voice magazine october 2011 issue
DESCRIPTION
The digital destination for today's African American Urban Professional.TRANSCRIPT
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For Custom Artwork Contact:
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.tauraunsartworld.com
Phone: 214-545-2023
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Magazine
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We all watched the Arab Spring revolts that took
place in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya and that are
currently taking place in Syria, Yemen and other
parts of the Middle East. The common thread
among all of these revolutions was immense
discontent with government, military and financial
elite. As Americans watched this upheaval in
various other parts of the world, it became obvious
that our goal ―toward a more perfect Union,‖ was
faltering. Our democracy which is supposed to
guarantee life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness
for all was enjoyed by a very limited few. It was
only a matter of time and the time finally came.
On October 17, 2011, the Occupy Wall Street Movement (―OWM‖) celebrated its
one month anniversary of protests in New York. In addition, on October 15, 2011
protests were held in over 900 cities worldwide. Many critics have tried to
denounce the OWM because the protesters have made no firm demands. Some
carry signs wanting jobs, healthcare and fair taxes. Others are protesting for
justice, education, housing and a host of other social and political ills that plague
our society.
What they all share in common is the desire to live the American Dream. As a
result of corporate greed, tax loopholes and unwarranted subsidies to big oil, we
have become a nation of haves and have-nots. I do not believe that any of the
protesters have a problem with the accumulation of wealth or the gaining of a
legitimate profit. What they do have a problem with is a system in which 1% of
the nation‘s population controls the majority of the institutions and wealth while
the remaining 99% must carry the burden of lost incomes, lost wealth,
foreclosures, job loses, inadequate healthcare and unfair labor practices to name
a few.
As a serial entrepreneur and aspiring industrialist, I am a firm believer in the
American Dream and lifting one up by one‘s own bootstrap, however like the
OWM protesters; I see a bleak economic future for our nation as we struggle to
emerge from the economic crisis of the Great Recession. The poor and middle
class cannot continue to carry the burden alone. To emerge out of the abyss of
this financial chaos that was created by the 1%, all of us must carry our fair share
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of the weight. The OWM is giving VOICE to the masses. For the benefit of us all
we should support their efforts.
On the cover this month we feature Lil Wayne who has emerged as one of Hip
Hop‘s most successful entertainers and businessman. As CEO of Young Money
Entertainment he manages such mega stars as Niki Minage and Drake. We also
profile the Occupy Wall Street Movement, which has reached a global scale and
promises to become one of the most impactful movements since the Civil Rights
era.
We also profile Minister Andre‘ic Morris. Minister Morris has battled personal
and financial hardships throughout his life. However, through his commitment
to his faith he has emerged a stronger servant.
In addition, we profile the lovely model Ms. Coya D. Holden. Coya is making her
mark in the modeling industry as one of the upcoming online models. We wish
her much success on her journey. We also profile the musician couple of Jazzy
Soultrist and Cadillac Dale. Nor since Ashford and Simpson have we seen a
couple so in tune with each other personally and musically.
Next, we are excited to bring coverage of the life and recent boxing victory of
Dewey Bozella. Mr. Bozella spent 26 years in prison for a crime that he did not
commit. Instead of feeling sorry for himself, Mr. Bozellla got a chance to live his
dream of fighting professionally. We wish him continued success in his future
endeavors. Last but not least we profile General Marcia Anderson who has
become the first African American female two star General in our nation‘s
history.
Given that October is Breath Cancer Awareness Month, we dedicate this issue to
the fight and elimination of this horrific disease that is shattering lives and
families.
Hope you enjoy it!
Regards,
W. E. ―Pete‖ Reeves Founder/Publisher
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Publisher VERVE Media, Inc. P.O. Box 2704
Springfield, Illinois 62708
Office : 217-761-5778
Fax: 217-793-6939
Cell: 901-832-1144
Email: [email protected]
Web Site: myillinoisvoice.yolasite.com
Editor &
General Manager W. E. “Pete” Reeves
IT Production Assistant Natasha Crider
Senior Social Correspondent Teresa Haley
Senior Southwest Region Correspondent Tiffany Hatchett
Contributors Malcolm Beal-Reeves Jo Lena Johnson
Joya Prophetess Jennie Chalden
Abdul Zarif Destinee Love
Tia Dent Celeste Poole
Pat Moody Sarah T. McGee
Ball-j Tainted Lucas
Teresa Haley Mier Lathan
Joyce Nash Sylphia R. Lindsay
Michael Johnson Nell Clay
Yogini Mafdet Alicia Wilson
Jael Mack jasira
Meier Lathan William Bishop III
Michelle Davis
VOICE is published monthly. © Copyright 2011 by VERVE MEDIA, INC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in any
form without permission is prohibited. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: VERVE MEDIA, INC., P.O. BOX
2704, Springfield, Illinois 62708. SUBSCRIPTIONS: Send $50 a year: (Add $15 per year for overseas delivery.)
