Compton courthouse

Juliana D. Norwood  |   OW Staff Writer
Jan 31 2013

African American family forced to relocate to avoid gang violence

Civil rights activists and other community leaders called for hate crime charges on Monday against gang members suspected in attacks on an African American Compton family and threats against other Black residents.

The attacks sparked a rally at Compton City Hall after two men—reportedly from a Latino gang—were arrested for harassing and threatening a family to move out of the neighborhood because of their skin color.

Dec 9 2010

Linked through DNA

COMPTON, Calif.—A Palmdale man linked through a DNA database to the rape of a woman in Compton pleaded not guilty to charges that could land him in prison for life.

Paul Lorenzo Madry, 22, is accused of attacking the woman on Nov. 25, 2008, as she walked between the Compton courthouse and a parking structure.

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.