I live in Michigan, one of the more northern states in our union. I live in a moderately integrated suburb of Detroit, a city where the majority of the population is black. It wasn’t always this way—when I was born, 67 years ago, my family…
@thumbnail.jpg "Mark M. Bello")
As I near a final publication date for my latest ‘ripped from the headlines novel, Betrayal in Black, life continues to imitate art, as another African American citizen is shot by police. Another black man was recently gunned down by a white police officer, this…
One of the country’s largest neo-Nazi groups has a new leader – a black activist who has vowed to dismantle the group. How did that happen? In 2007, civil rights activist James Hart Stern plead guilty to five counts of mail fraud. While serving his…
Since King’s August 28, 1963 speech on the Lincoln Memorial steps, our country has undergone dramatic changes in civil liberties, slowly moving closer to a society that nurtures justice and equality for all people, regardless of race, creed, color, religion, or ethnicity. Today should be…
In 1955, Rosa Parks refused to surrender her seat to a white passenger on a segregated bus in Alabama. This simple act of defiance launched the civil rights movement in the United States. Activists coordinated a bus boycott and chose Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.…
Donald Trump’s draconian border policies have taken children from their parents. On his order, government officials locked up these kids and their parents and put them in cages. Now, this same despicable president is tear gassing children at the border. Is there no end to his…
If you are injured and forced to go to court, the justice you receive may often depend upon the judge presiding over the case. State Farm has reportedly agreed to pay $250 million to settle a lawsuit that accused the company of breaking federal racketeering…
Victims who suffer serious injuries due to the negligence of a town or city government—or employee—often find that recovery is a lot harder than if they had been injured by a non-government actor. Eleven campers and two staff members from a town in Maine were…
It was announced yesterday that Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Washington, will ask Pope Francis to accept his resignation in light of the ongoing Catholic Church sex abuse scandal. Shortly after becoming Bishop of Pittsburgh in 1988,Wuerl created support programs for survivors and adopted…
An African American man was fatally shot in the parking lot of a Florida convenient store after an argument broke out over a handicapped parking spot. Surveillance video showed the alleged altercation. According to reports, a woman pulled into the handicapped parking spot. Her boyfriend…
