In a concerted effort to engage young voters, the Harris-Walz campaign has launched a targeted initiative focusing on HBCUs. This includes expanding youth organizing staff, digital ads, and a campus tour across 11 battleground states.

A key element of this initiative is a letter from Vice President Kamala Harris, addressed directly to HBCU students. In the letter, Harris, an alumna of Howard University, emphasizes the transformative experience of attending an HBCU and the importance of political engagement. “At an HBCU, you’re empowered to be anything and do everything without excuse,” Harris wrote. She calls on students to vote in the upcoming election, reminding them, “Your vote has never mattered more.”

The campaign has also launched an HBCU-specific landing page, which features Harris’s letter and provides resources for voter registration. Jasmine Harris, Black Media Director for the Harris-Walz campaign, highlighted the significance of HBCUs, telling Watch The Yard, “Historically Black Colleges and Universities remain some of our nation’s most prestigious institutions of higher education, and are responsible for educating dynamic and influential leaders across all industries.”

Jasmine Harris further noted, “Our campaign will continue working to earn every single vote and ensure HBCU students understand that from student loan forgiveness to job creation and protecting a woman’s right to make her own healthcare decisions—Vice President Harris is the only candidate in this election who has delivered for them, and will continue fighting for their future.”

As the campaign prepares for further engagement, particularly during homecoming season, it is building on the momentum generated by student-led voter turnout in the last election. This initiative aims to mobilize Black college students as a crucial voting bloc in the upcoming election.

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Noa Argamani, a former Israeli captive who was released from Gaza earlier this year, has denied recent media reports suggesting that she was beaten and had her hair cut while in detention. In an Instagram post on August 23, Argamani addressed the misinformation circulating about her experience.

Argamani stated that the reports were “out of context” and clarified that she was not physically abused by her Palestinian captors. She explained that her injuries were the result of an Israeli airstrike on the building where she was held.

“I can’t ignore what has been going on in the media here in the last 24 hours,” Argamani wrote. “They (Palestinians) didn’t beat me and didn’t cut my hair. I was in a building that was blown up by the (Israeli) Air Forces.”

She described her injuries, noting that, following the airstrike, she had “cuts all over my head” and was injured from the collapse of the building. “I emphasize that they (Palestinians) didn’t hit me, but I was hurt all over my body from the collapse of the structure on me,” she said.

On June 8, the Israeli army successfully freed Argamani and three other captives from the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, ending their ordeal in captivity.

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A Republican national organization shockingly and inaccurately argued that Vice President Kamala Harris is ineligible to run for president, citing a slavery-era Supreme Court decision that ruled Black people were not U.S. citizens.

The National Federation of Republican Assemblies makes the argument in a newly adopted resolution, citing the 1857 Dred Scott v. Sandford case, among others, which ruled at the time that enslaved Black people were ineligible for U.S. citizenship. 

The NFRA, whose convention Donald Trump attended as a presidential candidate in 2015, says in its resolution that states and political parties have “ignored” the “fundamental” qualifications for president by allowing candidates like Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, to run for the Oval Office. 

The group cites that Harris’ “parents were not American citizens at the time of their birth,” including the names of Republican 2024 presidential candidates Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy.

The NFRA resolution states: “Ignoring Presidential qualifications undermines the foundation of Constitutional legality for governance and security for the United States by allowing unqualified candidates to run in Primary State contests.”

The National Federation of Republican Assemblies’ claims are false. Harris is a natural-born citizen of the United States. The former U.S. senator, California state attorney general, and San Francisco district attorney was born in Oakland. 

As far as the Republican organization’s attempt to evoke the Dred Scott decision in its attempt to delegitimize Harris’ eligibility for president, Dr. Mary Frances Berry, a professor emerita of history at the University of Pennsylvania, tells theGrio that the SCOTUS ruling has “no authority” in the U.S. Constitution as it was overturned by the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery, and 14th amendment, which established equal protections for U.S. citizenship, in 1864 and 1868, respectively.