Manuscripts, photographs, illustrations and letters to the editor are welcome, but VOICE can take no responsibility for
them while in transit or in the office of the publication.
Letters may be edited. Information published in VOICE is gathered from reliable sources, but the accuracy of this
information cannot be guaranteed. Opinions expressed in VOICE are those of their authors, and no information or
opinions expressed in VOICE represent an endorsement or solicitation for purchase or sale by VOICE or its staff.
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DEPARTMENTS
publisher’s page ............... 20
on the cover ........ ............. 26
inspiration ...................... 50
in memoriam .................... 59
web culture ...................... 72
national........................... 76
world.............................. 84
opinion........................... 89
urbanity .......................... 92
crème de la crème ………… 97
life & style ……………… 102
wellness ................... 115
money ...................... 121
business ................... 124
sports ....................... 127
bids & notices ………… 131
remembrances ………. 132
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Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. better known by his stage name Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. At the age of nine, Lil Wayne joined Cash Money Records as the youngest member of the label, and half of the duo, The B.G.'z, with B.G.. In 1997, Lil Wayne joined the group Hot Boys, which also included rappers Juvenile, B.G., and Young Turk. Hot Boys debuted with Get It How U Live! that year. Lil Wayne gained most of his success with the group's major selling album Guerrilla Warfare, released in 1999. Also in 1999, Lil Wayne released his Platinum debut album Tha Block Is Hot, selling over one million copies in the U.S.
Although his next two albums Lights Out (2000) and 500 Degreez (2002) were not as successful (only reaching Gold
status), Lil Wayne reached higher popularity in 2004 with Tha Carter, which included the single "Go D.J." Wayne also appeared on the Destiny's Child top ten single "Soldier" that year. In 2005, the sequel to Tha Carter, Tha Carter II, was released. In 2006 and 2007, Lil Wayne released several mixtapes and appeared on several popular rap and R&B singles.
His most successful album, Tha Carter III, was released in 2008 and sold over 1 million copies in the U.S. its first week of release. It included the number-one single "Lollipop" and won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album. Lil Wayne released his debut rock album, Rebirth, in 2010 to primarily negative reception from critics. The album eventually went gold. In March 2010, Lil Wayne began serving an 8-month prison sentence in New York after being convicted of criminal possession of a weapon stemming from an incident in July 2007. While in prison he released another album entitled I Am Not a Human Being in September 2010, featuring Young Money artists such as Drake, Nicki Minaj and Lil Twist. His ninth studio album and first since being released from prison, Tha Carter IV, was released on August 29, 2011. It sold 964,000 copies in the U.S. its
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first week out. He has been listed in the 2012 Guinness Book Of World Records for the record of Most US Hot 100 Hits By A Rap Artist with 64 hits between 1999 and 2010.
Early life
Lil Wayne was born Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. and grew up in the Holly grove neighborhood of New Orleans, Louisiana. Carter was born when his mother, a chef, was 19 years old. His parents were divorced when he was 2, and his father permanently abandoned the family. Carter enrolled in the gifted program of Lafayette Elementary School and in the drama club of Eleanor McMain Secondary School.
He wrote his first rap song at age eight.[6] In the summer of 1991, he met Bryan Williams, rapper and owner of Cash Money Records. Carter recorded freestyle raps on Williams's answering machine, leading him to mentor the young Carter and include him in Cash Money-distributed songs. He also recorded his first ever collaboration album True Story with rapper B.G.. At the time, Carter was 11, and B.G. was 14, and was billed as "The B.G.'z". When he was 12, he played the part of the Tin Man in his middle school drama club's production of The Wiz. At age 13, he accidentally shot himself with a 9 mm handgun, and off-duty police officer Robert Hoobler drove him to the hospital. At McMain Magnet School, Carter was an honor student, but he dropped out at the age of 14 to focus on a musical career.
