Interracial Couple Receives AWFUL Letter, Shuts It Down in Uplifting Way

Woman's Day

Alexis Hobbs6/4/2015           

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

© Provided by Woman's Day Interracial Couple Receives AWFUL Letter, Shuts It Down in Uplifting Way

Most times we open our mailbox, we're met with bills, bills and more bills. But when David Shaw sifted through the mail at Magic City Sweet Ice, the Italian Ice business he owns with his wife, Wani, in Homewood, AL, he was shocked to find this cruel letter staring right back at him:

© Facebook Letter

Quite different from the heartfelt notes you usually get from family members, right? So David decided to share this hateful letter on Facebook. "There was no return address, no name," he told an Alabama news station. "I posted it because there was no way I could communicatewith the person."

And he wanted to publicly express four reasons why the letter was RIDICULOUS. 

1) I LOVE my beautiful black wife and everything about her, (most everything about her). Our love for one another is far deeper than skin color.
2) We won't be moving to California, or God willing, anywhere else anytime soon.
3) You got the address wrong
4) Woodlawn?

Plus, there's a drought in California. "That'll put us out of business!" Wani quipped.

Most of the comments on David's post were undeniably supportive of the beautiful couple, though a few people noted that posting the image would further fuel the fire of racism. "Whoever wrote that letter is in the dying minority," Wani said. "We don't deny that past, but we don't relive it. We're part of a generation that knows better. And wants more."We couldn't have said it better ourselves.

[via AL.com]

March to Washington begins with civil rights rally in Selma

Reuters

Letitia Stein9 hrs ago

 

 

 

 

© Albert Cesare/Montgomery Advertiser Velivia Peterson, 8, walks with others across the Edmund Pettus Bridge during the start of the "America's Journey for Justice March" organized by the NAACP on Saturday…NAACP leaders launched a 40-day march across the U.S. South on Saturday with a rally in Selma, Alabama, drawing on that city's significance in the 1960s civil rights movement to call attention to the issue of racial injustice in modern America.

Organizers of "America's Journey for Justice" want to build momentum behind a renewed national dialog over race relations prompted by the killing of a number of unarmed black men by police officers over the past year.

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People leaders at the rally urged marchers to honor the memories of New York's Eric Garner and Cincinnati's Samuel DuBose, two of the unarmed black men killed in the police confrontations.

The march, which would cover nearly 900 miles, began on Selma's historic Edmund Pettus Bridge, where police beat peaceful marchers with clubs and doused them with tear gas in 1965. The infamous confrontation was a catalyst for the passage of the landmark Voting Rights Act, signed into law 50 years ago this week.

After two aborted attempts, civil rights activists led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. eventually marched to the state capital of Montgomery to build support for the legislation, which seeks to protect the rights of minority groups to cast ballots.

"We know we can do the distance because our lives, our votes, our jobs and our schools matter," said Cornell William Brooks, president and chief executive of the NAACP, one of the oldest and largest civil rights groups in the United States.

© Albert Cesare/Montgomery Advertiser Cornell William Brooks, NAACP president, holds the hand of Rachel Quarterman, 7, while leading the "America's Journey for Justice March" organized by the NAACP…"Let us march on, let us march on, let us march on till victory is won," Brooks chanted before leading the crowd, two by two, across the bridge.

Organizers say the outcry triggered by the recent police killings, including the shooting of a black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri, needs to be channeled into a long-term commitment to bring about change.

"We can continue to be serially outraged, or we can engage in an outrageously patriotic demonstration with a commitment to bringing about reform in this country," Brooks said before the rally.

The march will feature "teach-ins" and other events in five states - Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia - as it makes its way to the nation's capital, where organizers hope to draw thousands at a final rally on Sept. 16.

The NAACP aims to bring attention to racial injustice across issues like policing, public education, incarceration, voting rights and income inequality.

Brooks said the NAACP will look to mobilize thousands by the time it arrives in Washington, working with organizations representing labor unions, environmentalists, women's advocates and Judeo-Christian religious leaders.