“They are putting this out there because it has been a long-held view of people of that ilk on the conservative side that Dred Scott defined [African-Americans],” said Dr. Berry, who is the former chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. “The Dred Scott case does say … that Blacks, Negroes, could never be citizens. The Constitution didn’t intend for us to be.”

She added, “The Dred Scott case accurately expressed what many people in the country at the time who were slaveholders believed.”

In the 1857 case, Dred Scott, a Black man in Missouri, sued the state in St. Louis Circuit Court for his and his wife’s freedom. According to the National Archives, the Scotts lived with their enslaver in Wisconsin territory, where slavery was outlawed. However, they were later returned to a slave state. Scott ultimately lost his case for his freedom, resulting in an explosive debate about the issue of slavery.

Dr. Berry points out that Dred Scott v. Sandford has long been viewed by legal scholars as the Supreme Court’s worst decision.

“Legal scholars know that it was a political decision and that it was designed to uphold the institution of slavery,” she explained. 

Berry said of the National Federation of Republican Assemblies’ resolution: “We should all be embarrassed by the existence of anyone reaching back to the history of slavery and coming up with the Dred Scott decision and dragging it into the conversation.”

She added, “We moved years beyond that and had to fight a bloody civil war and do all kinds of things since then in order to try to get over that scar of the national escutcheon.”

The false claims about Harris’ racial identity and citizenship are not a new development in the 2024 presidential election cycle, nor is it the first time her eligibility has been called into question.

Last month during an interview at the National Association of Black Journalists, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump questioned whether Harris, the daughter of an Indian mother and Jamaican father, was actually Black. 

“I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black,” said Trump. “Now she wants to be known as Black. So I don’t know, is she Indian, or is she Black?”

As president in 2020, Trump also questioned then-vice presidential candidate Harris’ citizenship. He suggested that Harris possibly “doesn’t meet the requirements” to serve as vice president.

Trump infamously led a false and racist “birther” conspiracy theory campaign against Barack Obama, America’s first Black president. He and others falsely suggested that Obama was not born in the United States, despite being born in Hawaii to a mother who was born and raised in Kansas.

Trump and other Republicans have also targeted the issue of birthright citizenship altogether. In 2018, he threatened to abolish birthright citizenship through an executive order and renewed the call in the 2024 election cycle.

Joel Payne, a Democratic strategist, said the false claims about Harris’ citizenship and racial identity are “not worth a rebuttal because it is baseless.”

He told theGrio, “The Harris campaign has been smart to not engage here because it’s pretty clear” that Trump and Republicans’ “entire offering to the American public is tired and played out.”

Payne argued that Trump’s coalition of supporters is “dependent” on voters who believe “conspiracy theories” and false legal notions like those outlined by the NFRA, which he described as a “sad state of affairs.”

“It explains why [Trump] is so permissive when it comes to people who are clearly operating way outside of the mainstream with extremist and bigoted rhetoric, not just about Kamala Harris, but just generally speaking,” said Payne. “These people clearly do not respect key elements of the American story.”

Citing Harris’ campaign slogan, “We’re not going back,” Payne said the drumming up of the 1857 Dred Scott case and the issue of citizenship for Black people “fits nicely” into the Democratic nominee’s message to voters.

“They want to go back to a time when less people had rights, and less people had self-determination. These are serious considerations that people have to make when they’re thinking about who they’re voting for and what their vote means,” he said. “There’s the political piece of it, and then there is just a cultural component of what are you giving permission to?”

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Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc., proudly announced the election of Marica T. Harris as the 26th International Grand Basileus during its 60th Biennial Boule. Harris, a lifelong member deeply committed to service, brings a distinguished background in both education and professional leadership. She holds degrees in psychology, counseling, and social work and has over 25 years of experience in the nonprofit sector, where she has excelled in senior administrative roles, overseeing teams, program operations, and fiscal management.

Harris’s extensive tenure within Sigma Gamma Rho includes significant contributions at both regional and international levels. She has served as Assistant Director and Regional Director in the Northeastern Region and most recently held the position of International Vice-President from 2020 to 2024. In this role, she played a pivotal part in advancing the sorority’s R3 initiatives—focused on Recruitment, Retention, and Reclamation of membership.

