Roy Oliver, a white former Texas police officer, was found guilty of murder yesterday in the April 2017 shooting of Jordan Edwards, 15, a freshman honor roll student who was sitting in the front passenger seat of a car. He was killed instantly. Oliver could face up to life in prison. Officer Michael Rosfeld has been charged with one count of criminal homicide in the June 19 shooting death of Antwon Rose Jr. in Pennsylvania. Is this an indication that there might be a shift in responses by prosecutors and the public to police shootings of unarmed individuals? This would be just in time, as a new study shows that militarizing police units has a negative effect on communities, triggering higher levels of violence, distrust towards law enforcement and discrimination.
There are major winners and losers from Tuesday's primaries in Arizona and Florida. What does this mean going forward to the midterms? The most closely watched race was the Republican primary for the Arizona Senate seat vacated by retiring GOP Sen. Jeff Flake. Last night, Arizona Rep. Martha McSally prevailed with relative ease, setting up a November showdown with Democrat Kyrsten Sinema. A retired military officer, McSally served in the United States Air Force and rose to the rank of colonel. becoming one of the highest-ranking female pilots in the history of the Air Force. She was quite clear on her opinion of the late Sen. John McCain: he was a great guy, but as a politician, he was not the standard. What does this say to you about Republican politics?
In Florida's governor's race, the Democratic primary saw a shocking upset! Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum defeated establishment pick Gwen Graham. Gillum supports a progressive agenda: a Medicare-for-all single-payer health care system, abolishing ICE, raising the minimum hourly wage to $15 and raising the corporate tax rate to pay for education. He earned endorsements from Bernie Sanders and Tom Steyer. Before Gillum's win, he was coming in at just 16 points in the most recent polls. In the general election, Gillum will face Florida Republican Rep. Ron DeSantis, who has the backing of President Donald Trump. Gillum is his party's third black gubernatorial nominee this campaign season, along with Stacey Abrams in Georgia and Ben Jealous in Maryland. His victory comes as Democrats have elevated an increasingly diverse field of candidates, including women, African-Americans and Muslims. But Democratic establishment leadership is resisting this growing sentiment within its base.
Four in 10 Americans struggled to pay for basic needs such as food or housing last year, according to a new study from the Urban Institute, a Washington-based think tank. Despite a growing US economy and a low unemployment rate, 39.4 percent of Americans between 18 and 64 years old said they experienced at least one type of material hardship in 2017, such as difficulty paying for housing, utilities, food or health care. "Economic growth and low unemployment alone do not ensure everyone can meet their basic needs," the authors wrote in a report. In Donald Trump's "booming" economy, food insecurity was the most common challenge, with over 23 percent of households struggling to feed their families at some point during 2017, followed by troubles paying a family medical bill, reported by about 18 percent of respondents. The findings came as a surprise among researchers with the Urban Institute, who had expected to find a high level of hardship among poor Americans but hadn't predicted so many middle-class families would also struggle to meet their basic needs. I guess not everyone is feeling the boom.
GUESTS:
John Burris — Lead Attorney and Founder of the Law Office of John L. Burris. He is primarily known for his work in the areas of Civil Rights with an emphasis on police misconduct and excessive force cases.
Shermichael Singleton — Political Analyst
Dr. Robert M. Brown, III — Medical Sociologist and Author of Economic Stress: Harsh Truths and Keys to Empowerment
Dr. Seft Hunder — Executive Director of Communities Creating Opportunity
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