Discrimination

Sep 2 2010

Sherylla Wilson and Tami McAdory

Dear Editor:

It’s interesting how the police, who were once ordinary people like you and I, propel themselves to superiority by putting on uniforms.

 I am a 26-year-old, African American female and personally, I am so tired of the racism we, as African Americans experience, I could just scream. My mother is an Los Angeles Police Department officer, and I have been trying my entire life to believe that not all agencies or officers are racist. But outside of my family, I’ve been proven wrong.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Mar 19 2009

‘Work In’ sends message—We need jobs!

 The three young men repeatedly shouted, “We want jobs; we want jobs,” at me and a small group of community leaders as we stood talking to the press at the bus stop on 60th and Crenshaw. We were there to demand that the MTA beef up security on its buses in the area in the wake of the gunning down of a teen on the bus parked at that corner. But that didn’t mean anything to the three young men who accosted us and identified themselves as members of the Rollin 60s street gang. Their shout for jobs was real, palpable, and even unnerving. But it was more than justified.

Jan 31 2009

Agency says that racism, discrimination still exist

Representatives from the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) said that despite efforts to eradicate discrimination in the workplace, racism continues to remain a very real problem for minorities in Los Angeles County.

The EEOC held a town hall meeting at the First Church of God Saturday in Inglewood, Calif. to discuss methods to combat racism and held a question and answer period afterward to answer attendee’s questions.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Jan 29 2009

President Obama: It’s now safe to talk about Civil Rights

 President Barack Obama lists “Civil Rights” as the first item under his “Agenda” on his White House Web site, whitehouse.gov. He pledges to end gender and race based pay disparities, push through the Fair Pay and Employment Non-Discrimination Acts, harshly penalize voter fraud, outlaw racial profiling by federal law enforcement agencies, provide financial incentives to local and state police to ban racial profiling, and to dump the race tinged drug sentencing disparities.

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.