32%. Men are supporting Cooley by twelve points (45% to 33%).

Voters age 65 or older are backing Cooley by five points (44% to 39%). He leads among voters age 40–49 (39% to 34%). Harris is leading Cooley by four points (40% to 36%) among voters 50–64. Voters under age 40 are about evenly divided in their preferences.
White non-Hispanics favor Cooley by eight points (43% to 35%). Harris is preferred by large margins among Latinos and African-Americans. Each of the three Asian-American voter segments examined by the poll were dividing their preferences fairly evenly between the candidates, although large proportions remained undecided.

Cooley is preferred by two points (40% to 38%) among the 55% of voters who either already have voted by mail or intend to do so in the coming days. Among the 21% of voters who have already voted Cooley’s lead is even wider – 46% to 38%. Voters intending to vote at their local precinct on Election Day are evenly divided, 37% for Cooley and 37% for Harris.

DADT Update: Federal Judge Refuses To Lift Stay

Via Joe.My.God comes the above excerpt from U.S. District Court Judge Virgina Phillips ruling today in Log Cabin Republicans v. United States that she is refusing to issue an emergency stay of the injunction preventing the United States from enforcing its "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy she issued last week, on Tuesday October 12th.

The Department of Justice has appealed her ruling, and is expected to appeal her injunction, to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. I support the appeal of the ruling, but not of the injunction. A single federal judge should not be making public policy for the entire federal government. I suspect the government will lose on appeal as well. I would NOT support an appeal to the United States Supreme Court at that time.

Meanwhile, since DADT is no longer in effect right now and the Pentagon has told recruiters they can accept  LGBT recruits, Dan Choi has apparently successfully reenlisted in the military, this time the Marines.

Gigantic Pew Poll Confirms Public Opinion Shift Towards Marriage Equality

More good news on the polling front for supporters of marriage equality. A new Pew Research poll of nearly 6,000(!) Americans again reveals the extent of the rapidity of the shift in public opinion towards marriage equality.

There are several points to highlight from these results, but the  main ones are:

For the first time in 15 years of Pew Research Center polling, fewer than half oppose same-sex marriage.

[..] 

There are substantial age and generational differences in opinions about same-sex marriage. Millennials, born after 1980, favor allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally by a 53%-to-39% margin. Support for gay marriage among Millennials has changed little in recent years, but is up from 2004 when opinion was more divided.

Among Gen Xers (born 1965 to 1980), 48% now favor allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally while 43% are opposed. Support is up from 2009 when 41% favored this and 50% were opposed, but is on par with levels in 2001.

There is less support for same-sex marriage among Baby Boomers -- those born 1946 to 1964 -- than among younger age groups. Currently, 38% favor allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally while 52% are opposed. Still, support among Baby Boomers has increased over the past year (from 32%).

The Silent Generation (born 1928 to 1945) continues to oppose same-sex marriage; just 29% favor allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally while 59% are opposed. Even among the Silent Generation, however, there is somewhat more support than in 2009 (23% favor) and substantially greater support than in 2003, when just 17% backed gay marriage.

[...]

Whites are now evenly divided over gay marriage; in polls conducted this year, 44% of non-Hispanic whites favor allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally and 46% are opposed. In three surveys between August 2008 and August 2009, 39% of non-Hispanic whites favored same-sex marriage compared with 52% who were opposed.

By contrast, blacks continue to oppose same-sex marriage by a wide margin. In 2010, just 30% of non-Hispanic blacks favor gay marriage while 59% are opposed. From 2008 to 2009, 28% of blacks favored same-sex marriage and 62% were opposed.

The sub group breakdowns are summarized in the following table.

Simpsons laugh: Ha-ha! The heterosexual supremacists must be shaking in their boots.

30-Year-old Black Caltech Prof Wins MacArthur "Genius" Grant

John Dabiri is a 30-year-old tenured associate professor of aeronautical engineering and bioengineering at the California Institute of Technology who was named a 2010 MacArthur Fellowship winner today: $100,000 per year for 5 years.