(Reporting by Letitia Stein in Tampa, Florida; additional reporting by Katie Reilly in New York; Editing by Frank McGurty, Alden Bentley and Richard Chang)

Texas attorney general indicted on felony charges, sources say

   

USA Today

Tanya Eiserer, Jason Whitely and Jim Douglas

© Eric Gay Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, left, with his chief of staff Bernie McNamee, right, waits to testify during a Texas Senate Health and Human Services Committee hearing on Planned Parenthood…McKINNEY, Texas — A grand jury has indicted Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on multiple felony charges, according to several sources who are familiar with the complaints.

 

The charges will be unsealed in McKinney on Monday about noon, and a Tarrant County judge has already been appointed to preside over the case, sources told WFAA.
After the indictments are unsealed, Paxton can surrender to be photographed, fingerprinted and booked into jail.
It's unclear exactly what Paxton will be indicted for, although a grand jury here has heard evidence that Paxton, 52, violated securities laws.
Special prosecutors in the Paxton case told WFAA they planned to present a third-degree charge of failing to register with the state securities board as the law requires. They also said they planned to present a first-degree felony charge against Paxton accusing him of securities fraud. All indications are that charge is related to Servergy, a McKinney-based company that has been under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Paxton does not have to resign or step down from statewide office as he prepares to face a criminal trial. He can continue to work, just as Gov. Rick Perry did after his two felony indictments in August 2014.
Paxton's case, legal experts predict, will go to trial since his law license and statewide office are now on the line.
He was sworn in as Texas' top law enforcer on Jan. 1. The indictments relate to alleged conduct that occurred while he was serving in the state legislature.
Special prosecutor Kent Schaffer first revealed last month that the Texas Rangers had uncovered new evidence.
He said then that the securities fraud allegations involved losses in excess of $100,000, but Schaffer declined to reveal the specifics of them.
"The Rangers went out to investigate one thing, and they came back with information on something else," Schaffer said in early July. "It's turned into something different than when they started."
On Tuesday, a grand jury heard evidence and testimony presented by special prosecutors Schaffer and fellow special prosecutor Brian Wice in connection with the case. The Texas Rangers investigating the case were also seen entering and leaving the grand jury room.
The two special prosecutors were appointed in April after Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis recused himself from the case.
William Mapp, the founder of Servergy, was also seen entering the courthouse and milling around the grand jury room with his attorney. He and his attorney declined to comment.
Paxton's state filings show he owns at least 10,000 shares of Servergy. His name also appears as a search term in SEC filings accusing Servergy of misleading investors. The filing also listed Paxton's email address under "selected e-mails" of dozens of other contacts.
In those court records, filed in December 2014, the SEC said it was conducting an ongoing investigation into Servergy's "possibly fraudulent statements or omissions related to Servergy's technology and purported business relationships."
The filings accused Servergy of lying to investors about having pre-orders from companies, such as Amazon.
Other than the fact that he owns stock, Paxton's connection to Servergy is not clear.
Allegations of failing to register arose out of Paxton's dealings with friend, business associate and campaign donor Fritz Mowery.
Their working relationship goes way back. They both had offices on the second floor at 206 Kentucky St. in McKinney. Campaign finance records show Mowery donated nearly $16,000 to Paxton's campaigns.
Last May, Paxton was disciplined by the Texas State Securities Board after he admitted to the board that he solicited clients for a friend's investment firm without being registered with the state as the law requires.
According to the disciplinary order, Paxton acted as an "investment advisor" when he solicited clients on behalf of Mowery Capital Management, or MCM.
"Respondent was compensated by MCM for each solicitation resulting in a client relationship with MCM," the order said. "Specifically, MCM agreed to pay Respondent 30 percent of asset management fees collected by MCM from each client that Respondent solicited successfully."
Several clients have said they were not aware of the fee-sharing arrangement.
Paxton paid a $1,000 fine and called it an administrative error.
But that situation ultimately sparked the criminal investigation that led to the appointment of the special prosecutors, the involvement of the Texas Rangers and now the indictments.
Anthony Holm, Paxton's spokesman, has repeatedly said the attorney general has done nothing wrong. Holm also has accused the special prosecutors of being biased and unfair, and engaging in a political witch hunt.
"The securities board was very clear this was no crime," he told WFAA on Tuesday. "It was resolved last spring. It was a civil event. It was a $1,000 fine and we are only here because of liberal activists."
Despite the criminal investigation, Republican state Rep. Matt Krause said Paxton's Tea Party base still supports him.
"I think people are now quick to say, 'Hey let's see where this goes before we get too upset or enraged about it, and see what the facts really are, because maybe there's nothing to it and we don't want to dishonor or disown one of our own,’ " Krause said.

