African American news for the week of July 24, 2014.
California
Dr. Todd Ullah, an administrator employed with the L.A. Unified School District, was honored last week for developing a computer science application that’s helps a wide range of students get access to computer science programs. “This award really makes me happy because the Computer Science Teachers Association acknowledges how important collaboration over the past eight years with my colleagues has been in shaping and creating equity,” Ullah said. Educators from across the country nominated 30 administrators that they felt had done something significant to improve access to computers for students. The award was presented at a meeting of the Association and Code.org.
Georgia
Atlanta-based movie and TV mogul Tyler Perry is producing another television series on Oprah Winfrey’s OWN television network. The new show is called “If Loving You Is Wrong” and will focus on several middle-aged, “seemingly successful” women who are friends and have secrets going on in their lives. Perry already has two other shows airing on OWN, “The Haves and the Have Nots” and “Love Thy Neighbor.” The first two episodes will air on Sept. 9.
Illinois
David C. Nicosia reportedly attacked a judge twice outside a Chicago courthouse last week. According to the Chicago Tribune, Nicosia has been charged with four counts of aggravated battery and a hate crime after he allegedly slapped and spat on Judge Arnette Hubbard and called her “Rosa Parks.” Nicosia was reportedly upset because Judge Hubbard was smoking near him. The 79-year-old judge was the first female president of the National Bar Association and the Cook County Bar Association. Both are African American lawyers’ organizations. “She’s an icon in our community,” Delores Robinson, past president of the Cook Country Bar, told the Tribune. “People of good common sense and decency, people of good hearts should be outraged by this. Not just because of who she is, but that this happened to anybody.”
Missouri
The National Bar Association announced its support of the Honorable Ronnie White to the U.S. District Court for the eastern district of Missouri. The Senate approved White’s nomination last week. This comes 14 years after President Bill Clinton nominated White, but approval was denied at the time. President Barack Obama gave the Senate, “a chance to right a historic wrong,” said the Bar in a statement. “We thank President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Senator Harry Reid (D-Nevada), Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), Senator Claire McCaskill (D- Missouri), Missouri Governor Jay Nixon, and others for their strong and unflinching support of Judge White.”
New York
The Broadway show inspired by Tupac Shakur already has closed, just more than a month after opening. “Holla If Ya Hear Me,” an $8 million venture directed by Tony Award winner Kenny Leon, shut its doors last Sunday after just 38 official shows. “It saddens me that due to the financial burdens of Broadway, I was unable to sustain this production longer in order to give it time to bloom on Broadway,” said Eric Gold, one of the show’s producers. “Tupac’s urgent socially important insights and the audiences’ nightly rousing standing ovations deserved to be experienced by the world.” The musical featured more than 20 songs, including “Holler If Ya Hear Me,” “California Love” and “Dear Mama.” The show starred slam poet, actor, singer, musician Saul Williams and Tony Award winner Tonya Pinkins, as well as others.
An African American husband and father of six, who was called “a gentle giant” by his neighbors, died last week after being choked by New York City police officers. Video was taken that shows Eric Garner, 43, pleading with officers as they put a choke hold on him and wrestled him to the ground. He was reportedly asthmatic and was begging for the cops to let him breathe. Garner was allegedly selling illegal cigarettes when the officers tried to arrest him. On the video, reports the New York Daily News, Garner can be heard screaming, “I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe,” before becoming quiet and lifeless. Witnesses told the news that the violence by the officers was uncalled for. “They jumped him and they were choking him,” Ramsey Orta said. “He was foaming at the mouth. And then that was it. He was done.” A spokesperson for the police said the incident is under investigation. It should be noted that in 1993, then Police Commissioner Ray Kelly banned the use of the chokehold by New York City officers. The officer who carried out the chokehold has been relieved of his badge and his gun and placed on desk duty.
South Carolina
A new book from Congressman James E. Clyburn has been receiving praise from political dignitaries, educators and business executives from across the nation. “Blesses Experiences: Genuinely Southern, Proudly Black” has been released by University South Carolina Press to rave reviews from people such as Vice President Joe Biden, Harvard University President Drew Gilpin Faust, Warren Buffet, BET CEO Deborah L. Lee and Lonnie G. Bunch, founding director of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. The book covers Sen. Clyburn’s incredible journey from humble beginnings in Sumter to prominence on the Senate floor, where he is currently the third highest ranked Democrat. Clyburn tells in his own inspirational words how an African American boy from the Jim Crow-era South was able to beat the odds to achieve great success and become, as President Barack Obama describes him, “one of a handful of people who, when he speaks, the entire Congress listens.” Clyburn was elected to serve the sixth district of South Carolina in 1992. He currently serves as assistant Democratic leader of the House. The book is available as a hard cover or ebook.