Other notable winners of this year's MacArthur grants include David Simon, the creator of the television shows The Wire and Treme; Annette Gordon-Reed (now) of Harvard Law School and author of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings: An American Controversy; Amir Abo-Shaeer, a high school teacher who founded the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy.

Homophobic Florida AG McCollum Loses Primary

Ha ha! The most satisfying result in yesterday's primary elections was the defeat of Florida Republican Attorney General Bill McCollum to a billionaire businessman named Rick Scott. Polls had given McCollum the edge, but he ran into trouble when word leaked about his decision to give more than $100,000 of tax payer money to gay rent-boy employer George Rekers to testify on behalf of the state's legal defense of its ban on adoption by gay and lesbian couples.

Kagan Confirmed To SCOTUS; It's Now 1/3 Female

By a vote of 63 to 37, the United States Senate confirmed President Barack Obama's second Supreme Court nominee, Elena Kagan, 50, to the country's highest court. That body will have three women serving simultaneously, the most ever when Kagan joins Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 77, and Sonia Sotomayor, 56, as the 112th Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

Federal Judge Stops Bad Parts of AZ Immigration Law

Good news from Arizona for once! The federal judge who was was considering seven lawsuits filed against Arizona's controversial, draconian immigration law has enjoined several key provisions from going into effect tomorrow.

The overall law will still take effect Thursday, but without the provisions that angered opponents — including sections that required officers to check a person's immigration status while enforcing other laws.

The judge also put on hold parts of the law that required immigrants to carry their papers at all times, and made it illegal for undocumented workers to solicit employment in public places. In addition, the judge blocked officers from making warrantless arrests of suspected illegal immigrants.

"Requiring Arizona law enforcement officials and agencies to determine the immigration status of every person who is arrested burdens lawfully-present aliens because their liberty will be restricted while their status is checked," U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton ruled.

There are still many provisions of SB 1070 that will go into effect that will make life harder for immigrants in that state, however, so protests against the law will continue.
MadProfessah will continue his boycott of the state until the legal status of the law is resolved.

DOMA Section 3 Struck Down By Federal Judge

GLAD is tweeting it has won its case in Gill v. Office of Personnel Management:

http://twitter.com/GLADLaw/status/18060773570

Great news! U.S. District Court held that #DOMA "violates ... equal
protection principles." Decision will be posted shortly. Please
retweet!

More later....

Malawi Gay Couple Pardoned By President

Good news from Malawi! The President of the country has pardoned the same-sex couple who had been convicted and sentenced to fourteen years hard labor for committing "gross indecency and unnatural acts."

The story from The Guardian

Steven Monjeza, 26, and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, 20, were tried and found guilty of sodomy and indecency earlier this month in a move that sparked international condemnation.

But after talking with Ban today, Malawi's president, Bingu wa Mutharika, announced the pair would be freed.

"These boys committed a crime against our culture, our religion and our laws," he said after the meeting, at the southern African country's State House. "However, as the head of state, I hereby pardon them and therefore ask for their immediate release with no conditions.

"I have done this on humanitarian grounds, but this does not mean that I support this."

He added: "We don't condone marriages of this nature. It's unheard of in Malawi and it's illegal."

Ban praised the decision, but said: "It is unfortunate that laws criminalise people based on sexuality. Laws that criminalise sexuality should be repealed."

The White House Press Secrtary released a statement on the action:

"The White House is pleased to learn of President Bingu wa Mutharika's pardon of Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza. These individuals were not criminals and their struggle is not unique. We must all recommit ourselves to ending the persecution and criminalization of sexual orientation and gender identity. We hope that President Mutharika's pardon marks the beginning of a new dialogue which reflects the country's history of tolerance and a new day for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights in Malawi and around the globe."

Hat/tip to Rod 2.0.

White House, DOD, LGBT Groups Endorse DADT Repeal Method

There is breaking news out of Washington that the White House and Defense Department have agreed to endorse an amendment to be added to this year's 2010 National Defense Authorization Act which would pass Congress this year and make progress towards repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

Peter Orszag, Director of the Office of Management and Budget sent a letter to Pennsylvania U.S. Representative Patrick Murphy which endorses his legislative strategy of attaching repeal language to the Defense Department authorization bill this week.

