California
Abre Conner and Novella Coleman are speaking out against a bar called the Brig in Fresno that they say kicked them out for “being Black.” The two are attorneys who work for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The two claim that they went to the bar with another friend on March 12 to participate in karaoke, but were told by bar staff that they needed to buy drinks, if they wanted to stay. The two pointed out that someone in their party had already bought drinks, but the employees still asked them to buy something or leave. “There were other people who didn’t have drinks, and we pointed them out,” Conner told The Huffington Post. “Their response was that they can’t keep an eye on everybody.” When they told an off-duty server that they felt racially targeted, the server responded that, “it’s not fair to bring up race.” The bar called the police, who escorted Conner and Coleman out. The way Conner sees it, their crime was “standing in an establishment while Black.”
Johnny Guitar Watson, one of the music industry’s most beloved guitarists, was silenced by a massive heart attack in Yokohama, Japan, while performing one of his GRAMMY-nominated songs, “Superman Lover,” on May 17, 1996. Now his family wants to recognize his legacy after 20 years with the first annual Johnny Guitar Watson Heart for Music Foundation Celebration, which will be held on May 17 at the Los Angeles Theatre Center, 514 S. Spring St. The star-studded event will include a host of celebrity guests and performances, including: Lenny Williams, Raphael Sadiq, Marla Gibbs, Mary Wilson, David Ritz, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Holly Robinson Peete, YoYo and Kool Moe Dee, just to name a few. “I decided that the time had come to take the legacy of my father and find a way to help people in his name, so the Johnny Guitar Watson Heart For Music Foundation came to be,” said his daughter Virginia. The mission of this 501c3 foundation is to raise money to get musical instruments and musical support from music industry professionals to inner city youth through after-school programs.
Georgia
The National MBE Manufacturers Summit 2016 was held in Atlanta on March 24. The U.S. Department of Commerce Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) and its MBDA Business Center Network hosted the summit, which was sponsored in part by BMW, the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership, Grady Health System, Ingersoll Rand and Novant Health. It took place at the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Global Learning Center. “We focused on ensuring that attendees maximize their day by meeting one-on-one with corporations and original equipment manufacturers seeking to do business with MBE manufacturers,” said Donna Ennis, MBDA Business Center-Atlanta’s director. “We brought all of these parties together (for) this first-of-its-kind national forum to get those conversations started in a real, substantive way.” Speakers at the event included G.P. “Bud” Peterson, Georgia Tech president, and Derreck Kayongo, co-founder of the Global Soap Project and CEO of the Center for Civil and Human Rights.
Illinois
Henry English, the president and CEO of the Black United Fund, was killed Saturday, March 5, in a car accident. English, 73, reportedly suffered a heart attack when the van he was driving was rear-ended. He ran the Black United Fund, which is a non-profit organization that invests in economic development in Black communities, since 1985. He was buried March 16 in Chicago.
Indiana
Rapper Twista was unable to complete a show in Valparaiso after the Rolls Royce car he was riding in was pulled over by police. After a search of the car, police found an undisclosed amount of marijuana. According to news reports, cops pulled the car over because it was following a truck too closely, and when officers approached the vehicle, they smelled weed. Twista posted $500 bail the next morning.
Louisiana
A Louisiana district attorney faces mounting pressure to review the questionable murder conviction of McKinley “Mac” Phipps. Nathaniel Tillison told a jury he looked 1990s rap star Phipps “dead in his eyes” and watched him pull the trigger, killing a man at a concert in 2000. Based partly on Tillison’s eyewitness testimony, Phipps was convicted of manslaughter and is serving a 30-year sentence. But jurors at Phipps’ 2001 trial allegedly didn’t get the full story. They never heard the testimony of Jerry Price, who says Tillison was outside Club Mercedes in Slidell, where the concert took place, and couldn’t have seen the shooting. Attorney Buddy Spell, who now represents Phipps, said prosecutors didn’t tell Phipps’ defense lawyers about Price, though it was their legal obligation to do so. That failure, Spell said, casts doubt over the entire case. After unsuccessfully trying to persuade St. Tammany Parish District Attorney Warren Montgomery for months that Phipps was wrongly convicted, Spell said he will file legal motions for post-conviction relief, including a new trial.
Mississippi
A former University of Mississippi student pleaded guilty last week to hanging a noose around the historic statue of the school’s first Black student. According to Associated Press (AP), a federal court filing shows that Austin Reed Edenfield waived indictment and pleaded guilty to an unspecified criminal charge. Edenfield was supposed to plead guilty in September, but U.S. District Judge Michael Mills delayed the previous court date for reasons that have not been publicly explained. It is unknown what charge Edenfield faced; AP notes, individuals usually agree to waive indictment and plead guilty as part of a plea bargain. Edenfield could face up to a year in prison. Edenfield was one of a group of Ole Miss students who took part in a February 2014 racially charged incident during which a noose and a former Georgia state flag, complete with a Confederate battle emblem, were placed on the statue of James Meredith, the first Black student to attend Ole Miss.