Upon her election, Harris reflected on the legacy of the sorority’s leadership, stating, “Being elected as the 26th International President of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Incorporated is not just an honor; it is a call to lead with integrity, inspire with purpose, and uplift with compassion. I stand on the shoulders of the 25 women who have held this office and led our beloved sisterhood for over a century. I am deeply humbled for the opportunity to serve our sisterhood.”

As Sigma Gamma Rho looks toward its next century of service, Harris’s leadership is anticipated to guide the organization through a new era of growth and community impact. Her blend of educational achievement, professional expertise, and deep commitment to the sorority’s values positions her as a formidable leader at a pivotal time in the organization’s history.

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Neal Street Productions, Elysian Film Group, and Ashland Hill Media Finance are thrilled to announce the final casting addition to their upcoming film adaptation of Enid Blyton’s beloved children’s classic, The Magic Faraway Tree. Rebecca Ferguson (Dune, Mission Impossible, Silo, The Greatest Showman) will take on the iconic role of Dame Snap, the terrifying headmistress of Faraway Tree School.

Ferguson’s casting marks a significant addition to the already impressive ensemble. The film also stars two-time Academy Award-nominee Andrew Garfield and Golden Globe and two-time Emmy Award-winner Claire Foy.

“We’re incredibly excited to have Rebecca join our cast,” said director Ben Gregor. “Her talent and screen presence will be a tremendous asset to the film.”

Ferguson’s casting comes on the heels of a successful year for the actress. She is currently filming four feature films,including the Peaky Blinders movie opposite Cillian Murphy, Mercy opposite Chris Pratt, and Kathryn Bigelow’s next feature film. Additionally, the second season of her Apple series, Silo, in which she stars and produces, will be released on November 15th, 2024.

The Magic Faraway Tree is produced by Pippa Harris and Nicolas Brown of Neal Street Productions, along with Danny Perkins of Elysian Film Group, and Jane Hooks. The film is adapted by BAFTA Award-winner Simon Farnaby and directed by Ben Gregor.

Ashland Hill Media Finance is fully financing the film, and Palisades Park Pictures is handling worldwide sales. CAA Media Finance is co-repping US rights.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Special counsel Jack Smith filed a new indictment Tuesday against Donald Trump over his efforts to undo the 2020 presidential election that keeps the same criminal charges but narrows the allegations against him following a Supreme Court opinion that conferred broad immunity on former presidents.

The new indictment removes a section of the indictment that had accused Trump of trying to use the law enforcement powers of the Justice Department to overturn his election loss, an area of conduct for which the Supreme Court, in a 6-3 opinion last month, said that Trump was absolutely immune from prosecution.

The stripped-down criminal case represents a first effort by prosecutors to comply with a Supreme Court opinion that made all but certain the Republican presidential nominee won’t face trial before the November election in the case alleging he tried to thwart the peaceful transfer of power.

It comes days before prosecutors and defense lawyers are expected to tell the judge overseeing the case how they want to proceed in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling, which said presidents are presumptively immune from prosecution for official White House acts. The high court sent the case back to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who now must analyze which allegations in the indictment were unofficial actions — or those taken in Trump’s private capacity — that can proceed to trial.

Prosecutors and Trump’s legal team will be back in court next week for the first hearing in front of Chutkan in months, given that the case had been effectively frozen since last December as Trump’s immunity appeal worked its way through the justice system.

In a statement on his Truth Social platform, Trump called the new indictment “an act of desperation” and an “effort to resurrect a ‘dead’ Witch Hunt.’” He said the new case has “all the problems of the old Indictment, and should be dismissed IMMEDIATELY. ”

The special counsel’s office said the updated indictment, filed in federal court in Washington, was issued by a grand jury that had not previously heard evidence in the case. It said in a statement that the indictment “reflects the Government’s efforts to respect and implement the Supreme Court’s holdings and remand instructions.”

The new indictment does away with references to allegations that could be deemed as official acts for which Trump is entitled to immunity in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling. That includes allegations that Trump tried to enlist the Justice Department in his failed effort to undo his election loss, including by conducting sham investigations and telling states — incorrectly — that significant fraud had been detected.

