Rev Al Sharpton

Gail Choice  |   OW Contributor
Jan 24 2013

Hollywood by Choice

Score one for the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, and Najee Ali, director of Project Islamic Hope, for their very emotional outcry about the so-called “Django Unchained” slave dolls. On Friday, Jan. 18, the Weinstein Co. announced that it has asked toy maker NECA to discontinue the “Django Unchained” action figure dolls after receiving complaints that the dolls were offensive and trivialized the horrors of slavery.

Jul 5 2012

Rodney King buried

An estimated 100 people, including actress Nichelle Nichols, above from left, and activist Al Sharpton and his daughters, attended the funeral of Rodney King held June 30 at Forest Lawn in the Hollywood Hills.

May 17 2012

He opened doors and cracked ceilings

Al Sharpton has patterned his career so closely after the Jesse Jackson model that he could be justifiably charged with identity theft. Like Jackson, he began wearing a Martin Luther King medallion around his neck. Like Jackson, he started his own civil rights organization. Like Jackson, he ran for president of the United States. Like Jackson, he now has his own radio and television shows. And like Jackson, he has become a confidante of the man who occupies the White House.

Sharon Song Byrd  |   OW Guest Columnist
Aug 4 2011

August 2, 2011

As the head of National Action Network (NAN), and as an advocate for women and people’s rights, I would like to first say that I am appalled at your recent position concerning Tony Wafford—allowing him to “take a leave of absence,” rather than making him to step down from his position and resign from NAN.

Jun 30 2011

Group considers the past but looks ahead

CHICAGO, Ill.—More than 200 National Newspaper Publishers Association members who gathered at Chicago’s legendary Drake Hotel saw the torch of Black press excellence passed to a new, younger generation in the person of Arizona legislator, the Honorable Clovis Campbell Jr., publisher of the Arizona Informant.

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.