Music career
1997–99: The Hot Boys
In 1997, Carter joined the Hot Boys along with rappers Juvenile, B.G., and Turk. At age 15, Carter was the youngest member at that time. Hot Boys' debut album Get It How U Live! was released the same year, followed in 1999 by the group's
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major-label debut Guerrilla Warfare, which reached No. 1 on the Billboard magazine Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and No. 5 on the Billboard 200. During their career, the Hot Boys had two charting singles, "We on Fire" from Get It How U Live! and "I Need a Hot Girl" from Guerrilla Warfare. Carter was also featured on Juvenile's single "Back That Azz Up", which reached No. 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 5 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks. Let 'Em Burn, a compilation album of unreleased tracks recorded during 1999 and 2000, came out in 2003, several years after the group disbanded. It reached No. 3 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and No. 14 on the Billboard 200.
Carter's debut solo album Tha Block Is Hot at age 17 featured significant contributions from the Hot Boys and was certified platinum, debuting at No. 3 on
the Billboard album charts. The album earned him a 1999 Source magazine award nomination for "Best New Artist", and also became a Top Ten hit. The lead single was "Tha Block Is Hot". After the release of Tha Block is Hot, Carter was featured on the single, "Bling Bling", with B.G., Juvenile, and Big Tymers. His verse was featured on the radio edition, and on the album version, only his hook was featured on the single.
Lights Out (2000)
His 2000 follow-up album Lights Out failed to attain the level of success achieved by his debut but was certified gold by RIAA. Critics pointed to the lack of coherent narratives in his verses as evidence that he had yet to mature to the level of his fellow Hot Boys. The lead single was "Get Off The Corner" which was noticed for an improvement in lyrical content and style, it also received a music video. The second single which received less attention was "Shine" featuring The
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Hot Boys. Near the release of Lights Out, Lil Wayne was featured on the single, "1# Stunna" with Big Tymers and Juvenile, which rose to 24th place on the Hot Rap Tracks charts.
500 Degreez (2002)
Lil Wayne's third album 500 Degreez, released in 2002, followed the format of his previous two, with significant contributions from the Hot Boys and Mannie Fresh. While certified Gold like its predecessor, it too failed to match the success of his debut. The title was a reference to the recently estranged Hot Boys member Juvenile's recording, 400 Degreez. The lead single was "Way Of Life" which like the album failed to match the success of his previous singles. After the release of 500 Degreez, he was featured in the single "Neva Get Enuf" by 3LW.
Tha Carter (2004)
In the summer of 2004, Wayne's album Tha Carter was released, marking what critics considered advancement in his rapping style and lyrical themes.[20] In addition, the album's cover art featured the debut of Wayne's now-signature dreadlocks.[4] Tha Carter gained Wayne significant recognition, selling 878,000
copies in the United States, while the single "Go DJ" became a Top 5 Hit on the R&B/Hip-Hop chart. After the release of Tha Carter, Lil Wayne was featured in Destiny's Child's single "Soldier" with T.I., which peaked at No. 3 on the U.S. Hot 100 and the U.S. R&B Charts.
Tha Carter II (2005)
Tha Carter II, the follow-up to the original Tha Carter album, was released in December 2005, this time without production by longtime Cash Money Records producer Mannie Fresh, who had since left the label. Tha Carter II sold more than
238,000 copies in its first week of release, debuting at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, and went on to sell 2,000,000 copies world wide. The lead single, "Fireman," became a hit in the US, peaking at 32 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Other singles included "Grown Man", "Hustler Muzik", and "Shooter" (featuring R&B singer Robin Thicke). Lil Wayne also appeared on a remix of Bobby Valentino's "Tell Me", which rose to No. 13 on the U.S. R&B Charts.
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In 2005, Lil Wayne was named president of Cash Money, and in the same year he founded Young Money Entertainment as an imprint of Cash Money. However, as of late 2007, Lil Wayne reported that he has stepped down from the management of both labels and has handed management of Young Money over to Cortez Bryant.
