400 Years Since 1619

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Kim Kardashian West urges clemency for Oklahoma death row inmate

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Kim Kardashian West has joined a chorus of voices calling for clemency for a Black man on Oklahoma’s death row who has exhausted his appeals, arguing that a racist juror tainted the outcome of his 2002 trial.

Julius Jones was convicted of murder for the 1999 slaying of 45-year-old Paul Howell, who was fatally shot in the driveway of his parents’ home in Edmond, Oklahoma.

Jones filed a clemency petition with the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board on Tuesday, asking that his death sentence to be commuted to time served.

Kardashian West tweeted to her 62 million followers Wednesday to urge the board and Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt to consider Jones’ clemency petition.

Yesterday Oklahoma death-row prisoner #JuliusJones asked the Pardon & Parole Board for clemency. Please help by asking the Board and @GovStitt to give careful and thoughtful consideration to his petition. @justice4julius Learn more at https://t.co/Q5IzUCghZu

— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) October 16, 2019

Jones filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court arguing that a juror was racist toward him during his trials. The claim came to light when a juror told Jones’ lawyers in 2017 that another juror used a racist term to describe Jones and said authorities should “shoot (Jones) behind the jail.”

The high court rejected that appeal in April.

Kardashian West has been an outspoken criminal justice reform advocate. Last year, Kardashian West successfully lobbied Trump to grant clemency to Alice Marie Johnson, a grandmother who was serving a life sentence without parole for drug offenses.

In June, she took a trip to the White House to help President Donald Trump promote a ride-sharing partnership expected to give former prisoners gift cards to help them get to and from job interviews, work and family events.

Kardashian West‘s support of Jones comes after years of rejected appeals in his case.

In January, the U.S. Supreme Court handed Jones another rejection after he argued that people of color are more likely to be sentenced to death in Oklahoma when the victim is white, which Howell was. Last year, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals also rejected Jones’ appeal that argued that.

The post Kim Kardashian West urges clemency for Oklahoma death row inmate appeared first on theGrio.

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Oprah Winfrey gives Morehouse student new iPhone 11

It’s settled: Oprah Winfrey is truly the gift that keeps on giving!

Our favorite fairy godmother is in the news again, this time for helping out another Morehouse student right after she dropped a $13 million gift at the school during a recent visit.

Olufemi Yessoufou saw Winfrey sitting in her fancy car on campus, and in millennial fashion, decided to grab a selfie with the media mogul. In doing so, Yessoufou also recorded the moment, saying, “Hey Oprah,” The AJC reported.

Winfrey, looking chill and reserved, responded and jokingly and shaded the freshman’s iPhone capturing her and her billion-dollar smile.

“Hey. That’s me. That’s me in your cracked phone,” she joked.

she played me 😂🤦🏾‍♂️ @Oprah pic.twitter.com/1Hyt7jOkDj

— 🐇 (@BigDon0) October 7, 2019

“She played me,” Yessoufou jokingly captioned his post.

If you’re going to catch Oprah on camera, it better make her look becoming like the billion dollar bucks in her bank account.

The hilarious short exchange was posted on Twitter and garnered 2.8 million views, 10,000-plus retweets and 70,000-plus likes.

Winfrey is definitely this little brother’s keeper, and to Yessoufou’s surprise, she gifted him with a new iPhone 11.

Along with the phone, she sent a nice note which read: “We can’t have you out here viewing the world thru a cracked screen or a cracked cover. The new camera you’re gonna love for sure.”

Won’t He do it?

Update: OPRAH BOUGHT ME A NEW PHONE! Thank you @Oprah ❤️ https://t.co/uYy7QWrPCX pic.twitter.com/q8NugOzalS

— 🐇 (@BigDon0) October 18, 2019

Like the gentlemen they are, Yessoufou and his Morehouse brothers gathered and posted an appreciation post to Winfrey, thanking her for helping him.

“Thank you, Ms. Winfrey,” he and a group of scholars said in an Instagram video. “A gift to one of our brothers is a gift to all of our brothers.”

View this post on Instagram

For starters, we would like to thank Ms. Oprah Winfrey and her team for her generosity in both her gift to the Oprah Winfrey Scholars program and her gift to our brother Olufemi Yessoufou. Yes, she replaced his broken cell phone! Given this platform, we would like to introduce a project we, brothers of Morehouse, have been working on. It’s called Adopt A House. This is an idea we came up with to gain support from corporations and/ individuals to “adopt” their own piece of Morehouse by investing in the renovation and retrofitting process for on-campus facilities. All jokes aside, we are grateful for the day we were blessed with the opportunity to have that genuine conversation with Ms. Winfrey regarding our initiative. What you saw was her willingness to engage and have genuine fun and playful banter with us. What wasn’t seen was her sincere love for Morehouse’s mission and her Interest in our Adopt A House plan. Following our conversation, Ms. Winfrey lauded our plan and helped guide us to the next steps we need to follow as we aim to bring our plans to fruition. Again thank you so much, Ms. Oprah Winfrey, we genuinely appreciate your kindness and support! @oprah @oprahmagazine @morehouse1867 #morehouse

A post shared by 🐇 (@kxng.olu) on Oct 19, 2019 at 6:32pm PDT

The young men also announced a project called “Adopt A House,” an initiative targeting corporations and/ individuals to “adopt” “their own piece of Morehouse by investing in the renovation and retrofitting process for on-campus facilities.”

They wrote: “All jokes aside, we are grateful for the day we were blessed with the opportunity to have that genuine conversation with Ms. Winfrey regarding our initiative. What you saw was her willingness to engage and have genuine fun and playful banter with us. What wasn’t seen was her sincere love for Morehouse’s mission and her Interest in our Adopt A House plan. Following our conversation, Ms. Winfrey lauded our plan and helped guide us to the next steps we need to follow as we aim to bring our plans to fruition. Again thank you so much, Ms. Oprah Winfrey, we genuinely appreciate your kindness and support!”

A few weeks ago, Winfrey surprised the school with a $13 million donation. Winfrey’s donation along with the $12 million the media mogul gifted the school 30 years ago, totaling $25, has become the largest endowment in the history of the school.

The post Oprah Winfrey gives Morehouse student new iPhone 11 appeared first on theGrio.

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Introducing Mrs. Petty: Nicki Minaj Announces Marriage to Kenneth Petty in New Instagram Post

After months of talking about it—and changing her Twitter handle to “Mrs. Petty”—Nicki Minaj and her boo Kenneth Petty are now officially, for real-for real married. At least, according to the matching “bride” and “groom” accessories on her Instagram.

Tuesday's Best Deals: Status Audio Headphones, Echo Dots, Anker Leaf Blower, and More

A huge PC Gold Box sale, LectroFan, Humble Books, and Jach’s hoodies lead off Tuesday’s best deals from around the web.

Trump Foolishly Compares Impeachment Inquiry to a Lynching: ‘Republicans Must Remember What They Are Witnessing Here’

Since the conclusion of the Civil War, lynching has been one of the country’s most prominent manifestations of racialized violence. These public displays of terrorism instilled fear in black communities and served as cruel reminders of our “place” in society. And so with all the emotions the mere mention of such a…

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