Here's the letter:
0524 Rep Murphy
The vote on legislative language would occur this year, but it's effect would be delayed beyond the December 1, 2010 release date of the Pentagon's report on the implications of letting openly gay and lesbian soldiers serve in the U.S. armed forces. Then, pending certification by The Commander-in-Chief, the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Chief of Staff that repeal would not negatively impact the military's ability to conduct it's primary mission, DADT repeal could proceed in 2011.

There are multiple press releases from LGBT organizations endorsing the demolition of the legislative roadblock to repeal.

Human Rights Campaign:

WASHINGTON – The ban on open military service by lesbian and gay Americans is on a path to repeal this week with the White House, Pentagon leaders and Congress outlining a process that includes votes in the House and Senate as early as Thursday. Legislation to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” will be considered as amendments to the National Defense Authorization bill – the same vehicle by which the law was enacted 17 years ago. The Obama administration endorsed the approach today in a letter to Congressional leaders from Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag.

"We are on the brink of historic action to both strengthen our military and respect the service of lesbian and gay troops,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “Today’s announcement paves the path to fulfill the President’s call to end ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ this year and puts us one step closer to removing this stain from the laws of our nation."

The proposal would allow Congress to vote to repeal the current DADT law now with implementation to follow upon completion of the Pentagon Working Group study due December 1, 2010. The President, the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs would need to certify that implementation policies and regulations are prepared and that they are consistent with standards for readiness, effectiveness, unit cohesion, recruiting and retention. The plan therefore addresses concerns expressed by the Pentagon that the implementation study process be respected.

“Without a repeal vote by Congress this year, the Pentagon’s hands are tied and the armed forces will be forced to continue adhering to the discriminatory ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ law,” said Solmonese. “A solution has emerged: Congress needs to vote to repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ now.”

The leadership of Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Penn. along with the White House, has been critical to setting the stage for these votes.

Servicemembers United:

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Servicemembers United, the nation's largest organization of gay and lesbian troops and veterans, commended the announcement today that the administration will now support an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act to repeal the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law this year. The proposed amendment would include a delayed implementation provision that would not allow repeal to take effect until the Pentagon's Comprehensive Review Working Group completed its nine-month implementation management study and until the President, the Secretary of Defense, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff certified that the military is ready to implement repeal smoothly.

"This announcement from the White House today is long awaited, much needed, and immensely helpful as we enter a critical phase of the battle to repeal the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' law," said Alexander Nicholson, Executive Director of Servicemembers United and a former U.S. Army interrogator who was discharged under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." "We have been making the case to White House staff for more than a year now that delayed implementation is realistic, politically viable, and the only way to get the defense community on board with repeal, and we are glad to see the community and now the administration and defense leadership finally rally around this option."

The "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law, passed in 1993 as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994, has resulted in the abrupt firing of more than 14,000 men and women because of their sexual orientation, and has led tens of thousands more to voluntarily terminate their careers because of the burden of serving under this outdated law. There are an estimated 66,000 gays, lesbians, and bisexuals currently serving in the U.S. military and an estimated 1 million gay, lesbian, and bisexual veterans of the U.S. armed forces.

For more information about Servicemembers United, please visit www.servicemembersunited.org. For the latest information on discharge numbers, polling, statistics, studies, and other archival and reference information related to the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' issue, please visit www.dadtarchive.org.

Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN):

“The White House announcement is a dramatic breakthrough in dismantling ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’ The path forward crafted by the President, Department of Defense officials, and repeal leaders on Capitol Hill respects the ongoing work by the Pentagon on how to implement open service and allows for a vote this week. President Obama’s support and Secretary Gates’ buy-in should insure a winning vote, but we are not there yet. The votes still need to be worked and counted.

“If enacted this welcomed compromise will create a process for the President and the Pentagon to implement a new policy for lesbian and gay service members to serve our country openly, hopefully within a matter of a few months. This builds upon the support Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, expressed for open service during the February hearing in the Senate, and further underscores that this Administration is committed to open service.

“We would not have reached this moment without the leadership and commitment of our allies on the Hill – Senators Joe Lieberman and Carl Levin, and Congressman Patrick Murphy; they all worked tirelessly to get us this far.

