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African American news for the week of Jan. 29, 2015.

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Maxine Waters (118899)
Maxine Waters

California

Rep. Maxine Waters has been honored by the YoYo School of Hip Hop, founded by Grammy-nominated rapper Yolanda “YoYo” Whitaker, during its semi-formal “I Have a Dream” Winter Affair in support of the school’s summer program based in Los Angeles and in Highland Park, Mich. The goal of the YoYo School of Hip Hop is to transform the lives of youth through academic excellence and engagement in the creative arts. Whitaker, who also serves as the organization’s executive director, has been a friend of Rep. Waters since the Congresswoman’s initial “Young Gifted and Black” town hall series. Whitaker participated in one of the first forums of Hip Hop artists with members of Congress on rap music and censorship. “YoYo’s career and life is an inspiration to me. She has touched so many lives with her gifts and talents, and I firmly believe she has made a real difference in the lives of the children she has mentored over the years,” Waters commented.


Larry Wilmore, who splits his time between Los Angeles and New York City, had a stunning debut as host of “The Nightly Show” on Comedy Central. The seasoned satirist, television producer and writer, and author won an Emmy for his part in writing and producing “The Bernie Mac Show.” He is also a Peabody Award winner and has worked on shows such as “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” “Black-ish” and “The Office.” He replaces Stephen Colbert, who will be replacing David Letterman later this year. Wilmore’s focus is on race relations, which he tackles with humor and news, as well as guest stars, such as Soledad O’Brien, Talib Kweli and Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey. The panel changes each night, as well as the topics of conversation, which have included Bill Cosby, the president and the relationship of police and African Americans. “The Nightly Show” is on Mon.- Fri. at 6 p.m. as a lead-in to the “Daily Show” with Jon Stewart.

Illinois

Chicago Cubs legend Ernie Banks died last week at age 83. Banks was nicknamed “Mr. Cub,” because he spent his 19-year career playing shortstop/first base for the storied Chicago team. He was the team’s first Black player and was selected to the All Star team 14 times. He also won the National League MVP award in 1958 and 1959, won the Golden Glove in 1960 and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1977 in his first year of eligibility with nearly 84 percent of the vote. President Barack Obama presented Banks with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013.

New Jersey

Another Black man has been gunned down by police, this time in Bridgeton during a traffic stop. One of the officers involved in the shooting is White and one is African American. A video, taken by the patrol car’s dash camera, shows the officers pulling over a Jaguar for running a stop sign. One of the cops said that he spotted a gun in the glove compartment of the vehicle and yelled, “He’s got a gun” to his partner. The passenger in the car got out of the car, although one of the officers is heard yelling, “Don’t you f..cking move!” The man, identified as Jerame Reid, exited the car, raised his hands to shoulder level, but the officers opened fire, killing him. Both the driver and the passenger were Black. The release of the video has caused tension in the small community of 25,000, which is mostly African American, according to the Huffington Post. “The video speaks for itself that at no point was Jermaine Reid a threat and he possessed no weapon on his person,” Walter Hudson, chairman and founder of the civil rights group the National Awareness Alliance, said in a statement. “He complied with the officer and the officer shot him.” Officer Braheme Days, who spotted the gun, is Black. He was familiar with Reid, because he was one of the officers who had arrested the dead man last year for drug possession and obstruction. Reid once served 13 years in prison for shooting at cops when he was a teenager. Residents of Bridgeton, as well as Reid’s wife, are asking the state attorney general’s office to investigate the incident.

New York

Prominent New York Times journalist Charles M. Blow is expressing outrage after his son was reportedly stopped at gunpoint by Yale University police. Blow’s son is a third-year chemistry major at the prestigious college. The writer said his son was stopped because he “fit the description” of a suspect. He was released when the officers realized he was a college student. “He’s shaken, but I’m fuming!” Blow said. He also tweeted, “Can’t Breathe” and “Black Lives Matter,” which referenced the recent senseless killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and Eric Garner in New York City. “This is why I have no patience for people trying to convince me that the fear these young Black men feel isn’t real,” he added, also tweeting “Racial Battle Fatigue.” Yale police said they had received phone calls from students saying that there was a Black male entering their rooms under suspicious circumstances. The real suspect was apprehended on another campus and charged with felony burglary. An internal review of the incident with Blow’s son will be conducted by the Yale Police chief’s office.


