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African American news for the week of June 11, 2015.

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Alabama

Freddie Stokes, a Mobile attorney, has set up a Books for Boys program at half a dozen barbershops in the city. The program, he says, is designed to promote “literacy and self esteem.” Each barbershop has a small library of about 75 books on topics young Black boys can identify with. “When our boys say they don’t like to read, a lot of that is coming from not being interested in reading about characters that don’t look like them,” he told The Root. Donations for purchasing books and donations of books are coming in, Stokes said. Some companies and organizations are even stepping up to sponsor the libraries. “We don’t want to stop until all the barbershops in this community have libraries,” Stokes said.

California

The son of iconic actor and producer Tom Hanks, who wants to be a hip hop artist, says that he can use the “n” word whenever he wants. Chet Hanks actually states on his Instagram, “Who is to say only Black people can use it?” He adds that the word can be used in a positive way and “… can’t nobody tell me what I can say or can’t say.” The young Hanks does use the word in his lyrics. Social media has responded and not in a supportive way. The backlash was so strong that Instagram deleted his account. Although his father said he supports his son’s career, the elder Hanks also said that he does not like many of the lyrics.

Georgia

CNN is reporting that the death of a 21-year-old college student in police custody in Savannah earlier this year has been ruled a homicide. Chatham County Coroner William Wessinger issued a statement that said Matthew Ajibade’s cause of death was “blunt force trauma, which was really a combination of several things that were enumerated in his autopsy report by the GBI.” The report went on to cite “abrasions, lacerations, skin injuries on the head and some other areas of the body. There was (a) small amount of blood inside the skull case.” Nine Chatham County officers have already been fired in connection with the young man’s death. Police claimed Ajibade had become combative, but family and friends said that was not his character. Renowned attorney Mark O’Mara, who is representing the family, said the coroner’s report “demands even further, absolute transparency.” Ajibade reportedly suffered from bipolar disorder.


Creflo Dollar was criticized earlier this year when he began asking his massive congregation to donate money so that he could buy a $65 million plane. The World Changers Church International apparently thinks Dollar needs the new plane, becasue the church’s

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board has revealed they will buy it. In a statement, the board said, “A long-range, high-speed, intercontinental jet aircraft is a tool that is necessary in order to fulfill the mission of the ministry.” And it went on to say that Dollar would get the plane he wants.“We plan to acquire a Gulfstream G650 because it is the best, and it is a reflection of the level of excellence at which this organization chooses to operate. We, the World Changers family, so value the lives, the safety and the well-being of our pastors and leaders that we wish to provide to them the best air travel experience possible.”


The Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) has cancelled a reality show it was working on surrounding an Atlanta man, Jay Williams, who has fathered 24 children. “OWN has decided not to move forward with the Jay Williams docu-series. The series aimed to follow Williams as he worked to put his life and fractured relationships in order and to hold him accountable every step of the way,” said a statement issued by OWN. “The intention was to help Williams work to establish new connections with his family, his children and the mothers of his children. Production has ended and the series will not air.” No reason was provided for the show’s cancellation.

Illinois

A young woman who was once homeless and pregnant has not only graduated from high school, she did so at the top her class. Trameka Pope is the valedictorian at Wendell Phillips Academy in Chicago. Said the 18-year-old to Fox News, “I didn’t give up. I pushed myself hard. And my baby motivated me every day because I wanted to provide for her, and I also didn’t want to be a statistic.” Pope is not stopping… she has been accepted at numerous colleges and been offered more than half a million dollars in scholarships. She has chosen Western Illinois University, where she hopes to earn a degree in social work. Pope says, “No matter what background you come from, it doesn’t matter if you have a child as a teen … no matter what people say about you … you still can, you can make it, and you can become somebody.”

New York

Four former theft investigators that worked for CVS are claiming that they were instructed to target Black and Hispanic shoppers in some of the pharmacy giant’s New York City stores. The four have filed a federal lawsuit against CVS. The lawsuit seeks class status and claims that the supervisors of the four employees intentionally targeted minority shoppers based on the “ill founded institutional belief” that “minority customers are criminals and thieves.” A CVS spokesperson responded by saying that the company is “shocked” by the allegations. In addition, the four say that their complaints about the orders were criticized and that they were all eventually fired.


The New York City Police Department is under fire again for a death involving a Black suspect in police custody. The family of Barrington Williams is suing the department to prompt the release of the arrest video. According to the Huffington Post, police arrested Williams because he was selling MetroCard swipes inside of a subway station. He ran but the 25-year-old was caught, and then allegedly became “unconscious and unresponsive,” says the police report. He died within minutes, and the New York City Medical Examiner’s office reported later that he died from “acute and chronic bronchial asthma.” Williams’ family, however, is claiming that he died from the use of excessive force and deliberate indifference. Video of the arrest was reportedly taken via the subway’s station’s cameras, but the police have refused to release it.

