December 6, 2011
In the News: NYPD Facebook Group Offends; Russell Simmons’ PETA Stamp and More
NYC Police Officers Spew Offensive Comments in Facebook Group
Social media has propelled private thoughts into public forums.
In the case of several New York City police officers, they chose to disclose their offensive views towards being on the clock during the West Indian American Day Parade in Brooklyn during Labor Day weekend in a public Facebook group.
Their comments likening the parade goers to “savages†and recommending to “drop a bomb and wipe them all out†was on display for the world to see until it disappeared days later for unknown reasons. However, the New York Times obtained a copy of the post.
Paul J. Browne, the police department’s deputy commissioner for public information, said he learned of the Facebook group from a reporter and would refer the issue to the department’s Internal Affairs Bureau.
The comments in the online group, which grew over a few days to some 1,200 members, were at times so offensive that some participants warned others to beware how their words might be taken in a public setting open to Internal Affairs “rats.â€
Read more at the New York Times…
Russell Simmons On PETA Postage Stamp
The U.S. Postal Service has partnered with PETA to form a new campaign commemorating those that prefer a meatless diet in “Vegetarian Icons.† Russell Simmons has made the list alongside various others, such as Ghandi, Cesar Chavez and Ellen DeGeneres, according to MTV News.
The stamps will be available online through December, and possibly into January at www.PETA.org.
A new Kwanzaa stamp–donned Kwanzaa (Forever)–has been added to the commemorative stamp collections.
HBCUs Need More Support
Even though the Congressional “super-committee†has yet to agree on a decision for federal-funding cuts, HBCUs are still on Washington’s chopping block.
The facts are uncanny. HBCUs could lose more than $20 million per year in federal support through across-the-board cuts. Or they could lose as much as $85 million per year through the normal appropriations process through which Congress decides how federal programs get funded.
The United Negro College Fund seeks to mobilize HBCU backers to get the support needed to keep them alive. Visit the UNCF site and click on “Take Action” to email your views to your House and Senate representatives.