News
Philly Thrive activists, filling up seats in yellow shirts along the red velvet carpeting of Philadelphia City Council’s main chamber Thursday, felt a bit cheated. What had originally started out as a much more strongly worded resolution on the future of the shuttered Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) refinery site—authored by outgoing Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds-Brown—ended up […]
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 — […]
I was at home when my wife told me that Amber Guyger, a white former Dallas police officer, was found of guilty of murder for killing a black man named Botham Jean while Jean was at home in his apartment. “Good,” I said flatly. But that single word doesn’t capture the relief that comes with […]
Young Black Women Want Atlanta’s Keisha Lance Bottoms to Bring More Than Her Black Womanhood To City Hall ~~~ EDITOR’S NOTE: According to the Center for American Women & Politics, seven of the United States’ largest 100 cities are run by Black women mayors. Two of these cities are state capitals, one is the nation’s […]
In August 1619, English pirates landed at Point Comfort, Virginia with more than 20 Africans they’d taken captive from a Portuguese slave ship. The pirates traded the Africans for food, and thus began the African slave trade in what would later become the United States. So 400 years of discomfort began at Point Comfort. Four […]
In a shocking turn of events, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross resigned Wednesday, just days after Mayor Kenney called him the best police commissioner in America. I’m saddened by it, because I respect him. There were certainly times when I had to speak, write and protest against systemic racism in the police department. In doing […]
I remember the scene vividly. Eric Garner, surrounded by police officers on a Staten Island street corner, with then-Officer Daniel Pantaleo’s arms locked firmly around Garner’s neck. “I can’t breathe,” Garner said 11 times in a videotaped tragedy viewed by millions. At the end of it, Garner lay motionless on the ground, and the breath […]
Why would some Black audiences boycott the new Harriet Tubman movie?
Solomon Jones
November 13, 2019
In a Black community dealing with the shooting deaths of numerous children in recent months, another story is vying for top billing — the proposed boycott of the Civil War-era biopic, “Harriet.” It seems to be part of a disturbing pattern of Black folks telling each other not to support Black films. And not just […]