In its opinion, the Supreme Court held that a president’s interactions with the Justice Department constitute official acts for which he is entitled to immunity.

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The original indictment detailed how Jeffrey Clark, a top official in the Trump Justice Department, wanted to send a letter to elected officials in certain states falsely claiming that the department had “identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election,” but top department officials refused.

Clark’s support for Trump’s election fraud claims led Trump to openly contemplate naming him as acting attorney general in place of Jeffrey Rosen, who led the department in the final weeks of the Trump administration. Trump ultimately relented in that idea “when he was told it would result in mass resignations at the Justice Department,” according to the original indictment. Rosen remained on as acting attorney general through the end of Trump’s tenure.

The new case no longer references Clark as a co-conspirator. Trump’s alleged co-conspirators were not named in either indictment, but the details make clear their identities. The new indictment stresses that none of the other co-conspirators “were government officials during the conspiracies and all of whom were acting in a private capacity.”

The new indictment also removes references to Trump’s communications with federal government officials — like senior White House attorneys — who told him there was no evidence of fraud that would change the outcome of the 2020 election. It also removes references to certain Trump statements, including a claim he made during a White House press conference two days after the election about a suspicious dump of votes in Detroit.

The new indictment still includes one of the more stunning allegations brought by Smith — that Trump participated in a scheme orchestrated by allies to enlist slates of fraudulent electors in battleground states won by Democrat Joe Biden who would falsely attest that Trump had won in those states.

It also retains allegations that Trump sought to pressure Vice President Mike Pence to reject legitimate electoral votes, and that Trump and his allies exploited the chaos at the Capitol on Jan. 6 in an attempt to further delay the certification of Biden’s victory.

Chief Justice Roberts wrote in his majority opinion that the interactions between Trump and Pence amounted to official conduct for which “Trump is at least presumptively immune from prosecution.”

The question, Roberts wrote, is whether the government can rebut “that presumption of immunity.”

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented from the ruling. In an excerpt from an interview with CBS News’ “Sunday Morning” that aired Tuesday, she said: “I was concerned about a system that appeared to provide immunity for one individual under one set of circumstances. When we have a criminal justice system that had ordinarily treated everyone the same.”

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Two Black men who were falsely accused of rape by a white woman are now suing the woman and the local police department for defamation and wrongful arrest. Freddie Douglas, 43, and John Marks, 41, said the false allegations and subsequent legal proceedings have irreparably damaged their lives.

The incident occurred on the night of November 8, 2023, at Marks’ newly built home in a neighborhood outside of Houston. Marks and his neighbor, Amanda Zawieruszynski, 40, had been involved in an affair for some time. On that night, Marks invited Zawieruszynski over to join him and Douglas in the pool. The three engaged in consensual sexual activity, which was captured on Marks’ home security system.

Three weeks later, Zawieruszynski, who was separated from her husband at the time, filed a police report alleging that Douglas and Marks had raped and held her against her will. Despite the men’s repeated denials and the evidence to the contrary, the El Campo Police Department arrested both Douglas and Marks.

Douglas, a decorated police officer, was immediately fired from his job and faced public humiliation. He was forced to sell his home to cover the costs of his legal defense. Marks also endured significant financial and emotional hardship.

Despite the men’s insistence that they had the incident on video, the police department seemed determined to pursue charges. It wasn’t until March of the following year that a grand jury cleared Douglas and Marks of any wrongdoing.

The duo is now suing Zawieruszynski and the El Campo Police Department for damages. They allege that the woman’s false accusations and the police department’s mishandling of the case caused them severe emotional distress, financial ruin, and damage to their reputations.

Attorneys for Douglas and Marks argue that the case highlights a systemic issue of racial bias in the criminal justice system, particularly when it comes to allegations of sexual assault. They contend that the police department may have been more inclined to believe Zawieruszynski, a white woman, over two Black men.

The lawsuit seeks both compensatory and punitive damages, and it is expected to draw significant public attention. The case raises important questions about the responsibility of individuals who make false accusations and the role of law enforcement in investigating such claims.

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