Alabama
Birmingham City Councilman Jay Roberson has put up a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of whoever is responsible for the death of Charlie Fuller, 86. According to police, the elderly man died after he was robbed and hit in the head. “It is with a heavy heart and prayers for the Fuller family that I am writing you in offering support in the investigation of finding Mr. Charlie Fuller’s killer,” Roberson said in a statement. “Mr. Fuller was a well respected man in our community and this insensible act of robbing an 86-year-old man in his own yard is uncalled for.” Police believe Fuller was attacked in his yard while feeding his dogs.
California
The state is sending the largest delegation ever to the Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools national training in Tennessee this summer. More than 300 college students, graduates, teachers, probation officers, artists and non- profit partners will build skills to empower children through the organization’s summer program. “The Ella Baker Child Policy Training Institute provides the methodological, philosophical and moral foundation for the CDF Freedom Schools program,” said Alex Johnson, executive director of the Children’s Defense Fund, California. “Participants not only develop the skills and knowledge necessary to operate a successful program site back in their community, but they also come away with a clear vision for what they want for children and the courage to bring that vision into reality.”
Georgia
Orrin Hudson, founder of Atlanta-based non-profit Be Someone, has started a fundraising campaign to launch workshops to teach teens how to survive police brutality and how to interact with law enforcement. Hudson wants to take the workshops to Baltimore, Ferguson and other cities, including his hometown of Atlanta. Hudson, a chess champ, intends to use his knowledge of the game to teach young people how to think ahead before making decisions. To learn more about Hudson, Be Someone and the Police Brutality Survival workshops, got to www.BeSomeone.org.
Illinois
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel had one thing to say to one of the cops fired for posting a racist photo last week— “good riddance.” The two officers—Jerome Finnigan and Timorthy McDermott—are under fire after posing with rifles as they stood over a Black man who is lying on the ground with deer antlers on his head. According to the Chicago Sun Times, the photo was taken more than 10
years ago. “Let me be clear,” Emanuel told reporters. “That photo does not represent the values of the city of Chicago that we all share in common. It doesn’t represent the values of the police department.” He also said the two don’t belong in the police department. The Sun Times published the photo this week after a Cook County judge declined to keep it a secret. The photo was reportedly given to the city by federal officers in 2013 as part of records from a drug bust that took place more than a decade ago. McDermott was fired and Finnegan is serving 12 years in prison, after being found guilty of leading a crew of rogue cops in robberies, home invasions and other crimes.
Indiana
One woman went to the hospital from a stab wound and another one was arrested, after the two got into a fight over the last rib at a barbecue in Muncie, according to Fox 59. The fight took place on a recent Sunday night when police were called to a house on North Turner Street. The police report says one of the women said she was stabbed with a fork in the eye by Sabrina Davis, a friend of the family who was holding the gathering. “She was upset that Davis was taking the last rib from the kitchen,” read the report. “She then confronted Davis about taking all the food.” The victim said Davis was using a fork to extract the rib from a pan when she turned and used it to stab the victim, who was taken to the hospital and treated for laceration and a swollen eye. Davis told the cops that she was acting in self-defense, claiming that the victim had pulled out a knife. One woman who witnessed the fight called it “embarrassing,” while a neighbor told Fox 59, “It was just so ridiculous… Barbecue is good and all, but it’s not worth sticking somebody in the eye with a fork, you know?”
Maryland
Small businesses in Baltimore will have access to additional resources from the SBA to rebuild after the civil unrest last month in the city. “The SBA is a small agency chartered with helping small businesses, but these businesses play the biggest role of any American instirution when it come to job creation,” said Maria Contreras-Sweet, SBA administrator. “SBA is committed to empowering Baltimore’s entrepreneurs to rebuild and restore their potential.” The special package consist up of four parts: additional funding for microloans and PRIME grants, technical assistance and government contracting emphasis, an increase in entrepreneurial development funding, and a targeted push to bring high-tech innovation to Baltimore. For information on the package, go to http://1.usa.gov/1JchrUR.
