memorial day

David L. Horne, Ph.D.  |   OW Contributing Columnist
May 16 2013

Practical Politics

May brings us holidays from May 1 (May Day) through Memorial Day, May 27 (originally, Decoration Day), the preeminent celebration of loyalty and courage in America’s Civil War. In between May Day and Memorial Day, there is also Cinco de Mayo and the always adventurous Mother’s Day.

In fact, May hosts more than 25 distinctive political observances, including the annual Malcolm X birthday gala and festival (there’s also another Malcolm X festival held annually in April), held in most major urban areas in America.

May 24 2011

In and around Los Angeles

Sunday, May 29
Free Admission to Knott’s Berry Farm, Soak City for All U.S. Military
Knott’s Berry Farm and Southern California Knott’s Soak City water parks in San Diego and Buena Park will offer free admission to active and retired U.S. military personnel Memorial Day weekend. A valid military I.D. must be presented to receive free admission.
For more information visit www.knotts.com.

PBS’s National Memorial Day Concert

Gregg Reese  |   OW Staff Writer
May 27 2010

A Memorial Day Chronicle

As another Memorial Day rolls around, it becomes even more meaningful as more participants of World War II—the event that shaped them, their descendants, and the globe arguably more than any other—pass on.

These battle-harden veterans exchanged their uniforms for civilian dress and became the cornerstone of Black communities across America; paving the way for Civil Rights triumphs later in the century. Freeman Gamble Sr. was one of those men.

May 29 2009

A weekend of peace, love, and music

This Memorial Day weekend, UCLA kicked off its 22nd annual Jazz/Reggae Festival featuring well-known artists The Roots, Goapele, and Stephen Marley. The two day event, held on UCLA’s intramural field, attracted a large and diverse crowd while emphasizing an environmental friendly and socially sustainable atmosphere through the festival’s “go green” ideas.

May 29 2009

Breaking the cycle of silence on unsolved murders in South L. A.

On Memorial Day, several dozen friends and family members of Antwan Cole gathered at a makeshift memorial site at a busy street corner in South Los Angeles. Their tears of sadness were mixed with shouts of anger over the murder of 19-year-old Cole, gunned down in a drive by shooting last February. The anger was aimed at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s homicide investigators for not solving the murder and at community residents for not helping them solve the killing.

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.