Your Black News: Report: Cynthia McKinney Relief Boat Hit By Israeli-Army
Former Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, standing beside a damaged yacht, Tuesday accused the Israeli navy of ramming the vessel to halt the delivery of medical supplies to the embattled Gaza Strip.
“Our mission was a peaceful mission,” McKinney told CNN after she and 15 others aboard the boat made it safely to the harbor in the Lebanese seaport of Tyre.
McKinney, the recent Green Party candidate for U.S. president and frequent center of controversy, is the most prominent political figure to join the relief voyages sponsored by the Free Gaza Movement.
McKinney was slated to travel by car to Beirut where she was expected to conducted media interviews and meet with Lebanese government officials, said Paul Larudee, a co-founder of the California-based Free Gaza group. […]
Your Black Education: Upcoming Conference To Confront Challenges In Black Education
The Conference on Research Directions is a biannual event that will be held at the beautiful Hilton Oceanfront Resort on Hilton Head, South Carolina, from May 3-6, 2009. Hilton Head is also the home of the Gullah people. These are African people who created a self-sustaining community after slavery with retention of the African heritage. Conferees will have the opportunity to take the Gullah Heritage Tour in addition to experiencing a Gullah heritage celebration, distinctive Gullah food delicacies, folk art, artifacts and landmarks. The conferees will be able to experience a beautiful oceanfront resort and also explore the West African heritage and seminal events in American history.
This conference is designed to bridge the gap between research and practice in education. All researchers and practitioners who are interested in the latest strategies for closing the academic achievement gap that affects African American children should attend. […]
Your Black Scholar: Interview With Motivational Speaker Caitlin Powell
Interview with Youth Motivational Speaker, Caitlin Powell, by Tolu Olorunda.
Caitlin Powell is a role-model, motivational speaker, writer, telecaster and singer – all packed into one. The catch: She’s a mere 10 years of age! Though a fifth grader, Caitlin’s exceptional intellect is inspiring kids and parents across the country. Caitlin, who loves reading and studying math, is also the host of her very own webcast titled, “Caitlin’s Corner TV.” As one who takes advanced courses in her school, Caitlin knows, first hand, how challenging school can be. In her nationally-syndicated webcast, Caitlin offers tips and advices to her peers, on how to lead a fruitful life and embrace the challenges that come. Caitlin Powell is also a role model to her two younger siblings, who look up to her, being the oldest, for leadership. YourBlackWorld.com recently had the opportunity to speak with Caitlin on her interests, the joy of reading, motivational speaking and much, much more:
Thanks for joining us, Caitlin. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Well, I’m involved in my courses at my school; I love to sing; I’m on the telecast – it’s a lot of fun. I do the announcer #1, announcer # 2, camera-director and sound. My favorite is actually announcer #1, because you get to share a lot of information about what’s going on in the school. […]
In your latest webcast, you mentioned math as your favorite subject. Why is that?
Well, it gets my brain working; it’s really hard and challenging – and I love a good challenge. So, I stay really smart, and I hope I have a good future.
A lot of your peers dislike math for this reason. Why? And how can you help them come to love it, just as much as you do?
Full Interview At Your Black Scholar
Your Black Life: Gov. Blagojevich Caught In ‘The Wire’ — Sen. Clay Davis
CHICAGO (AP) – In an unwavering statement of innocence, Gov. Rod Blagojevich said Friday he will be vindicated of criminal corruption charges and has no intention of letting what he called a “political lynch mob” force him from his job.
“I will fight. I will fight. I will fight until I take my last breath. I have done nothing wrong,” Blagojevich said, speaking for about three minutes in his first substantial public comments since his arrest last week on federal corruption charges.
The Democrat is accused, among other things, of plotting to sell or trade President-elect Barack Obama’s U.S. Senate seat in secretly recorded phone conversations.
“I’m not going to quit a job the people hired me to do because of false accusations and a political lynch mob,” Blagojevich said.
Your Black News: Report: 12-Yr-Old Black Girl Assaulted By Police In Wrong Prostitution Raid
It was a little before 8 at night when the breaker went out at Emily Milburn’s home in Galveston. She was busy preparing her children for school the next day, so she asked her 12-year-old daughter, Dymond, to pop outside and turn the switch back on.
As Dymond headed toward the breaker, a blue van drove up and three men jumped out rushing toward her. One of them grabbed her saying, “You’re a prostitute. You’re coming with me.”