Michigan
A former cop from Inkster will stand trial for beating an unarmed Black man during a traffic stop, according to the Huffington Post. The incident was caught on dash cam video. William Melendez, an ex-policeman with the Inkster Police Department, was fired and held for trial on felony charges of misconduct in office and assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder. In addition, he is charged with assault by strangulation in the case of Floyd Dent. “I went to the ground, [and Melendez] started choking me,” testified Dent, 57, the only witness at last week’s preliminary hearing. “He choked me so hard that I couldn’t breathe. … Then he started, he started beating me in the right side of my head.” Dent, who was hesitant and soft-spoken on the witness stand, was hospitalized for three days after the beating. The city has already agreed to a settlement with Dent.
New York
Five people were arrested last weekend in Brooklyn while filming a rap video featuring Ja Rule, Busta Rhymes and French Montana. Two women and three men, including the security guard on the set, are facing drug and weapons charges. According to the New York Daily News, cocaine, molly and marijuana were found as well. According to police, the people under arrest included Frank
Bartlett, a 35-year-old security guard who had a firearm in his waistband; 32-year-old Ronald James, who was seen passing a Derringer pistol to his girlfriend, Ebonee Eastmond, 27, – who was also arrested; and Edward Elkins, who had a semiautomatic pistol in a shopping bag between his feet. Wendy Miranda, 30, was also placed under arrest, when officers discovered a 32-caliber revolver near her. Coke Boy Records was responsible for the video shoot, which was intended to be a tribute to rapper Chinx, who was killed last month during a drive-by in Queens. Police say they went to the scene after being called by area residents who reported seeing weapons and drugs at the shoot.
“Harlem on My Plate,” the new documentary short-film written, directed and produced by Rochelle Brown and Sonia Armstead of Powerhouse Productions, screened at a premiere event at the world-renowned Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture last month. In addition to celebrating Harlem’s vibrant history of food and culture captured in the film, the event recognized the Center’s recent national medal from the Institute for Museum and Library Services. The film explores the great migration of African Americans from the South to Harlem in the early 1900s to the renowned Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s, as well as the preservation of recipes and traditions as it relates to the New Food Renaissance in Harlem. Eateries such as the pioneering Sylvia’s and other popular restaurants have all contributed to the evolution of Harlem, establishing the community as a top culinary destination. The history of Harlem’s food renaissance has remained at the center of the past, present, cultural, social and economic growth of Harlem.
Columbia University’s Rare Book and Manuscript Library has acquired the archive of pioneering ballet dancer, artistic director and choreographer Arthur Mitchell. “I believe that dance, and the arts more broadly, can be used as a catalyst for social change—this is why I started the Dance Theatre of Harlem,” said Mitchell. The collection contains photographs, posters, programs, clippings, correspondence, early film footage and video content that tell the story of Mitchell’s acclaimed career, which helped change the landscape of ballet in America. He was the first African American principal dancer of a major ballet company, New York City Ballet. The collection will be open to the public in 2017.
Pennsylvania
Iconic jazz singer Billie Holiday and The Roots are among the 2015 honorees for the Philadelphia Music Walk of Fame. The induction will be held on Oct. 26 and be followed by a gala at the new 3,000-seat Filmore Philadelphia. Other inductees include the Trammps, Ray Benson of Asleep at the wheel, Cinderella, Andrea McArdle and WOGL on-air radio talent Harvey Holiday.
Tennessee
Former civil rights activist Elbert Williams will be honored on the 75th anniversary of his passing at a memorial service June 20 at the Haywood High School gymnasium in Brownsville. He is the first known NAACP official to be killed for his involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. Current NAACP President Cornell William Brooks will speak at the memorial, and video remarks will be heard from Rev. Clay Evans (co-founder of Operation Push) and Civil Rights leader and Rep. John Lewis. Williams was murdered in Brownsville in 1940 after becoming active in a voter registration drive. He was found with two bullet holes in his chest after disappearing. It is believed two police abducted him from his home and murdered him.
National
A recent study has concluded that the suicide rates among African American children, in particular boys, has doubled since 1993, passing the rates of White youth, which actually has dropped since 1993. The study was developed from data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on causes of death for children in more than 650 cases among youngsters ages 5 to 11. Researchers were surprised to find that suicide rates among Black boys ages five to 11 nearly doubled between 1993 and 2012, rising from 1.78 to 3.47 per million. This happened while the rates among White boys of the same age group decreased from 1.96 to 1.31 per million. “Suicide rates in the U.S. have historically been higher among White individuals across all age groups. We were very surprised to see higher suicide rates among Black children over time,” said Jeff Bridge, an epidemiologist at the Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.
Compiled by Carol Ozemhoya.
