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Across Black America week of Aug. 27

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California

A 12-year-old Lodi boy was shot and killed inside his home last Saturday, struck by a stray bullet. Gunshots rang out on the 1700 block of South Hutchins Street, and parents quickly tried to gather their children to get inside. Elijah Hill made it inside, but a stray bullet still made its way inside his home through the air conditioner and struck him. According to police, witnesses say a car pulled up to the entrance of the Southwind Apartments and shots rang out. Ironically, Elijah lived in the apartment complex next door, but one of the bullets made its way into the unit he lived in with his family. Police believe the shooting was gang related, and Elijah was not the intended target.


Anthony Sadler Sr. of Sacramento said he is relieved his son wasn’t hurt yet very proud of the young man who was one of three Americans who tackled a terrorist on a train in France last week. “I’m proud, you know,” Sadler Sr. told NBC’s KCRA-TV. “The dominant feeling is relief that he   wasn’t hurt or killed.” Sadler Jr., a senior at Cal State, who is Black, was on a trip to Europe with his two White friends, when the three combined forces to subdue and disarm a gunman on a train that was traveling from Amsterdam to Paris. Sadler Jr.’s friends served in the military. “They ambushed the gunman and beat him, even as he slashed one of them in the neck with a sharp object,” reported CNN. The three have been hailed as heroes and have received accolades from both U.S. President Barack Obama and French President Francois Hollande.


Hip-hop artist Wiz Khalifa was reportedly arrested at LAX for refusing to get off his hovercraft while moving through the airport. “Haven’t been slammed and cuffed in a while. That was fun,” he said in a Tweet. In addition, there was a video on his Instagram showing three officers holding the rapper down. In the video, one officer can be heard saying, “Stop resisting,” and Khalifa is heard replying, “I’m not resisting.” According to authorities, the police holding Khalifa were in fact Customs and Border Protection agents. “All because I didn’t want to ditch the technology everyone will be using in the next six months. Do what you want kids,” he tweeted. The new hovercrafts are hands-free scooters.

District of Columbia

Stellar award-winning gospel singer VaShawn Mitchell will perform and Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III will deliver the keynote address at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF) annual Prayer Breakfast, Saturday, Sept. 19, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. The Miles College Choir will also perform. The prayer breakfast tends to draw about 3,000 attendees each year. Interactive One will stream the event live for the second year in a row on NewsOne.com. “The prayer breakfast is unique in that it brings our conference guests together in the spirit of worship,” said A. Shuanise Washington, president and CEO of the CBCF. “The breakfast provides an opportunity for thoughtful reflection and is a welcomed respite from the very important work that occurs . . . .  We are especially thankful for our title sponsor, the Coca-Cola Company, and the Radio One Family for their continued support of this uplifting event.” Proceeds from the prayer breakfast benefit the CBCF’s many programs and initiatives. Go to www.cbcfinc.org/alc for more info.

Florida

Luther Campbell, founder of the raunchy hip hop group 2Live Crew, record label owner and former Miami mayoral candidate, signed copies of his new book last week at a store in the trendy city of Coral Gables. “The Book of Luke: My Fight for Truth, Justice and Liberty City” is the life story of the former rapper, who nowadays can be found coaching kids’ football and attending city council meetings to get funding for inner city programs. Once called the “King of Dirty Rap,” Campbell now spends his time working on improving his community. In addition to coaching, he also writes a column for the Miami Times. “This is a passionate call to action for us all to fight for our communities instead of waiting for someone else to fix the problem,” he says of the book. Seeking justice is nothing new to Campbell, who once spent more than a million dollars of his own money fighting cops and prosecutors all the way to the Supreme Court to protect his—and every other artist’s—right to free speech, setting landmark legal precedents that continue to shape the entertainment industry today.

Georgia

Atlanta-based Bounce TV recently launched a new original show called “In the Cut.” The comedy is based in a barbershop in San Diego, Calif., and stars Dorien Wilson, Jackee Harry, John Marshall Jones and Ken Lawson. The show’s creator/producer, Bentley Kyle Evans, has a history of being associated with hit series aimed at African Americans, such as “Martin,” “The Jamie Foxx Show” and “Family Time,” the latter of which also airs currently on Bounce. “In the Cut” will air on Tuesday nights.

Missouri

Jennifer Joyce, Circuit Court prosecutor for the St. Louis area, said last week that she will conduct a thorough investigation into the police shooting and death of teen Mansur Ball-Bey, who was shot in the back. Ball-Bey, 18, died after a single shot went through his back and into his heart. The teen was reportedly unarmed, say family and friends, although the two officers involved say he pointed a gun at one of them. They were pursuing Ball-Bey as he was running from a raid on what police called “a known place for drugs and guns.” “It is vital that we conduct a thorough, meticulous and independent review of this and all officer-involved shootings,” Joyce said. “We will work as quickly as possible to gather available facts, evidence and witness statements.” The prosecutor added: “I want nothing more than to reach the right conclusion here. I want there to be peace in this city.”

Nevada

The estate of Michael Jackson and Michael Jackson ONE (a production that ran for about a year after the entertainer died) came together to celebrate the late pop icon’s birthday with a day of festivities at the Mandalay Bay Hotel. The event was open to the public (those who bought tickets in advance), and took place inside the hotel’s Michael Jackson Theater. The event included a book signing by Jackson’s friend and designer Michael Bush (who wrote about his many years as Jackson’s costume designer); a special presentation from members of the cast of the production “Michael Jackson ONE,” which ran at the hotel; a meet-and-greet with members of the estate team; a question-and-answer session with cast members of the show; and the sharing of a big birthday cake.

