Driven by the fight against racial inequality, attorney Bryan Stevenson, author of the bestseller “Just Mercy,” talked with Wake Up With WURD host Solomon Jones to discuss how his upbringing in a segregated Delaware led to his career fighting for the wrongfully accused. Stevenson also discussed little-known facts about northern states’ participation in the slave [...]
Solomon Jones | The Inquirer I don’t care that Kim Potter, the police officer who shot and killed Daunte Wright during a car stop, has resigned. I don’t care that Police Chief Tim Gannon stepped down either. I’m still enraged, because Wright didn't have to die. It happened Sunday in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota—a suburb just [...]
Philadelphia becomes the largest city in the United States to pass such a ban PHILADELPHIA—Today, City Council passed a ban on police use of “less lethal” munitions in response to demonstrations and other activity protected by the first amendment, introduced by Councilmember Helen Gym and cosponsored by every member of the Public Safety Committee. The [...]
Three years ago, Mayor Kenney “reestablished” the department’s civilian oversight board. So, WURD’s afternoon host wonders, what’s so different this time? Every big city mayor, hand forced in the moment, has to act big. In Philadelphia, that act is Groundhog Day. Pushed publicly to do something dramatic—in the wake of George Floyd, Philly police violence and [...]
OPINION: We must honor them with clear political action versus the impatience of a microwave movement As outrage, fear and angst bubble up in Georgia and, now, Kentucky over the grisly murders of Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor, one question fails to appear in the broader dialogue: How will these tragedies impact the 2020 elections? We can’t do [...]
Wake Up With WURD host Solomon Jones spearheaded efforts to hold police accountable for racist Facebook posts after disturbing findings released in the Plain View Project. Over 300 police officers were investigated and over a dozen officers were fired. Jones and other leaders in the city formed the Rally for Justice Coalition and they have been persistent […]
This past weekend in Philadelphia a 2-year-old was shot in the head and died. Just a day before, an 11-month-old baby was shot four times and lived. And while my prayer is that something good can come from this assault on our children, reality says prayer is not enough. Philadelphia’s black and brown community — […]
The shootout with city police yesterday was in a struggling stretch of North Philly that has too often seen violence. WURD’s afternoon host wonders if now the neighborhood will get some help As worried Philadelphians and the world were gripped by images of a fierce, 8-hour standoff of gun battles and crouching police, many Philadelphians […]
REALITY CHECK: REINVENTING THE POLICE ADVISORY COMMISSION WHEEL
Charles Ellison
June 10, 2020