New York
The NoVo Foundation, which is run by the son and daughter of billionaire investor Warren Buffett, has announced it will pledge a $90 million investment in girls and young women of color in the U.S. The New York City-based foundation is calling the effort the largest ever made by a private foundation to address structural problems facing girls and young women of color in the U.S. “This work is about dismantling the barriers that prevent them from realizing that potential and leading us toward a truly transformative movement for change,” said Jennifer Buffett, co-president of the NoVo Foundation. “Our goal is to create the conditions for change by advancing the work of the real experts in this movement: girls and young women of color and the advocates working with them,” added Peter Buffett, co-president. The effort will be “girl-led, girl-driven and designed to address the systemic and institutional challenges faced by girls and young women of color across the country. This commitment builds on the leadership of women of color who have worked for years to further this movement,” added Pamela Shifman, executive director.
Nine correction officers went on trial on Wednesday, March 30 for the brutal beating of a Black inmate and a subsequent cover-up at New York City’s Rikers Island jail complex. Prosecutors in the city’s Bronx borough have accused 10 guards in the assault of Jahmal Lightfoot on July 11, 2012, who was left with two fractured eye sockets and a broken nose. The former assistant chief for security, Eliseo Perez, and a captain, Gerald Vaughn, ordered five other officers to carry out the attack after Lightfoot stared at Perez during a screening for weapons, according to prosecutors. Three other guards helped conceal the crime by filing inaccurate reports stating that Lightfoot attacked first, authorities said. One of the officers claimed he was slashed, and another officer later produced what he falsely claimed was the weapon Lightfoot used, according to prosecutors. One of the 10 officers charged in the incident will be tried separately at a later date. The 30-year-old Lightfoot, who is expected to testify at trial, was released from prison in 2014 after serving a sentence for robbery. He has also filed a civil lawsuit against the city and the officers.
Pennsylvania
An anchorwoman in Pittsburgh has apologized for comments she made on her Facebook about an ambush shooting that left five people dead. Apparently, her views, she said, “could be considered racist.” The comments revolved around a recent case where someone fired inside a family cookout, and among the dead were a woman and her unborn child. The anchor wrote: “You needn’t be a criminal profiler to draw a mental sketch of the killers who broke so many hearts two weeks ago Wednesday … They are young Black men, likely teens or in their early 20s. They have multiple siblings from multiple fathers and their mothers work multiple jobs. These boys have been in the system before. They’ve grown up there. They know the police. They’ve been arrested.” Some found her comments offensive. She apologized, saying, “I now understand that some of the words I chose were insensitive and could be viewed as racist. I regret offending anyone.”
Texas
Austin police permanently suspended a police officer on Monday for violating department policy regarding the use of deadly force when he fatally shot an unarmed and naked teenager in February. Officer Geoffrey Freeman plans to appeal the decision and will be fired, if an arbitrator upholds his permanent suspension, Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo told a news conference. Freeman shot 17-year-old David Joseph a few seconds after confronting him. Ahead of the shooting, Austin police said they had received multiple phone calls of the suspect acting suspiciously and aggressively before they dispatched officers. Both Freeman and the victim are Black. “We hold our officers accountable, especially when it relates to deadly force,” Acevedo said, adding he is confident the department’s disciplinary process can withstand an appeal in this matter. The case will now go to county prosecutors to see if criminal charges will be filed, he said.
When it comes to reality TV, many of the shows don’t exactly show Black women in a positive light. Instead, there’s a lot of drama over relationships, infidelity and backstabbing. This is why Juanita Jackson wanted to create a show that displays black women in a more empowering light. “Sisters In Law” is a Houston-based reality show coming to WeTV that follows six Black female lawyers as they navigate through their careers, personal lives and friendships. Jackson, who stars in the show along with her group of lawyer friends, said she was disappointed that there weren’t many shows that depict the women cast members as being successful without having to rely on men. “I’d watched reality TV here and there and I’d be a little disappointed in the fact that I thought there could be other women out there,” she told the Huffington Post. “I know people are fascinated with the drama in women’s relationships, but I thought there was a niche out there missing of a show that showed successful self-made women.” “Sisters In Law” follows the format of many reality shows, exploring the trials and tribulations of the six women—Jolanda Jones, Vivian King, Rhonda Wills, Monique Sparks, Tiye Foley and Jackson. Most of the cast members grew up impoverished and worked tirelessly to attain success, according to Jackson, whose former Black Panther father and debutante mother inspired her to become a public defender.
Compiled by Carol Ozwmhoya.
