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African American news for the week of April 30, 2015

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Alabama

A former African American state trooper has issued a letter that advises Blacks, “Don’t run from police.” Orrin “Checkmate” Hudson, a native of Birmingham and an Alabama state trooper for seven years, had the letter published in the Frost Illustrated in Fort Worth, Ind. “I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: in a situation with the police, it’s not immediately about being right or wrong, it’s about staying alive. If the police are making a wrongful arrest, this can be corrected at a safer time,” Hudson wrote. In addition to “Don’t run,” Hudson also advised to show respect, keep hands where they can be seen and remember that “you have the right to remain silent.” He wrote, “Keeping quiet protects you legally, and also keeps the situation calm and peaceful.” Hudson says if you are stopped for a traffic ticket, just sign the ticket and leave. Arguing is not going to change the cop’s mind.

California

Frenswa Raynor will receive a $230,000 settlement from the city of Oakland for a shooting involving area police in which he nearly died two years ago. The Oakland City Council OK’d the settlement last week. When the incident occurred, he was just 16. Police responded to a report that Black teens had robbed a restaurant worker at knifepoint. A person who said he saw the incident directed cops to Raynor and his friends. When the teens were confronted by Officer Bryan Clifford, he fired at Raynor because, he claimed, the young man moved his hand at his waistband. Raynor survived and he and his friends were found innocent. One of the teens with Raynor received $45,000 as well.

Florida

A sheriff’s deputy in Lee County was fired last week after an investigation alleges that he didn’t immediately take a         9-1-1 call so he could finish eating his pizza. According to WZVN-TV, Deputy Yvan Fernandez’s failure to respond quickly resulted in the death of a Black woman having a heart attack. He took the call from dispatch while having lunch with two other officers, but after eight minutes, he still had not left the restaurant, although at that time he said to dispatch, “Copy,” according to the investigation. It was almost an hour later before an officer made it to the home, and when the officer arrived, Gwen Minnis, 48, had died from a heart attack.

Georgia

Damon Clay, 17, is in intensive care at Grady Hospital in Atlanta after someone reportedly poured a pot of boiling rice on him while he was sleeping. He is in a medically induced coma, because he is suffering with 70 percent of his body covered in burns. The youngster was apparently attacked last week by two other teens—Quintavious Barber, 19, and Malik Moton, 18—who claim Clay stole a PlayStation 3. The two face charges of aggravated assault and cruelty to a child.

Illinois

A 15-year-old is in custody after his mother turned him into police. DeShawn Isabelle will be charged as an adult with sexual assault and robbery. His mother saw video of the attack, recognized him and called police. The assault took place on a Chicago train where the victim and Isabelle were the only passengers. In addition to sexually assaulting her, the teen kicked and punched the 41-year-old woman and the stole cash and an iPhone. When police arrested him, Isabelle allegedly told police that he spent the money on Air Jordan attire and sweets.

Maryland

The U.S. Department of Justice has opened an investigation into the death of Freddie Gray, a Black man who died of spinal injuries he suffered while being transported in a police van in Baltimore. Meanwhile, thousands of protestors took to the streets of the city

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last weekend in an effort to force city officials to charge the police officers involved in Gray’s arrest and subsequent death. Police clashed with some of the protestors and numerous arrests were made. While many of the protests were peaceful, some were violent, even to the point where the peaceful protestors tried to keep the others in check. Riots also broke out on Monday following Gray’s funeral.

Nevada

Kevin Hart was all smiles on the red carpet and as he accepted his award at the Cinema Con Achievement Awards in Las Vegas. Hart

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was named Comedy Actor of the Year. The awards ceremony took place at Caesar’s Palace , after four days of movie previews, panel discussions and demonstrations of new technology and products related to the movie industry.

New Jersey

Daria Rose, a Black teen who survived Hurricane Sandy, has been accepted into seven Ivy League colleges. She and her family lost everything after the devastating storm, and had to live in hotels and with family for months. Rose, however, told WABC-TV 7 that she never gave up. “It’s easy to say I’m just going to lay here in a ball and cry, and wallow in my own self pity.” Her mother supported her and despite the hardships, still made sure Daria got up and “put one foot in front of the other.” The teen used her experiences as the subject of application essays, along with maintaining her high school grades, and the acceptance letters rolled in, including ones from Harvard, Brown and Princeton.

New York

There’s a saying that goes something like… “if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.” And at the young age of 17, that seems to be the philosophy Nosa Akol lives by. The National 4-H Council has chosen her as its 2015 Youth in Action award honoree. Akol, from Binghamton, has already been the solution to problems that have plagued her personally as well as her community. “Through the work that I will do in my life, I want to be known as the person who saw an issue, became the change, and did something about it,” she told NBC News this week. Now a senior at Binghamton High School, Akol came to the U.S. from Sudan when she was just five. Most of her life, she has dedicated herself to community improvement projects, some of which she initiated herself. When she was in sixth grade, she was the target of bullies because of her dark skin. But she says the situation actually enlightened about the ways of the world, and she became determined to have an impact on the way others in the world are treated. “That time taught me to be careful with what I say to others. And to be sensitive to people’s feelings,” she says. Akol, who was chosen from a field of 80 candidates, will receive a $10,000 scholarship. She will receive her award in Washington, D.C., at the 4-H’s annual Legacy Awards.

