We The People Of Color

Largest State Has Low Participation

2010-03-22T15:18:00.000-07:00

California is the largest state in the union,
so how come it has the lowest participation
with the food stamp program. After Reading the
story below, I'm sure that you will have something
to say about it.

Despite persistent economic woes, California leaves billions of federal food stamp dollars on the table each year that could help ease hunger and boost the local economy, officials say.

Only 48% of eligible Californians are enrolled in the nutrition program, according to federal figures from 2007, the most recent year available. That is well below the national average of 66%. Only Wyoming has a slightly lower rate.

California officials dispute the way the figures are calculated and say they do not reflect recent steps to improve the state's record, including greater outreach and simplified procedures.

As of December, more than 3 million people, about 1 in 11 California residents, were receiving food stamps, according to state figures. That is nearly 46% more than in December 2007. Because the number of people eligible for the program has soared during the recession, it is unclear whether the participation rate has gone up.

Federal officials say the state has taken steps in the right direction but needs to do more to improve access to the program.

"We're concerned that there are people, particularly in this economy, who need help putting healthy food on the table and aren't getting that assistance," said Jean Daniel, spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service.

Potential recipients aren't the only ones losing out. Last year, California residents received $4.8 billion in food stamps.

Federal officials estimate that every $5 in benefits generates as much as $9.20 in economic activity by freeing income that would otherwise be spent on food and creating business for local companies. Many of these purchases are subject to sales tax, boosting state revenue.

A number of factors contribute to California's lagging participation.

This Article Continues Here

Get your copy of the award winning King:
"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/

Entire Senior Class Accepted To College

2010-03-17T11:52:00.000-07:00

An entire senior class at a Chicago
prep school has been accepted to go
to college. What makes this unique
is the fact that the students are
all black This is the first time
this has ever happened. Check out
the story below and feel free to
comment.

The entire senior class at Chicago's only public all-male, all-African-American high school has been accepted to four-year colleges. At last count, the 107 seniors had earned spots at 72 schools across the nation.

Mayor Richard Daley and Chicago Public Schools chief Ron Huberman surprised students at an all-school assembly at Urban Prep Academy for Young Men in Englewood this morning to congratulate them. It's the first graduating class at Urban Prep since it opened its doors in 2006.

Huberman applauded the seniors for making CPS shine.

"All of you in the senior class have shown that what matters is perseverance, what matters is focus, what matters is having a dream and following that dream," Huberman said.

The school enforces a strict uniform of black blazers, khaki pants and red ties -- with one exception. After a student receives the news he was accepted into college, he swaps his red tie for a red and gold one at an assembly.

The last 13 students received their college ties today, to thunderous applause.

Ask Rayvaughn Hines what college he was accepted to and he'll answer with a question.

"Do you want me to name them all?"

For the 18-year-old from Back of the Yards, college was merely a concept--never a goal--growing up. Even within the last three years, he questioned if school, let alone college, was for him. Now, the senior is headed to the prestigious Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga. next fall.

This Article Continues Here

Get your copy of the award winning King:
"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/

A Moment Of Self Control

2010-03-04T13:34:00.000-08:00

A moment of self control could have
saved David Jassy the better part of
his young life. Now he must spend time
with the low-lifes and scum of California
in prison. This story could have happened
to any of us. Think about the times you
have become outraged at someone on the street.
Your comments are welcomed.

A judge sentenced a Swedish hip-hop artist to 15 years to life in prison Thursday for the road rage murder of a pedestrian in a Hollywood crosswalk.

Superior Court Judge Michael Johnson rejected a motion by defense attorneys to reduce David Jassy’s second-degree murder conviction to manslaughter, citing the brutality of the 2008 killing and the defendant’s “phony” trial testimony in which he claimed he acted in self-defense.

“I’ve independently reviewed the evidence, and I agree completely with the jury verdict,” Johnson said.

Under the terms of the mandatory sentence, Jassy, 35, who has been jailed since the incident, will be eligible for parole in 2024, when he is 49. He was convicted last month of the fatal assault on John Osnes, a 55-year-old jazz pianist, during a late-night confrontation at the intersection of Selma Boulevard and Schrader Avenue.

Witnesses said Osnes, who was on foot, struck the hood of Jassy’s rented sport utility vehicle with his hands after the vehicle edged into the crosswalk. Jassy responded, the witnesses said, by leaping from his vehicle, punching Osnes in the face and then kicking him in the head as he bent over.

Johnson told Jassy he did not believe his claim that Osnes, a tall, thin man, posed a danger to the rapper, his girlfriend and his automobile, which the judge described as “a three-quarter ton gross weight sport utility vehicle.”

This Article Continues Here

Get your copy of the award winning King:
"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/

Are His Underwear Next?

2010-03-01T14:34:00.000-08:00

Where will it all end? Now there is
disagreement on who owns the suit of
clothes that O.J. Simpson was wearing
the day of his acquittal. So what's
next, who get his draws?

A settlement conference was scheduled Monday over whether the father of the man O.J. Simpson was accused of murdering should get the suit the former football star was wearing the day of his acquittal.

Fred Goldman, the father of Ron Goldman, filed the lawsuit against Simpson and his former agent, Mike Gilbert, who allegedly has possession of the suit. Ron Goldman was killed in 1994 with Simpson's ex-wife, Nicole.

“This is a mandatory settlement to attempt to resolve who owns the suit and who has the right to the suit,” said Ronald Slates, Simpson's lawyer. "Gilbert said Simpson gave him the suit. If you believe that, you also believe in Santa Claus and the tooth fairy.”

This Article Continues Here

Get your copy of the award winning King:
"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/

Blacks Splitting On Obama?

2010-02-22T14:31:00.000-08:00

Black leaders are now divided on
Obama and how he should be handling
black issues. How will this division
effect the final outcome of this issue?
Check out the article below and then let
us know what you think.

*Some noted Black leaders recently have suggested publicly that President Obama does not need to focus on Black issues.
In response to mounting evidence showing African Americans are disproportionately lagging behind on all economic indicators despite assertions of a so-called “post-racial” era, Tavis Smiley said Tuesday he will moderate a national conversation examining whether in fact there needs to be a Black agenda and the accountability of leadership to address issues facing Black Americans.

Smiley formally announced the forum this morning on the Tom Joyner morning Show. Reaction to his statements and position was swift. Immediately after, during a telephone press conference with EUR and several other black oriented media outlets, Smiley said that his comments had already prompted a heated response from Rev Al Sharpton, one of the “Black Leaders” that Smiley identified.

This article continues here

Get your copy of the award winning King:
"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/

Another Black Physician Comes Under Fire

2010-02-18T11:26:00.000-08:00

Once again another prominent black
doctor is under the microscope.
This time Dr. Andrew Rutland a Chula
Vista,California physician was caught
in a sting, violating a court order not
to practice. Check out the article below.
Your comments are welcomed.

Less than a month after Dr. Andrew Rutland was barred from performing surgeries after an abortion patient's death, state medical authorities say they caught the physician in an undercover sting apparently violating the court order.

For the second time in as many months, state officials are seeking the immediate suspension of the Chula Vista physician's license. A hearing is set for Thursday in San Diego. Rutland could not be reached for comment.

His lawyer, Paul M. Hittelman, said Rutland did nothing to violate the court's order.

"It's not asserted that he was doing any surgical procedures," said Hittelman, adding that Rutland's physician daughter performed those procedures.

On Jan. 7, Administrative Law Judge James Ahler stopped short of granting the request by lawyers for the Medical Board of California, deciding instead to temporarily limit his practice until a full hearing could be held. One potential problem for the state was proving that Rutland posed an immediate danger -- given that it took five months to bring its case.

This time, lawyers for the medical board will present evidence of a sting operation hatched a couple of days after the January hearing.

At that time, in response to a request from Rutland's lawyer seeking clarification of the no-surgery order, the judge amended it to specifically ban him from performing "first trimester abortions and endometrial curettage procedures."

Two weeks later, Medical Board investigator Carmen Aguilera-Marquez made an appointment for an abortion at A Women's Choice Family Planning Clinic in Chula Vista. She used an undercover alias and brought a urine sample from a pregnant woman.

At the clinic, she saw Rutland in a room through an open door standing by a woman lying on an examination table, according to a petition filed by the board. The patient's legs were bent, and Rutland was looking into the patient's cervical area, she said.

She spoke with a friend of the patient who told her that the woman was there for a "chemical abortion," a spontaneous miscarriage induced with pills inserted by a physician, she said in the petition.

This Article Continues Here

Get your copy of the award winning King:
"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/

Three Striker Tows The Line

2010-02-12T11:51:00.000-08:00

Jerry Dewayne Williams the first person
convicted under California's three strike
law back in 1994 walks very carefully these
days. He has to or he could spend the rest
of his life in prison. Check out the story
below and feel free to offer an opinion.

If he ever returns to prison, Jerry Dewayne Williams knows he'll probably never get out.

To stay clear of trouble, he has left behind the Compton neighborhood where police knew him and cut ties with friends from wilder days. Once a hard partyer, the 43-year-old says he prefers the company of a mystery novel or a "Law and Order" episode on television.

Williams is one of more than 14,000 felons who, under California's three-strikes law, face a possible life sentence if they commit another felony. But few, if any, grasp the reality of that threat better than Williams.

Fifteen years ago, the gangly laborer made worldwide headlines when he was convicted of snatching a slice of pizza from a group of children near the Redondo Beach Pier. A judge, citing California's newly adopted three-strikes law, sentenced him to 25 years to life.

Williams -- dubbed the "pizza thief" -- became an iconic symbol in the political and ideological battle over California's push to get tough on crime. But as the public furor over his case subsided, Williams persuaded a judge to reduce his prison term, and he was quietly released after a little more than five years behind bars.

A decade later, Williams finds himself serving a different kind of life sentence.

"I walk on eggshells," he said. "Any little thing that I do, I could be back for the rest of my life."

Controversial life sentences under the three-strikes law are hardly novel. Those sentenced under the law include a thief caught shoplifting a bottle of vitamins and a drug addict who swiped nine videotapes to sell for heroin.

But few cases have polarized opinion as much as Williams' theft of an extra-large slice of pepperoni pizza. The case continues to divide today, resurfacing whenever opponents of the law launch another reform attempt.

This Article Continues Here

Get your copy of the award winning King:
"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/

Congresswoman Watson Steps Down

2010-02-11T14:29:00.000-08:00

Congresswomen Diane Watson is stepping down
from her congressional seat. We commend this
great lady for her more than thirty years
of public service.

Ending more than three decades of public service, U.S. Rep. Diane Watson announced Thursday morning that she would step down from her congressional seat at the end of this term.

She declined to endorse a successor.

“I appreciate the trust … that you have placed in me,” said Watson, speaking at a Los Angeles news conference, flanked by community leaders including L.A. County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, LAPD Assistant Chief Earl Paysinger, school board member Marguerite LaMotte and the Rev. Cecil L. “Chip” Murray.

Watson, a Democrat, said she was leaving to spend “quality time” with her mother, who just turned 100 and recently broke her hip.

The announcement capped a political career that began when she was the first black woman elected to the LAUSD school board and culminated with her election to the 37th Congressional District. She was also the first black woman elected to the state Senate, in 1978.

This Article Continues Here

Get your copy of the award winning King:
"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/

Black Jobs?

2010-02-10T16:48:00.000-08:00

The country is recovering from one of the
worst recessions in history yet blacks seem
to be going under more and more. President
Obama needs to do more to assure that blacks
get a fair shake in this recovery. Do you
agree?

Reporting from Washington - Amid signs that black Americans are not sharing in the nation's fledgling economic recovery, President Obama on Wednesday met at the White House with African American leaders, who urged him to adopt a new approach more tightly focused on chronically depressed communities.

While the unemployment rate in January dropped below 10% for the first time in five months, joblessness among blacks increased slightly, to 16.5%.

"We're not looking for race-based programs but, like the president, we want to make sure that everyone is included," the Rev. Al Sharpton said after the meeting. "We need to make sure that those efforts to spur job creation are equally and fairly distributed so that, when the rubber meets the road, we're all in the car."

The meeting came at a time when some black leaders have faulted Obama for not pursuing policies more targeted on the economic woes of their community.

Sharpton and the two other leaders in the meeting -- NAACP President Benjamin T. Jealous and National Urban League CEO Marc H. Morial -- have been supportive of Obama in the face of those complaints.

Obama remains supremely popular among African Americans. David Bositis, a political analyst at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, recently surveyed blacks in four states and found that 80% approved of the job he was doing as president.

But even Obama's supporters want to be sure that the jobs legislation being drafted in Congress will be effective in minority-dominated communities with high unemployment.

"More must be done," said Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) after the January unemployment report was released. "As lawmakers, we must not shy away from targeted public policy that seeks to address the specific and unique issues facing minority communities."

The House in December passed a $154-billion jobs bill that included several provisions sought by the Congressional Black Caucus, such as a $500-million summer jobs program and a $1-billion fund for affordable housing. It also included $26.7 billion to help state and local governments maintain public service jobs -- workforces in which minorities are well represented.

This Article Continues Here

Get your copy of the award winning King:
"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/

Is The Trickle Down Effect Back For Blacks?

2010-02-08T15:20:00.000-08:00

Obama says rather than pass laws that are
conducive to help blacks he wants to pass
legislation that will benefit all Americans.
This way no one is left out. When the chips
are down in this country it is black folks
that are the hardest hit. Will we ever get
preferential treatment? Even now with a
black man in the White House we must still
stand in line and wait. What's your take?
Check out the story below.

There was no big speech or fancy ceremony when President Obama observed the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday last month. Instead, for his first King holiday as president, Mr. Obama quietly installed a rare signed copy of the Emancipation Proclamation in the Oval Office and invited a small group of African-American elders and young people to come see it.
The private gathering — “an intimate discussion,” in the words of Dorothy Height, a 97-year-old grande dame of the civil rights movement — was typical of Mr. Obama, who has steered clear of putting race front and center in his administration. But that low-key approach is frustrating some black leaders and scholars, who are starting to challenge Mr. Obama’s language and policies.

On Capitol Hill, members of the Congressional Black Caucus are expressing irritation that Mr. Obama has failed to create programs tailored specifically to African-Americans, who are suffering disproportionately in the recession. In December, some of them threatened to oppose new financial rules for banks until the White House promised to address the needs of minority groups.

“I don’t think we expected anything to change overnight because we had an African-American in the White House, but the fact still remains that we’ve got a constituency that is suffering,” said Representative Elijah E. Cummings, Democrat of Maryland. “I think he could do more, and he will do more.”

Some black scholars fault Mr. Obama as failing to lead on the issue of race. The Kirwan Institute, which studies race and ethnicity, is convening a conference on Thursday to offer policy prescriptions. After analyzing the State of the Union address, the institute’s scholars warned that “continued failure to engage race would be devastating.”

Michael Eric Dyson, a Georgetown University sociologist and longtime supporter of Mr. Obama, is exasperated. “All these teachable moments,” Professor Dyson said, “but the professor refuses to come to the class.”

In an interview in late December with American Urban Radio Networks, a group of black-owned stations, Mr. Obama conceded that there was “grumbling” among African-Americans, especially about his jobs policies. But he rejected the idea that he should pay special attention to them — an argument that Earl Ofari Hutchinson, a black author and political analyst, called “disingenuous at best, and an insult at worst.”

Mr. Obama framed it this way: “I can’t pass laws that say I’m just helping black folks. I’m the president of the United States. What I can do is make sure that I am passing laws that help all people, particularly those who are most vulnerable and most in need. That in turn is going to help lift up the African-American community.”

Until now, black leaders have tended to tread lightly in criticizing Mr. Obama, and some find it personally painful. Black Americans remain overwhelmingly supportive of Mr. Obama; a recent ABC News poll found that 96 percent approve of his job performance.

This Article Continues Here

Get your copy of the award winning King:
"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/

Conrad Murray Negotiating Surrender

2010-02-04T16:30:00.000-08:00

Conrad Murray the doctor at the center
of the Micheal Jackson controversy is
negotiating a surrender to the District
Attorney's office. The sticking point
is whether he should be handcuffed. The
police have taken the stance that he
should be handcuffed thus showing him
as some kind of thug criminal. How do
you feel the doctor should be treated?

An attorney for Michael Jackson’s doctor said he was in negotiations with a prosecutor Thursday morning about how the physician will surrender to face criminal charges in the pop icon’s death.

No case has been filed against Dr. Conrad Murray, but the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office is expected to file an involuntary manslaughter charge and potentially other counts against him this week, said numerous sources familiar with the case.

Murray’s lead attorney, Ed Chernoff, said he and Deputy Dist. Atty. David Walgren were discussing arrangements for booking and arraigning the doctor after the case is filed.

“We both share the goal of the efficient administration of this process,” Chernoff said.

A spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

A sticking point appeared to be whether Murray, who is staying with the mother of his infant son in Santa Monica, will be arrested and placed in handcuffs or permitted to turn himself in at a police station or courthouse.

Los Angeles Police Department officials were pushing for an arrest, according to a departmental source who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The source said police were concerned that allowing Murray to turn himself in suggested to the public -- including future jurors -- that he was entitled to special treatment and was a “white-collar” case rather than an accused criminal.

Murray’s lawyer insisted there was no reason for handcuffs or police cars.

“An arrest of Dr. Murray would be a waste of money, time and resources. We’ve always made it clear: You tell us where; we’ll be there. I’m sure something can be arranged,” Chernoff said.

He said Murray and his defense team have met with bail bond companies in preparation for the charges.

“We’ve had eight months to prepare,” he said, referring to the criminal probe of Murray that began in the hours after Jackson’s June 25 death.

Murray acknowledged giving propofol, a powerful anesthetic intended for use in operating rooms, to Jackson as a sleep aid the morning of his death, according to court documents. The coroner’s department ruled the death a homicide and said it was caused by “acute propofol intoxication” in combination with the use of sedatives also administered by the doctor.

Involuntary manslaughter, which applies to unlawful killing committed without malice or an intent to kill, carries a maximum sentence of four years in prison.

This Article Continues Here

Get your copy of the award winning King:
"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/

The Soloist Debuts First CD

2010-02-03T15:58:00.000-08:00

Nathaniel Ayers the cellist portrayed by Jamie Foxx
has finally cut his first CD with the help of a few
friends. Congratulations are in order. Check out
the story below then post your thoughts.

With a little help from his friends, the Soloist cuts his first CD.
I was beginning to think we'd never get around to making the CD that Nathaniel Anthony Ayers has been talking about for years.

Last summer, on a trip to San Francisco, where Mr. Ayers was honored for his spirit by the National Alliance on Mental Illness, we came up with the perfect name for it:

"Putting on Ayers."

But when readers and friends asked when it would be available, I had no good answer.

Some days Mr. Ayers is fine; some days not.

Some days he wants companionship; other days he needs to be alone.

As for the CD, he'd back off one day, calling it a terrible idea. And then he'd be ready to roll the next day.

Finally, a few weeks ago, it all seemed to be coming together. We had a day booked in a Silver Lake studio. A pal of his, Joe Russo, had agreed to fly in from Connecticut to record with him.

L.A. Philharmonic pianist Joanne Pearce Martin and violinist Robert Gupta had juggled schedules. And Michael Balzary, also known as Flea of the band Red Hot Chili Peppers, was eager to join us.

Then, the night before, Mr. Ayers -- a former Juilliard student who was homeless and playing a two-string violin when I met him five years ago -- backed out of the recording session.

"It's not going to happen," he said, complaining of an upset stomach that I suspected was caused in part by a case of nerves.

I woke the next day to an urgent message from Mr. Ayers: He was feeling better and ready to go, and I was relieved I hadn't called off the whole thing.

An hour later, he canceled, and I lost a few more strands of hair.

The other musicians were standing by. Would Mr. Ayers reconsider?

OK, he said.

I picked him up on skid row and packed his bass, cello, violin, guitar, trumpet and flute into my car. He left his viola, French horn, keyboards and trombone in his room, perhaps saving them for his second CD.