“For the upcoming votes in the House and Senate to succeed, it is critical that all proponents for full repeal weigh in now. The blogosphere and activists have been admirably pressing for full repeal this year and we are grateful for their help. Everyone in support of repeal needs to continue contacting their Members of Congress and ask for the vote.”

Looks encouraging so far. To me this process looks reasonable since it allows President Obama to say that he is following commitments that he has made to both constituencies here (military brass and DADT repeal activists).

I'm sure there are other LGBT activists who will not be happy that openly gay and lesbian servicemembers will not necessarily be able to start serving this year. I do think that a moratorium on kicking out openly LGB soldiers as well as a deletion of the military principle that "homosexuality is incompatible with military service" should be included in the language that Congress votes on, but as of right now, actual legislative language has not been released, but the vote in the U.S. Senate Armed Service Committed is Thursday May 27th.

UNANIMOUS Vote(s) on Gay-related Bills in CA, IL

Interesting news! Not even Assembly Republicans in California still believe homosexuals should be labeled "sexual deviants" in state law. AB 2199 (Lowenthal) has unanimously passed the State Assembly by a vote of 62-0. Could this be a sign of a thaw in the Neanderthal levels of homophobia that have been witnessed from California Republicans over the last decade or so due to the presence of openly gay Speaker John Pérez ?

What's also interesting about this result is that it's the second unanimous vote on a gay-related bill in as many weeks. In Illinois, an anti-bullying bill (SB3266) was passed 108-0 by the House of Representatives on Friday April 23rd. This legislation requires schools to adopt policies against bullying of students that are inclusive of protections for LGBT students.

The times they are a changin'!

Grinnell College Names Openly Gay, Black Male President

An amazing good news story out of the blue just in time for Black History Month: the first openly gay, Black male college president! Grinnell College announced today that it has selected Raynard S. Kington, M.D., M.B.A., Ph.D. as the 13th president of the 146-year-old liberal arts college based in rural Iowa. Dr. Kington had been serving as the deputy director of the National Institutes of Health since 2003 and served as Acting Director of the federal agency for a year, until Dr. Francis Collins was confirmed by the United States Senate in August 2009.

From the official college press release:

Dr. Kington was unanimously elected by the trustees after an extensive nationwide search by a 14-member Presidential Search Committee, including representatives from the trustees, faculty, administration, student body and alumni. The committee considered a diverse pool of more than 200 candidates with remarkable talents and accomplishments from large and small public and private institutions as well as multiple academic disciplines. The trustees noted Dr. Kington’s exceptional record of achievement at NIH and at the RAND Corporation, including his leadership, policy direction and coordination of NIH biomedical research and research training programs at NIH’s 27 institutes and centers, and his community-based leadership and research in Los Angeles, Calif.

[...]

Dr. Kington’s personal example underscores his commitment to educational excellence. At the age of 16, he entered a combined undergraduate-medical school program at the University of Michigan that allowed him to earn his B.S. when he was 19 and his M.D. when he was just 21 years old. He completed his residency in internal medicine at Michael Reese Medical Center in Chicago and was appointed a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania. While there, he completed his M.B.A. and Ph.D. with a concentration in health policy and economics at The Wharton School.

“I am absolutely delighted to join the Grinnell community and excited about the tremendous possibilities awaiting this distinguished college,” said Dr. Kington. “My entire career to date has been a reflection of the three core values of Grinnell: the pursuit of academic excellence, the advancement of a diverse community and the promotion of social justice. For those fortunate enough to attend a top-tier liberal arts college, particularly one with Grinnell’s wonderful heritage, the experience can be transformative. It opens the pathway to a life where students become citizens who make a difference in the world and improve society for the benefit of us all. I can think of no more gratifying opportunity than to lead Grinnell College as it strives to build on this tradition, and I am eager to get started.”

[...]

Dr. Kington; his partner, Peter T. Daniolos M.D., a child psychiatrist at Children’s National Medical Center and George Washington University; and their two young children plan to move to Grinnell during the summer and occupy the president’s home at the college.