Dymond grabbed onto a tree and started screaming, “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy.” One of the men covered her mouth. Two of the men beat her about the face and throat. […]
All this is according to a lawsuit filed in Galveston federal court by Milburn against the officers. The lawsuit alleges that the officers thought Dymond, an African-American, was a hooker due to the “tight shorts” she was wearing, despite not fitting the racial description of any of the female suspects. The police went to the wrong house, two blocks away from the area of the reported illegal activity, Milburn’s attorney, Anthony Griffin, tells Hair Balls.
After the incident, Dymond was hospitalized and suffered black eyes as well as throat and ear drum injuries.
Three weeks later, according to the lawsuit, police went to Dymond’s school, where she was an honor student, and arrested her for assaulting a public servant.
Your Black Woman: New Documentary Examines “The Souls Of Black Girls”
A new documentary, written, produced and directed by Daphne S. Valerius, takes a critical look into the fragile souls of Black girls, with emphasis on how media images are “instituted, established and controlled.” With appearances by Jada Pinkett Simth, Regina King and Chuck D of Public Enemy, amongst many others, The Souls of Black Girls seeks to uncover some of society’s less-known realities about color-coding and racialized-gender bias. By examining “historical and existing media images of women of color” the documentary asks if Black girls are “suffering from a self-image disorder as a result of trying to attain the standards of beauty that are celebrated in media images.”
The Souls of Black Girls Trailer:
AOL Black Voices Interview with Daphne Valerius:
Your Black Life: How To Eliminate Poverty (Part 2) — Shannon Joyce Prince
Poverty: Policies and Possibilities (Part 2 — Read: Part 1)
By: Shannon Joyce Prince
Contributing Writer – YourBlackWorld.com
Imagine a program that built a childcare center which gave teens construction work experience, used Department of Agriculture funds to pay poor women to cook for poor children, taught poor women to become day care teachers and run day cares, and helped poor women get their GED’s. Imagine this program also provided mortgage counseling and founded a health center that provided forty local women with jobs. Now imagine the program was run almost entirely by black welfare mothers. Such a program did once exist. It was called Operation Life. It was at its peak during the 70’s and 80’s and is detailed in the book Storming Caesar’s Palace by Annelise Orleck.
Operation Life was based on the principle that the poor themselves are the experts on poverty and many current successful programs make that adage their foundation. […]
Another factor in reducing poverty is looking for creative solutions that solve multiple problems. […]
For example, many poor neighborhoods have constructed community gardens in vacant lots. In Philadelphia, crime on some blocks dropped 90% after the creation of community gardens […]
More At Your Black Life
Your Black Life: Muslim Woman Sentenced For Refusing To Remove Hijab (Head Scarf)
ATLANTA – A Muslim woman arrested for refusing to take off her head scarf at a courthouse security checkpoint said Wednesday that she felt her human and civil rights were violated. A judge ordered Lisa Valentine, 40, to serve 10 days in jail for contempt of court, said police in Douglasville, a city of about 20,000 people on Atlanta’s west suburban outskirts.
Valentine violated a court policy that prohibits people from wearing any headgear in court, police said after they arrested her Tuesday.
Kelley Jackson, a spokeswoman for Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker, said state law doesn’t permit or prohibit head scarfs.
“It’s at the discretion of the judge and the sheriffs and is up to the security officers in the court house to enforce their decision,” she said.
Valentine, who recently moved to Georgia from New Haven, Conn., said the incident reminded her of stories she’d heard of the civil rights-era South […]
Your Black News: White Vigilante Katrina Episode Finally Getting Traction
The way Donnell Herrington tells it, there was no warning. One second he was trudging through the heat. The next he was lying prostrate on the pavement, his life spilling out of a hole in his throat, his body racked with pain, his vision blurred and distorted.
It was September 1, 2005, some three days after Hurricane Katrina crashed into New Orleans, and somebody had just blasted Herrington, who is African-American, with a shotgun. “I just hit the ground. I didn’t even know what happened,” recalls Herrington, a burly 32-year-old with a soft drawl.
The sudden eruption of gunfire horrified Herrington’s companions–his cousin Marcel Alexander, then 17, and friend Chris Collins, then 18, who are also black. “I looked at Donnell and he had this big old hole in his neck,” Alexander recalls. “I tried to help him up, and they started shooting again.” […]
Herrington shouted at the other men to run and turned to face his attackers: three armed white males. Herrington says he hadn’t even seen the men or their weapons before the shooting began. As Alexander and Collins fled, Herrington ran in the opposite direction, his hand pressed to the bleeding wound on his throat. Behind him, he says, the gunmen yelled, “Get him! Get that nigger!”