On the way to Silver Lake, Mr. Ayers was nervous but game. He wanted to know how the day would play out, and I reminded him there was no strategy other than for him to jam on as many instruments as he cared to play. Steven Argila, a pianist and owner of the studio, had met Mr. Ayers before and was ready to go with the flow, and the same was true of Stephen Krause, the recording engineer.

This Article Continues Here

Get your copy of the award winning King:
"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/

Black History Month

2010-02-01T17:04:00.000-08:00

February which most of us black folks know is
Black History Month and to kick it off below
is a list of black history events. Check it
out, it's an interesting list.

Historical Front Pages from On This Day in History

1800s

* 1857: Decision of the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott Case
* 1863: President Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation

1900-1950s

* 1947: Dodgers Purchase Robinson, First Negro in Modern Major League Baseball
* 1954: High Court Bans School Segregation; 9-to-0 Decision Grants Time to Comply
* 1956: High Court Rules Bus Segregation Unconstitutional
* 1957: Arkansas Troops Bar Negro Pupils; Governor Defiant
* 1957: President Sends Troops to Little Rock, Federalizes Arkansas National Guard; Tells Nation He Acted to Avoid An Anarchy
* 1957: Miss Gibson Wimbledon Victor

1960s-2000

* 1960: Negro Sitdowns Stir Fear Of Wider Unrest in South
* 1961: 400 U.S. Marshals Sent to Alabama as Montgomery Bus Riots Hurt 20; President Bids State Keep Order
* 1963: Birmingham Bomb Kills 4 Negro Girls In Church; Riots Flare; 2 Boys Slain
* 1963: Mississippi Gives Meredith Degree
* 1963: 200,000 March for Civil Rights in Orderly Washington Rally
* 1964: 3 In Rights Drive Reported Missing
* 1964: Civil Rights Bill Passed, 73-27; Johnson Urges All To Comply; Dirksen Berates Goldwater
* 1964: Martin Luther King Wins The Nobel Prize for Peace

1965: New Negro Riots Erupt on Coast; 3 Reported Shot
* 1965: The Big Parade: On the Way to Montgomery
* 1965: 25,000 Go to Alabama’s Capitol
* 1965: Malcolm X Shot to Death at Rally Here
* 1967: President Sees Marshall Take Supreme Court Seat
* 1968: Martin Luther King is Slain in Memphis
* 1968: 2 Black Power Advocates Ousted From Olympics
* 1971: Supreme Court, 9-0, Backs Busing to Combat South’s Dual Schools, Rejecting Administration Stand
* 1975: Ashe Triumphs at Wimbledon
* 1991: Police Brutality Under Wide Review by Justice Dept.
* 1992: Los Angeles Policemen Acquitted In Taped Beating

2000s

* 2008: Obama Elected President as Racial Barrier Falls

This Article Continues Here

Get your copy of the award winning King:
"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/

Fighting For All Against Poverty

2010-01-22T11:13:00.000-08:00

In his final book Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
broadens his fight against poverty to include
all since there are more poor whites than blacks
in this country. After reading the article below
you may want to run out and purchase the book.

Many people are celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day by doing service or simply taking some time off. A few writers, however, have turned their attention to literary works by and about King. Here's a quick roundup.

Martin Luther King Jr.'s final manuscript, "Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?" was written in Jamaica in 1967. Originally published in 1968, "Where Do We Go From Here" was reissued by Beacon Press this month. The website The Root looks at its cross-racial call for economic justice:

“In the treatment of poverty nationally, one fact stands out,” King wrote in 1967. “There are twice as many white poor as [black] poor in the United States. Therefore I will not dwell on the experiences of poverty that derive from racial discrimination, but will discuss the poverty that affects white and [black] alike.”

This was a radical — and unpopular — change for the preacher who is best-known for pushing voting, employment, housing and other civil rights for black Americans. At this point in his career, during what would become the final months of his life, he was widening his field of vision to seek an end to poverty among all Americans.

The New Yorker's Book Bench blog also turned to King's last book, focusing on his prescient analysis of technology. King wrote:

We must work passionately and indefatigably to bridge the gulf between our scientific progress and our moral progress. One of the great problems of mankind is that we suffer from a poverty of the spirit which stands in glaring contrast to our scientific and technological abundance. The richer we have become materially, the poorer we have become morally and spiritually.

This Article Continues Here

Get your copy of the award winning King:
"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/

Blame The Politics

2010-01-21T17:10:00.000-08:00

I guess the saying remains to be true
that it takes thick skin to be involved
in politics. Check out the story below
and feel free to express your comment
on Obama's choice for Transportation
Secretary, Erroll Southers.

Reporting from Washington - Erroll Southers, President Obama's choice to head the Transportation Security Administration, withdrew his name from consideration Wednesday, dealing a setback to an agency still grappling with the security failures that led to an alleged attempted airliner bombing on Christmas Day.

Southers, whose nomination had been blocked by Republican opposition, complained in a statement Wednesday that he had become a political lightning rod.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Southers said the confirmation process made him question his willingness to participate in public service.

"I am not a politician. I'm a counter-terrorism expert," said Southers, assistant chief of airport police in Los Angeles. "They took an apolitical person and politicized my career."

The White House accepted Southers' withdrawal while maintaining that he would have made an excellent TSA administrator.

Obama nominated Southers, a former FBI agent, in September to head the TSA. But Sen. Jim DeMint, a South Carolina Republican who complained that Southers hoped to make good on an Obama pledge to allow TSA workers to join unions, had placed a hold on his confirmation by the Senate.

Southers also had faced questions over an event years ago, when he had ordered criminal background checks on the boyfriend of his estranged wife.

This Article Continues Here

Get your copy of the award winning King:
"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
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The Smell Of Death

2010-01-19T13:28:00.000-08:00

The people of Haiti can smell it coming
and there is very little that they can do
about it. Relief to this small island nation
in the Caribbean is coming at a very slow pace.
Does this also remind you of another disaster
that involved many people of color in recent years?
Why is relief always so slow when it comes to
non-whites? We certainly want to here from you on
this.

Reporting from Leogane, Haiti - Only the goats risk the cool shade of the century-old colonnades left standing in this provincial capital.

The people have hauled themselves and their possessions into the middle of the dirt roads, away from the fallen storefront arches and tin roofs that now rest on piles of brick like crumpled hats. Leogane looks like an archaeological dig overrun by squatters who wait for food, medical attention and shelter from the sun and coming rain.

International aid is starting to pour into Port-au-Prince, two hours to the east. On Monday, four ships carrying 2,200 Marines anchored off the coast and began ferrying supplies and personnel ashore. There were scattered reports of looting and gunfire in the capital, but U.N. officials said the relief effort was gaining momentum. And international teams were still finding victims alive under the rubble.

In Leogane, hub of Haiti's sugar cane country, residents have seen just an Argentine medical team and the Spanish Red Cross, which is assessing sanitation and water needs here.

In a city of 130,000, only one well is pumping water -- no faster than the flow of a garden hose. And it's not drinkable.

Residents have given up expecting that any of those still trapped in the rubble will be rescued. After the initial grief and fear, there is a strange pause in the story of last Tuesday's earthquake.

People here can smell the inevitable.

This Article Continues Here

Get your copy of the award winning King:
"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/

Shaq Attacked

2010-01-12T18:55:00.000-08:00

Oh Boy!
Looks like another high profile athlete
is having mistress problems. Shaquille O'Neal
is being sued by his mistress. Check out
the video and the get back with us with
your thoughts on this news breaking controversy.

Get your copy of the award winning King:
"From Atlanta to the Mountain top.
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/

Shaq Attacked!

2010-01-12T17:43:00.000-08:00

Oh Boy!
Looks like another high profile athlete
is having mistress problems. Check out
the video and the get back with us on
your thoughts.

This Article Continues Here

Get your copy of the award winning King:
"From Atlanta to the Mountain top.
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/

Is It In The Religion?

2010-01-11T15:54:00.000-08:00

What was it that could have caused a young
black man from a wealthy family in Nigeria
to want to blow up a plane on Christmas Day?
Could it be in the religion? Umar Farouk
Abdulmutallab was practicing Muslim who's
behavior changed quite abruptly according
to family members. What's your take on this
situation? Check out story below.

Reporting from Johannesburg, South Africa - The family of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the man charged with attempting to destroy a transatlantic airliner, expressed shock at his actions in a statement released Monday, adding that they were thankful no lives were lost.

Abdulmutallab's father, Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, is a wealthy former Nigerian banker, who recently retired as chairman of First Bank and was a government minister under former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

A statement signed "The Mutallab Family" described the family's alarm in recent months as Abdulmutallab, known to friends and family as Farouk, cut off contact and disappeared.

Pledging to fully cooperate with all investigations, the family said in the statement that the change in Abdulmutallab's behavior was "very recent" and "completely out of character."

His father was so worried about his son's whereabouts and behavior that he had recently reported the issue to Nigerian security agencies and U.S. officials.

"The disappearance and cessation of communication . . . are completely out of character and a very recent development, as before then, from very early childhood, Farouk, to the best of parental monitoring, had never shown any attitude, conduct or association that would give concern," the statement said.

"As soon as concern arose, very recently, his parents reported it and sought help.

"Prior to this incident [the attempted bombing], his father, having become concerned about his disappearance and stoppage of communication while schooling abroad, reported the matter to the Nigerian security agencies about two months ago and to some foreign agencies about a month and a half ago, then sought their assistance to find and return him home.

This Article Continues Here

Will The Real Tiger Woods Please Stand Up!

2010-01-06T14:54:00.000-08:00

Well what you see is what get these days with
Tiger Woods. Since the the sex scandal story
broke about the world class golfer interest of
what he does off the golf course has become
somewhat bigger than what he does on the golf
course. What do you think is going on with Tiger?

Tiger Woods may be playing cat-and-mouse with the media, but readers of Vanity Fair will see much more of him than ever before when the February issue hits stands next week.

The cover shot, part of a spread taken by famed photographer Annie Leibovitz before his sex scandal, shows a bare-chested Woods in a black cap lifting weights. The magazine says the layout depicts "a raw, unguarded Woods," and captures him "in prophetic isolation."

At VanityFair.com, Leibovitz said of the images: "Tiger is an intensely competitive athlete – and quite serious about his sport. I wanted to reveal that in these photos. And to show his incredible focus and dedication."

In the cover story, author Buzz Bissinger ("Friday Night Lights") refers to Woods as “a sex addict who could not get enough” and cites a 1997 GQ interview with the golfer, who was 21 at the time, as evidence of the real Woods.

This Article Continues Here

Kevin Cooper Cut And Dry?

2010-01-03T15:01:00.000-08:00

I know a little sumtin-sumtin about justice in San Bernardino.
With a conviction rate of nearly 98% they like things neat and
tidy. San Bernardino can also be very sloppy when it comes to
real police work. I knew a black guy who fought a murder case
there for two years and the delays came from the prosecution.
When the case finally went to the jury it took them less than ten
minutes to acquit. Instead of good police work the prosecution
was trying to build it's case on a prior manslaughter conviction.
Kevin Cooper is more convenient and economical to that upscale
area of San Bernardino. It got the county untold millions of
dollars to protect the surrounding communities from the inmates
at Chino prison and Chino Hills name is not tarnished by the mention
of a drug hit gone wrong. The Kevin Cooper case is a real doozy.
Check it out and then let yourself be heard.

On a Sunday morning in June 1983, Bill Hughes arrived at a hilltop home in Chino Hills, concerned that his young son hadn't returned home in time for church after a sleepover.

Hughes had called from his own home nearby but had gotten no answer. No one stirred when he knocked on the back door. Stepping over to the master bedroom window for a glimpse inside, he was confronted by horrific carnage.

The bloodied bodies of Doug and Peggy Ryen, their 10-year-old daughter, Jessica, and his son, 11-year-old Christopher, lay strewn from bedroom to hallway. Amid the clumps of hair, flesh and bones lay Joshua Ryen, 8, still breathing despite a slashed throat and skull fracture.

San Bernardino County authorities initially blamed the slayings on a cult or gang, as the five victims had 143 stab wounds from three different weapons.

But suspicion soon turned to one man: Kevin Cooper, who had escaped from a state prison not far from the Ryens' home two days before the murders.

Now, after 26 years, the legal hurdles to Cooper's execution have been surmounted. With the Supreme Court's decision last month not to review his claim of innocence, the 52-year-old becomes only the sixth of California's 697 death row prisoners cleared for lethal injection once a federal judge approves revised procedures.

But the exhaustion of Cooper's legal recourse hasn't silenced supporters who claim he was the victim of corrupt law enforcement and stunning bad luck.

The opponents of capital punishment who have long clung to puzzling clues and hints of police misconduct have been joined by a prison warden, 11 federal judges and five jurors now bothered by allegations that Cooper was framed.

This Article Continues Here

Criminals Beware!

2009-12-31T14:34:00.000-08:00

If you're a criminal in the Los Angeles area don't expect
to be treated with any respect if you decide to give up
after being pursued by local authorities. Check out the
story below.

Prosecutors have decided not to charge two El Monte Police Department officers who kicked a car chase suspect in the head and hit his arm with a flashlight as he was lying on the ground at the end of a televised high-speed pursuit, saying they used "reasonable" force.

The Los Angeles County district attorney's office noted in its decision that officers George Fierro, 41, and James Singleterry, 40, were confronting a "highly dangerous and unpredictable" gang member who had evaded parole supervision and demonstrated no regard for human life during the 34-minute pursuit May 13.

Prosecutors said Fierro had reason to fear that the suspect, Richard Rodriguez, was positioning himself to attack or attempt to escape when he turned his head to face the officer while lying on the ground with his arms outstretched. Under such circumstances, they said, El Monte officers are trained to deliver a "distraction blow" -- in this case, a kick to the head -- to give them time to apply physical restraint.

Prosecutors said Singleterry struck Rodriguez's right arm four times with the flashlight because the suspect had moved his hand under his body and was resisting being handcuffed.

Use-of-force experts have criticized the officers' actions as unprovoked and unnecessary.

Samuel Walker, a criminology professor at the University of Nebraska, called Fierro's reasoning for kicking Rodriguez in the head "a ridiculous rationalization." He said the decision not to prosecute was "wrong in and of itself, and it also just confirms the belief among many in the community that officers are not going to be disciplined for excessive use of force."

The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California issued a statement Wednesday condemning the district attorney's decision.

Story continues here!

Andre Birotte Jr Tapped For Top Cop In Los Angeles

2009-12-27T15:12:00.000-08:00

The appointment of Andre Birotte Jr. by President Obama as top prosecutor in L A is quite significant for the overall plan that the Prez has for his people. Obama has come under criticism and been accused of not doing enough for black folks. In the political arena one must first get all their ducks in a row. Healthcare is the biggest problem facing the country and it's a win-win situation for most of us that struggle to make ends meet if and when the system is ever fixed. So just what is it that black folks are expecting? Well if you ask most blacks the answer would be financial enrichment. But before that is to happen we must first have people like Birotte in place to watch our backs. The only way they've been able to keep us in place lately is to circumnavigate the law. Think about it!

Andre Birotte Jr., who for the last six years has served as the Los Angeles Police Department's inspector general, has been tapped by President Obama to become the top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, the White House announced Thursday.

If confirmed by the Senate, Birotte, 43, would become the first black man to serve as U.S. attorney in Los Angeles.

The Times reported in October that he was the likely nominee.

"I am honored and humbled by this nomination," said Birotte, who learned of the news early Thursday while visiting family on the East Coast for the holidays.

As U.S. attorney, he would oversee the nation's second-largest office with about 275 lawyers and a seven-county jurisdiction that spans most of Southern California.

It would mark his second stint in the office, where he worked as an assistant U.S. attorney from 1995 to 1999.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who recommended Birotte, praised him for having the support of both the police officers he is charged with investigating as inspector general and the various community groups who turn to his office with complaints regarding alleged police abuses.

"This ability to command respect from all sides bodes well for his nomination," Feinstein said in a press release.

Paul W. Weber, president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union that represents most of the department's nearly 10,000 officers, echoed that sentiment.

Weber called Birotte a man of "fairness and integrity" who sought out the league's views on various situations that arose while he was the LAPD's watchdog.

"He treated us as equals. He wanted our input," Weber said. "Then he made whatever decision he needed to make."

LAPD Chief Charlie Beck, who has dealt with Birotte on issues including the federal consent decree enacted in the wake of the Rampart scandal and officer-involved shootings, said: "He didn't always see things as I saw them. But I never felt him to be someone who was swayed by politics or the media or the vocal minority. He is swayed by doing the right thing."

The U.S. attorney position has been vacant since the September resignation of Thomas P. O'Brien, a career prosecutor who oversaw a massive increase in criminal filings and a wave of new hiring in the office.

This Story Continues Here!

Free! When?

2008-06-12T13:04:00.000-07:00

Now for those of you, which is most of us, that
thought that we were freed from slavery under
the Emancipation Proclamation better think again.
There are a series of articles on the subject where
the story below continues that may well blow the
top of your skull off.

On March 30, 1908, Green Cottenham was arrested by the sheriff of Shelby County, Alabama, and charged with "vagrancy." Cottenham had committed no true crime. Vagrancy, the offense of a person not being able to prove at a given moment that he or she is employed, was a new and flimsy concoction dredged up from legal obscurity at the end of the nineteenth century by the state legislatures of Alabama and other southern states. It was capriciously enforced by local sheriffs and constables, adjudicated by mayors and notaries public, recorded haphazardly or not at all in court records, and, most tellingly in a time of massive unemployment among all southern men, was reserved almost exclusively for black men. Cottenham's offense was blackness.

After three days behind bars, twenty-two-year-old Cottenham was found guilty in a swift appearance before the county judge and immediately sentenced to a thirty-day term of hard labor. Unable to pay the array of fees assessed on every prisoner--fees to the sheriff, the deputy, the court clerk, the witnesses--Cottenham's sentence was extended to nearly a year of hard labor.

The next day, Cottenham, the youngest of nine children born to former slaves in an adjoining county, was sold. Under a standing arrangement between the county and a vast subsidiary of the industrial titan of the North--U.S. Steel Corporation--the sheriff turned the young man over to the company for the duration of his sentence. In return, the subsidiary, Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Company, gave the county $12 a month to pay off Cottenham's fine and fees. What the company's managers did with Cottenham, and thousands of other black men they purchased from sheriffs across Alabama, was entirely up to them.

A few hours later, the company plunged Cottenham into the darkness of a mine called Slope No. 12--one shaft in a vast subterranean labyrinth on the edge of Birmingham known as the Pratt Mines. There, he was chained inside a long wooden barrack at night and required to spend nearly every waking hour digging and loading coal. His required daily "task" was to remove eight tons of coal from the mine. Cottenham was subject to the whip for failure to dig the requisite amount, at risk of physical torture for disobedience, and vulnerable to the sexual predations of other miners-- many of whom already had passed years or decades in their own chthonian confinement. The lightless catacombs of black rock, packed with hundreds of desperate men slick with sweat and coated in pulverized coal, must have exceeded any vision of hell a boy born in the countryside of Alabama--even a child of slaves--could have ever imagined.

Waves of disease ripped through the population. In the month before Cottenham arrived at the prison mine, pneumonia and tuberculosis sickened dozens. Within his first four weeks, six died. Before the year was over, almost sixty men forced into Slope 12 were dead of disease, accidents, or homicide.

Most of the broken bodies, along with hundreds of others before and after, were dumped into shallow graves scattered among the refuse of the mine.

Others were incinerated in nearby ovens used to blast millions of tons of coal brought to the surface into coke--the carbon-rich fuel essential to U.S.

This Article Continues Here

Can Obama Pull The Jewish Vote?

2008-06-11T15:18:00.000-07:00

Will it be possible for Barack Obama to
pull the Jewish vote and at the same
time not upset the Muslims? Check out
the article below and you decide.