Michelle Williams, a solo artist and previous member of multi-platinum group Destiny’s Child (with Beyoncé and Kelly Rowland), told off Mike Huckabee (former governor of Arkansas and a presidential candidate) on “The View” last week. Huckabee has previously expressed his opinion that President Barack and Michelle Obama shouldn’t let their kids listen to Hip Hop, and specifically, Beyoncé. Williams was on “The View” as a co-host the day that Huckabee was a guest promoting his book, “God, Guns, Grits and Gravy.” Huckabee also went so far as to call Beyoncé’s husband—Jay Z—a “pimp.” He said was that because she is a role model, she shouldn’t do songs such as “Drunk in Love.” Williams responded. “You know what, you definitely can’t mess with her,” the singer said, sticking up for her friend and peer before defending her success. “But as someone who has definitely come up in a group with her, has seen her hard work and who she is, I just feel like, you know, that album and those songs—it’s that one moment where she decided to probably do some songs she’s always wanted to do to shed that ‘I’m a good girl image.’ She had some freedom and she owned it and she took it, so I was definitely offended. I’m not the Carter spokesperson, but to hear some of those comments that you said I thought was very, very, very low.” Huckabee was also called out for his comments by Jon Stewart, the host of the popular “Daily Show” on Comedy Central.

Nevada

Former Las Vegas resident and music industry icon Jack “the Rapper” Gibson is the subject of new book written by Walker Smith, an African American writer. Smith is an accomplished author (“The Color Line”) and writer who has contributed to magazines such as African Voices and Vertigo. Gibson was a renowned Black music and radio executive who broke ground as the first Black man to buy a commercial radio station, and also as a innovator in bringing Black music and radio executives together to celebrate Black music and radio’s rich heritage. “Mello Yello, the Incredible Life Story of Jack the Rapper” comes out in February, some 15 years after Gibson’s death. While there were other African American radio personalities before him, none of them held the distinction of being the voice of the first Black-owned radio station in the United States. He turned on the microphone and uttered three historic words: “We are here.” The books chronicles Gibson’s incredible life, beginning with childhood remembrances of Marcus Garvey in the 1920s and other prominent African American personalities of the 20th century that he encountered. Gibson is known to have opened doors and launched the careers of several noted radio personalities and superstars, starting in 1949, when he and J.B. Blayton established the first Black-owned radio station in the U.S.—Atlanta’s WERD. Gibson’s most long-reaching achievement, however, was the annual Black music convention he called “The Family Affair.” As founder and organizer, Gibson not only provided the ultimate springboard for new talent, but he established a forum for discussions, which culminated in sweeping changes for African Americans in radio and the recording industry. The book is available on Amazon and in book stores.

North Carolina

The popular television shows “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Scandal” and “How to Get Away With Murder” that comprise ABC’s Thursday night primetime viewing have become “must-see TV” for millions of Americans. All are produced by Black screenwriter Shonda Rhimes. A symposium conducted by Durham-based Duke University will be held Jan. 29-30 to explore Rhimes’ impact on mainstream television through her inclusion of richly drawn, complex Black female characters such as Olivia Pope on “Scandal.” Pope, played by actress Kerry Washington, is the first Black female lead of a primetime drama since the mid-1970s. “ShondaLand, the Symposium,” named for Rhimes’ production company, will bring together female scholars in the fields of history, women’s studies, law, cultural studies, gender and sexuality studies, Black diaspora studies and media studies to explore the implications of Rhimes’ work. The symposium is co-sponsored by the Duke Forum for Scholars and Publics, the Center for Arts, Digital Culture and Entrepreneurship, and the Durham County Library. For more information, visit the Duke Forum for Scholars and Publics website.