Interestingly, nowhere in the press release does it mention Dr. Kington's race or sexual orientation. I also find it interesting as to whether Grinnell was able to recruit such an academic star to rural Iowa because it is one of the few states where Dr. Kington and his partner can be married and be fully guaranteed that their family will be treated equally under state law?

Openly gay (or lesbian) college presidents are not that unusual any more. Way back in 2007, I blogged about the 11 known at the time. I suspect the number is appreciably higher now. The real breakthrough here is 1) It's Iowa! and 2) Kington is Black and gay (and a parent and possibly a Republican).

13-Year-Old Morehouse Whiz Kid!

.Thanks to Jack and Jill Politics, I found out about this heart-warming story about a 13-year-old Black male college student:

At thirteen years of age, Stephen Stafford is causing quite a stir at Morehouse College. Stafford has a triple major in pre-med, math and computer science. Though he loves playing video games and playing his drum set, he is no typical teenager.

"I've never taught a student as young as Stephen, and it's been amazing," said computer science professor Sonya Dennis. "He's motivating other students to do better and makes them want to step up their game."

Stafford began his college career at the age of 11, after being home-schooled by his mother. Stafford's mother said that when Stafford began to teach her instead of being taught by her, she knew he needed to be in a college environment.

Isn't that a great story? In a perfect world, Stephen Stafford's name would be more well-known than Chris Brown. I'm jus' sayin'!

π Calculuated to 2,700,000,000,000 Digits!

Big news, y'all! The number π has just been calculated to 2.7 trillion digits!

According to the Mathematical Association of America news story:

Computer scientist Fabrice Bellard has computed Pi to nearly 2.7 trillion digits, breaking the record by 123 billion places.

It took him 131 days to do it. The old record had been set in August, 2009, by Daisuke Takahashi(University of Tsukuba, in Japan), who needed just 29 hours on a supercomputer 2,000 times faster than Bellard's desktop.

"I got my first book about Pi when I was 14 and since then, I have followed the progress of the various computation records," Bellard told BBC News.

Pretty cool, huh?

District of Columbia Approves Marriage Equality

The Washington, D.C. City Council has given final approval to a bill to allow the District's residents to get marriage licenses regardless of the gender of the couples involved.

The bill, which passed by an 11-to-2 vote, may still face obstacles in Congress, among city voters and in the courts, but most advocates say they expect it to become law by the spring. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty has said he will sign it.

“Today’s vote is an important victory not only for the gay and lesbian community but for everyone who supports equal rights,” said Councilman David A. Catania, an independent and the author of the bill.

Opponents have vowed to overturn the bill by putting it to a referendum or by working with Congress, which has a month to review the measure once it is signed.

The city already recognizes gay marriages performed in states where the practice is legal — Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts and Vermont. New Hampshire will begin allowing same-sex marriage early next year.

hat/tip to Wonder Man, who also has National Organization for Marriage Brian Brown's hysterical (in multiple senses of the word) response.

New York State Very Likely To Pass Marriage Equality Today

There is breaking news today on the effort to enact marriage equality in New York State. Last night the New York State Assembly passed the marriage equality bill (for the second time this year!) by a vote of 88-51 in a special session.

The New York Senate, acting in the same special session to deal with that state's $2 billion dollar deficit is now getting ready to debate their marriage equality bill, which will gladly be signed into law by Governor David Paterson.

Here's the official word:

"The Senate will reconvene in extraordinary session today at which time it intends to vote on the deficit reduction plan, Tier V pension reform, public authority reform, and marriage equality legislation.

Session is streamed live on the internet at http://nysenate.gov; the debate on marriage equality will be carried via satellite, with coordinates to be released later in the day prior to the bill being brought to the floor."

There are very good chances the bill will pass today. There is no ballot initiative process in New York State by which it can be repealed.

For more updates tune in to @adamjbink on Twitter.

GOOD NEWS: Jena 6 Case Finally Ends

The infamous Jena 6 case is over. MadProfessah has followed this case for years, which was another example of what many viewed as a racially influenced prosecution.