Barack Obama certainly has work to do in bringing Jews, a bedrock Democratic constituency, over to his side before November. In Pennsylvania, the last primary state with a good-sized Jewish population--they accounted for one in twelve Democratic voters there--Obama lost Jews to Hillary Clinton 62-percent to 38-percent. It's a vulnerability Obama has long recognized. He's made a habit of meeting with Jewish activists to address their concerns, rooted largely in his stated support for talking to Iran, past sympathetic statements toward the Palestinians, and the fact that he's not Hillary Clinton, who has neither of those first two problems.

Now, Obama has given an interview to The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg to talk Jews and Israel. The second half of the interview captures Obama's Israel/Middle East positions, and has the Illinois senator challenging some of the Jewish state's policies even while attempting to establish credibility as a reliable backer. What God-o-Meter finds more intriguing, however, is the first half, in which Obama speaks cogently and in detail about what the Jews and Israel mean to him as a person:

[W]hen I think about the Zionist idea, I think about how my feelings about Israel were shaped as a young man -- as a child, in fact. I had a camp counselor when I was in sixth grade who was Jewish-American but who had spent time in Israel, and during the course of this two-week camp he shared with me the idea of returning to a homeland and what that meant for people who had suffered from the Holocaust, and he talked about the idea of preserving a culture when a people had been uprooted with the view of eventually returning home. There was something so powerful and compelling for me, maybe because I was a kid who never entirely felt like he was rooted. That was part of my upbringing, to be traveling and always having a sense of values and culture but wanting a place. So that is my first memory of thinking about Israel.

And then that mixed with a great affinity for the idea of social justice that was embodied in the early Zionist movement and the kibbutz, and the notion that not only do you find a place but you also have this opportunity to start over and to repair the breaches of the past. I found this very appealing.

This Article Continues Here

Koran Gets No Respect

2008-05-19T12:43:00.000-07:00

With nothing better to do with his time
a U.S. soldier decides to take target practice
at the Koran. This type of action is not acceptable
wither or not you agree or disagree with it's teachings.
one should not go around disrespecting another's
religion.

U.S. commanders moved swiftly to avert a crisis after a soldier deployed in Baghdad was found to have used a copy of the Koran for target practice.

The incident had the potential to inflame Muslim opinion against the U.S. military and compromise the delicate alliance it has been forging with Sunni Arab communities against religious extremists.

Local leaders accepted an apology from senior U.S. commanders, and the military said Sunday that the soldier responsible had been disciplined and pulled from Iraq.

Col. Bill Buckner, a U.S. military spokesman, described the incident as "serious and deeply troubling" but emphasized that it was an isolated case.

"This incident is not representative of the professionalism of our soldiers or the respect they have for all faiths," he said in a statement.

Iraqi police found the desecrated copy of the Muslim holy book on May 11 at a small shooting range near a police station in Radwaniya, a mostly Sunni district on Baghdad's western outskirts, Buckner said. The volume was riddled with bullets and had graffiti inside the cover.

Community leaders were outraged and threatened to stop helping the U.S. military fight the Sunni Arab militant group Al Qaeda in Iraq, said Ayad Jabouri, a tribal leader and member of the country's largest Sunni political party. The U.S. command ordered an immediate investigation.

"Commanders have since briefed local leaders on the results of the investigation and expressed their deep regret," Buckner said. "They have also undertaken disciplinary action against the soldier who was involved, and he has been removed from Iraq."

The military did not release the soldier's name or detail how he would be disciplined, saying that the case was still being adjudicated.

A CNN crew was present when Army Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond, the commander of U.S. troops in Baghdad, met Saturday with tribal leaders in Radwaniya to offer an apology before a crowd of angry protesters.

This Article Continues Here

Suge Put To Sleep

2008-05-14T15:59:00.000-07:00

If Suge night is to rebuild his empire then
he must let this incident pass and chalk it
up to a misunderstanding. Sure his ego will
be a little bruised but time will take care of
that. Beside what's more important rebuilding
his company or his ego?

The man who claims to be behind Suge Knight's knockout punch has emerged.

According to TMZ.com, dude is a barbershop owner in Los Angeles who is friends with the man Knight was trying to defend in the now infamous altercation outside of Hollywood's Shag nightclub.

The brawler, who would not give his name, yet is pictured on TMZ, says he was playfully arguing about money with the mutual friend when the former music mogul misunderstood and thought it was serious.

When Suge tried to defend his friend, fisticuffs jumped off and the barber – all of 5'10" and 173 lbs – delivered the punch that knocked 6'3", 315 lb Knight unconscious for a good three minutes, according to the Web site.

View TMZ's photo gallery of the "knockout kid" here.

Meanwhile, the author of a new book about Knight's former Death Row partner, Dr. Dre and West Coast hip hop, fears a war may have been started by the knockout punch.

Bruce Williams

Bruce Williams, whose book "Rollin' With Dre" is in stores now from Ballantine/Random House, said in a statement Monday: "Although it goes against my gut feeling of how he’ll handle this situation, I hope and pray that Suge doesn't do anything stupid and lets this thing go."

This Article Continues Here

The Fires Still Burn In Our Minds

2008-05-12T16:14:00.000-07:00

Below is the story of one cities trials after the
assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. This
story should be read and studied by those
that were not around at the time so they'll
know the frustration that blacks went through
at that time in history.

Forty years ago today, the District was emerging from three days of riots that began after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Hundreds of stores had been looted or burned. Thousands of federal troops were standing by to prevent further disturbances. And residents had witnessed chilling scenes that would remain vivid in their minds for decades.

In April 1968, students and store owners, civil rights activists and politicians, police and firefighters had encountered a wave of rage, pent-up frustration and lawlessness that devastated the commercial strips along Seventh and 14th streets NW and H Street NE.

Trouble began barely an hour after King's death on April 4, a Thursday. When a brick crashed through a window of a Peoples Drug Store at 14th and U, it was the beginning of a frenzy of looting, burning and violence.

Washington's disturbances were a visceral reaction to King's assassination, but they were also a response to racial tensions in a city where blacks were angered by inflated prices at neighborhood stores, real or perceived cases of housing and job discrimination, and incidents of brutality by a predominantly white police force.

During the first 24 hours, police and firefighters struggled to keep pace. Fires had consumed whole blocks by the time the first of 13,000 federal troops arrived Friday afternoon.

This Article Continues Here

Hillary Can't Get Off The Ropes

2008-05-09T12:46:00.000-07:00

This campaign reminds me of the last fight
Muhammad Ali had with Larry Holmes. The
old rope-a-dope didn't work then and it ain't
going to work now. So why doesn't she just
throw in the towel before she does greater
damage to the democratic party?

The flow of Democratic superdelegates to Sen. Barack Obama continued today, and at least two media outlets reported that their tallies show him catching Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in the last significant voting category in which she had claimed superiority.

ABC News put Obama slightly ahead, and the New York Times counted them even. The Associated Press, the tally used by the Los Angeles Times, still gave a slight advantage to Clinton -- with Obama closing quickly.

The five new endorsements include at least one defection. Rep. Donald M. Payne (D-N.J.), an early African American supporter of Clinton, jumped ship this morning, telling the Newark Star-Ledger that he backed Clinton when he thought Obama's campaign was "just a trial balloon."

Among the previously uncommitteds now behind Obama: Ed Espinoza, a Democratic National Committee member from Long Beach, who also urged uncommitted superdelegates to make their declaration by May 26.

"This needs to be over and done with by Memorial Day," Espinoza said.

Evidencing the kind of behind-the-scenes lobbying underway, Espinoza said he backed Obama in part at the urging of New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, for whose presidential campaign he had worked before Richardson dropped out.

Vernon Watkins, a Democratic National Committee member and superdelegate, also shifted to Obama this morning, the Associated Press reported. Rep. Peter A. DeFazio (D-Ore.) announced his support for Obama and was scheduled to campaign with the Illinois senator this morning. The fifth new superdelegate was John Gage, president of the American Federation of Government Employees.

This Article Continues Here

Her Hero Was A Hero!

2008-05-06T12:05:00.000-07:00

Do you remember going somewhere special with
dad or mom and what made it so special was that
it was just you two. None of your other brothers
or sisters competing with you for attention. Well
that special day for Kaniyah Richardson and ended
in tragedy and one she may never forget.

A minister’s son died as he shielded his 4-year-old daughter from an out-of-control car Monday night on the South Side, apparently saving the girl’s life, police and relatives say.

Joseph Richardson, 39, was walking his daughter Kaniyah to a McDonald’s for burgers when a car jumped the curb at 95th Street and Wentworth Avenue, according to police.

Richardson grabbed his daughter just before the car slammed the two into a fence, police and family say.

“He held the baby up to keep the car from destroying the baby, but it totally destroyed him,” his father, the Rev. L.V. Richardson, said this afternoon. “It’s hurt me pretty bad, but the Lord’s going to keep me moving on.”

Richardson was pronounced dead at the scene. Kaniyah was taken to Comer Children's Hospital in serious condition.

Charges are pending against the driver of the car, a 33-year old Chicago man, as police investigate whether alcohol or drugs were involved. Witnesses say the man was driving erratically before the accident.

This Article Continues Here

Rodman Back In the News

2008-05-01T14:03:00.000-07:00

Dennis Rodman is making headlines these days
and it's not all good either.

Former basketball player Dennis Rodman was arrested Wednesday night on suspicion of domestic violence, authorities said today.

Rodman was arrested at 10:15 p.m. in Century City at a hotel in the 2100 block of Avenue of the Stars.

"During the investigation, police learned he had hit a woman and she suffered injuries to her arms," said Richard French, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department.

Rodman was booked at the Van Nuys jail at 2:50 a.m. today. He was released less than two hours later on $50,000 bail.

Steve Simon, one of Rodman's managers, said Rodman has been struggling to cope with a recent divorce. Simon said his client has not been able to see his children.

"He's been really heartbroken about it, and it hasn't been a great time for him," said Simon, who was reached at the offices of the Prince Marketing Group.

Simon said that alcohol was involved in the altercation, which left the woman with a bruise. Rodman has sought help for substance abuse problems in the past.

"The legal process will sort itself out," Simon said. "I'm kind of waiting for the facts to unfold because it's really uncharacteristic for him."

Rodman played on five NBA championship teams, first with the Detroit Pistons and later with the Chicago Bulls. On the court he was known for his defensive prowess, twice earning NBA defensive player of the year honors.

Off the court Rodman earned a reputation for his flamboyant personal life, making headlines for cross-dressing, ever-changing hairstyles, body piercings and tattoos. There was also his quickie, and short-lived, Las Vegas wedding to actress Carmen Electra.

This Article Continues Here

Got Felony?

2008-04-22T12:12:00.000-07:00

Want to join the military but that felony conviction
for having that small amount of cocaine is standing
in the way? Well just march on down to your local
recruiter. Seems that the armed forces are in a
pinch and Uncle Sam still needs you. I think the idea
of allowing felons join is good if they only have one
non-violent felony. This may give a person a chance
to straighten out their life. What's up?

Under pressure to meet combat needs, the Army and Marine Corps brought in significantly more recruits with felony convictions last year than in 2006, including some with manslaughter and sex-crime convictions.

Data released by a congressional committee shows the number of soldiers admitted to the Army with felony records jumped from 249 in 2006 to 511 in 2007. And the number of Marines with felonies rose from 208 to 350.

Those numbers represent a fraction of the more than 180,000 recruits brought in by the active-duty Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines during the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2007. But they highlight a trend that has raised concerns within the military and on Capitol Hill.

The bulk of the crimes involved were burglaries, other thefts, and drug offenses, but nine involved sex crimes and six involved manslaughter or vehicular homicide convictions. Several dozen Army and Marine recruits had aggravated assault or robbery convictions, including incidents involving weapons.

Both the Army and Marine Corps have been struggling to increase their numbers to meet the combat needs of a military fighting wars on two fronts. As a result, the number of recruits needing waivers for crimes or other bad conduct has grown, as has the number of those needing medical or aptitude waivers.

This Article Continues Here

Blacks Take Boston!

2008-04-21T11:18:00.000-07:00

A Kenyan and Ethiopian won the Boston Marathon further
proving that Hitler was a long way from creating super
human white race. (Laugh) But all jokes aside, congratulations
to Robert Cheruiyot and Dire Tune!

Robert Cheruiyot won his fourth Boston Marathon today, and Dire Tune out-kicked Alevtina Biktimirova by two seconds in the closest finish in the history of the women's race.

Cheruiyot ran away from the pack to finish in a blistering 2 hours 7 minutes 46 seconds. He missed the course record he set two years ago by 32 seconds, but became the fourth four-time winner of the world's oldest annual marathon.

Cheruiyot and Tune, who finished in 2:25:25, each earned an enhanced prize of $150,000 -- the biggest in major marathon history.

Abderrahine Bouramdane was 1:18 behind Cheruiyot and Khalid El Boumlili came in third, another 1:31 back. Nicholas Arciniaga of Fountain Valley was 10th, giving the Americans a top-10 finish for the fourth straight year.

This Article Continues Here

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With his third straight victory, Cheruiyot gave Kenya its 15th men's victory in 17 years. Tune was the first Ethiopian woman to win since Fatuma Roba won three straight from 1997-99.

Cheruiyot pulled away from a pack of four at the base of the Newton Hills, running the 19th mile in 4:37 to finish Heartbreak Hill 27 seconds ahead of his Moroccan pursuer. He passed defending women's champion Lidiya Grigoryeva, with the two No. 1 bibs running side-by-side, just before the 24-mile mark.

Cheruiyot remained on a record pace as he approached Kenmore Square before slowing over the last mile.

Tune and Biktimirova came into Kenmore Square side-by-side, jockeying for position. Biktimirova appeared to get an edge when Tune nearly missed one of the final turns and ran into a camera vehicle. The Ethiopian quickly composed herself and took the lead before the last turn.

Biktimirova caught her and regained the lead briefly, but Tune pulled ahead for the good in the last 100 yards on Boylston Street to beat her to the line.

Bitter Big Town Californian's Too!

2008-04-17T15:13:00.000-07:00

Small town Pennsylvanians are not the only
ones that are bitter. Bitterness is also rampant
in large towns. Things in small town Pennsylvania
have been bad for a very long time so Obama once
again is just merely setting things straight.

The Democratic candidates for president debated forcefully Wednesday over who would prove more electable in November, with Hillary Rodham Clinton repeatedly raising questions about Barack Obama's past associations and Obama contending that her approach typified the blowtorch political style that Americans decry.

Obama, the Illinois senator, was thrown on the defensive for the first half of the nearly two-hour debate. The moderators, ABC News anchors Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos, pressed him on his recent comments about "bitter" small-town Pennsylvanians; his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.; his acquaintance with a long-ago member of the Weather Underground group; and the absence of an American flag in his lapel -- though no one else on stage wore one.

Clinton criticized Obama as well. She defended those who she said were "taken aback and offended" by Obama's remarks at a recent San Francisco fundraiser that voters upset by economic downturns "get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment."

The New York senator repeatedly zeroed in on Wright and -- after Stephanopoulos opened the issue -- Obama's relationship with fellow Chicagoan William Ayers, the 1960s radical who is now an education professor at the University of Illinois. She noted that Obama and Ayers were at one point on the same philanthropic board.

"I think it is, again, an issue that people will be asking about," said Clinton, who repeatedly characterized herself as thoroughly vetted during her husband's administration.

Adopting a more-in-sorrow-than-anger mien, she added: "I know Sen. Obama's a good man, and I respect him greatly, but I think that this is an issue that certainly the Republicans will be raising. And it goes to this larger set of concerns about, you know, how we are going to run against John McCain," the unofficial GOP nominee.

This Article Continues Here

Tom's Letter

2008-04-14T11:34:00.000-07:00

This didn't have to happen like this but it did. I
said it before and I'm saying it again, we black
folks have to stop criticizing one another because
we don't agree. Just because we now have a black
man that has a chance to go all the way to the
White House doesn't mean he has a bullet proof
vest against other black folks scrutinizing him.
Barack Obama has to be and should be looked
at from every angle possible!

"Well, you did it. This isn’t the way you wanted it to happen, but it happened anyway. Just like I knew it would," begins an open letter from veteran radio personality Tom Joyner to Tavis Smiley.

It's the latest in ongoing drama that followed Joyner's announcement Friday that Smiley will end his twice-a-week commentaries on the syndicated morning show.

When the news broke, folks speculated that he couldn't handle the backlash he's been getting from blacks over his criticism of Barack Obama. Although Smiley released a statement saying he was leaving to focus on future projects under his company, The Smiley Group, Inc., Joyner isn't buying it.

"We all know that isn’t the real reason he’s leaving the show," Joyner writes in the open letter, posted on the radio industry blog Urbansite.com. "The real reason is that he can’t take the hate he’s been getting regarding the Barack issue — hate from the black people that he loves so much. He needed to feel the love. We all do, whether it’s from our radio audience or from people we know personally. He wasn’t feeling any love, so he quit."

As previously reported, Smiley sent a letter to EUR and other media outlets stating that he did not “quit” the Tom Joyner Morning Show effective immediately.

"In July I will celebrate my 12th anniversary with the show, and as I discussed with Tom, it is my intention to take on the issues of the day in my commentary twice every week with the same energy, passion and commitment until the end of June," Smiley wrote.

This Article Continues Here

A Day In The Life

2008-04-11T11:32:00.000-07:00

One of my most favorite sayings comes from
the Simpson's convenient store owner. "In
every life a little rain must fall." I'm sure that
Oprah expected some kind of a fallout when
she made her political stance. So I'm sure she'll
bounce back in due time. What do you have to
say?

Costas Panagopoulos, an assistant professor of political science at New York's Fordham University, suggests that Oprah Winfrey's popularity has diminished in recent months due to her public support for Barack Obama.

Writing at Politico.com, he calls into evidence an August 2007 CBS poll that found her favorable rating had dropped from 74% to 61%.

Also, 10 days after the media firestorm over Obama's tie to Rev. Jeremiah Wright's Trinity United Church of Christ, which Oprah has attended, the TV host's favorable rating had dropped further to 55% and her unfavorable ratings for the first time climbed to 1 in 3.

A December ABC/Washington Post poll of Democrats found 8% were persuaded by Winfrey's Obama endorsement, 82% said it wouldn't matter either way and 10% said her recommendation had turned them off Obama.

Panagopoulos also points to an AOL TV popularity survey of 1.35 million Americans that found 46% said the daytime TV host who "made their day" was Ellen DeGeneres while only 19% chose Winfrey. Forty-seven percent said they'd like to have dinner with Ellen, while only 14% chose Oprah.

This Article Continues Here

A Black Man's Touch!

2008-04-10T11:52:00.000-07:00

It looks as if what the middle east really needs
is someone that both sides can trust and that
someone is Barack Obama. Check out the article
below and let us know your thoughts.

It was a celebration of Palestinian culture -- a night of music, dancing and a dash of politics. Local Arab Americans were bidding farewell to Rashid Khalidi, an internationally known scholar, critic of Israel and advocate for Palestinian rights, who was leaving town for a job in New York.

A special tribute came from Khalidi's friend and frequent dinner companion, the young state Sen. Barack Obama. Speaking to the crowd, Obama reminisced about meals prepared by Khalidi's wife, Mona, and conversations that had challenged his thinking.

His many talks with the Khalidis, Obama said, had been "consistent reminders to me of my own blind spots and my own biases. . . . It's for that reason that I'm hoping that, for many years to come, we continue that conversation -- a conversation that is necessary not just around Mona and Rashid's dinner table," but around "this entire world."

Today, five years later, Obama is a U.S. senator from Illinois who expresses a firmly pro-Israel view of Middle East politics, pleasing many of the Jewish leaders and advocates for Israel whom he is courting in his presidential campaign. The dinner conversations he had envisioned with his Palestinian American friend have ended. He and Khalidi have seen each other only fleetingly in recent years.

And yet the warm embrace Obama gave to Khalidi, and words like those at the professor's going-away party, have left some Palestinian American leaders believing that Obama is more receptive to their viewpoint than he is willing to say.