[FYI: This is by no means “news” to those who consistently payed close attention to Katrina’s latest developments. For more info on this, pls. visit: http://www.cwsworkshop.org/katrinareader/node/573].
Your Black News Headlines: 12/18/2008
Your Black Brothers: Would Sojourner Truth Appreciate Lil’ Wayne’s Music?
Would Sojourner Truth Want To ‘Lick The Rapper?’
By: Zekita
One morning while riding in my car I decided to venture away from my regular News programming on the radio and turned to one of our local Hip Hop and R&B stations. It wasn’t long before the commercial for some debt creating pay-day loan went off and my ears, mind, and soul was being violated by rapper lil’ Wayne’s song ‘Lollipop.’ As I listened in disgust to the monotony of his lyrics (similar to many I had heard in some contemporary rap songs today) about how some women wanted to ‘lick the rapper’ amongst other things, my eyes began to tear up from those degrading and humiliating lyrics. […]
And then I thought back to the glorious African American women like Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Nzingha, Yaa Asante, and Mary McLeod Bethune. I turned my thoughts to these women and I wonder. […]
I wonder if Harriet Tubman feels like all 19 of her potentially deadly trips were traveled completely in vain. I wonder if Sojourner Truth still feels like a ‘woman’ […]
More At Your Black Brothers
Your Black Global: Greek Youth Protesters Take Over TV & Radio Stations
Greek protesters pushed their way into television and radio studios Tuesday, forcing broadcasters to put out anti-government messages in a change of tactics after days of violent street protests.
A group of about 10 youths got into the studio of NET state television and turned off a broadcast of a speech by Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, station officials said. The protesters forced studio cameras to instead show them holding up banners that read: “Stop watching, get out onto the streets,” and “Free everyone who has been arrested.” No one was hurt, and no arrests were reported.
NET chairman Christos Panagopoulos said the protesters appeared to know how to operate cameras and studio controls.
“This goes beyond any limit,” he said.
In the northern city of Thessaloniki, protesters made their way into three local radio stations, agreeing to leave only when a protest message was read out on the air […]
Your Black News: Man Reportedly Offering $10 Million For Iraqi Journalist’s Shoe
BAGHDAD — Calling someone the “son of a shoe” is one of the worst insults in Iraq. But the lowly shoe and the Iraqi who threw both of his at President Bush, with widely admired aim, were embraced around the Arab world on Monday as symbols of rage at a still unpopular war.
In Saudi Arabia, a newspaper reported that a man had offered $10 million to buy just one of what has almost certainly become the world’s most famous pair of black dress shoes.
A daughter of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, the Libyan leader, reportedly awarded the shoe thrower, Muntader al-Zaidi, a 29-year-old journalist, a medal of courage.
In the Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City, people calling for an immediate American withdrawal removed their footwear and placed the shoes and sandals at the end of long poles, waving them high in the air […]
Your Black News: Juan Williams Calls Iraqis ‘Ingrates’
At a time when social-consciousness is at its peak, and millions of citizens around the world are scratching their heads to figure out how much of a foreign policy disaster the Iraq War was/is — especially in light of the shoe-throwing incident last Sunday — some of our more… ‘conservative-minded’ fellows still don’t get it. Of such is FOX News superstar-Negro, Juan Williams, who declared, last night, that dissenting Iraqis are petty “ingrate[s]” who don’t value the 2003-invasion, which has wrecked more than a million lives:
Your Black News: Majora Carter Fights To Green The Ghettoes
MAJORA CARTER, one of the city’s best-known advocates for environmental justice, was sitting on a picnic table in Barretto Point Park in the South Bronx under the intense lights of an NBC film crew.
On this late September afternoon, after a month of traveling, delivering speeches, serving as host of a Sundance Channel program and a Science Channel pilot, Ms. Carter was noticeably flagging. Yet her signature feistiness was much in evidence when the producer of the documentary for which Ms. Carter was being interviewed asked her to explain why global warming affects not just polar bears but people around the globe.
Ms. Carter responded by describing air pollution in troubled urban areas like Hunts Point, the South Bronx neighborhood where she was raised and currently works.
The producer rephrased her question, in response to which Ms. Carter snapped, “I don’t do that.” […]
In just over a decade, Ms. Carter, 42, has vaulted from working as a volunteer for what was a nascent organization called the Point Community Development Corporation and knowing almost nothing about environmental issues to becoming a nationally known advocate for environmental justice […]
Your Black News: Kid Shoots Parents For Taking His Halo 3 (Video Game)
ELYRIA — Daniel Petric was so angry that his father would not allow him to play the violent video game Halo 3 that he killed his mother and shot his father, then tried to make it appear to be a murder-suicide, prosecutors told a Lorain County judge this morning in the boy’s murder trial.