Texas
Riverside General Hospital is in danger of having to shut its doors for good, reports the Houston Forward Times. According to various community leaders in Houston—where the hospital is located—insufficient funding is the primary reason for the shut down. They suspect that funding is being withheld by the government as punishment for the proven misconduct of a former executive back in 2012. Local residents and officials are outraged by the Obama’s Administration’s refusal to help solve the problem. Historic in that it was founded in 1927 as the first nonprofit hospital for Black patients in Houston, if Riverside does not receive the payments that are being withheld by the federal government they may have to close down in six weeks.
Washington, D.C.
First Lady Michelle Obama recently welcomed 54 kids that were winners of the annual Healthy Lunchtime Challenge at the White House. President Barack Obama also made a surprise appearance. The “Kids State Dinner” recognized kids from all 50 states, Washington, D.C. and three territories for their healthy recipes. Some of the recipes were actually included in the lunch. The challenge involved kids ages 8-12 creating a lunch recipe that contained the five food groups: vegetables, fruits, grains, dairy and protein. Fruits and vegetables had to make up about half of the recipe. Some of the winning recipes included veggie spaghetti with Alabama gulf shrimp, Lincoln’s inaugural soup (Illinois), Mike’s chicken and vegetable dumpling cups (New York), Amazing African sweet potato stew (Wisconsin), Ahlissa’s Rainbow Caribbean Soup (Virgin Islands) and Seafood Tacos with Lime Coleslaw and Peachy Salsa (Pennsylvania). The first lady used the opportunity to chide Congress on keeping children’s school lunch programs intact. “There’s a lot of money involved in feeding our kids at school,” she said. “We are currently spending $10 billion a year on our school lunch programs, so it’s not surprising that certain interests are resisting change and trying to take us back to the old way of doing business because there is a lot of money on the line.”
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said last week that his office welcomes the opportunity to review the U.S. Sentencing Commission’s move for approving retroactivity of sentence reductions for drug-related offenses. “In the interest of fairness, it makes sense to apply changes to the sentencing guidelines retroactivity, and the idea of a one-year implementation delay will adequately address public safety concerns by ensuring that judges have adequate time to consider whether an eligible individual is an appropriate candidate for a reduced sentence,” Holder said in a statement. “This is a milestone in the effort to make more efficient use of our law enforcement resources and to ease the burden on our overcrowded prison system.”
House Speaker John Boehner and other Congressional leaders posthumously honored Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife Coretta Scott King with the Congressional Medal of Honor earlier this month. The ceremony coincided with the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act. Boehner said the CRA is probably “the most consequential piece of legislation in history.” Rep. John Lewis (D-Georgia), who worked with the Kings during the movement in the 1960s, spoke highly of them. “Together, they taught us the way of peace, the way of love, the way of nonviolence,” he said. Members were on hand for the ceremony, as was Lynda Johnson Robb, whose father President Lyndon B. Johnson, signed the CRA into law. King was assassinated in 1968 and Coretta passed in 2006. The Congressional Medal of Honor is the highest honor bestowed by Congress.
National
President Barack Obama will welcome leaders from Africa on August 4-6 for a first of its kinds summit. The three-day set of meetings with African heads of state will focus on expanding trade and investment in Africa, as well as highlight the U.S. commitment to security and democratic development of government in different countries. The summit’s theme is “Investing in the Next Generation.” In addition to engaging with President Obama, visiting leaders will also have meetings with members of Congress and other key leaders of business and leadership. First Lady Michelle Obama will also host the spouses of the visiting African leaders with a symposium focused on the impact of investments in education, health and public/private partnerships.
Marvel Comics has taken a big step in crossing the color line with the announcement that the next Captain America will be African American. It’s the first time since the heroic comic book character was launched in 1941 that the lead character will be Black. The move comes about as the original Captain America, Steve Rogers, retires. He will be handing over the title to the character Sam Wilson. The move comes just a day after Marvel Comics announced that the founding member of its Avengers super hero team, Thor, will be re-introduced as a woman. The new Captain America will be officially revealed on the pages of the iconic comic book in November.
Compiled by Carol Ozemhoya.