Their belief is not drawn from Obama's speeches or campaign literature, but from comments that some say Obama made in private and from his association with the Palestinian American community in his hometown of Chicago, including his presence at events where anger at Israeli and U.S. Middle East policy was freely expressed.

At Khalidi's 2003 farewell party, for example, a young Palestinian American recited a poem accusing the Israeli government of terrorism in its treatment of Palestinians and sharply criticizing U.S. support of Israel. If Palestinians cannot secure their own land, she said, "then you will never see a day of peace."

This Article Continues Here

Getting Even

2008-04-02T15:39:00.000-07:00

Looks as if a group of 3rd graders decided they
were going to get even with their teacher. After
reading the article below you'll see just how
resourceful theses youths were.

A group of children ages 8 to 10 apparently were mad at their teacher because she had scolded one of them for standing on a chair, authorities say.

That led the third-graders, as many as nine boys and girls, to plot an attack on the teacher at Center Elementary School in south Georgia.

Police Chief Tony Tanner said the students apparently planned to knock the teacher unconscious with a glass paperweight, bind her with handcuffs and duct tape and then stab her with a broken steak knife.

The scheme involved a division of roles, Tanner said. One child's job was to cover windows so no one could see outside, and another was supposed to clean up after the attack.

"We're not sure at this point in the investigation how many of the students actually knew the intent was to hurt the teacher," Tanner said.

School officials had alerted police Friday after a pupil tipped off a teacher that a girl had taken a weapon to school.

Tanner said the teacher told detectives the children weren't known as troublemakers.

"You can't dismiss it," Tanner said. "But because they are kids, they may have thought this was like a cartoon -- we do whatever and then she stands up and she's OK. That's a hard call."

The purported target teaches third-grade students with learning disabilities, including attention deficit disorder, delayed development and hyperactivity, friends and parents said.

Two of the students were arrested on juvenile charges Tuesday and a third arrest was expected. District Attorney Rick Currie said other students told investigators they didn't take the plot seriously or insisted they had decided not to participate.

"Some of the kids said, 'We thought they were just kidding,"' Currie said. "Another child was supposed to bring a toy pistol, and he told a detective he didn't bring it because he thought he would get in trouble."

This Article Continues Here

Tupac Story Fabricated?

2008-03-26T13:13:00.000-07:00

Opps, looks as if the L.A. Times has made a boo-boo.
Now why didn't they check the facts first. This is an
uncalled for mistake by a major publication such as
the LA Times. What do you think?

Los Angeles Times Editor Russ Stanton said today he will launch an internal investigation into the authenticity of documents used in a story last week asserting that the newspaper had uncovered new evidence implicating associates of rap impresario Sean "Diddy" Combs in a bloody 1994 assault on hip-hop superstar Tupac Shakur.

Stanton ordered the review after the editor of the celebrity-centric website, The Smoking Gun, told the newspaper that he had reason to doubt The Times' account and in particular the FBI records that were supposed to buttress the story.

The website this morning posted a story saying the records -- purportedly statements by an unnamed informant to an FBI agent, which the newspaper posted on its website -- appeared to be forgeries. The Smoking Gun ( www.thesmokinggun.com ) said the documents seemed suspicious for multiple reasons, including the fact that they appeared to be written on a typewriter, rather than a computer, and included blacked-out sections not typically found in such documents.

This Article Continues Here

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As Detroit Turns

2008-03-25T11:09:00.001-07:00

The case against Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his
former chief of staff may end up with better ratings
than any soap opera on television. Check out latest
segment below. Things can only get better or worse
depending on how one looks at.

The civic soap opera engulfing Detroit Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick took a new plot twist Monday when a county prosecutor charged the onetime rising political star with obstruction of justice, perjury and misconduct in office, all related to a romantic relationship with his former chief of staff.

Facing political catastrophe and a long prison term, Kilpatrick defiantly vowed to fight the civil felony charges, which grew out of an $8.4-million settlement of a lawsuit against him by police officials and the leaking of steamy romantic text messages between the mayor and longtime aide Christine Beatty.

Kilpatrick and Beatty surrendered to authorities separately Monday. Kilpatrick was expected to face arraignment in a Detroit courtroom today.

In a brief news conference, Kilpatrick dismissed the case against him as "a very flawed process from the beginning." But the seriousness of the charges is daunting. He faces a lengthy prison term if convicted of the eight felony counts against him. Each of the four counts of perjury against him carries a maximum 15-year sentence. He faces five years each on two charges of misconduct in office and two charges of obstruction of justice.

The charges against Kilpatrick are the latest developments to derail the meteoric rise of a youthful political figure who had gained fame as "the hip-hop mayor," both for his election, at age 31, and his penchant for the high life. Kilpatrick has been dogged by allegations of a party at the mayor's mansion that featured appearances by strippers and recent revelations about his affair with Beatty.

Wayne County prosecutor Kym Worthy accused the mayor of lying under oath during a "public whistle-blower" trial last fall and trying to obstruct justice by attempting to hide his extramarital relationship with Beatty, who was charged with seven felony counts.

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Richard Williams Acusses WTA

2008-03-24T14:34:00.001-07:00

The father of tennis greats Venus and Serena Williams
recently accused the Womens Tennis Association of
racism and the head of WTA Larry Scott isn't taking
it laying down.

Women's Tennis Association head Larry Scott is denying recent claims made by Richard Williams, father of Serena and Venus, regarding racism on the women's tour.

While his daughters were playing earlier this month in Bangladore, India, where Venus reached the quarterfinals and Serena won the title, Williams told the Deccan Herald: "Well, I'm black and I'm prejudiced, very prejudiced. People are prejudiced in tennis. I don't think Venus or Serena was ever accepted by tennis. They never will be."

Scott, who strongly disagrees with Williams' comments, said in a statement: "The Tour has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to racism, and I have previously let Mr. Williams know that he should let me know if he ever had evidence of racist comments or acts in women's professional tennis."

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2008-03-24T14:34:00.000-07:00

*Women's Tennis Association head Larry Scott is denying recent claims made by Richard Williams, father of Serena and Venus, regarding racism on the women's tour.

Justice-A Long Time Comming!

2008-03-21T14:31:00.000-07:00

That old adage "The wheels of justice turn slow" is
very much true and after twenty-five years in
prison, Willie Green is a freed man. Congratulations!

Willie Earl Green looked dazed. He walked slowly.

Before him were streets he could stroll freely for the first time since he was young. Behind him were the last of the lockups that had caged him since 1983, for a murder he insists he did not commit.

"It's like I'm in a dream," said Green, 56, moments after he stepped into the sunlight outside the downtown Criminal Courts Building, where a judge ordered him released Thursday. The witness whose testimony had sent Green away for 33 years to life recanted, and prosecutors decided not to retry him.

Now, after a quarter-century behind bars, there were all these wonders for Green to behold: cellphones, remote car locks, a hug from his wife that would not be cut short by a prison guard. He sobbed as they embraced at the Kyoto Grand Hotel, around the corner from the courthouse, his first stop on the way to their Chowchilla, Calif., home. "It's all right, baby," his wife, Mary, said. "Everything's all right. . . . It's time to start living."

Her husband said he half-expected a guard to tap him on the shoulder, the routine at San Quentin State Prison. "That's what I'm waiting for," he said, "for them to come and tell me now, 'One hug, one kiss, you're over.' "

There was another person to hug Thursday -- Susan Breyer, the forewoman of the jury that found him guilty. "I'm thrilled," said Breyer, who had come to believe in Green's innocence. "I, they, took 24 years of his life."

And Green remarked on all the hugs he could have given -- to his father before he died in 1999, and to Mary before she underwent surgery for breast cancer last year. "I never asked for mercy," Green said. "I only asked for justice. . . . They can't hurt me no more. I'm free."

It was a day of firsts for Green. He drank his first cup of Starbucks coffee. He took it with cream and sugar -- two treats forbidden in state prison. His wife told Green that she would teach him to use her newfangled coffee maker and washing machine when they got home.

This Article Continues Here

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We Must Not Be Divided This Time!

2008-03-19T20:36:00.000-07:00

His opponents have tried to use the trickery that
has worked on use beautifully for over 200 years.
Well they've got to find something different now.
Instead of Obama distancing himself from his much
beloved pastor because of his fiery comments, the
democratic presidential candidate simply explained
that the comments from the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.
were the feelings that most African Americans are
feeling and now we should find ways of solving this
pent up racial anger together. For much too long black
folks have been told to be patient, we'll work something
out, and for much too long we've been saying "yeah-sa."

From the earliest days of his career, Barack Obama has sought to assure black voters that a political leader of mixed race, coming from the outpost of Hawaii, could understand the resentments of an African American community shaped by slavery and segregation.

On Tuesday, Obama tried to explain that anger to voters who have been repelled by racially incendiary comments from his longtime pastor.

In a speech widely seen as his most important to date, Obama again denounced the comments by the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., which have played continuously on television news shows and threatened to undermine Obama's campaign theme of uniting a fractured America. At the same time, the Democratic presidential candidate asked voters to understand the frustrations and anger that gave rise to the preacher's condemnation of America as racist and brutal -- "the U.S. of K.K.K.A."

"That anger is not always productive. . . . But the anger is real; it is powerful," Obama said. "And to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races."

While asking all Americans to sympathize with blacks, Obama said he understood the anger that some whites feel over affirmative action or "when they're told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced."

"It's a racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years. . . . But I have asserted a firm conviction -- a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people -- that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds," he said.

A rare perspective

Speaking at a museum dedicated to the U.S. Constitution, Obama in effect offered his candidacy as the next chapter in a story of racial tension and reconciliation that has unfolded since the country's founding. The son of a Kenyan father and a white mother with Kansas roots, he spoke in sweeping terms about his unusual perspective on race, and more than ever elevated it as essential to his White House campaign.

It was a speech that seemed unlikely to come from a politician viewed as simply white or black. Obama rejected the most controversial of Wright's comments, while saying he could never renounce the man who had helped introduce the senator to Christianity, officiated at his wedding and baptized his children.

"I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community," Obama said. "I can no more disown him than I can disown my white grandmother -- a woman who helped raise me . . . but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe."

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Death Row inmate Get the Thumbs Down!

2008-03-18T14:15:00.000-07:00

Troy Anthony Davis should have been granted a
new trial in his murder case but the Georgia State Supreme
said no way even though most of the witnesses recanted
their story. Check out the article below and see if you
agree with the courts decision.

The Georgia Supreme Court on Monday turned down a death row inmate's request for a new trial, even though most of the key witnesses in the case have recanted or contradicted their earlier testimony.

Troy Anthony Davis, 39, was convicted of killing a Savannah police officer after a 1991 trial based entirely on witnesses' accounts. Seven of the nine who implicated Davis have since changed their story in sworn affidavits, with several claiming they were pressured by police in their earlier statements.

In a 4-3 decision, the court ruled that the recantation testimony suffered from a "general lack of credibility." Justice Harold D. Melton, writing for the majority, said many of the witnesses who had "allegedly recanted have merely stated that they do not feel able to identify the shooter."

"We simply cannot disregard the jury's verdict in this case," Melton wrote.

In a strongly worded dissent, Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears wrote that the majority opinion was "overly rigid." Disregarding all recantation testimony, even when it offered a convincing argument that prior testimony was false, "simply defies all logic and morality," she wrote.

"In this case," Sears noted, "nearly every witness who identified Davis as the shooter at trial has now disclaimed his or her ability to do so reliably."

Davis has been on death row since 1991, when he was convicted of killing Mark Allen MacPhail, 27, an off-duty Savannah police officer working as a security guard. MacPhail was shot to death in a parking lot after rushing to help a homeless man who had been assaulted outside a bus station. With no murder weapon, prosecutors relied on witnesses to convict Davis.

Yet the case against Davis, defense attorneys say, has unraveled as the seven witnesses changed their testimony. One of the two remaining witnesses against Davis, they point out, is himself a suspect who has been incriminated by new witnesses.

This Article Continues Here

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Preemtive Strike?

2008-03-17T16:07:00.000-07:00

Planned Parenthood, Hmmm, I believe this organization
came out of one of those Washington D.C. think tanks.
White folks have known for a very long time that one
day they would become the minority and they have
succeeded to some degree in slowing down the birth rate
of African Americans. Now what do they do about the
Latino's?

Is Planned Parenthood a racist organization with a covert mission to control black births? Well if you believe a UCLA right-to-life student newspaper called The Advocate and other reports, it would be hard to argue against that allegation.

Last Wednesday, in Idaho, Planned Parenthood officials apologized Wednesday for what they called an employee's "serious mistake" in encouraging a donation aimed at aborting black babies, reports the Idaho Statesman.

The organization also lashed out at The Advocate for trying to discredit employees in seven states in a series of tape-recorded phone calls last summer.

In Idaho, last July, The Adcocate's call went to Autumn Kersey, vice president of development and marketing for Planned Parenthood of Idaho. A recording provided by The Advocate has an actor portraying a donor saying that he wanted his money used to eliminate unborn black children because "the less black kids out there the better."

Laughing nervously, Kersey responds: "Understandable, understandable. ... Excuse my hesitation, this is the first time I've had a donor call and make this kind of request, so I'm excited and want to make sure I don't leave anything out."

The Advocate says this is evidence that Planned Parenthood targets minorities and minority neighborhoods.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, according to The Statesman, Planned Parenthood of Idaho "firmly and unequivocally" denounced racial bias, admitted making a mistake and said the group had taken corrective action.

"A fundraising employee violated the organization's principles and practices when she appeared to be willing to accept a racially motivated donation," said CEO Rebecca Poedy in a written statement. "We apologize for the manner in which this offensive call was handled. We take full responsibility for the actions of the fundraising staff member who created the impression that racism of any form would be tolerated at Planned Parenthood. We took swift action to ensure that each of our employees understands their responsibility to communicate clearly with donors about the fact that we believe in helping all individuals, regardless of gender, race, or sexual orientation, make informed decisions about their reproductive health care."

Where They Stand

2008-03-14T14:11:00.000-07:00

The weekend is here so let's take a moment
to see where the two democratic presidential
candidates are. The article below is quite
interesting. Take a look at it and let us know
what you think.

It's not exactly halftime. Most states have voted, and more than 80% of the delegates have been divvied up. Still, with more than five weeks left until the April 22 primary in Pennsylvania, the Democratic presidential race has entered a lull of sorts. So now seems a good time to pause and take a look at the scoreboard:

* Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois has won 29 contests to 17 for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, if you include her disputed Michigan and Florida victories.

* Obama leads in the popular vote by just under 700,000 votes: 13.4 million for Obama, 12.7 million for Clinton. His lead holds up even if Michigan and Florida's votes are included.

* The delegate count varies, depending on who is doing the tallying, but news organizations and other independent aggregators give Obama a lead of about 100 to 150 delegates. (The Associated Press, which The Times uses for its head count, has Obama ahead 1,602 to 1,497.)

The Clinton campaign is quick to point out that her victories include most of the largest states, including California, Ohio and Texas. Which brings us to Pennsylvania.

Clinton may be trailing in the popular vote and delegate count, but her campaign has whipped Obama when it comes to setting expectations and spinning results. (Rule of thumb: The states Clinton has won are important; the ones that Obama has won aren't.)

Another Knife In The Back!

2008-03-12T15:07:00.000-07:00

Well it looks as if O.J. has been knifed in the back
once more by one of his buddies. I won't give it
away, instead I'll let you check out the article below
and you let me know what you think.

The Web site Smoking Gun is reporting that gossip site TMZ.com paid $165,000 to a witness in the O.J. Simpson armed robbery case for a copy of an audiotape he secretly made during the incident in a Las Vegas hotel room.

TMZ.com reportedly made the transaction last September, within days of the violent encounter between Simpson, his posse and two businessmen Alfred Beardsley and Bruce Fromong.

Smoking Gun reports: Riccio, who orchestrated the Palace Station meeting, used a digital recorder to memorialize the confrontation, and then immediately contacted TMZ to negotiate a sale of the audio evidence. While he initially sought $2 million, Riccio settled for the six-figure payout, which is still likely the largest sum paid by a gossip site for a story.

In its original report about the tape, TMZ stated that it had "obtained" the recordings, avoiding any mention that their procurement was secured by a $165,000 check delivered to Riccio's Los Angeles home.

A Party Divided?

2008-03-06T16:29:00.001-08:00

The political fight between Obama and Clinton could
possibly split the democratic party. But no matter who
wins we the people of color must stand behind the winner
or face more republican tyranny.

Leading Democrats scrambled Wednesday to prevent the closest, most riveting presidential contest in decades from tearing the party apart, as the odds rose that neither Hillary Rodham Clinton nor Barack Obama could clinch the nomination without angering large blocs of voters.

Anxiety within the party swelled after Clinton's victories Tuesday staved off elimination and gave her fresh momentum, yet did little to eat into Obama's lead among delegates -- the people who will formally pick the nominee at the Democratic National Convention in August.

Clinton trails Obama by 105 delegates after netting about a dozen more than he did Tuesday, Associated Press totals show. To make up the gap, the Clinton campaign has pushed to seat delegates from Michigan and Florida -- two states sidelined for violating party rules. Obama did not campaign in either state, though an ad of his aired in Florida. He was not on the ballot in Michigan.

The Michigan Democratic Party said it was in negotiations with its counterpart in Florida, with the Clinton and Obama campaigns, and with the national party over the seating of delegates from the two states.

Democratic members of the Florida and Michigan congressional delegations met on Capitol Hill on Wednesday evening to discuss how to proceed, amid concerns that constituencies such as black voters could be alienated if a solution wasn't reached.

Rep. Kendrick B. Meek (D-Fla.), before heading into the session, said: "Every day that goes by, the harder this process is going to get as it relates to Florida and Michigan. . . . That's one of the reasons we're meeting."

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) is drafting a letter to Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean asking him to seat the Florida delegates or to open the party's coffers to pay for another election.

This Article Continues Here

Get your copy of the award winning King:
"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/

Racial Conflict Returns To Harbor Gateway

2008-03-05T12:50:00.000-08:00

Once again racial conflict has flared up in the Harbor
Gateway area and now a second black youth has been
shot. A little over a year ago a 14 year-old girl's life
was taken as she chatted with friends. Fortunately
the racial conflict has remained in one area of the
county but if such unprovoked attacks continue then
it is sure to spread. What's your opinion?

A 6-year-old black boy was critically wounded Tuesday when he was shot in the head by suspected Latino gang members as the victim's family drove through the Harbor Gateway neighborhood on their way to an auto auction, Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton said.

Two Latino males flashed gang signs before opening fire on the red GMC Yukon with six people inside, including a woman who is eight months pregnant, Bratton said. The rear window of the SUV was shattered by the gunfire, and one of the rounds hit the boy in the head, he said.
The victim was rushed by paramedics to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center after the shooting, which occurred about 12:40 p.m. on 227th Street between Halldale and Denker avenues, police said. The boy was listed in critical condition.

The shooting caps several weeks of violent incidents believed to involve gangs around Los Angeles County that have sparked both fear and anger in some neighborhoods. Earlier this week, a Los Angeles High School football player was gunned down in what authorities described as an unprovoked attack by gang members. Last week, a gang member opened fire at a bus stop in South Los Angeles, wounding eight people, including five children. Before that, a gun battle between LAPD officers and gang members outside a Glassell Park school caused much of the community to be locked down for hours.

Some -- but not all -- of the incidents involved violence between blacks and Latinos.

As of Saturday night there had been 67 homicides reported in the city since Jan. 1, compared with 54 for the same period last year, an increase of 24%, according to the LAPD. But violent crime in general continues a downward trend, with 5.1% fewer incidents reported so far this year.

Police said the family of the victim in Tuesday's shooting was not from the Harbor Gateway neighborhood, which is known for racial tensions between Latino gangs and black residents. Other passengers inside the vehicle were a man and a woman and two other children, ages 3 and 1 1/2 .

There were no other reported injuries, police said.

This Article Continues Here

Get your copy of the award winning King:
"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/

Another Cali First!