Petric, now 17, had sneaked out of his house to buy the game. But his parents caught him as he came in with the game and took it from him. His father, Mark, put the game in a lockbox in the parents’ closet. He also kept a 9 mm handgun in the box, according to prosecutors.
Daniel Petric took the gun and the game out of the box, they said. […]
“Would you guys close your eyes,” Daniel Petric asked. “I have a surprise for you.”
Mark Petric said he expected a pleasant surprise. The next thing he knew, his head went numb. He had been shot in the head […]
Your Black Brothers: Judge Mathis: Street Judge
In this fast-paced, sexually charged thriller, a newly appointed judge
is caught up in a gritty case involving a brutally murdered woman as
well as a blackmail scheme involving an overzealous femme fatale
determined to sleep her way to the top of Detroit’s society page. […]
In one of the city’s most horrific crimes ever, a young single parent has been discovered decapitated in an alleyway, with her head located several blocks away. The police are stumped until the arrest of a drug dealer promises to reveal vital information about the case.
The only problem? The drug dealer won’t talk to anyone but Judge Mathis. […]
Crossing paths with people from his past who have decided to benefit from criminal activity, Mathis stands up for the innocents who cannot defend themselves. From establishing a drug rehabilitation center to helping the youth through a mentoring program, Mathis is much more than a judge, for he once walked on the wrong side of the law as well […]
Your Black Life: NPR Cancels Sole Black Program
It seems that as time changes, nothing seems to ever change as it relates to African American issues in our society. Growing up in the 1950s I often heard the refrain, that blacks were the last hired and the first fired.
That trend continues as National Public Radio, a liberal news organization, has just announced they are discontinuing the Program, “News & Notes, hosted by veteran broadcast and digital media journalist Farai Chideya. NPR cites the fact that the program received low ratings and did not attract the funding necessary from national sponsors. […]
In addition the News & Notes, the station also eliminated the program “Day to Day”.
“News & Notes” was a one-hour daily program and was produced at the NPR West studios in Culver City, CA. A roster of respected experts contributed regular segments on a wide range of subjects, with input from the program’s audience […]
Your Black Life: HBCUs Face Extinction
Black Colleges Face Whiteout
A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford
As the great unraveling of finance capitalism unfolds, lots of issues that were prime concerns in Black politics not long ago, are getting buried in the economic debris. […] It is in times of general crisis that the enemies of identifiably African American institutions find new opportunities for mischief. Such is the case in Georgia, where efforts are afoot to dismantle at least two Black colleges: Savannah and Albany state universities.
Members of the Republican-controlled state legislature are using the economic crisis as a rationale to merge majority Black Savannah State with mostly white Armstrong Atlantic State University. Historically Black Albany State University would be forced to combine with majority white Darton College. Adding insult to injury, Darton College is only a two-year institution, a community college, while Albany State is a full university.
Modern-day racists have learned to cloak their anti-Black ideas in progressive-sounding language […]
Listen To Commentary At Your Black Life
Your Black Life: Lisa Powell: Believe In Your Child
Lisa Powell: Education: A Road Map for the Future
By: Tolu Olorunda
YourBlackWorld.com
Lisa Powell is the mother of Caitlin Powell. Caitlin, as you many know, is a YourBlackWorld.com family member, whose exceptional talent is inspiring thousands of kids and parents across the country. At just 10-years of age, Caitlin Powell is a role-model, motivational speaker, writer, telecaster and singer. Alongside taking advanced-courses in school, she is also the host of her nationally-syndicated webcast, “Caitlin’s Corner TV,” which helps motivate students toward academic success. Caitlin has a rare gift, and her mom is the first to acknowledge that; but it takes the diligence, skill, dedication and patience of a parent, to help nurture raw talent into a resource of enlightenment and inspiration. […]
Lisa Powell says she first noticed an “excitement” in Caitlin at a very young age, which always took everything she did “to the next level.” Being her first child, she always “set goals” for Caitlin, because she wanted to see her “be the best that she could be.” As an experienced social worker, Powell knows the dangers of “pushing kids too hard,” or not “pushing them hard enough.” Finding the right balance, between those two tangents, was the key to success in raising Caitlin. […]
More At Your Black Life