Like Father, Like Son collaboration (2006)
In 2006, Lil Wayne collaborated with rapper Birdman for the album Like Father, Like Son, whose first single "Stuntin' Like My Daddy", reached No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Mixtapes (2006–2008)
Instead of a follow-up solo album, Lil Wayne reached his audience through a plethora of mixtapes and guest appearances on a variety of pop and hip-hop singles. Of his many mixtapes, Dedication 2 and Da Drought 3 received the most media exposure and critical review. Dedication 2, released in 2006, paired Lil Wayne with DJ Drama and contained the acclaimed socially conscious track "Georgia Bush," in which Lil Wayne critiqued former US president George W. Bush's response to the effects of Hurricane Katrina on the city of New Orleans. Da Drought 3 was released the following year and was available for free legal download. It contained Lil Wayne rapping over a variety of beats from recent hits by other musicians. Numerous of features in prominent hip-hop magazines such
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as XXL and Vibe covered the mixtape. Christian Hoard of Rolling Stone magazine considered the mixtapes Da Drought 3 and The Drought Is Over 2 "among the best albums of 2007."
Collab songs with other singers
Despite no album release for two years, Lil Wayne appeared in
numerous singles as a featured performer, including "Gimme That" by Chris Brown, "Make It Rain" by Fat Joe, "You" by Lloyd, and "We Takin' Over" by DJ Khaled (also featuring Akon, T.I., Rick Ross, Fat Joe, and Birdman), "Duffle Bag Boy" by Playaz Circle, "Sweetest Girl (Dollar Bill)" by Wyclef Jean (also featuring Akon), and the remix to "I'm So Hood" by DJ Khaled (also featuring T-Pain, Young Jeezy, Ludacris, Busta Rhymes, Big Boi, Fat Joe, Birdman, and Rick Ross). All these singles charted within the top 20 spots on the Billboard Hot 100, Hot Rap Tracks, and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts.
On Birdman's 2007 album 5 * Stunna, Lil Wayne appeared on the singles "100 Million" and "I Run This" among several other tracks. Wayne also appeared on tracks from albums Getback by Little Brother, American Gangster by Jay-Z, and Graduation by Kanye West and Insomniac by Enrique Iglesias. "Make it Rain", a Scott Storch production that peaked at number 13 on the Hot 100 and number two on the Hot Rap Tracks chart, was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for 2008.
Vibe magazine ranked a list of 77 of Lil Wayne's songs from 2007 and ranked his verse in DJ Khaled's "We Takin Over" as his best of 2007, with "Dough Is What I Got" (a freestyle over the beat of Jay-Z's "Show Me What You Got") from Da Drought 3 the second song. At the end of 2007, an MTV poll selected Lil Wayne as "Hottest MC in the Game", The New Yorker magazine ranked him "Rapper of the Year", and GQ magazine named him "Workaholic of the Year".
In 2008 he was named "Best MC" by Rolling Stone. Another article, built around Lil Wayne's 2007 mixtape work, cites his creative practice as an example of post-performance creative practice.
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Young Money Entertainment
Young Money Entertainment is an American record
label founded by rapper Lil Wayne. The label is an imprint
of Cash Money Records and is distributed by Universal
Republic Records. Current acts include Lil Wayne, Drake,
T-Pain, Nicki Minaj, Tyga, Mack Maine, Jae Millz, Cory Gunz, Lil Twist, Gudda Gudda,
Lil Chuckee, Short Dawg, T-Streets, and Shanell aka SnL. The label has released five #1
albums. They were Tha Carter III, Tha Carter IV, and I Am Not a Human Being by Lil
Wayne, Thank Me Later by Drake, and Pink Friday by Nicki Minaj.
Tha Carter III (2008)
Initially planned to be released in 2007, Tha Carter III's largest delay came after the majority of the tracks were leaked and distributed on mixtapes, such as "The Drought Is Over Pt. 2" and "The Drought Is Over Pt. 4". Lil Wayne initially decided to use the leaked tracks, plus four new tracks, to make a separate album, titled The Leak. The Leak was to be released December 18, 2007, with the actual album being delayed until March 18, 2008, The release of The Leak in this format never came to fruition, but an official EP titled The Leak and containing five tracks was released digitally on December 25, 2007.