2008-02-28T13:18:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Karen Bass who has now become
the first African American women to hold the position
of speaker of the house for the California Assembly.
Oh yes, the strides we are achieving in politics.

California lawmakers elected Democrat Karen Bass as the next Assembly speaker on Thursday, making her the first black woman to hold the powerful position.

"This is an amazing, amazing moment," Bass, 54, of Los Angeles, said after the voice vote. "Thank you so much for your vote of faith and confidence in me as your next speaker."

Bass was elected to the 80-member chamber in 2004 and is known for writing legislation on child welfare and social justice issues.

She will work alongside Speaker Fabian Nunez, also a Los Angeles Democrat, before making the full transition into the role later this year.

This Article Continues Here

Get your copy of the award winning King:
"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/

Ultimate Appeal-Crossing Over!

2008-02-24T18:40:00.000-08:00

Musicians, actors,entertainers and anyone seeking
the attention of public appeal want it desperately
and that also includes politicians-CROSSING OVER!
When a person in the public eye is blessed with this
kind of persona then there is no limit to what they
can achieve. Obama is the second African American
in the political arena to achieve this status. So who
was the first you ask? Dr. Martin Luther King Jr!
Let's just hope things turn out for the better. We'll
be waiting to hear your thoughts on the article below.

Chatter bounces off the bare walls and checkered linoleum floor as Josh Pedaline and other Barack Obama supporters burn through their call sheets.

A map of Delaware County splays across a tabletop. Another is laden with cookies, pretzels and other snacks. Volunteers seated elbow-to-elbow peck at cell phones and pitch the Democratic Illinois senator in advance of Ohio's March 4 primary.

The scene is a typical campaign boiler room, except that four of the 13 dialing away are lifelong Republicans, including Pedaline, who reveres former President Reagan and twice voted for President Bush.

"I am so sick and tired of the partisanship," Pedaline says before the start of his shift at the Obama outpost in this affluent suburb north of Columbus. "I don't want to be cheesy and say, 'He'll bring us all together.' But he seems like someone willing to listen to a good idea, even if it comes from a Republican."

Pedaline and other GOP renegades are part of a striking phenomenon this campaign season: They are "Obamacans," as the senator calls them, and they are surfacing in surprising numbers, blurring the red-blue lines that color the nation's politics.

"I'm a conservative, but I have gay friends," Pedaline, 28, says over dinner at a Columbus diner. "I have friends who don't believe in abortion, but I don't condemn them for it. I don't feel like Obama is condemning me for being a Republican."

Pedaline has some high-profile company. Susan Eisenhower, a GOP business consultant and granddaughter of former President Eisenhower, has endorsed the Democratic hopeful. Colin L. Powell, who served in both Bush administrations, has hinted he may do so as well.

Former Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, who quit the Republican Party after losing his reelection bid, endorsed Obama even though he campaigned for Chafee's opponent last year. Mark McKinnon, a strategist for presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, says he will continue to back the Arizona senator, but will step aside rather than work against Obama if the two meet in the fall election.

McCain also enjoys crossover support, Democrats attracted by his blunt talk and willingness to break with Republicans on such issues as campaign finance and global warming. "We know the old Reagan Democrats," McCain said aboard his campaign charter. "We'll try to get those on our side as well, Democrats who think that I'm more capable, particularly on national security issues."

This Article Continues Here

Get your copy of the award winning King:
"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/

Loose Lips?

2008-02-21T12:28:00.000-08:00

Now that Barack Obama has gone further than
any other African American candidate to capture
the presidential nomination of a political party his
wife Michelle must now gage her words and comments
carefully. Loose lips have sunk many ships! After
reading the article below let us know your thoughts
on what Michelle Obama must be aware of.

It is one of Barack Obama's most reliable laugh lines. At the close of his stump speech, he often says, "I am reminded by every day of my life -- if not by events, then by my wife -- that I am not a perfect man."

These days, after catching grief for calling her husband "snore-y and stinky" and speaking about his bad habits in the manner of a loving but exasperated wife, Michelle Obama only sings his praises.

"You go, 'OK, I've got to be careful not to be the story,' " she said during an interview recently aboard her campaign bus. "Because it becomes a distraction to the broader issues."

Unwittingly, Michelle Obama became the story again this week, telling an audience in Wisconsin on Monday that "for the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country."

It may have been nothing more than a little hyperbole in a season that has seen plenty. But as the race for the Democratic presidential nomination has narrowed to Obama and New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the spotlight is shining much brighter now on Michelle Obama, a 44-year-old hospital administrator.

While Clinton's husband, the former president, has been in hot water regularly for his verbal jabs at Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, whose tongue can be as barbed as Bill Clinton's, has received less scrutiny. With her husband's increasing success, that has changed. And with so much at stake, even minor gaffes are being blown into full-fledged campaign issues.

On Wednesday, according to the Associated Press, she clarified her Monday remarks in an interview with a Rhode Island TV station. "What I was clearly talking about was that I'm proud in how Americans are engaging in the political process," she said. "For the first time in my lifetime, I'm seeing people rolling up their sleeves in a way that I haven't seen and really trying to figure this out -- and that's the source of pride that I was talking about."

This Article Continues Here

Get your copy of the award winning King:
"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/

Gamble And Huff Resurface!

2008-02-18T10:23:00.000-08:00

They're back! The dynamic duo that brought you such
hits as Back Stabber, The Love I Lost and so many
other great hits Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. But
don't look for any new acts, they plan on staying with
the ones they already have. Check out the article below
and the let us know how you feel about it.

There are very few hitmakers that have the clout and legendary masterpiece catalog as the music duo of Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, aptly known as Gamble & Huff.

The two music maestros are the men behind such hits as Lou Rawls’ “You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine,” Teddy Pendergrass’ “Turn Off the Lights,” The O’Jays’ “Darling, Darling Baby,” and so many, many more, bringing Philadelphia soul music to the world.

In 1971, the duo formed Philadelphia International Records (PIR) and cut a major deal with the largest label at that time, CBS Records and its president Clive Davis. Now, the two have scored a major agreement with mega label Sony/BMG.

“We’ve just signed a deal and we’re re-releasing all of our catalog,” Gamble told EUR’s Lee Bailey. “We have a licensing arrangement. We’re releasing product, but we haven’t any new product. We have a tremendous catalog and that’s what we’ve been working on.”

The thought of the music legends simply re-releasing their classics may not sit well with some fans; both Gamble and Huff explain that this is merely the process and path of legendary music.

“It’s a traditional process. It’s what all the big music labels do every ten years,” Huff said, continuing that the duo may be inspired to do some new music, too. “If something special comes along that would spark our creative activities, we would consider it. We pick and choose. We don’t have that energy that we had in the ‘70s. We can’t just pick any person that sings.”

Huff reminisced on his days in the studio with partner Gamble. At times they spent entire days and nights churning out hit songs.

“We worked seven days a week, almost 24 hours a day,” he said “We’re not trying to compete with the hip-hop guys and all that, but if there is an artist that really excites us, then we’ll get involved with it. At this time, we’d like to set our music for TV programs and movies and commercials and everything you can think of.”

Gamble revealed that there are a few current artists that have piqued his ears, including American Idol Fantasia, but that the two don’t have any current plans to pursue new projects.

“I think she’s a great artist,” he said of the singer. “There’s a couple of other ones out there, but that’s a lot for us right now, and the industry is not what it used to be. The music is different.”

Huff reiterated the fact that the industry has made some changes and that the hit team has, too; one being to just slow down, enjoy life, and get more rest than they did in their heyday in the ’60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s.

“Music comes in all different forms – in business, too,” Huff added. “The way me and Gamble worked in the ‘70s – I wouldn’t say we couldn’t do it, but the energy wouldn’t allow us to do it [now]. I’m not going to get trapped in that illusion. I’ll mess around and have a heart attack. When me and Gamble worked it was a lot of intensity; a lot of energy. I’m not going to stay up ‘til 4 o’clock in the morning. That’s what we did.”

After all that work to create songs, their hits are now going to work for them. Gamble & Huff classics have resurfaced quite often in many different formats – television shows, movies, commercials.

“I think it’s just as rewarding,” Gamble said of comparing producing the hits with having them be a part of productions. “For example, you take the Donald Trump ‘Apprentice’ show; ‘For the Love of Money’ has been the theme song for that for seven seasons. You got the Coors beer commercial, ‘The Love Train’ had been on that, you got ‘The Rubber Band Man.’ You got so many songs from our catalog that were able to transition themselves.”

SWAT Losses It's First-A Brother

2008-02-07T17:15:00.000-08:00

Remember how it use to be in the movies
where the brother always got killed first.
Well that scenario has unfortunately played
out in real life with the death of L.AP.D.
Officer Randall Simmons. Yes, he has become
the first officer ever killed since the elite unit
was put together back in the late 60's. Our
hearts go out to the family of this courageous
Brother!

In a tense overnight standoff, a man shot and killed a Los Angeles SWAT officer and seriously wounded another after calling 911 to report that he had killed three family members at a San Fernando Valley home, authorities said. A police sniper killed the suspect this morning, authorities said.

The sniper struck the man in the head about 7:30 a.m. as he tried to flee out a door, still firing his weapon more than 10 hours after the incident began, several sources with the Los Angeles Police Department said. By that point Randa, a fire had ignited at the home. Three males who police believe were related to the suspect also died.

One of the victims had been pulled from the home hours earlier by officers who thought he was still alive, police said. The rescue attempt was made as officers exchanged gunfire with the suspect -- who jumped up from behind a short interior wall and opened fire on them from a distance of 10 to 15 feet, police said. (Earlier in the day police said he had fired at them from between mattresses, but they later said those exchanges came after their officers were shot.)

LAPD Chief William J. Bratton said today that the shooter had two weapons, a shotgun and a handgun.

A woman who apparently was hiding inside the home came out shortly after 5 a.m. as tear gas was fired into it, police said.

After the canisters were fired, "a woman suddenly appeared from the rear of the residence," said LAPD Deputy Chief Michel Moore. "She was rescued. Our understanding is she was there during the earlier carnage of the people being shot and killed."

This Article Continues Here

Get your copy of the award winning King:
"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/

Network Takes Notice Of Black History Month

2008-02-04T10:41:00.001-08:00

Finally a major network is recognizing Black History
month. NBC will has produced hundreds of video
clips designed for teachers to integrate into their
lessons. This has been long over due and the network
should be commended for it's work. Thank you NBC!

The curriculum is comprised of more than 500 two-to-five minute video clips spanning hundreds of years of history and designed to be easily integrated into teachers' lesson plans. They are pooled from over 70 years of NBC News coverage and supplemented with early history mini-documentaries created in collaboration with educators, historians, textbook authors, and other experts.

The subject matter includes the history of African-Americans from the slave trade through the modern civil rights movement; features on and interviews with African-American leaders from politics, science, arts and literature, and business; and examinations of the African-American experience today including politics, health issues, education, the justice system, the economy, and the family.

The African-American Studies resource is available online at HotChalk (www.hotchalk.com/nbc.html), a free web-based learning management system designed specifically for K-12 educators. HotChalk helps teachers develop customized lesson plans and assignments, locate and integrate curriculum materials, and manage assignments and grading.

Racial Tension Rises In L.A.

2008-01-31T09:38:00.000-08:00

As Rodney King would say "Can't we all just
get along." But unfortunately that doesn't
seem to be the case as gang war has erupted
in the town of Monrovia a suburb of L.A.
Check out the article below and feel free to
comment on this latest round of racial flare-up
between blacks and Mexicans.

A spasm of cross-racial gang shootings in and around the San Gabriel Valley city of Monrovia has left a 64-year-old African American man and a 16-year-old Latina dead and prompted a law enforcement crackdown to stem the bloodshed.

In all, seven people have been killed or wounded in recent weeks, as suspected black and Latino gang members have traded gunfire. At least two of those killed have been bystanders, authorities said.

In a series of high-profile operations in recent days, a police task force has served search warrants and arrested three suspects -- one Latino and two blacks. After three shootings in the last week, Monrovia police and the L.A. County Sheriff's Department have saturated schools and neighborhoods north and south of the Foothill Freeway with additional patrols. Parents have been warned to keep close tabs on their children.

"A lot of these kids are terrified right now because somebody out there is playing for real," said Monrovia High School Principal Frank Zepeda, who has been fielding e-mails and phone calls from concerned parents.

Speculation was spreading Wednesday among students that the violence was racially motivated. Xavier Gaytan, 17, a junior, said he has noticed tensions between blacks and Latinos on campus, apart from the recent violence.

"Sometimes you see all the blacks get together on one side and all the Mexicans together on the other side," he said. "Fights sometimes break out over somebody giving somebody else the wrong look."

Some authorities say the recent violence is chiefly about dominance on the streets. The flare-up involves historic rivals: a long-established black street gang, the Du Roc Crips, and two Latino gangs, Monrovia Nuevo Vario and Duarte Eastside.

"I don't see it being race-related because the issues between these . . . gangs have been going on forever," said sheriff's Capt. Richard Shaw, who is heading a new task force dispatched to the area. The shootings are a reflection of gang culture, not racial conflict, he said.

Helping fan fears in largely tranquil Monrovia, which has been used as a setting for the TV series "Picket Fences" and film depictions of middle America, was the killing Saturday of 16-year-old Samantha Salas. She was walking home from a market near Peck Road. Her father, whom she was visiting, had given her permission to buy some gum.

"She had to have her Orbitz gum," Samuel Salas said in an interview Wednesday at his home. "You saw the flowers outside on the sidewalk. That's how far she made it."

This Article Continues Here

Get your copy of the award winning King:
"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/

Once More The Heart Gets In The Way

2008-01-29T08:12:00.000-08:00

Once again a love affair is on the verge of
toppling the career of a young and promising
black politician. Why is it that we always seem
to let the affairs of heart beat out the affairs
of business we were elected to perform? Feel
free to offer up your thoughts on this latest
political scandal.

Five months ago, Detroit Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick and chief of staff Christine Beatty testified that they did not have a romantic relationship. They continued to deny a relationship out of court as well, as they had for several years.

But that was before the Detroit Free Press published a cache of text messages between the two, many of them flirtatious or sexual, and others referring to meetings in hotels.

On Monday, Beatty resigned her post, saying she could "no longer effectively carry out the duties of chief of staff."

The resignation came days after a county prosecutor opened an investigation into whether Kilpatrick and Beatty committed perjury when they concealed their affair during testimony last summer.

Two City Council members demanded an internal investigation into the pair's relationship, which has outraged voters and led to calls for Kilpatrick's resignation. The council is also looking at the city charter to determine whether he could be forced from office.

One of their chief concerns: whether the 37-year-old mayor intentionally misled the City Council into approving an $8.4-million settlement between the city and three former police officers. The men said they unfairly lost their jobs because they were looking into potential wrongdoing by the mayor's security team, which could have exposed the intimate relationship.

The political scandal has stunned Motor City, which has lost more population in the last half-century than any other city in the country, has a poverty rate that hovers around 30%, and is routinely ranked by the U.S. Census Bureau as one of America's most impoverished urban centers.

"This is a city whose resources are already limited," said John Riehl, who heads up the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 207, one of the groups calling for the mayor to step down. "Is it really any surprise that people are furious?"

Kilpatrick, who is married and has three children, issued a brief statement to reporters. "These 5- and 6-year-old text messages reflect a very difficult period in my personal life," he said. "It is profoundly embarrassing to have these extremely private messages now displayed in such a public manner. My wife and I worked our way through these intensely personal issues years ago."

This Article Continues Here

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"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/

Suge Knight Named In Gang Injunction

2008-01-24T11:56:00.000-08:00

Calling it a "publicity stunt" Suge Knight of Death Row
records fame was named in a gang injunction the first
for the city of Compton which is long known for gangs
and gang violence. The gang being targeted is known
to have close ties to the record mogul. After reading the
article below, feel free to offer up your comment.

Seeking to further curb criminal activities, Compton has asked a judge to ban individuals identified as members of the Mob Piru street gang -- including rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight -- from congregating in a northeast neighborhood.

Using a strategy employed by other crime-ridden communities, the court order would be the first gang injunction in a city with a long history of battling street gangs.
Authorities contend that the Mob Piru gang has terrorized the neighborhood for years, with buying and selling of drugs, discharging firearms, robbing and assaulting residents and by creating an atmosphere of fear and intimidation.

For the last two years, a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department gang task force has worked to get gang members off the streets with aggressive enforcement of immigration, housing and parole violations.

"We've done it without an injunction," said Lt. Paul Pietrantoni, who heads the task force. "We have the lowest murder rate in 20 years in Compton. The injunction is just going to give us one more tool."

But the proposed injunction is expected to be controversial because community leaders and others say it opens the door to police harassment of innocent residents.

"What you find is that the whole community becomes terrorized by law enforcement," said Kim Saunders, 45, a city planning commissioner who is also a teacher and a long-time community volunteer.

Knight, who is listed as a defendant, dismissed the injunction as "a publicity stunt."

"This is crazy," said Knight, co-founder of Death Row Records. "I'm a 42-year-old businessman, not a gang member. I don't even live in Compton anymore . . . . This injunction names people who are already in jail -- and at least one guy who is long dead."

Henry "Hendog" Smith, who is also named in the injunction, was shot to death in 2002, according to news reports.

This Article Continues Here

Get your copy of the award winning King:
"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/

Undercover?

2008-01-18T19:10:00.000-08:00

The police are not the only people that can be undercover.
In the story below the director of an antigang organization
that he posed for was still very much involved in crime and
was still a shot caller for L. A.'s largest street gang. He was
recently sentenced to eight years in prison. Do you think
justice was served or should he have been given more time?

Hector "Big Weasel" Marroquin, 51, was sentenced to eight years in prison, said Eric Harmon, the Los Angeles County prosecutor in the case.

Marroquin's accomplice and girlfriend, Sylvia Arellano, 26, pleaded guilty to illegal weapons sales. She is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday to four years in prison, Harmon said.

Marroquin was arrested in May in a case that stemmed from an investigation by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives into gun sales by the 18th Street gang.

Using video surveillance and a confidential informant, the agency bought several weapons from Marroquin, Harmon said.

In one case, Marroquin sold a MAK-90 semi-automatic assault rifle out of his bar, Marroking Seafood and Bar on Atlantic Avenue in Cudahy, to a confidential informant for the firearms bureau, authorities said.

He also sold a Ewbank 7.62-millimeter assault rifle to the confidential informant and a M-11, similar to an Uzi, to an undercover bureau agent, authorities said.

Marroquin has had numerous run-ins with law enforcement.

He is a reputed longtime member of the South-Central Los Angeles 18th Street gang. A gang expert testified to a grand jury that Marroquin remained a shot-caller in 18th Street despite claiming to have dropped out, Harmon said.

Los Angeles County sheriff's investigators believe he organized street-gang taxing for the Mexican Mafia in the city's Lennox area in the mid-1990s.

Sheriff's investigators believe he ordered Latino street gangs to attack the Lennox 13 gang for refusing to pay taxes to the Mexican Mafia. A gang war ensued.

In 1996, Marroquin formed No Guns, an organization he said was dedicated to mediating gang wars and stopping gun violence in besieged neighborhoods.

The city's antigang program, L.A. Bridges, eventually contracted with No Guns to provide gang intervention services, in part becaue of a dearth of Latino antigang organizations in the area.

The city ended up paying No Guns $1.5 million over a three-year period.

This Article Continues Here

Get your copy of the award winning King:
"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/

Kenyans React To Election Results

2008-01-02T14:49:00.000-08:00

The people of Kenya have spoken as to
who will run the country and the losers,
unable to except defeat take to the streets
and hundreds are dead. This is a painful pill
to swallow. Events like this will continue to
keep the continent of Africa in term oil and
destabilization. This in turn keeps much of
Africa in poverty and investors away which
the continent needs to mine it's resources.
Please fell free to comment on the story
below. Africa can no longer be ignored and
shunned by the more prosperous countries
that are secretly taking advantage of it's plight.