New Jersey

A grand jury in Bridgetown failed to indict two police officers in the fatal shooting in December of 36-year-old Jerame Reid. During a traffic stop, Reid, a Black man, did not reportedly follow police commands when the officers told him not to move; instead he began to exit the car. The cops fired, killing him, later telling the grand jury that they feared for their lives because they already knew Reid had a history of shooting at law enforcement. The dead man had served 13 years in prison for shooting at state troopers. One of the officers is White and one is Black. The White officer fired at Reid once, while the Black officer fired seven times.

New York

One person is dead and another was seriously injured after a fight broke out over an umbrella outside of a McDonald’s in Harlem, last Friday morning. The melee erupted when two couples began arguing over who owned the umbrella. Apparently, someone pulled out a knife. “There was blood everywhere,” an eyewitness told the New York Daily News. A video of the tragedy shows one man stabbing a woman in the back three times. She survived, but a homeless man who just happened to be on the street was killed.

Pennsylvania

Dr. Wayne J. Riley, MPH, MBA and MACP, has been named president of the American College of Physicians (ACP), the nation’s largest medical specialty organization. Dr. Riley is the third African American physician to serve as president of the organization following in the footsteps of Dr. Gerald E. Thomson, MACP (1995-96) and Dr. Charles K. Francis, MACP (2004-2005). Dr. Riley has served as a member of ACP’s board of regents since 2009 and previously served as president of the Texas Academy of Internal Medicine, the Texas Chapter of the ACP, and as governor-elect of the Texas Southern region of the ACP. He also served as the first vice chair for the National Council of Associates and a member of the ACP’s Health and Public Policy, Financial Policy and Awards Committees. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Yale University, a master’s in public health from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, an doctorate degree from Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, and a master’s in business administration from Rice University’s Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business.

South Carolina

Democratic Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders made a pitch to Black voters in Charleston last weekend, specifically mentioning Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Freddie Gray and Walter Scott in his speech. “We are going to end institutional racism, and we are going to transform and make changes in the criminal justice system that isn’t working,” he said to a crowd of about 3,100. “When a police officer breaks the law, that police officer must be held accountable. We need new rules on the use of force.” Sanders is running second to Hilary Clinton, who has been a Democratic front-runner most of the year. “I’m not just talking about somebody who walked into a Bible study class, prayed with the people in that group and then took out a gun and killed nine people. I’m talking about the hundreds of hate groups that exist in this country today whose only function is fomenting of hatred of African Americans, gays, immigrants, and Jews,” he added.

National

NBC has partnered with Office Depot/Office Max and the National Baptist Convention to provide scholarships to students who get involved in mission work. The Dream Makers Scholarship Fund will award four-year scholarships to a number of students who qualify. The first award will be given at the 111th annual session of the National Baptist Congress of Christian Education to be held in Tampa, June 20-24, 2016. The scholarship will be awarded based on the dual purposes of the program: education and mission work. Applications for the first set of scholarships are due by Dec. 1. For details, contact Lisa Cook at nationalbaptistdreammakers@gmail.com or by calling her at (312) 505-5441.


According to Variety, a federal judge has reopened a $20 billion racial bias case filed against Comcast and Time Warner Cable giving the plaintiff, Byron Allen’s Entertainment Studios Networks, until Sept. 21 to file an amended complaint. The lawsuit was first filed in February and also named as defendants the NAACP, the National Urban League, Rev. Al Sharpton, the National Action Network, as well as Meredith Attwell Baker, a former Comcast executive and FCC commissioner. The lawsuit claims that Comcast is shutting out African-American owned channels from its lineups. In securing approval for its 2011 acquisition of NBC Universal, Comcast reached memorandums of understanding with a number of civil rights groups that Allen called a “sham” to “whitewash Comcast’s discriminatory business practices.” The suit alleges that of the more than $25 billion spent annually by Comcast and Time Warner Cable on cable channel carriage fees and advertising, less than $3 million is spent with 100 percent African American-owned media companies. “I had no choice but to file this lawsuit,” Byron Allen, chairman and founder of Entertainment Studios Networks. “Everyone talks about diversity, but diversity in Hollywood and the media starts with ownership. African Americans don’t need handouts and donations; we can hire ourselves if White corporate America does business with us in a fair and equitable way.”


The National Bar Association (NBA), the oldest organization of Black attorneys and judges, applauds U.S. Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) for introducing S. 1897, the Safer Officers and Safer Citizens Act of 2015. If enacted, this bipartisan legislation will provide for $500 million in grant funding for the purchase of body cameras for state, local and tribal police departments. The proposed legislation recognizes that studies have shown that increasing the use of body cameras by police officers has significantly reduced the number of police misconduct and use-of-force incidents, resulting in a lower number of citizen complaints. The NBA’s priorities and support of the use of body cameras is consistent with this legislation. “In the wake of many tragic deaths across the nation, including Tamir Rice, Walter Scott and Michael Brown, the desire for Americans to see increased police officer accountability is vast. These incidents have sparked debate, national outrage and dissent. Our organization has called for and continues to call for federal legislation to require the use of this important technology by all law enforcement agencies. The NBA will continue to work within the legislative process to ensure that the funding is appropriately offset so that it responds to the needs within the community,” said NBA President Benjamin J. Crump, Esq.

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