 

Mexican-born actress Salma Hayek is so mad at Donald Trump that she cannot even utter his name

BY Ethan Sacks       

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Thursday, July 30, 2015, 6:01 PM

  Christopher Polk/Getty Images for Spike TV

Salma Hayek recently accepted an award for a "Decade of Hotness" — and she's certainly fired up about an anti-Mexican GOP candidate whose name she could not even say.

He’s the candidate that must remain nameless.
Salma Hayek wouldn’t even say the word “Trump” when asked how she felt after the GOP candidate assailed Mexican immigrants as “rapists” flowing across the border.
“Because I know him a little bit, is it’s a mistake to respond because he will use this to promote himself,” Hayek told the News about the presidential front-runner. “The Mexican community may be upset that I wasn’t saying something…but I refuse to utter his name and allow him to use me for self-promotion.”
Expectations were high because Hayek is the highest-profile star of Mexican descent in Hollywood and known as an advocate against discrimination against immigrants.

Stephen B. Morton/AP

Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump said some things about Mexican immigrants that enraged Salma Hayek — not that she would utter his name in response.

But Hayek refused to follow the script. Besides, she sees a silver lining in how Trump’s comments underscored the prejudice immigrants face.
“We have not, as Americans, grasped the level, the size, of the problem of discrimination in this country,” she says. “We have been living a lie pretending we’re a country that no longer discriminates.”
Hayek made what seemed like a deft reference to Trump’s ownership of the Miss Universe pageant and his “Apprentice” job on NBC. “I will say this: America is not a beauty pageant. America is not a reality show,” she says. “The reality of America and the world is tougher.”

esacks@nydailynews.com

 