Tha Carter III was released on June 10, 2008, selling more than a million copies in its first week of release, the first to do so since 50 Cent's The Massacre in 2005. The first single "Lollipop", featuring Static Major became the rapper's most commercially successful song at that point, topping the Billboard Hot 100, making it the first Top 10 single for Lil Wayne as a solo artist, as well as his first No. 1 on the chart. His third single from Tha Carter III, "Got Money" featuring T-Pain, peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard 100. Tha Carter III also won four Grammy Awards, including best rap album and best rap song, which he won for "Lollipop". Along with his album singles, Lil Wayne appeared on R&B singles "Girls Around the World" by Lloyd, "Love In This Club, Part II" by Usher, "Official Girl" by Cassie, "I'm So Paid" by Akon, "Turnin' Me On" by Keri Hilson, and "Can't Believe It" by T-Pain; rap singles "My Life" by The Game, "Shawty Say" by David Banner, "Swagga Like Us" by T.I., "Cutty Buddy" by Mike Jones, All My Life (In the Ghetto) by Jay Rock and the remix to "Certified" by Glasses Malone; and pop single "Let It Rock" by new Cash Money artist Kevin Rudolf. On July 14, 2008, the Recording Industry Association of America certified Tha Carter III two times platinum. In an October 2008 interview with MTV News, Lil Wayne announced plans to re-release this album with all new tracks, including a duet with Ludacris and remixes of "A Milli".
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The lineup for New Orleans' 2008 Voodoo Experience concert, held in October, featured Lil Wayne. Jonathan Cohen of Billboard magazine reported that the event would mark his biggest hometown headlining set of his career. Lil Wayne stated that he would reunite with Hot Boys alongside Juvenile, Turk, and B.G. They plan to release an album after B.G.'s solo album Too Hood to Be Hollywood was completed. Wayne also performed as the 2008 Virgin Mobile Music Fest with Kanye West, performing the remix of "Lollipop" with West and also lip-syncing to Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You". Lil Wayne also performed at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards with Kid Rock ("All Summer Long"), Leona Lewis ("DontGetIt (Misunderstood)") and T-Pain ("Got Money"). On the season premiere of Saturday Night Live, he performed "Lollipop" and "Got Money". He later performed at the homecoming rally at Vanderbilt University and the 2008 BET Hip Hop Awards with 12 nominations. He won the "MVP" title at the BET Hip Hop Awards and seven others. It was revealed that M.I.A. dropped out of performing on the tour due to her pregnancy, however Jay-Z is expected to perform with Wayne on the song "Mr. Carter" at select shows.
On November 11, 2008, Wayne became the first hip-hop act to ever perform at the Country Music Association Awards. He played alongside Kid Rock for the song, "All Summer Long", in which Wayne did not rap but instead inaudibly strummed guitar strings alongside the guitarist in Kid Rock's band. Shortly after, Wayne was nominated for eight Grammys – the most for any artist nominated that year. Wayne was then named the first ever MTV Man of the Year at the end of 2008. He won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance for "A Milli", Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for his appearance in T.I.'s single "Swagga Like Us", and Best Rap Song for "Lollipop". Tha Carter III won the award for Best Rap Album.
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MTV News listed Lil Wayne number two on their 2009 list of the Hottest MCs In The Game.
We Are Young Money (2009)
On December 23, 2009, Wayne released a collaboration album with Young Money, with the first single confirmed as "Every Girl". The second single is "BedRock", featuring Lloyd. The third single is "Roger That". On May 24, 2010,
the album was certified gold by the RIAA with over 500,000 copies sold.
Wayne is featured on the song, "Revolver", with Madonna for her 2009 greatest hits album, Celebration. He was also featured on a Weezer song, "Can't Stop Partying", on their 2009 album, Raditude.
Rebirth (2008–2010)
In late 2008, Wayne stated that he would re-release The Carter III with leftover tracks and call it Rebirth, several months later, however, he announced Rebirth would instead release as his debut rock album, maintaining its title as Rebirth. To support the release of Rebirth and a
collaboration album with Young Money Entertainment, Wayne headlined the 'Young Money Presents: America's Most Wanted Music Festival'... a United States and Canada–only concert tour which started on July 29, 2009. The Rebirth album was originally scheduled for a April 7, 2009 release, however after numerous delays, the album was released on February 2, 2010. For the anticipation of Rebirth, Wayne was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone.