Post- election riots in Kenya descended into savage tribal killings Tuesday as a mob burned a church where families had taken shelter from the violence, leaving at least 35 people dead, witnesses reported. Many of the victims were children.

The church massacre in Eldoret followed the killings overnight of 18 people, some reportedly beheaded, in the town about 150 miles northwest of Nairobi, the capital. A police officer also was killed Tuesday.

Witnesses reported revenge killings and clashes between mobs from rival tribes armed with machetes called pangas or with bows and arrows.

"They're armed with pangas, and when one group kills three people, the other group also kills three people. When one burns three houses, the other burns three houses. The situation has really deteriorated," said Ken Wafula, a local human rights activist.

"There is violence in all parts of town," said Kikechi Biketi, Eldoret correspondent for the Standard daily newspaper. "Houses have been burned indiscriminately in most parts of Eldoret. They're burning tires in the roads. There's no transport. You can't move. The situation is very bad."

Eldoret police estimated that about 100 people had died in the town in the last four days, as furious opposition supporters rampaged, alleging ballot-rigging in Thursday's presidential election. Police reported 170 dead in clashes across Kenya, but news agencies put the number at between 200 and 270.

Tens of thousands of people in Eldoret had fled their homes to take refuge in police compounds and church yards. Some houses sheltered dozens of terrified people.

Although the presidential candidates had avoided overt tribal campaigning, which is taboo in Kenyan society, ethnic violence exploded immediately after President Mwai Kibaki was announced the winner and hastily sworn in Sunday evening to a second term.

As the violence continued Tuesday, diplomats in Nairobi pressed Kibaki and his main rival, Raila Odinga, to negotiate a political solution to stem the killings.

This Article Continues Here

Get your copy of the award winning King:
"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/

Benzir Bhutto

2007-12-28T11:34:00.000-08:00

You know it's funny how the death of someone that
you've only had a glimpse of can affect you. I only
knew of Benzir Bhutto by occasional stories on the
networks evening news or in the newspapers. I never
paid much attention to the reports about her and yet
yesterday(Thursday) when I'd heard she'd been
assassinated I was quite saddened. Why? Because
Ms Bhutto had that kind of charm and charisma on
people. After reading the below story please share
with us your thoughts of the Muslim worlds first
female Prime Minister.

She was, by her own account, a "daughter of destiny," a pampered girl from an aristocratic Pakistani family who inherited her father's political mantle and went on to become the Muslim world's first female prime minister. But in the end, that destiny proved a tragic one: Like her father, Benazir Bhutto was killed for her political ambitions.

The assassin who cut short Bhutto's life on Thursday brought to a close a remarkable biography encompassing a privileged childhood, degrees from Harvard and Oxford, stints in jail as a political prisoner, and mass adulation and contempt alike for her two terms as Pakistan's prime minister. After eight years of self-imposed exile, Bhutto, 54, had returned to her native land in October to try for a third term.

Bhutto's triumphal return was marred from the start by violence, when a suicide bomber struck her motorcade and killed more than 140 people in the southern port city of Karachi.

"I have many enemies -- I'm a security target," Bhutto told The Times in June. "But this is a most critical time for the country."

A defiant and strong-willed figure, instantly recognizable in her trademark white scarf, Bhutto never flagged in her belief that she was the best person to lead her nation to democracy and prosperity. That confidence led her to declare herself "chairperson for life" of her Pakistan People's Party and to an imperious style that rewarded loyalists but alienated many others.

Her charisma and skillful political maneuvering were undeniable -- and sometimes masked the fact that her double stint as prime minister was at best a mixed bag, dragged down by allegations of massive corruption and criticism of her lavish lifestyle.

This Article Continues Here

Get your copy of the award winning King:
"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/

New Rules May Help Aikens

2007-12-26T16:28:00.000-08:00

Baseball Great Willie Mays Aikens is hoping that
the new rules laid down by the Supreme Court
will allow him to get back his freedom. The former
star baseball player has been incarcerated for more
than 10 years in federal lockup for possessing a small
amount of crack cocaine. Read his story below and let
us know how you feel about this miscarriage of justice.

Willie Mays Aikens is a part of baseball lore. As a member of the 1980 Kansas City Royals, he became the only man to hit more than one home run in two games of the same World Series.

But 27 years after his feat, Aikens languishes in a federal prison in Jessup, Ga., brought low by cocaine addiction and a federal law that mandated long prison sentences for crack cocaine offenses.

From a face on a baseball card, Aikens is now a poster child for what some jurists and civil rights activists say is the absurdity of the difference between the way federal law treats people convicted of crack cocaine offenses and those found guilty of crimes involving powder cocaine.

Aikens received more than 15 years for possession of 64 grams of crack -- about the weight of a large Snickers bar. To receive an equivalent sentence, he would have had to possess nearly 6 1/2 kilos -- more than 14 pounds -- of powder cocaine.

"You can supply a whole neighborhood with 6 1/2 kilos," Aikens said by telephone from prison, where he is in the 13th year of his sentence.

Activists, lawyers and many federal judges say cases such as Aikens's demonstrate the inequity of cocaine sentencing laws and validate the U.S. Sentencing Commission's recent decision to ease prison time guidelines for crack offenders. The new guidelines will apply retroactively to about 19,500 inmates.

Super Criminals?

2007-12-18T16:21:00.000-08:00

According to a recent report the creation of
a super criminal is now underway. This may
sound a bit far-fetched but after you read
the article below you'll begin to understand,
then drop us a line on what you think.

Riddle us this dear reader, what do the violent situations that have taken place in the Sudan, Uganda, Haiti, Somalia, Rwanda and Liberia all have in common? These are situations in which African people or people of African descent are being killed by other people of African descent in staggering numbers for one reason or another.

And if you're into riddles then you're going to love this one. What do you get when you take film footage of the atrocities that are occuring abroad and put the footage on super slow motion? You get the genocidal, sometimes gang-related, automatic weapon powered skirmishes that occur in depressed black neighborhoods across the US. All too often these "battles" result in the yet another death of a young black male.

Oakland, California, a locale of seemingly endless musical and athletic talent is also the second most murderous city in the California behind Compton, California.

On December 9, San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Meredith May visited the plight of Oakland's desensitized and sometimes brain washed young black male populous and the familial/cultural circumstances that can cause them to become killers in a piece titled "Many young black men in Oakland are killing and dying for respect."

She writes: "Along with the Christmas trees and family gatherings, there's another end-of-the-year ritual in Oakland - a candlelight vigil for the murdered. The body count is woven into the civic consciousness here - a number chased by homicide inspectors, studied by criminologists, lamented in churches, reported by journalists. Every mayor leaves City Hall on broken promises to quell the violence, and the killings continue. An additional 115 have been killed this year, putting Oakland on pace for another gruesome record. In the last five years, 557 people were slain on the city's streets, making Oakland the state's second-most murderous city, behind Compton. Most victims are young, black men who are dying in forgotten neighborhoods of East and West Oakland."

This Article Continues Here

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"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/

Al Caught With Hands In Cookie Jar?

2007-12-17T14:46:00.000-08:00

Well it looks like Rev. Al Sharpton may have violated
campaign finance laws in 2003. Let's hope not as this
story will continue to unravel. Check out the article
below and let me know your take on the latest caper
of Rev. Sharpton.

The Philadelphia Inquirer is reporting that Al Sharpton was caught on tape in 2003 offering to help a fund-raiser win a multimillion-dollar business deal in exchange for helping him raise $50,000 for his presidential campaign.

FBI agents tapping White's phones in 2003 recorded more than 20 conversations between Sharpton and Philadelphia fund-raiser Ronald A. White, most of them related to fund-raising for the presidential campaign and an effort to secure a $40 million pension-fund deal in New York.

Instead of offering to help raise the requested $50,000 for Sharpton's campaign, White offered $25,000, according to the Inquirer.

"If you bring my guys up on this hedge fund, and I have the right conversation," White said on the tape, "I'll give you what you need."

"Cool," Sharpton replied.

The Inquirer obtained an account of the May 9, 2003, conversation, which was recorded as part of the Philadelphia City Hall corruption case. The tape helped spark a separate inquiry into Sharpton's 2004 campaign and his civil-rights organization, the National Action Network. The FBI-IRS probe resurfaced publicly Wednesday, when Sharpton aides received subpoenas.

This Article Continues Here

Get your copy of the award winning King:
"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/

Hats Off To New Jersey!

2007-12-13T17:19:00.000-08:00

Let's hope that this is a trend that will continue
in this country. The death penalty has done
nothing to deter crime in this country and only
serves those seeking legal revenge. So my hat is
of for New Jersey for having thee courage to do
the right thing. What do you think?

The New Jersey Assembly voted today to abolish the death penalty, poising the state to become the first since 1965 to eliminate capital punishment.

The state Senate earlier this week also voted to end executions and replace them with sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Gov. Jon S. Corzine, a longtime foe of the death penalty, said today before the vote that he would sign the bill into law within a few days; aides said it would happen most likely early next week.

At a news conference in Trenton, Corzine said, "We would be better served as a society by having a clear and certain outcome for individuals who carry out heinous crimes. And that's what I think we are doing -- making certain that individuals will be in prison without any possibility of parole."

He acknowledged that by signing the bill he could be opening himself to political attack, but said that the current system clearly was not working and "for lots of different reasons, I think the state is taking a painful but constructive step."

Although New Jersey has not had an execution since 1963, the campaign has drawn attention around the country. Sister Helen Prejean, whose work against the death penalty was dramatized in the film "Dead Man Walking," has made a dozen trips to New Jersey in support of the measure and predicted that other states will follow its lead.

However, attempts to abolish the death penalty in several other states have failed in recent years although it now seems possible that Maryland, whose governor opposes capital punishment, will go the same route as New Jersey. Currently, there is a nationwide de facto moratorium on executions, spurred by legal challenges contending that lethal injection, which is used in most states, is excessively painful. The U.S. Supreme Court will take up the issue in January.

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"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/

Vick Given Time To Think About Actions!

2007-12-10T14:55:00.002-08:00

Micheal Vick has had his day in court and
it is probably the worst day of his life. The
judge in the case spared no leniency for Vick
who has no criminal record and has done
much for charities. Now the former star quar-
back of the Atlanta Falcons has plenty of time
to think his actions. So what do you think?
Should Vick have been given so much time or
should he have been give probation?

Michael Vick was sentenced to 23 months in prison today for running a "cruel and inhumane" dogfighting ring and lying about it.

The suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback could have been sentenced up to five years by U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson. Vick, who turned himself in Nov. 19 in anticipation of his sentence, was wearing a black-and-white striped prison suit.

After Vick apologized to the court and his family, Hudson told him: "You need to apologize to the millions of young people who looked up to you."

"Yes, sir," Vick answered.

The 27-year-old player acknowledged using "poor judgment" and added, "I'm willing to deal with the consequences and accept responsibility for my actions."

Although there is no parole in the federal system, rules governing time off for good behavior could reduce Vick's prison stay by about three months, resulting in a summer 2009 release.

"You were instrumental in promoting, funding and facilitating this cruel and inhumane sporting activity," Hudson told Vick.

Before the hearing, Michael Vick's brother, Marcus Vick, sat with his right arm around their mother, comforting her as she buried her head in her hands and wept.

Falcons owner Arthur Blank called the sentencing another step in Vick's "legal journey."

"This is a difficult day for Michael's family and for a lot of us, including many of our players and fans who have been emotionally invested in Michael over the years," Blank said. "We sincerely hope that Michael will use this time to continue to focus his efforts on making positive changes in his life, and we wish him well in that regard."

This Article Continues Here

Get your copy of the award winning King:
"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/

Judges Get More Power

2007-12-10T14:42:00.000-08:00

The Supreme Court has given lower court judges
more latitude in sentencing people caught with
crack cocaine. The issue was that people caught with
crack cocaine(mainly minorities) got more time
than those caught with powder cocaine (mainly
whites). This should bring an end to this issue
that has nagged minorities for years. What do you
think? Let us hear your thoughts.

The Supreme Court today gave federal judges more leeway to set lower prison terms for drug dealers, ruling they need not follow strict sentencing guidelines if they want to reduce the disparity between sentences for crack and cocaine powder.

In one ruling, the court upheld probation, not prison time, for an Arizona man who admitted to selling Ecstasy while he was in college in Iowa. The federal guidelines called for a three-year prison term for this crime.

In a second ruling, the justices upheld a 15-year prison term for a Gulf War veteran from Norfolk, Va., who was arrested with a gun and crack cocaine in his car. Federal guidelines called for a prison term of 19 to 22 years.

Bush administration prosecutors had defended the longer prison terms and said sentencing judges must generally follow the federal rules.

Both decisions came on 7-2 votes, with Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. dissenting.

In the Virginia man's case, the high court voiced its skepticism of the so-called 100-to-1 ratio for crack and powder cocaine offenses. But the justices added that they are not in a position to strike it down entirely, since the formula is written into federal laws.

For example, a person who is convicted of having 5 grams of crack cocaine, or 500 grams of powder cocaine, receives a mandatory five-year prison term. This sentence is set in law and is not subject to the decision of the trial judge.

This Article Continues Here

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"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/

Cooper Moves Closer To Death!

2007-12-06T17:59:00.000-08:00

Kevin Cooper Convicted twenty some years ago for killing
four people in Chino Hills Ca. is one step closer to being
executed for those murders. He maintains that he's been
framed but the federal appeals court in San Francisco does
not agree with him. Read the article below and your com-
mentary is welcomed.

Calling the evidence of his guilt "overwhelming," a federal appeals court in San Francisco on Tuesday upheld the death sentence of Kevin Cooper, who was convicted of a rampage 25 years ago that left a Chino Hills couple and two children dead.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected arguments from Cooper's appellate lawyers that he was framed and that prosecutors withheld evidence that could have cleared him.

The ruling upheld a decision by U.S. District Judge Marilyn L. Huff in San Diego, who considered new blood and hair evidence tests ordered in the case after the 9th Circuit in 2004 granted a last-minute stay of execution.

Huff wrote that she was convinced that Cooper "is the one responsible for these brutal murders," noting post-conviction DNA testing that linked Cooper to a drop of blood in the hallway outside the bedroom of two of the murder victims, to saliva from cigarette butts found in the hallway and to blood smears on a T-shirt found outside a bar near the murder scene.

The 9th Circuit, in a 3-0 ruling written by Judge Pamela A. Rymer, agreed.

"As the district court, and all state courts, have repeatedly found, evidence of Cooper's guilt was overwhelming," the decision said.

Judges Ronald M. Gould and M. Margaret McKeown concurred in the decision.

But McKeown, in a separate, concurring opinion, expressed her dismay that the court, because of limits on habeas petitions imposed by Congress in 1996, could not examine the "integrity of the evidence".

"Significant evidence bearing on Cooper's culpability has been lost, destroyed or left un-pursued, including, for example, blood-covered overalls belonging to a potential suspect who was a convicted murderer, and a bloody T-shirt, discovered alongside the road near the crime scene," McKeown wrote.

McKeown noted that the criminalist in charge of the evidence was a heroin addict who was fired for stealing drugs seized by police.

The judge said she was "troubled that we cannot, in Kevin Cooper's words, resolve the question of his guilt 'once and for all.' "

According to evidence presented at trial, Cooper had faked a medical condition in 1983 to escape from the Chino state prison, where he was serving a sentence for burglary.

He broke into the home of Douglas and Peggy Ryen and used a hatchet, knife and ice pick to kill the couple, their daughter Jessica, 11, and houseguest Christopher Hughes, also 11.

his Article Continues Here

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"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/

One Mistake-Five Lives

2007-12-03T12:57:00.000-08:00

As the result of one botched up burglary five
lives have been ruined. And as indicated in the
story below for what? A few dollars! Black on
black crimes continue to be a major problem
in our community as well as a leading cause of
death. Read the article below and then ring in
your opinion of this ugly situation.

Four young men charged with unpremeditated murder in the shooting death of Washington Redskins star Sean Taylor have not been strangers to police. Still, nothing came close to what they faced Saturday.

Eric Rivera, 17; Charles Wardlow, 18; Jason Mitchell, 19; and Venjah Hunte, 20, were charged with Taylor's slaying, home invasion with a firearm or another deadly weapon and armed burglary. Police said the suspects were looking for a simple burglary, but it turned bloody when they were startled to find Taylor home.

"They're terrified," said Sawyer Smith, who along with his father, Wilbur, represent Rivera and Mitchell. "These are young boys who are absolutely terrified about the position in which they find themselves."

Police and attorneys for two suspects have said some of the young men confessed, though they wouldn't elaborate. All were arrested Friday in southwest Florida, about 100 miles from here, and all but Mitchell had their first court appearance Saturday and were denied bond. Mitchell was expected to have a hearing at 8:30 a.m. Sunday.

Taylor, the 24-year-old Pro Bowl safety, died Tuesday, one day after being shot at his home in an affluent Miami suburb.

"It's more than greed. Greed is one thing," said Richard Sharpstein, Taylor's former attorney. "They're looking for a quick hit, a couple of thousand bucks here, a couple of thousand there. And for what?"

Trouble Seems To Follow Rodney

2007-11-29T17:31:00.000-08:00

Trouble-That's something Rodney King knows something about.
Seems he can't even ride his bike down the street minding his own
business then trouble rears it's ugly head. The story below
explains it all and after reading it let us know what ya think.

The troubles of Rodney King -- whose videotaped beating by four Los Angeles police officers and their subsequent acquittal touched off riots in 1992 -- continued late Wednesday night when he was shot in shoulder with pellets likely fired from a shotgun while biking in San Bernardino, police said today.

After interviewing King at the hospital this afternoon, police said he reported that two suspects, a man and a woman, approached him and demanded his bicycle. When King rode away, he was shot.

FOR THE RECORD:
Earlier versions of this article said King was shot in Rialto, and with a pellet gun.

odney KingbR

He was recovering from a minor shoulder injury today, according to San Bernardino police Lt. Scott Paterson. Initially, Rialto police said King was shot in the face, upper torso and back.

King called Rialto police at 11:40 p.m. and told them he had been shot at 5th Street and North Meridian Avenue in San Bernardino before pedaling his bike home, according to Rialto police Sgt. Don Lewis.

"We sent a couple of officers out to his address here in Rialto, but he didn't really tell us a whole lot other than he'd been shot," Lewis said. "It looked like birdshot, looked like long-distance shot."

Lewis said Rialto police turned the incident over to police in San Bernardino when King said he had been shot in that community.

This Article Continues Here

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"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
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To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/

Congress Battles Over English Only

2007-11-20T15:49:00.000-08:00

Well I for one think that if I must work with someone
then we must be able to communicate for safety reasons.
Another good reason would be to prevent alienation in
the work place. I could probably go on and on but after
all this is America and the language of the land is English.
What do you think? Check out the article below.

A government suit against the Salvation Army has the House and Senate at loggerheads over whether to nullify a law that prohibits employers from firing people who don't speak English on the job. The fight illustrates the explosiveness of immigration as an issue in the 2008 elections.

Republicans on Capitol Hill are pushing hard to protect employers who require their workers to speak English, but Democratic leaders have blocked the move despite narrow vote tallies in the GOP's favor.

For more than 30 years, federal rules have generally barred employers from establishing English-only requirements for their workers. But Senate Republicans have won passage of legislation preventing the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from enforcing the rules.

House Democratic leaders, meanwhile, have promised Hispanic lawmakers that the language issue is a nonstarter and the resulting impasse has stalled the underlying budget bill, which lawmakers had hoped to send to President Bush this week.

The EEOC has come under assault from lawmakers such as Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., after the agency filed suit earlier this year against a Salvation Army thrift store in Massachusetts that had fired two Hispanic employees for speaking Spanish while sorting clothes.

California Supreme Court Wants Speedy Executions

2007-11-20T15:27:00.001-08:00

The California Supreme Court on Monday called for a constitutional amendment to ease the backlog in the state's death penalty system, which takes an average of 17 years to execute a condemned convict -- twice the national average.