Theater Gunman's Family Called Him Mentally Ill, Violent

LAFAYETTE, La. — The man who killed two people and wounded nine others at a movie theater was so mentally ill and violent that years ago, his wife hid his guns and his family had him hospitalized against his will before obtaining a court order to keep him away.
John Russel Houser, 59, stood up about 20 minutes into the "Trainwreck" movie and fired first at two people sitting in front of him, then aimed his handgun at others. Police said Friday they found 13 shell casings.
"They heard a couple of pops and didn't know what it was," said Randall Mann, whose 21-year-old daughter, Emily, was sitting in the same row as the shooter.
She told her father that she did not hear the shooter say anything before opening fire. "And then they saw the muzzle flashes, and that's when they knew what was going on. She hit the floor immediately."
Mann said his daughter and her friend escaped, uninjured but traumatized.
Police say Houser had one additional magazine of bullets for his handgun as he tried to escape. Then, when he spotted police officers outside, he turned around and pushed back through the fleeing crowd. The officers tailed him into the theater and heard a single shot before finding him dead inside, police said.
Houser parked his 1995 blue Lincoln Continental — with a mismatched license plate — by the theater's exit door, and disguises including glasses and wigs were found in a search of his room at a nearby Motel 6, police said.
"It is apparent that he was intent on shooting and then escaping," Lafayette Police Chief Jim Craft said.
Police were looking at online postings they believed Houser wrote to learn more about him and try to figure out his motive, superintendent Col. Michael D. Edmonson said.
In the 1990s, he frequently appeared on a local television call-in show, advocating violence against people involved in abortions, said Calvin Floyd, who hosted the morning show on WLTZ-TV in Columbus, Georgia.
Houser also espoused other radical views, including his opposition to women in the workplace. Floyd described Houser as an "angry man" who made "wild accusations" about all sorts of topics, and said he put him on to counter a Democratic voice because "he could make the phones ring."
The two fatalities were identified as 33-year-old Jillian Johnson and 21-year-old Mayci Breaux. At least one of the wounded, ranging from their late teens to their late 60s, was in critical condition, Craft said. Two were released from the hospital.
Theatergoers said the gunman sat alone and said nothing before he stood up and opened fire at Thursday's 7:10 p.m. showing of "Trainwreck" at the Grand 16 theater.
"We heard a loud pop we thought was a firecracker," Katie Domingue told The Advertiser. "He wasn't saying anything. I didn't hear anybody screaming either."
Domingue said she and her fiance ran for the nearest exit, leaving behind her shoes and purse.
Stories of heroism emerged. A teacher jumped in front of her colleague, taking a bullet for her, and the second teacher pulled a fire alarm to alert other moviegoers, said Gov. Bobby Jindal, a presidential hopeful who traveled to the scene.
"Her friend literally jumped over her and, by her account, actually saved her life," Jindal said.
Houser studied accounting in Georgia and earned a law degree at Faulkner University in Alabama. There's no record he ever became a lawyer in either state.
Houser "has a history of mental health issues, i.e., manic depression and/or bi-polar disorder," his family said in court documents in 2008, when he made violent threats in an effort to stop his daughter's wedding. A judge granted the family's petition to have him involuntarily committed to a hospital as "a danger to himself and others."
Houser refused to back down after getting out, however, so his wife, daughter and other relatives also obtained a protective order after accusing him of having "perpetrated various acts of family violence."
His daughter, Kirbey Ellen Houser, was engaged to Andrew Michael Broome at the time, and though they were 23 and 26, he felt they were too young to be married. "He has exhibited extreme erratic behavior and has made ominous as well as disturbing statements" that their marriage would not occur, the filing says.
Police weren't sure why Houser ended up in Louisiana years after becoming estranged from family living in Alabama and Georgia. Police said his mother had recently loaned him some money because he said he was trying to get his life together.
"It just seems like he was kind of drifting along," Craft said. He had an uncle that once lived in Lafayette, but he died 35 years ago. "We don't know why he decided to stop and stay in Lafayette."
There were about 300 people inside the theater building at the time of the shooting and 25 people in "Trainwreck." Keys, shoes and purses were all left behind.
About a dozen law enforcement personnel descended on the Motel 6 in Lafayette where Houser had been staying. An officer carried out a cardboard box from the room and other officers could be seen knocking on neighboring doors.
State police superintendent Col. Michael D. Edmonson said police believe the gunman did not wage any other attacks Thursday night before opening fire in the theater.
"Trainwreck" star Amy Schumer tweeted: "My heart is broken and all my thoughts and prayers are with everyone in Louisiana." The comedy stars Schumer as a magazine writer who decides to live a life of promiscuity after her father convinces her that monogamy isn't realistic, but in spite of her best efforts, finds herself falling in love with one of her interview subjects.
Gov. Jindal called the shooting "an awful night for Louisiana."
"What we can do now is we can pray," Jindal said. "We can hug these families. We can shower them with love, thoughts and prayers."
President Barack Obama was briefed on Air Force One while on his way to Africa. He asked his team to keep him updated on the investigation and the status of the wounded, and offered his thoughts and prayers to the families of those killed, the White House said.
The Louisiana shooting happened three years after James Holmes entered a crowded movie theater in suburban Denver and opened fire during the premiere of a Batman film, killing 12 people. The jury found Thursday that the death penalty is justified, and is hearing evidence about Holmes' schizophrenia before issuing a sentence.
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Associated Press writers Jay Reeves in Birmingham, Alabama; Kate Brumback and Kathleen Foody in Atlanta; and Kevin McGill in New Orleans contributed to this report.