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"Prom Queen", the first official single, debuted on January 27, 2009 immediately after a live Internet broadcast on Ustream of his concert in San Diego. "Prom Queen" peaked at number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. On December 3, 2009, Lil Wayne's second single from the album, "On Fire", was released on iTunes. "On Fire" was produced by Cool & Dre. "On Fire" peaked at number 33 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. "Drop the World", which features Eminem, is the third single from the album.
I Am Not a Human Being (2010)
Lil Wayne was thought to be releasing an EP entitled I Am Not a Human Being, but it was confirmed that would be a full length LP. The album was released on September 27, 2010 which was his birthday. The album has sold over 953,000 copies in the U.S. and has spawned a successful single in "Right Above It" which peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Tha Carter IV (2008–present)
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In an interview on MTV's Mixtape Monday, Wayne asserted the possibility of the album Tha Carter IV.[58] Following Tha Carter III's achievement of selling over 3 million copies, becoming 2008's best-selling record, Wayne re-signed with Cash Money Records for a multi-album deal.[59] Wayne said Tha Carter IV will be released in 2009 just before the holidays. Birdman had previously stated that Tha Carter IV would be packaged with Rebirth as a double disc album.[61] However, Wayne denied this idea saying that "Tha Carter IV deserves Tha Carter IV". He went on to say that We Are Young Money may be packaged with Rebirth.[62][63] However, it was later confirmed that Rebirth and We Are Young Money will be
released separately and that Tha Carter IV will be released during 2011. He started from scratch on Tha Carter IV since getting released from prison. He recorded his first track since being released from prison and it was described as being "a 2010 version of A Milli on steroids." The album is set to feature multiple guests, including Tech N9ne. The first single "6 Foot 7 Foot" featuring Cory Gunz was released on December 15, 2010. It was available for digital download on iTunes December 16, 2010. The song is produced by Bangladesh, who also produced Lil Wayne's single "A Milli" in 2008. On March 8, 2011, Weezy released another song called "We Back Soon." The song is
produced by StreetRunner; It is more relaxed than "6 Foot 7 Foot" is, but will not be a track on Tha Carter IV. He also released a second single to Tha Carter IV called "John" on March 24, 2011, which features Rick Ross and is produced by Polow Da Don. On April 20, 2011, the official cover of Tha Carter IV was released. Tha Carter IV was scheduled to be released on May 16, 2011, but Mack Maine had confirmed that the forthcoming ninth studio album will be released in
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June 21, 2011 instead of May 16, 2011, because they need more time to make the album perfect and they'll have a "monster" single coming soon that will possibly be titled "Blows My Brains" or "She's Always In My Head". On May 26, the 3rd single, "How to Love" was released. Tha Carter IV was eventually pushed back to August 29, 2011. A song called "Dear Anne (Stan Part 2)" was released in June,
when the snippet was released back in April. Lil Wayne said the song was throw away track for Tha Carter III. He said it was originally suppose to be on Tha Carter IV when it leaked, but decided not to put it one there. He said he's not a fan of the song since it was so old. Lil Wayne said that he that liked the beat, but not the lyrics, and was thinking about redoing "Dear Anne."
For preparation for Tha Carter IV, Lil Wayne released a mixtape titled, Sorry 4 the Wait. He named the mixtape so as an apology to his fans for the delay of the album. It consists of 13 with all the beats on the mixtape coming from other artists song, like his "No Ceilings" mixtape.
In July 2011, Lil Wayne confirmed in an interview with MTV that Tha Carter IV is finished.
The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 964,000 copies sold in its first week, making it Lil Wayne's third chart topping album of his career.
Future projects
On March 12, 2011, rapper Fred Durst from Limp Bizkit tweeted that Lil Wayne will be featured on the song "Ready To Go" from Limp Bizkit's upcoming album Gold Cobra, although it was later revealed that the song did not make the final tracklist.
Lil Wayne has announced several possible upcoming projects, including a collaboration album I Can't Feel My Face with rapper Juelz Santana that has
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been in production for several years. And also working on Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins' album Still Cool in late 2011. He has discussed a possible R&B album titled Luv Sawngz, for which he will heavily rely on a vocoder. He has also talked with singer Lloyd about doing a collaboration album in the future. On June 19, 2008, Lil Wayne and T-Pain formed a duo called T-Wayne and planned to release an album. On June 8, 2010, Drake confirmed that he and Wayne are planning to release a joint album in the future. Lil Wayne and Baby will release a second Like Father, Like Son. Wayne and Drake will release a collaboration album sometime in the near future.[80] It was announced by Mack Maine that Lil Wayne and Juelz Santana have gone back to working on their collaboration album I Can't Feel My Face which had been delayed for a few years due to "label politics".