Carwin Jones, Jesse Ray Beard, Robert Bailey Jr., Bryant Purvis and Theo Shaw pleaded no contest to misdemeanor simple battery and were sentenced to seven days probation and fined $500 plus court costs. The 6th member, Mychal Bell, was previously sentenced to 18 months in jail on a separate second-degree battery charge.

The main organization that publicized the case was ColorofChange.org, who released this statement on Friday:

ColorOfChange.org said Friday that the plea deal marked in acknowledgement by officials that the Louisiana justice system initially treated the then-teenage boys too harshly, privileging white students’ accounts of a schoolyard fight over those of black students in the largely segregated town of Jena.

“Today’s plea deal shows that the original charges in the case were unfair and vastly overblown,” said James Rucker, ColorOfChange.org’s executive director. “The story of the Jena 6 was an extreme example of what can happen when a justice system biased against black boys operates unchecked. But it’s also an example of what can happen when hundreds of thousands of people across the country stand up to challenge unequal justice. Together, we drew the country’s attention to this case and raised the money necessary to fund a strong legal defense.”

ColorOfChange.org, the first national organization involved in supporting the Jena 6, was instrumental in drawing national attention to the case, working alongside local activists in Jena and black bloggers across the country to spread word of the excessive charges and the story behind them.

More than 300,000 ColorOfChange.org members signed petitions to elected officials, urging that the charges be dropped and that then-Governor Kathleen Blanco intervene. The group organized more than 10,000 of its members to march in Jena on September 20, 2007. The same day, thousands of members in over 150 cities across the country held rallies and vigils and distributed flyers about the case; they also made more than 6,000 phone calls to public officials in Louisiana.

ColorOfChange members also contributed more than $275,000 toward high-quality legal teams, which succeeded in getting a biased judge removed from the cases and ultimately achieved today’s victory.

Courtesy Jack and Jill Politics, some pictures of the freed guys:

Black Homeless L.A. Teen Girl Head To Harvard

(Brian Vander Brug/Los Angeles Times)

There was a great story in Friday's Los Angeles Times about a local homeless African-American teenaged girl who is attending Harvard this fall. Her name is Khadijah Williams:

As long as she can remember, Khadijah has floated from shelters to motels to armories along the West Coast with her mother. She has attended 12 schools in 12 years; lived out of garbage bags among pimps, prostitutes and drug dealers. Every morning, she upheld her dignity, making sure she didn't smell or look disheveled.

On the streets, she learned how to hunt for their next meal, plot the next bus route and help choose a secure place to sleep -- survival skills she applied with passion to her education.

[...]

Khadijah was in third grade when she first realized the power of test scores, placing in the 99th percentile on a state exam. Her teachers marked the 9-year-old as gifted, a special category that Khadijah, even at that early age, vowed to keep.

"I still remember that exact number," Khadijah said. "It meant only 0.01 students tested better than I did."

In the years that followed, her mother, Chantwuan Williams, pulled her out of school eight more times. When shelters closed, money ran out or her mother didn't feel safe, they packed what little they carried and boarded buses to find housing in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Ventura, San Diego, San Bernardino and Orange County, staying for months, at most, in one place.

She finished only half of fourth grade, half of fifth and skipped sixth. Seventh grade was split between Los Angeles and San Diego. Eighth grade consisted of two weeks in San Bernardino.

At every stop, Khadijah pushed to keep herself in each school's gifted program. She read nutrition charts, newspapers and four to five books a month, anything to transport her mind away from the chaos and the sour smell.

At school, she was the outsider. At the shelter, she was often bullied. "You ain't college-bound," the pimps barked. "You live in skid row!"

In 10th grade, Khadijah realized that if she wanted to succeed, she couldn't do it alone. She began to reach out to organizations and mentors: the Upward Bound Program, Higher Edge L.A., Experience Berkeley and South Central Scholars; teachers, counselors and college alumni networks. They helped her enroll in summer community college classes, gave her access to computers and scholarship applications and taught her about networking.

It's exactly programs like these that will be threatened by California's financial mess. How many more Khadijah Wlliams will not be able to be rescued because the safety net has been slashed by budget cuts?

I strongly urge you to read the entire inspiring story by reporter Esmeralda Bermudez, "She finally has a home: Harvard."