African American Communities

Juliana D. Norwood  |   OW Staff Writer
Aug 23 2012

All of Me mentoring program grooms young leaders

Foundation for Second Chances (FFSC) is a community-based organization that utilizes hands-on education, mentoring, health awareness and community service to maximize the potential of youth.

Second Chances’ goal is to make sure that children are given all that they need to thrive. This includes a quality education, nutritious food and exercise, a safe and nurturing environment and the chance to give back to their community.

Lisa Olivia Fitch  |   OW Contributor
Aug 23 2012

L.A.’s soul food restaurants remind diners of home

“A single bracelet does not jingle”—proverb, Congo

Yams, rice, corn, black-eyed peas, peanuts, okra, melon and other crops came to America hundreds of years ago, because slave traders shipped their human cargo complete with their native cuisine, in order to keep them alive.

Later, on plantations where the master ate the bacon, ham and sausage from “high on the hog,” slaves were given the fattier parts of the pig. And while the folks in the big house ate turnips, the slaves got the tougher greens.

Aug 9 2012

Residents take back the streets

More than 500 residents participated in the Newton Police Division’s National Night Out, which included full barbecues, a low-rider car show, and Lucha Libre wrestling on the corner of Martin Luther King Boulevard and Main Street.

For more than 15 years, the Newton police division has participated in this countrywide effort to generate support for anti-crime programs and enhance the alliance between residents and police, said LAPD Capt. Jorge Rodriguez.

Molly Young  |   OW Contributor
Aug 9 2012

Symposium addresses pain, stereotypes, stigmas

In August 2008, Wanda Jackson faced a horror no parent should ever endure. She walked into her garage and found her 30-year-old son Kevin hanging there.

A father of two, Kevin had been depressed over lack of work and a toxic relationship. On the same day her son died, Jackson realized that other families were suffering the same pain. So, she decided to channel her pain into helping others prevent what she had gone through, and on March 4, 2010 founded “Kevin’s Cause,” a nonprofit suicide prevention organization based in Carson.

Jennifer Thompson  |   OW College Intern
Jul 26 2012

Youth also learn about business

The California Black Chamber of Commerce Foundation hosts its annual Ron Brown Business and Economic Summit Aug. 9-11 beginning at 8 a.m. at the Doubletree Hotel by Hilton San Diego. The theme is “Building Economic Empowerment.”

Over the course of three days, and through a variety of events, the chamber will give small business owners, government agencies and industry partners an opportunity to network and connect in order to build relationships, encourage partnerships and advocate for contracting success.

Across Black America

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.
 

Alabama
Freeman A. Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will address the annual African American Business Council luncheon on June 28. Hrabowski, who is chairman of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Education Excellence for African Americans, has a national reputation for his work studying the performance of minority students in math and science. Hrabowski, named one of the 10 best college presidents in the country by Time magazine, was a child leader in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham in the 1960s.
 

Arkansas
The Liberty Counsel filed a motion and a brief in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas seeking to intervene on behalf of a Concepts of Life crisis pregnancy center to defend against a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights. The groups seek to impose a permanent injunction before the Human Heartbeat Protection Act goes into effect July 18. Liberty Counsel also filed a brief opposing the ACLU’s request for an injunction. The “Heartbeat” bill states that when a woman seeks an abortion at or after the 12th week, doctors must test for a fetal heartbeat before an abortion is performed and inform the pregnant mother that the child in her womb has a heartbeat. If a heartbeat is detected, a woman cannot have an abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, and if a mother’s life is in danger. “As we promised when the legislation was introduced, Liberty Counsel will defend this law without reservation for the people of Arkansas, born and pre-born,” said Matt Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. “No right is more foundational than the right to life. Without life, all other rights are irrelevant,” concluded Staver.