The amendment would permit the state's high court, which has had exclusive oversight of capital appeals since California became a state in 1850, to transfer review of some death penalty cases to lower courts. Chief Justice Ronald M. George, who announced the proposal, said he wanted the Legislature to put the amendment on the November 2008 ballot.

The system's delays and ensuing backlogs are bad for the condemned inmates, prosecutors and the public interest "in finality and enforcement of the law," George said in a phone interview Monday.

Currently, the state's seven Supreme Court justices spend about 20% to 25% of their time and resources on capital cases, he said. The "ever-increasing backlog . . . threatens to overwhelm the Supreme Court's docket," George said.

The proposal follows a small but significant chorus of voices calling for change in what they describe as a "dysfunctional" system that renders capital punishment as little more than an illusion.

The state has the nation's largest death row population, with 667 inmates -- 652 men at San Quentin and 15 women at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla -- but only a few have exhausted their appeals, which can last decades.

California has executed 13 inmates since capital punishment was reinstated in 1978. In the meantime, more than 50 condemned prisoners have died of old age, suicide or prison violence.

The state would have to execute five prisoners a month for the next 11 years to clear inmates now on death row. And the backlog is likely to grow: Thirty people have been on death row more than 25 years, 119 for more than 20 years and 408 for more than a decade.

California Supreme Court Wants Speedy Executions

2007-11-20T15:27:00.000-08:00

The California Supreme Court is calling for lower courts
to help it assist in speeding up the appeals of those condemned
to be executed under the states death penalty. This will most
certainly affect those of color on death row. Read the article
below and ring in with your comments on this issue,

The California Supreme Court on Monday called for a constitutional amendment to ease the backlog in the state's death penalty system, which takes an average of 17 years to execute a condemned convict -- twice the national average.

The amendment would permit the state's high court, which has had exclusive oversight of capital appeals since California became a state in 1850, to transfer review of some death penalty cases to lower courts. Chief Justice Ronald M. George, who announced the proposal, said he wanted the Legislature to put the amendment on the November 2008 ballot.

The system's delays and ensuing backlogs are bad for the condemned inmates, prosecutors and the public interest "in finality and enforcement of the law," George said in a phone interview Monday.

Currently, the state's seven Supreme Court justices spend about 20% to 25% of their time and resources on capital cases, he said. The "ever-increasing backlog . . . threatens to overwhelm the Supreme Court's docket," George said.

The proposal follows a small but significant chorus of voices calling for change in what they describe as a "dysfunctional" system that renders capital punishment as little more than an illusion.

The state has the nation's largest death row population, with 667 inmates -- 652 men at San Quentin and 15 women at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla -- but only a few have exhausted their appeals, which can last decades.

California has executed 13 inmates since capital punishment was reinstated in 1978. In the meantime, more than 50 condemned prisoners have died of old age, suicide or prison violence.

The state would have to execute five prisoners a month for the next 11 years to clear inmates now on death row. And the backlog is likely to grow: Thirty people have been on death row more than 25 years, 119 for more than 20 years and 408 for more than a decade.

This Article Continues Here

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"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/

Battle On Two Fronts!

2007-11-16T16:24:00.000-08:00

The battle against hate crimes and housing foreclosures is
being waged on two fronts by the Reverend Jesse Jackson
and Al Sharpton. The two will take their latest causes to
Washington D.C. and New York. Check out the article below
and tell us what you think about these issues.

Two civil rights activists are attempting to call attention to two prevailing problems affecting the black community. Rev. Jesse Jackson will march on Wall Street next month to protest subprime adjustable-rate mortgages that have sent many poor Americans – of all races – into foreclosures. Meanwhile, Rev. Al Sharpton plans to march in the Nation's Capital today against the rise of noose hangings and other hate crimes following the Jena 6 incidents in Louisiana.

Rev. Jackson hopes his New York rally, scheduled for Dec. 10 with similar marches the same day in other cities, will press the financial community and the government to relax terms of subprime adjustable-rate mortgages to head off a massive wave of home foreclosures he says will likely hit poorer communities hardest.

Jackson, who has long accused the finance industry of steering minorities to subprime loans, told the Sun-Times that a rally of "borrowers marching on lenders" will be held under the banner "Save our houses -- choose restructuring over foreclosing."

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"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
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movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
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Thousand May Soon Be Released!

2007-11-12T18:57:00.000-08:00

It looks as if thousands held in federal prison will be
released as a result of having their sentences reduced.
Federal sentencing laws regarding powder cocaine and
rock cocaine have been flawed by the fact that those
possessing rock cocaine (Mostly minorities) got more
time than those possessing powder cocaine. (Mostly
whites) Read the following article and let us know
your thoughts.

Under pressure from federal judges, inmate advocacy groups and civil rights organizations, federal authorities are considering a sweeping cut in prison sentences that could bring early release for thousands of federal inmates.

The proposal being weighed by the U.S. Sentencing Commission would shave an average of at least two years off the sentences of 19,500 federal prisoners, about 1 in 10 in the 200,000-inmate system. More than 2,500 of them, mainly those who have already served lengthy sentences, would be eligible for release within a year if the rule is adopted.
Such a mass commutation would be unprecedented: No other single rule in the two-decade history of the Sentencing Commission has affected nearly as many inmates. And no single law or act of presidential clemency, such as grants of amnesty to draft resisters and conscientious objectors after World War II and the Vietnam War, has affected so many people at one time.

The far-reaching move is aimed at addressing what is seen as an unfair disparity in federal cocaine laws dating to the mid-1980s that have imposed much harsher punishment on crack cocaine users and dealers than in powder cocaine cases. About 80% of those sentenced on federal crack charges every year are African American.

The Justice Department is warning of dire consequences if the proposal goes through, including the possibility that returning thousands of serious drug offenders to the streets would compound a recent increase in violent crime across the country.

"The unexpected release of 20,000 prisoners . . . would jeopardize community safety and threaten to unravel the success we have achieved in removing violent crack offenders from high-crime neighborhoods," the department said in a letter to the commission this month.

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It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
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To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
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P-Diddy Skated On This One

2007-11-07T19:26:00.000-08:00

What is it with P-Diddy that he has to be puttin hands
on folks? The guy has proven himself as a money maker
so why does he have to prove that he's tough too? Because
he believes his own press and has become a legend in his
own mind. My bet is that when he was coming up as a
youngster he had very few fades because he was your
typical wallflower, you know, the laid back type that
kept his mouth shut and his head in a book. Yeah, he
got bullied at times but more than likely someone was
there to bail him out.

So now that he's got fortune and fame and not to mention
a staff of hired guns now he can be the big bully on the block.
Well Mr. Combs you need to wise up cause you can only skate
so much before the judicial system nails you and remember
the ice is getting mighty thin baby! Check out the article below
and feel free to comment.

Sean "Diddy" Combs is no longer under investigation by the NYPD following allegations that he roughed up longtime friend Steven Acevedo during an incident last month at Manhattan's Kiosk nightclub.

"I've been informed by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office that after a thorough investigation, they have made a decision not to authorize any arrests in connection with the incident involving Mr. Combs and Steven Acevedo on Oct. 13," Diddy's lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said in a statement to E! News.

"I want to commend the D.A.'s office and the New York City Police Department for conducting a thorough and very fair investigation into this incident and not allowing this private disagreement between two acquaintances to turn into a criminal charge."

Acevedo, 31, had filed a police report accusing Diddy of punching him in the face during an argument over a woman. Acevedo reportedly suffered a bloody nose and swollen lip, according to the New York Post.

Meanwhile, Diddy is still the subject of a $5 million lawsuit brought by hip-hop promoter James Waldon, who claims he was assaulted by Diddy's bodyguards at a New York club last June.

NAACP Sues Restaurant!

2007-11-06T11:59:00.000-08:00

Looks as if the NACP has hooked it's self a live one this
time. Seems that a Myrtle Beach Floridia restaurant has
decided to ignore the law and continue the practice of
racial discrimination. Read the article below an feel free
to put in your cents.

*The NAACP has filed a federal lawsuit against the owners of a Friendly's Restaurant in Myrtle Beach claiming they close shop and serve a limited menu from the sidewalk during an annual black biker rally, but keep the doors open with a full menu during a biker rally attended mostly by whites.

"The limited and substandard services available on the sidewalk in front of the Friendly's only reinforced the message that African Americans are separate and unequal," said the lawsuit, filed Tuesday (Oct. 30) in U.S. District Court in Florence.

Other issues raised in the lawsuit include the fact that food served outside the restaurant and advertised by a handwritten sign did not mirror the menu available inside; and that the owners of the restaurant did not offer ice cream for sale during the black biker weeks, which are held around Memorial Day.

Whites Get Richer-Blacks Get Poorer!

2007-11-02T14:38:00.000-07:00

The economy has gotten better but for whom?
Recent data is showing that whites are getting
richer and blacks are getting poorer and I'm sure
that this is just not occurring In the nations capitol.
Something must be done to spread the wealth of
this nation or times of the sixties will rear it's ugly
head. Check out the article below and feel free to make
suggestions on this grave situation.

Over the last decade Washington, D.C. has been undergoing an economic boom which ironically appears to have made the nation's capital whiter and whiter while increasing numbers of Blacks remaining in the city have become poorer and poorer.

In 1957, Washington, D.C. became the first major American city to achieve a majority Black population. By 1970, the African American percentage of the city's population had reached 70 percent.

However, according to 2006 Census data the percentage has now declined to 57 percent. Meanwhile, in a report released last week by the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute, nearly one of every Black five residents of the city lives in poverty - the highest percentage in nearly a decade.

Mafia Solved Civil Rights Case!

2007-10-31T16:32:00.000-07:00

It took unlawful tactics to solve the case of the missing civil rights
workers in the 60's. Read the article below and let us know your
thoughts about this case.

The Associated Press is reporting that a woman has testified in open court that her former boyfriend, Mob enforcer Gregory Scarpa Sr., was recruited by the FBI in 1964 to help find the bodies of three civil rights volunteers who disappeared in Mississippi.

Monday's testimony from Linda Schiro confirms a story that has been underworld lore for years, according to the AP. Schiro said Scarpa told her he put a gun in a Ku Klux Klansman's mouth and forced him to reveal the whereabouts of James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman, who were beaten and shot by a gang of Klansmen and buried in an earthen dam near Philadelphia, Miss.

The FBI has never acknowledged that Scarpa, nicknamed "The Grim Reaper," was involved in the case.

Schiro took the stand as a witness for the prosecution at the trial of former FBI agent R. Lindley DeVecchio, who is charged in state court with four counts of murder in what authorities have called one of the worst law enforcement corruption cases in U.S. history. Prosecutors say Scarpa, who died behind bars in 1994, plied DeVecchio with cash, jewelry, liquor and prostitutes in exchange for confidential information on suspected rats and rivals in the late 1980s and early '90s.

Homicides Becomming A Thing Of The Past In Compton

2007-10-29T14:14:00.000-07:00

Compton known for it's hard-gritty get down is
having a face lift thanks to the L.A. Sheriff's
department. All the bad guys are either in jail
or have left town. Most of those in jail will eventually
be released someday and return to their old stomping
grounds. Will it be business as usual again? Well
that would depend on what kind of rehabilitation these
people get inside. But for right now the residents of Compton
are sleeping a little easier at night and having a lot less
funerals to attend.

Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies used to brace for trouble each time they pulled into a cluster of apartment buildings on South Grandee Avenue near the Compton airport. It's a cul-de-sac where they could be easily cornered by gang members

But on a recent Friday night, deputies Jose Sandoval and Larry Waldie spotted only a few teenage girls who didn't appear to be causing trouble. There were no gang members in sight.

Gang violence has plummeted in Compton in the nearly two years since Sheriff Lee Baca assigned a team of deputies and detectives to turn back a menacing tide of crime as part of the department's contract to patrol the mid-county city. With 29 homicides to date, the city is on pace to have the lowest number of killings in more than two decades.

"Six months ago when we'd go in there, it was wall-to-wall knuckleheads," said Lt. Paul Pietrantoni, who supervises the Compton antigang task force. "Now they're all in prison."

Baca's decision to beef up the Compton policing effort was unusual. As a city that contracts for sheriff's services, Compton gets only as many deputies as city officials are willing to pay for. And they couldn't afford the cost -- which would have run millions of dollars a year -- that would have accompanied the 28 sworn personnel Baca sent to the city. So the sheriff decided not to charge for the additional resources, pulling deputies out of other assignments within the nation's largest sheriff's department.

At the time, gang violence in Compton was rampant, with 65 homicides in 2005. Baca said he viewed the violence as "an emerging social disaster."

"It's our responsibility to not let any part of the county deteriorate," Baca said. "I see this as a social responsibility."

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Too Sensitive?

2007-10-26T12:59:00.000-07:00

Are we becoming a world that can no longer laugh
at ourselves. We spend way to much time apologizing
for trivial remarks that were made in good gesture.
Take Halle Berry's joke on the Tonight show. She was
not trying to offend anyone, she was using the Jews as
a reference. Many Jews have outstanding noses just as
black folks have big butts. So come on people there's
way to much drama in the world and not enough laughter.

A simple appearance on "The Tonight Show" to plug her new movie "Things We Lost in the Fire" turned disastrous for Halle Berry after a joke she told was viewed as anti-Semitic, reports the New York Post.

During the Friday afternoon taping, Berry was showing photos of herself using the Mac program Photo Booth, which distorts images like a carnival fun-house mirror.

Commenting on the first picture showing her nose as oversized, Berry reportedly said: "Here's where I look like my Jewish cousin." A source in the audience told Page Six an awkward silence followed before Leno nervously said, "I'm glad you said that and not me." Berry, 41, followed with: "Oh my God, have I just like ruined my career?"

The show aired that night with Berry's "Jewish" comment edited out and a laugh track added to fill the silence. [View clip below.]

Another guest in the audience told the Post: "If you watch the clip, you can see Halle saying the word 'Jewish,' though obviously there is no audio. NBC covered her ass. Ms. Berry should know how unbelievably inappropriate her comment was . . . She should be ashamed of herself."

Georgia Shows Some Justice

2007-10-26T10:56:00.000-07:00

After serving two years of a ten year sentence the
Georgia Supreme Court ordered the release of a
youth held for having consensual oral sex with a
slightly younger teenager. Read the article below
and then ring in on the subject.

Georgia's Supreme Court today ordered the release of a young man who has been imprisoned for more than two years for having consensual oral sex with another teenager.

The court ruled 4-3 that Genarlow Wilson's 10-year sentence was cruel and unusual punishment.

Wilson, 21, was convicted of aggravated child molestation following a 2003 New Year's Eve party at a Douglas County hotel room where he was videotaped having oral sex with a 15-year-old girl. He was 17 at the time.

Wilson was acquitted of raping another 17-year-old girl at the party.

The 1995 law Wilson violated was changed in 2006 to make oral sex between teens close in age a misdemeanor, similar to the law regarding teen sexual intercourse. But the state Supreme Court later upheld a lower court's ruling which said that the 2006 law could not be applied retroactively.

Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears wrote in the majority opinion that the changes in the law "represent a seismic shift in the legislature's view of the gravity of oral sex between two willing teenage participants."

Sears wrote that the severe punishment makes "no measurable contribution to acceptable goals of punishment" and that Wilson's crime did not rise to the "level of adults who prey on children."

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D.C. Inmates Get Little Respect!

2007-10-15T12:43:00.000-07:00

Don't get into any trouble in the nations capitol cause
if you do you'll do time in North Carolina. You would
think that inmates in D.C. would have it rather nice
since the federal government is running things but no,
it's just the opposite they get no recpect. Check out the
article below and see how Uncle Sam is no uncle at all.

WINTON, N.C. On the surface, Rivers Correctional Institution is much as District leaders imagined a decade ago, when they asked the federal government to take control of its prisoners: a safe, well-maintained facility that doesn't cost the city a penny.

The deal sent inmates, once sequestered at the Lorton complex in Northern Virginia, anywhere the Federal Bureau of Prisons could find space. Today, the District's nearly 7,000 inmates are spread across 75 institutions in 33 states.

Rivers, however, was built specifically to house inmates from the District. They typically fill at least two-thirds of its 1,400 beds. Many are in on drug and parole violations. The average stay is two years.
Busloads of wives, mothers and children trek here on a four-hour drive passing fields laden with watermelons, pumpkins and rows of cotton.

The rural North Carolina prison, run by the private GEO Group, has become a symbol for what inmates, their families and city leaders say is harsher treatment of D.C. inmates in federal prisons compared with other inmates. Drug treatment and job training options are inadequate, critics say. As a result, too many inmates return home unprepared to do anything but get sent back.

The 200 miles separating the District and Winton creates its own set of problems. Families can have difficulty getting information about relatives' health -- or even their whereabouts -- in a system that imprisons 193,000 nationwide. And the distance drains family resources and isolates inmates from city services that could aid rehabilitation.

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) has scheduled a hearing tomorrow to ask the Bureau of Prisons about what she considers second-class treatment of District inmates. Rivers is high on her list.

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Caught Between A Rock And Hard Place

2007-10-02T18:25:00.000-07:00

They kidnap you take you out of your country bringing
you to America then charge you with terrorism. But to
add insult to injury your told that you have no rights
because you were born outside of this country's empire.
When I read the story below I was shocked that such a
thing could happen to a person in this great land of so-
called rights. The kangaroo court is still very much alive
in this place that says "all men were created equal."

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear the case of a Guantanamo detainee challenging the legality of the military commission system that plans to try him on charges of war crimes.

Detainee Salim Ahmed Hamdan, who once was the driver for Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, is accused of conspiracy and supporting terrorism.

Hamdan had sought to combine his case with a separate challenge the Supreme Court is considering regarding detainees at the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The justices will review the cases of detainees who do not face military commission trials and who are challenging their indefinite confinement. Some detainees have been held for more than five years.

A year ago, Hamdan brought a successful challenge in the Supreme Court to the military commission system created by President Bush following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

In response, the White House persuaded the Republican-controlled Congress to pass a law approving the military commissions.

In asking the justices to take up Hamdan's case, his lawyers said the new law violated his rights because it allowed for only a narrow challenge if a defendant was found guilty.

Hamdan's lawyers argued that there was no provision for review of a military commission's factual conclusions. If convicted, Hamdan could face life in prison.

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No Show - No Vote

2007-09-28T14:48:00.000-07:00

That's the attitude minority voters need to take at
election time for those major GOP candidates that were
a no-show in last nights debate in minority issues. Now
is the time to speak out on those candidates that have
given us no respect.

The lesser-known Republican presidential candidates condemned their top rivals Thursday for skipping a debate on minority issues and said their absence hurt the party's image and amplified racial divisions.

Four empty lecterns highlighted the decisions of former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee to skip the debate at historically black Morgan State University.

"Frankly, I'm embarrassed," former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said in the debate, broadcast on PBS. "I'm embarrassed for our party, and I'm embarrassed for those who did not come, because there's long been a divide in this country, and it doesn't get better when we don't show up."

The missing candidates -- the top four Republicans in the 2008 presidential race -- cited scheduling conflicts in skipping the forum, which was designed to address issues of interest to blacks.

Their absence sparked criticism from some Republicans, particularly after the Spanish-language network Univision had to postpone its Republican forum this month because only McCain accepted its invitation.

"I apologize for the candidates that aren't here," said Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas. "I think it's a disgrace for our country, I think it's bad for our party, and I don't think it's good for our future."

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White Supremacists On The Move!

2007-09-25T15:17:00.000-07:00

Looks as if white supremacist aren't going to take the
Jena, La. situation sitting down. Nasty threats have
been made on the six black teenagers at the center
of the demonstrations prompting the intervention
of the F.B.I. Check out the story below and by all
means feel free to comment.

No sooner did thousands of African American demonstrators depart the racially tense town of Jena, La., last week after protesting perceived injustices than white supremacists started calling for violence.