Harlem-based National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC) has selected four winners of its inaugural program fund and incubator for TV, web and multimedia projects. This is the culmination of a seven-month effort to bring fresh Black stories, both fiction and nonfiction, to fruition. The winners—selected from eight production teams participating in NBPC’s intensive, six-week incubator—emerged after battling it out at the Pitch Black pitching session at the Greene Space at WNYC/WQXR. The event drew the top names in public television, including CPB, PBS, World Channel, ITVS, POV and WNET, but also saw attendance from HBO, A&E, Fox, BET, Tribeca All Access and Third World Newsreel. Awardees include: “My Africa Is” by Nosarieme Garrick and Hassatou Diallo, a TV series tapping into the dynamic and diverse stories of African youth culture; “Street Cred” by Sultan Sharrief  and Oren Goldenberg, a broadcast TV series that challenges Detroit High School students to learn entertainment producing skills and compete for a chance at a dream internship; “Pops” by Garland McLaurin and Jason Samuels, a humorous, enlightening and engaging exploration of fatherhood as experienced by three African American men; and “Pixie Dust” by Damon Colquhoun and Shertease Wheeler, a scripted web series that follows a teenage girl whose mentally ill mother stops taking her medication. Next steps for the winners include developing their pilots over the next six months. Once pilots have been completed, the winning production teams, with the support of NBPC will then pursue broadcast and distribution opportunities for the programs.

The current Museum of Modern Art exhibition, “One-Way Ticket: Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series and Other Visions of the Great Movement North,” expands uptown, beyond the museum’s galleries, with the launch of a self-guided walking tour that explores the Harlem that nurtured Lawrence as a young artist in the 1930s. Featuring commentary from cultural leaders working there today, the audio tour puts Harlem’s past and present into dialogue. It is available at http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2015/onewayticket/walking-tour/. The tour introduces audiences to people and places that helped shape Lawrence’s perspective as an artist, and visits artworks related to the exhibition that can only be seen at their locations in Harlem, such as Aaron Douglas’s landmark mural cycle at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, his mural at the YMCA on 135th Street, and Charles Alston’s recently restored murals at the Harlem Hospital Center. Together, the stops on the walking tour create a portrait of how the Great Migration unfolded in Harlem, and how it came to be the subject of Lawrence’s work.

Ohio

Bill Withers was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland last week. Inducted by Stevie Wonder, the 76-year old R&B singer and songwriter told the crowd of 10,000 music lovers, “I’m honored to be this year’s oldest living solo inductee.” Other musicians inducted with Withers included Ringo Starr, Lou Reed, Green Day, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Stevie Ray Vaughn and

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Double Trouble, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and the 5 Royales. Withers lent his voice to the NAACP Reads campaign in the summer of 2014 to promote reading literacy. The NAACP Reads campaign “Readers are Leaders” is airing on more than 300 radio stations nationwide. In addition to Withers, national radio spots were also voiced by Tatyana Ali, Jagged Edge, Jermaine Dupri, Bishop Charles E. Blake and others. To hear these celebrities  encourage parents to read to their children every day, go to www.naacp.org/pages/naacpreads.

Virginia

The jail in Fairfax County has banned the use of Tasers after the death of a shackled Black woman. Natasha McKenna, who had a history of mental illness, was stunned four times by deputies and died several days later. Apparently, they were trying to get her into a vehicle to transport her to another jail. After being Tasered, McKenna reportedly stopped breathing. She was taken to a hospital and died five days later. A statement from the police said: “When an unusual event occurs, it is standard practice to review specific policy and procedures in reference to that event. Due to the recent incident, we are focused on the Taser policy and, as you are now aware, have temporarily suspended the use of this device, pending completion of our review.” The Washington Post reports that it obtained a document that indicates that McKenna was shackled when she was stunned as police were reportedly attempting to get her to bend her legs so that they could place her in a restraining chair. McKenna reportedly suffered from schizophrenia.

National

Wade Henderson, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, has announced the organization’s support of the introduction of the End Racial Profiling Act (ERPA) by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) “The Leadership Conference thanks Sen. Cardin and Rep. Conyers for re-introducing ERPA today and taking this vital step toward ending racial profiling in America. Racial profiling robs people of their dignity, undermines the integrity of our criminal justice system and instills fear and distrust among members of targeted communities.” The coalition is charged by its diverse membership to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. For more information, visit www.civilrights.org.

Compiled by Carol Ozemhoya.

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