Duke is also honoring historian John Hope Franklin on his 100th birthday with a year-long series of events, which kicked off this week. “John Hope Franklin@100: Scholar, Activist, Citizen” started Wednesday with an event featuring Vernon Jordan, a civil rights activist, attorney, former adviser to President Bill Clinton and a personal friend of the Franklin family. Jordan discussed the way Franklin, who died on March 25, 2009, at age 94, changed American universities in the 20th century. In addition to Duke, North Carolina Central University and the Durham County Library have organized events for the John Hope Franklin Centenary celebration. For more information on the John Hope Franklin Centenary, including updates and a complete listing of events, visit jhf100.duke.edu.

Texas

A woman in Houston couldn’t find a man to marry by the time she was 40, so she married herself. Earlier this month, Yasmin Eleby had a wedding. The ceremony was conducted by her sister, an ordained minister, and she had 10 bridesmaids. Her mom “gave her away” and the event included a wedding cake, candlelit ceremony and a wedding singer and band. It all took place at the Houston Museum of African American Culture.

National

Fifty years after what was considered a controversial report on the state of the Black family, a significant portion of young Blacks are unemployed or registered for college or vocational training. It was 1965, when Daniel Patrick Moynihan issued “The Negro Family: The Case For National Action,” which has also been referred to as “The Moynihan Report.” The outlook for Black families, particularly Black men, was dire, and today it remains so, and in some situations, worse. On the 50th anniversary of the Moynihan report, Harvard colleagues have issued their own report that concludes that as many as 32 percent of Black males are unemployed or not in school beyond high school. According to the 2015 report, Black youth are five times more likely to be confined to prison that their White counterparts.  In fact, Blacks make up nearly half of people incarcerated in the U.S. One interesting aspect of the recent report is that 37 percent of Black males in jail are high school dropouts. “Moynihan’s call for an expansion of such things as youth employment opportunities, improvement in high-quality education programs, greater housing options and a broadening of income supplements to combat inequality is as pertinent today as it was in 1965,” the authors of the 2015 report concluded. “The problems are still there, 50 years after Moynihan’s report, and as urgent now as ever.” You can read the report, “Black Men and the Struggle for Work: Social and Economic Barriers,” online at www.educationnext.org.


The Supreme Court’s latest case involving the issue of race is being heard and decided on now. Two days after the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, the court began hearing arguments in the Texas case that many fear could hurt the Fair Housing Act. The case, Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. The Inclusive Communities Project, concerns whether the Fair Housing Act, which sought to end the longstanding segregation of America’s neighborhoods, should be read to only bar intentional discrimination. For four decades, federal courts have held that the law should be interpreted more broadly, ruling again and again that if the policies of governmental agencies, banks or private real estate companies unjustifiably perpetuate segregation, regardless of their intent, they could be found in violation of the Fair Housing Act. All 11 of the federal circuit courts that have considered the question have seen it that way. As well, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the agency charged with administering the act, issued a regulation enshrining the principle in 2013. The nation’s highest court won’t typically intervene in cases unless there’s been disagreement in the lower courts. But this court appears determined to have its say on the housing issue and the legal theory that has come to be known as “disparate impact.” The Texas case marks the third effort in as many years by the current justices to consider the intent and reach of the housing act.


In recognition of African American Heritage Month (February), an all-new season of “America ReFramed” continues with three, new powerful films on race-based issues. America ReFramed is the World Channel’s independent film series co-produced with American Documentary Inc. (AmDoc, producers of the acclaimed POV documentary series on PBS). POV (Point of View) is dedicated to presenting personal viewpoints and a range of voices on the nation’s social shifts. February kicks off with “Our Mockingbird” on Feb. 3, documenting the transformational experiences of teens from two extraordinarily different high schools in Birmingham—one all Black and one all White—that collaborate on a production of the play, “To Kill a Mockingbird.” For more listings and information, visit http://worldchannel.org/programs/season/america-reframed-s3/

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