First a neo-Nazi website posted the names, addresses and phone numbers of some of the six black teenagers and their families at the center of the Jena Six case, as it has come to be known, and urged followers to find them and "drag them out of the house," prompting an investigation by the FBI.

Then the leader of a white supremacist group in Mississippi published interviews that he conducted with the mayor of Jena and the white teenager who was attacked and beaten, allegedly by the six black youths. In those interviews, the mayor, Murphy McMillin, praised efforts by pro-white groups to organize counterdemonstrations; the teenager, Justin Barker, urged white readers to "realize what is going on, speak up and speak their mind." `

Over the weekend, white extremist websites and blogs filled with invective about the Jena Six case, which has drawn scrutiny from civil rights leaders, three leading Democratic presidential candidates and hundreds of African American bloggers. They are concerned about allegations that blacks have been treated more harshly than whites in the criminal justice system of the town of 3,000, which is 85% white.

LaSalle Parish Sheriff Carl Smith said that deputies had increased patrols in the area amid concerns over the safety of the defendants' families.

David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan leader, last week announced his support for Jena's white residents, who voted overwhelmingly for him when he ran unsuccessfully for Louisiana governor in 1991.

"There is a major white supremacist backlash building," said Mark Potok, a hate-group expert at the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights group in Montgomery, Ala. "I also think it's more widespread than may be obvious to most people. It's not only neo-nazis and Klansmen -- you expect this kind of reaction from them."

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Protest Is What We Do!

2007-09-20T13:34:00.000-07:00

Do we sometimes have lapses in judgment? Perhaps-take
in the case of the story below. Six black kids beat a white
youth unconciouis and are first charged with attempted
murder. The charges were eventually reduced. Unless I
missed something why are these people protesting for six
kids that broke the law? My quess is it's been a slow month
for Al Sharpton.

Thousands of protesters from across the United States converged today in this population-3,000 town to protest what they say are disproportionately harsh criminal charges against six black teenagers who beat a white youth.

Before dawn, cars and buses began to course down the two-lane highway that runs through the rural town about 230 miles northwest of New Orleans. The protesters, almost all of whom wore black T-shirts, congregated around the LaSalle Parish Courthouse before walking to Jena High School."I want my children to be part of history," said A.J. Walker, 33, a black police officer who had traveled from Houston, Texas, and took photographs of her two sons and daughter outside the high school. "I want to show them they have to stand for something."

The demonstrators filed through a town essentially shut down. The courthouse, the high school and almost all the businesses -- from the barber to the bail bondsman -- were closed for the day. Local protesters had vowed not to spend money in the town.

Outside the courthouse, civil rights leaders emphasized that the protest was not against the inhabitants of the town.

"This is a march for justice," Al Sharpton, the leader of the New York-based National Action Network had said Wednesday. "This is not a march against whites or against Jena."

Most residents of the town, which is 85% white, remained indoors. Those who sat outside to watch the procession said they felt frustrated by the protesters -- some of whom were blasting Bob Marley from car stereos and carrying banners reading "Enough is Enough" and "Get to the Root of the Problem."

"I actually heard a girl shout 'Shame on Jena'," said Pam Sharp, 43, a local resident who sat in a plastic chair in her driveway as the marchers walked past her house. "I shouted back 'No, shame on you!' How can they include the whole town? That's the shame."

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Not This Time Fred!

2007-09-18T15:52:00.000-07:00

The Goldman's continue to be a thorn in the side of
O.J. Simpson or like one of his old football injuries
that will not go away. In their latest bid to collect
on a multi-million dollar jury award a superior court
judge has denied the Goldman's action on the memorabilia
that's the center of O.J.'s latest brush with the law. I myself
don't think the Goldman's should get a penny but thats my
opinion and you know what they say about opinions. But
still let's hear yours.

A Superior Court judge tentatively denied a request today by the father of murder victim Ron Goldman to take O.J. Simpson's earnings from everything from autograph signings to video games to satisfy a multi-million-dollar legal judgment awarded 11 years ago.

Instead, Judge Gerald Rosenberg gave Fred Goldman's lawyer, David Cook, one week to come up with a list of sports memorabilia items the former football star was accused of stealing last week from a Las Vegas hotel room.

Simpson was acquitted in criminal court of the 1994 murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Goldman, but a civil court jury found him liable for the deaths and ordered him to pay $33.5 million. The award remains largely unpaid.

Simpson, who has been in and out of the spotlight since he was acquitted of murder, was in jail in Nevada on Tuesday on the robbery charges. Another man facing similar charges in the case said he believes the former football great was set up. He said the memorabilia dealer who tipped Simpson off that he may have had some of his collectibles recorded the hotel-room confrontation that led to Simpson's arrest.

"It sounds like a setup to me," Walter Alexander, 46, told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Tuesday. He said Simpson had thought the memorabilia belonged to him after getting a call from the dealer.

Meanwhile, one of the memorabilia dealers who spoke publicly about the incident on Monday, describing Simpson and a group of men coming into a hotel room "commando style," was hospitalized with chest pains.

Bruce Fromong was transferred to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where a hospital spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a call seeking information about his condition.

Simpson was arrested on six felonies, including two counts of robbery with use of a deadly weapon. If convicted, he could receive up to 30 years in state prison on each robbery count.

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New Orleans: A Bit More Whiter?

2007-09-12T16:08:00.000-07:00

There has been a decline in the black population of
New Orleans since Katrina according to government
census. But before you decide to make a move there,
the city is still 58% black. But even with the shift in
numbers how will this effect the city in the future?

New Orleans' black population dropped 57% a year after Hurricane Katrina, while the white population declined 36%, according to an analysis by three demographers of new U.S. census data that confirm the disaster's disproportionate impact on the city's racial composition. Billed as the "first full picture" of the mass migration after the hurricane, the analysis also found that New Orleanians displaced to Houston and other cities were more likely to be black, uneducated and poor. By contrast, those who relocated to the city's suburbs were more likely to be white, educated and well off.

Though many New Orleans leaders had lamented the uneven toll on black citizens when the levees broke and flooded much of the city, demographer William H. Gray of the Brookings Institution, one of the study's authors, said it was still surprising to see the data show it in such stark terms.

"The fact that it really is the case is what's surprising," Gray said. "The flow of migration shows there is a fairly clear pattern."

The analysis painted a picture of post-Katrina New Orleans as a city notably whiter, older and less populous than it had been during the 2000 census, with fewer children, fewer renters and a more educated citizenry.

However, it also noted that the city was still a "majority minority"city, with African Americans making up roughly 58% of the population when the federal government's data snapshot was taken last summer.

"The census estimates make plain that the city of New Orleans sustained a much more substantial loss of its black population than of its whites," the demographers concluded. They added, "The black loss, however, was not sufficient to shift the racial composition of the city."

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Whoopi Shouldn't Have To Give An Explanation

2007-09-06T14:48:00.000-07:00

One of the biggest problems in this country is that one
culture thinks that all cultures should be modeled after
theirs. The white race is probably responsible for
the extinction of more species than any other culture.
So It's about time that America wake up and face the
truth and that is no one race in this country is the same.
Read the article below as Whoopi explains herself and
then feel free to comment.

The View’s” Whoopi Goldberg used the first part of the show’s Hot Topics segment Wednesday to address the misleading headlines that followed her comments about Michael Vick’s involvement in illegal dogfighting.

“I repeated several times that I wasn’t condoning it,” Goldberg told viewers. “I said it was horrible. And somehow – I don’t know how this happened – if you read the papers today, I’m eating dogs, I’m swinging them by the tail, I mean it’s ridiculous.”

On Tuesday’s show – her first as an official co-host – Goldberg said that in some parts in the South, dogfighting is as common as cockfighting in Puerto Rico, and if Vick grew up within the subculture, it would be difficult for him to understand how people find the activity morally reprehensible.

“I have 12 horses – big horses, little horses, miniature horses – I have cats,” Whoopi explained Wednesday. “I’ve adopted cats from various shelters. I love my animals, but I also believe that if there’s a problem out there that we can address by checking out where it stems from, that we need to take a look at this in this high profile area so we can market for the future. That was my point.”

The Survey Says...Go To Jail!

2007-08-31T13:01:00.000-07:00

And just who are these fans that want to send Vick
prison? Chances are they are white suburbanites
that don't want to see a black man succeed in the NFL.
How would they have voted had Vick been white? Well
I think we know the answer to that story. So what do you
think about this bruha, lets hear from ya.

According to a Gallup Poll survey released Wednesday, an overwhelming majority of fans want Michael Vick to do prison time after pleading guilty to a federal dogfighting charge this week.

Fans also want the suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback to receive a permanent ban from the National Football League, according to the survey that polled 1,001 adults via telephone interviews from Aug. 23 to 26.

According to the poll, taken after widespread news reports that he would plead guilty in the case, 58 percent said he should not be allowed to play in the NFL anymore. Only 22 percent said they would want the team they root for to try to acquire him should he return.

In addition, 35 percent said they believe he should serve a long prison sentence, 51 percent said they favored a short one, and 12 percent said they believe he should not serve any time.

2007-08-31T12:44:00.000-07:00

According to a Gallup Poll survey released Wednesday, an overwhelming majority of fans want Michael Vick to do prison time after pleading guilty to a federal dogfighting charge this week.

In addition, 35 percent said they believe he should serve a long prison sentence, 51 percent said they favored a short one, and 12 percent said they believe he should not serve any time.

Immigration Coverup?

2007-08-29T13:29:00.000-07:00

Looks as if the Immigration Department is playing
a game of hide and seek with potential witnesses
in a case involving the death of an inmate. After
you read the article below give us your take on
the issue.

Two civil rights groups have urged the Department of Homeland Security to investigate the death of a transgender inmate at a San Pedro immigration detention center on grounds that the 23-year-old with AIDS was denied vital medical treatment.

In a letter sent to the department's Office of Inspector General on Monday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and New York-based Human Rights Watch also called for an inquiry into the apparent transfer to other immigration facilities of more than 20 detainees who saw the events leading up to the death of Victor Arellano on July 20.

The transfers, according to the organizations, occurred less than 24 hours before a Human Rights Watch official went to the San Pedro facility to interview some of the detainees.

Two of the witnesses were moved to an immigration facility in Texas, and the whereabouts of the others are unknown, the organizations said.

"The transfer of those witnesses not only affects their ability to defend themselves by disrupting access to family and legal counsel, but makes it more difficult to interview them for an investigation into Arellano's death," said Megan McLemore, the Human Rights Watch researcher.

She visited the facility on Aug. 22 and was one of the letter's authors. McLemore said she visited the San Pedro facility to interview two other HIV/AIDS patients and Arellano's cellmates as part of a report on medical care for such patients in detention.

But upon her arrival, she said, she discovered that more than 20 witnesses, all of whom had signed a petition protesting Arellano's treatment, had been transferred. Arellano's death has sparked an outcry among immigration rights officials and organizations that monitor the health of prisoners in federal and state facilities nationwide. About 30,000 illegal immigrants are in detention facilities throughout the country.

Two other unrelated deaths of detainees earlier this year triggered an investigation by the Office of the Inspector General into the quality of medical care at federal detention centers, a spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Los Angeles) confirmed Tuesday.

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"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/

Canada Makeds It Difficult For Rappers!

2007-08-27T13:50:00.000-07:00

At least that's according to a record executive so he's
subpoenaed a number of celebrities to testify at his
upcoming lawsuit if federal court. Your comments
are always welcomed.

*Oprah Winfrey, Condoleezza Rice, Snoop Dogg and Diddy are among the list of celebrities who have been subpoenaed in a racial profiling case in a Michigan Federal Court, reports TMZ.com.

The stars were commanded to appear for depositions in a lawsuit filed by Jerome Almon, who claims that Canada unfairly detains black rappers at the border. Almon alleges that Canadaian officials blame rappers for the increase in gang crime and gun violence in Toronto and Vancouver.

Other celebs subpoenaed for the case include Paris Hilton, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, DMX, Diddy, Jenna Jameson, Jay Z, 50 Cent, Eminem, Kobe Bryant, Spike Lee, Tom Sizemore, Martha Stewart and Heidi Fleiss.

Atlanta Wants To Outlaw Baggy Pants

2007-08-23T15:00:00.000-07:00

It's been tried before and failed so Atlanta wants
to give it a shot. But when you consider the current
conservative justices on the Supreme court this law
may have a chance. Do you think that the law goes
a little to far? After reading the article below feel free
to put in your two-cents on this issue.

Baggy pants that show boxer shorts or thongs would be illegal under a proposed amendment to Atlanta's indecency laws.

The amendment, sponsored by city councilman C.T. Martin, states that sagging pants are an "epidemic" that is becoming a "major concern" around the country.

"Little children see it and want to adopt it, thinking it's the in thing," Martin said Wednesday. "I don't want young people thinking that half-dressing is the way to go. I want them to think about their future."

The proposed ordinance would also bar women from showing the strap of a thong beneath their pants. They would also be prohibited from wearing jogging bras in public or show a bra strap, said Debbie Seagraves, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia.

The proposed ordinance states that "the indecent exposure of his or her undergarments" would be unlawful in a public place. It would go in the same portion of the city code that outlaws sex in public and the exposure or fondling of genitals.

The penalty would be a fine in an amount to be determined, Martin said.

But Seagraves said any legislation that creates a dress code would not survive a court challenge. She said the law could not be enforced in a nondiscriminatory way because it targets something that came out of the black youth culture.

"This is a racial profiling bill that promotes and establishes a framework for an additional type of racial profiling," Seagraves said

This Article Continues Here

Get your copy of the award winning King:
"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/

Vick May Face Prison

2007-08-20T15:49:00.000-07:00

Micheal Vick has agreed to a deal and prison time may
be part of the package. After reading the article below we
ask should Vick spend time in prison? Your comments are
welcomed.

Michael Vick has agreed to plead guilty to the federal dogfighting charges against him under a deal reached today between his attorneys and prosecutors, his lawyer said.

"Michael is prepared to take full responsibility for allowing any and all of this to happen," Vick's Washington-based attorney, William R. (Billy) Martin, said in a telephone interview. "He needs to put all of this behind him. He's 27 years old and he has a full life ahead of him. He wants to get back to the life he had before these issues."

Martin said that the Atlanta Falcons quarterback decided to accept the plea deal after talking to family members over the weekend. He declined to comment on the terms of the plea agreement.

But a source familiar with the case, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the terms of the deal were to be kept confidential, said that Vick likely will serve 12 to 18 months in prison.

Vick and his attorneys are scheduled to appear in federal court in Richmond next Monday. The deal still must be approved by the judge in the case and could collapse at any point until then.

Vick's three co-defendants in the case previously agreed to plead guilty and cooperate with the prosecution.

Vick was charged with helping to operate a dogfighting ring based at a property owned by him in southeastern Virginia. He had been scheduled to go on trial Nov. 26.

State charges against Vick remain possible, and a source said that this deal with federal prosecutors does not address the issue of state charges.

NFL discipline against Vick is pending and likely will be determined, a source said, after Vick meets with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. Last month, Goodell ordered Vick not to report to the Falcons' training camp and announced that Vick's playing status would be determined by a review being conducted by Washington attorney Eric Holder.

Imus Is Bigger Than Ever!

2007-08-14T13:22:00.000-07:00

When we came out in protest against Don Imus for
his sarcastic remarks about the Rutgers Women's
basketball team we really thought that we were
doing something good for our people. Well it looks
as if this whole Imus issue has backfired on us and
all we really did was give the man a paid vacation
and made him more in demand. After reading the
article below what should we do the next time an
issue like this arises?

NEW YORK -- U.S. broadcaster CBS has settled its termination dispute with fired radio shock jock Don Imus, the company said today, a possible step toward Imus going to work for a rival broadcaster.Imus was fired in April after referring to a mostly black university women's basketball team with a racial slur, generating a storm of controversy that led CBS Radio to cancel his popular "Imus in the Morning" show.

The Imus show was produced and broadcast by CBS-owned WFAN radio station in New York and syndicated on some 60 other stations across the United States. The show was also simulcast on cable television's MSNBC.CBS and MSNBC first decided to suspend Imus' show for two weeks after he said the Rutgers University women's basketball team looked like "nappy-headed hos."

"Nappy" is an antiquated term referring to coarse, curly hair, and "ho" is slang for whore.As calls to fire Imus grew, notably from New York civil rights leader Al Sharpton, MSNBC canceled the Imus show and CBS did so the next day."Don Imus and CBS Radio have mutually agreed to settle claims that each had against the other regarding the Imus radio program on CBS. The terms of the settlement are confidential and will not be disclosed," CBS said in a statement.

WFAN announced today that former NFL quarterback and CBS sports broadcaster Boomer Esiason, and Craig Carton, an afternoon FM talk radio host, would host a show that takes over Imus's former weekday morning time slot from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m.Imus had threatened to sue CBS for breach of contract and hired famed lawyer Martin Garbus, who once represented politically incorrect comedian Lenny Bruce in the 1960s.

This Article Continues Here

Get your copy of the award winning King:
"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/

Rev. Moss A Man For The Masses?

2007-08-13T14:01:00.000-07:00

His appeal and influnce is growing more and more
everyday and his secret is in his rap or use of rap
lyrics. Rev. Otis Moss will take over the the pulpit
of Trinity United Church Of Christ in 2008. Read
the article below and get to know the charismatic
Rev Moss who is definetly a man of the future.

The Rev. Otis Moss III is striking in a raw way. Broad-faced, boyish and slender, the 36-year-old preacher looks more like a man who is consumed with fashion than the fate of sinners.

But when he steps into the large pulpit of Trinity United Church of Christ -- the South Side church that presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) calls home -- and begins to preach, all eyes are drawn to him.

"JE-sus is the one who puts the devil in his p-la-ce," Moss says, stretching "place" into three syllables. The choir standing behind him, more than 100 strong, seems to fade away. Moss holds a microphone in one hand and moves his free hand to the beat of his sermon. He seems incapable of uttering a dead sentence.

For the next hour, Moss rolls Scripture and hip-hop lyrics around in the same thoughts as he criticizes the mind-set of young black males who'd rather play basketball than learn physics. He goes after Bush administration policies, the war in Iraq and the United States' free-market economy.

Such talk in any of the white churches across town would make the congregation squirm. Not so at Trinity, where the words are met with exuberant clapping, standing ovations and loud exclamations of "Yes, pastor!"

Named one of the "Twenty to Watch" ministers under 40 by the African American Pulpit magazine and one of the most influential African American religious leaders by the Web site Beliefnet.com, Moss was handpicked by Trinity's senior pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., to succeed him in 2008 because of Moss's growing reputation in reaching inner-city youths.

This Article Continues Here

Get your copy of the award winning King:
"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/

Local Chapter Wants to Rein-In President

2007-08-10T12:47:00.000-07:00

One local president of the NAACP has made the the cardinal
mistake of mpissing off his local membership and may pay the
ultimate price. By turning the presidency to a monarch Wayne
Jearld may soon find himself impeached. Check out the article
below and then feel free to add your two-cents.

Members of the Anne Arundel NAACP chapter are moving to oust their leader, accusing him of ruling autocratically and refusing to work with other community groups and activists.
Many of the area's most prominent civil rights leaders have turned against President Wayne Jearld since he became president of the local chapter in January, including some who supported him and helped him win that office.

In recent weeks, the chapter's executive committee approved a no-confidence vote in him. Members then circulated a petition seeking his resignation. They needed 20 signatures to start the impeachment process and received 44.
Jearld did not respond to calls for comment but said publicly last month that he plans to serve out his two-year term.

The petition has been forwarded to the national office of the NAACP in Baltimore, where officials will review it and decide how to proceed. A spokesman for the national office did not return calls from The Washington Post.

In the past, there have been controversies, such as challenges to the results of leadership elections. But this is the first time in the local chapter's history that its leader has been brought into the impeachment process, according to George Phelps Jr., an executive committee member.

The local chapter, and the national organization as a whole, has struggled in recent years with flagging membership and budget shortfalls.

This Article Continues Here

Get your copy of the award winning King:
"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/