Top 5 Live-WURD Tuesday March 24
1. Mo’ne Davis asks Bloomsburg to reinstate player who insulted her
After Bloomsburg University baseball player Joey Casselberry was released from the team following an offensive tweet in which he called
13-year-old Mo’ne Davis a “slut,” Davis reached out to the university and asked for Casselberry to be reinstated.
Davis, the Little League World Series star, emailed university President David L. Soltz Sunday evening and asked the school to reconsider Casselberry’s dismissal.
”While I admit I was pretty hurt when I read his comments, I felt sad that he was dismissed from the team…,” the Philadelphia pitcher wrote.
“I am sure Joey Casselberry has worked very hard to get where he is and dreams of playing in the major leagues. For this reason, I’m asking you to please allow him back on the team so that he can continue to chase his dream. He made one dumb mistake. I’m sure he would go back and change it if he could.”
2. Darren Sharper gets nine-year sentence in sexual assault plea deal
Former NFL safety Darren Sharper pleaded guilty to sexual assault and attempted sexual assault in Arizona and was sentenced to nine years in federal prison and lifetime probation as part of a “global resolution” to his case that includes at least nine women in four states accusing him of sexual assault.
The Los Angeles Times said he was also to enter a new plea in Los Angeles on Monday morning as part of his “global resolution” to his cases in which his sentences will run concurrently, the Times said. Sharper pleaded guilty in the Arizona case via video teleconference. Sharper has been in jail in Los Angeles since Feb. 27, 2014. The disgraced former All-Pro also has hearings in Las Vegas this week and New Orleans next month, the Associated Press said.
3. Zimmerman blames Obama for racial tensions after Trayvon Martin shooting
George Zimmerman, acquitted of murder charges in the shooting death of unarmed black teen Trayvon Martin in Florida, said in a videotaped interview that President Barack Obama stoked racial tensions in the case.
The former Florida neighborhood watch volunteer said he felt liberated after federal prosecutors last month decided not to press civil rights charges in the 2012 shooting.
“Now is the perfect time to speak my mind without fear of retaliation,” Zimmerman told one of his attorneys in a March 8 interview, released to the media yesterday.
Zimmerman criticized his treatment by federal prosecutors and in particular by Obama. He said Obama should not have inflamed racial tensions as he did by saying in a White House speech that if he had a son, that child would look like Martin.
“I’m also my parent’s child, and my life matters as well,” Zimmerman said, identifying the president by his full name, “Barack Hussein Obama.”
4. Children are being sold in ravaged Nigeria
Nearly a million Nigerians have been displaced by Boko Haram. Over half of them are children. A CNN team investigated claims that many of the children are sold and trafficked.
They found that in spite of the harsh measures the Nigerian government has put in place to punish human traffickers, by the government’s own admission, 8 million children are currently engaged in forced labor.
The Global Slavery Index says Nigeria has the highest number of people in modern slavery of any sub-Saharan country. Paradoxically, the group also rates Nigeria’s anti-trafficking agency, Naptip, as one of the strongest government responses on the continent — but it’s clearly overwhelmed by the realities of working in what is now a zone of military operations, Nigeria’s north. As the insecurity in the region has spiraled, the worry is that more children are falling through the cracks
5. DOJ on Philly police shootings: new rules, training needed
A long-awaited U.S. Justice Department report on police shootings in Philadelphia concluded Monday that there is “significant strife between the community and the department” and recommended wholesale changes in procedures and training.
The federal Office of Community Oriented Policing Services issued 48 findings and 91 recommendations for the Philadelphia police to consider “reforming its deadly force practices.”
Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey pledged to move “as quickly as we can” to come up with a plan to implement the recommended reforms.
“We certainly are looking at each and every one and coming up with a strategy for each recommendation,” he told reporters.
Some of those changes, he said, were already underway.
Click here to read these stories on 900amWURD.
Solomon Jones is an Essence bestselling author and award-winning columnist. He is the creator and editor of Solomonjones.com and morning host on 900 am WURD radio. Click here to learn more about Solomon