North Carolina

The North Carolina NAACP and Forward Together Moral Movement have launched a campaign calling for Gov. Pat McCrory to pardon and pay Henry McCollum and Leon Brown, who have waited more than 270 days for compensation from the state for 31 years of wrongful incarceration. McCollum and Brown were exonerated last summer after spending 31 years in prison for a rape and murder that they did not commit, but Gov. McCrory has prevented them from collecting compensation from the state for the last nine months. According to the News and Observer, the two have lived off of the “kindness of others,” although, they should have been eligible to receive $750,000 each by now. Lawyers for the pair say Gov. McCrory has stalled for nine months, refusing to clear them and allow them to receive this compensation. “Gov. McCrory’s unconscionable delay of the payment owed to these two men for nine months adds insult to the already deep injuries the state’s botched criminal investigation, trial and appeal system caused them,” said North Carolina NAACP President Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II. “This is symbolic of a North Carolina justice system that is broken and continues to disadvantage people of color and the poor.”

Ohio

ABC News is reporting that a grand jury in Cleveland is set to weigh possible charges against the two police officers involved in the shooting death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice. The youngster was shot and killed by Cleveland cops outside of a park while holding an air gun. The police claim they   couldn’t tell the toy from the real thing, although the caller who reported Rice said it was a toy. Rice’s death came within months of two other highly publicized deaths of unarmed Black people at the hands of police … Ferguson’s Michael Brown and New York City’s Eric Garner. They all sparked protests across the country. All three cases occurred before the Freddie Gay case in Baltimore, which unlike the Brown and Garner cases, resulted in several police officers being criminally charged. Rice’s case has been under investigation by the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Office, independent of the Cleveland Police Dept.


The Ohio NAACP, ACLU and other civil rights organizations settled with Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted last week in a deal that would expand early voting opportunities. Plaintiffs argued that the elimination of the “golden week” that allowed people to register and vote on the same day would negatively affect low-income and Black voters disproportionately.


An Ohio man who stood up to individuals trying to rob a Cincinnati-area community center was badly beaten by the criminals, but the community has stepped up to support his actions. Ronald Moon Jr. used his own resources to turn his father’s old house into a community center, so when robbers started vandalizing and stealing from the place, he stood his ground. But he took a beating to his face and body. “I want to do something good for people. I’m tired of struggling, I’m sick of it,” Moon says in a self-made video that went viral. “I’m just trying to do the best that I can for my people … I’m tired of seeing this hurt.” Moon reported what happened on his GoFundMe page, and in less than a day, he received $35,000 in donations. Moon says he will use the money for the community center to offer computer classes, educational activities and even gardening and yoga.

Pennsylvania

Anthony Riley, a Philadelphia R&B singer who was highly sought after by all four judges on last season’s “The Voice,” apparently committed suicide last weekend. Riley had chosen Pharrell Williams to coach him, but then mysteriously withdrew from the contest.

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According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Riley was dealing with “substance abuse” issues. The singer was making a living from tips earned from singing around Philadelphia’s Center City area. According to family and friends, he was working on an album.

Texas

A police officer in McKinney has been suspended after he was caught on video becoming too aggressive with Black teens at a pool party. Video shows the cop pointing his weapon at the kids and at one point, forcing a teen girl to the ground and putting his knee on her back to hold her down. He is also heard cursing at the kids. “He was just aggressive for no reason at all,” Tatyana Rhodes told USA Today. “It was horrible.” Rhodes added that other officers who arrived on the scene in response to a disturbance call acted professionally. “Everything could’ve been solved way better than what it was. There were other officers that were actually nice to people,” she said.


A school in Sulphur Springs is under investigation after teachers of a special education class issued Ghetto Awards to its students. Jerrika Wilkins posted a photo of a certificate her son received as part of the “8th Annual Ghetto Classroom Awards.” According to Fox News, Wilkins said her son was hurt and that he received the award for saying “huh” too much in the classroom. One of the teachers involved is a pastor. Fox says the school’s principal called a meeting and one of the teachers, Tim Couch, who is pastor of the Cross Branch Cowboy Church in Sumner, apologized. Another teacher, Stephanie Garner, said she would resign, but the Wilkins said she didn’t need to do that. The teachers claimed the awards were meant to be funny and not as a racial slur.

Virginia

The family of Linwood Raymond Lambert Jr. has filed a $25 million lawsuit in federal court over the 46-year-old’s death from a heart attack while in police custody in 2013. The lawsuit alleges that police in South Boston used a Taser on Lambert without provocation outside of a hospital emergency room. Police are denying the accusations, claiming that Lambert was acting violently as officers tried to bring him into the hospital because he was “acting erratically.” Not long after being tased, Lambert went into cardiac arrest after being detained in jail. He was taken back to the emergency room, where he was declared dead. The lawsuit named three officers and says that Lambert may have been shocked at up to 50,000 volts.

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