Post-Retirement
On March 29, 2011, in an interview with Hot 97's Angie Martinez, Lil Wayne announced that he would retire at age 35; saying "I have four kids," and that "I would feel selfish still going to the studio when it's such a vital point in their lives."
However, in an interview with XXL, Lil Wayne hinted that Tha Carter IV would be his last album.
Television and film career
Lil Wayne was a guest debater going up against Skip Bayless on the "1st & 10" segment on the January 6, 2009 edition of ESPN First Take. On February 10, 2009 he also appeared on ESPN's Around the Horn and beat out veterans Woody Paige, Jay Mariotti and fellow New Orleanian Michael Smith to win that show's episode. Prior to the 2009 Grammy Awards, Wayne was featured in an interview with Katie Couric. On February 7, 2009, he presented the Top Ten List on CBS's Late Show with David Letterman. He then appeared on the April 24, 2009 episode of The View, talking about his GED and addictions. In September 2009, Wayne was profiled in an episode of VH1's Behind the Music and was a presenter of the 2009 MTV Movie Awards.
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In film, Wayne produced and composed music for and starred in the direct-to-video film Hurricane Season. A documentary of Lil Wayne titled The Carter was released at the Sundance Film Festival.
Personal life
Family
Lil Wayne has four children. His first child, daughter Reginae, was born when he was 15, to his high school sweetheart Antonia "Toya" Carter (née Johnson).
Wayne and Johnson married on Valentine's Day of 2004 and divorced in 2006. Internet rumours started circulating in August 2008 that Wayne's daughter had died in a car crash, which however he quickly cleared up as false saying "Please allow me to dispel any rumors or speculations and report that my daughter is alive, healthy and surrounded by family who care and love her dearly. The rumors are completely false and unfounded; neither Reginae nor any other member of my family has been involved in any car accident." His second child, Dwayne III, was then born on October
22, 2008 at Christ Hospital in Cincinnati. His third child, Cameron Carter, was born to actress Lauren London on September 9, 2009. He had his fourth child, Neal, on November 30, 2009 with singer Nivea.
In a CBS interview with Katie Couric, Wayne described why he goes by the name of "Wayne" instead of his given name, Dwayne. Carter explained, "I dropped the
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D because I'm a junior and my father is living and he's not in my life and he's never been in my life. So I don't want to be Dwayne, I'd rather be Wayne". Couric asked Wayne if his father knew of this and Wayne replied with a smile, "He knows now".
Higher education
After earning his GED, Wayne enrolled at the University of Houston in January 2005. He dropped out in the same year due to his conflicting schedule. He also revealed on The View that he switched to the University of Phoenix and majored in psychology taking online courses. An article in Urb magazine in March 2007 asserted that Wayne had been earning high grades at Houston.
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Sports and musical interests
In an interview with Blender magazine, Lil Wayne revealed one of his favorite bands from childhood to be rock group Nirvana, and cites them as a major influence in his music.
On September 24, 2008, Lil Wayne published his first blog for ESPN in their issue, ESPN The Magazine. Wayne revealed he was a fan of tennis, the Green Bay Packers, the Boston Bruins, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Red Sox. To commemorate the Packers' making it
to Super Bowl XLV, he spoofed Wiz Khalifa's hit song "Black and Yellow" (which were the colors of the Packers' opponents, the Pittsburgh Steelers) in a song titled "Green and Yellow". Wayne has continued writing for ESPN, notably reporting at the ESPN Super Bowl party.
Lil Wayne made his debut on ESPN's daily sports round table show Around The Horn on February 10, 2009.
Along with Mack Maine, Wayne was in attendance of Game 3 of the opening round NBA playoff series between the Denver Nuggets and the home team New Orleans Hornets on April 25, 2009.
At E3 2011, Lil Wayne, along with Young Money member Drake, appeared on the trailer of FIFA 12.
On August 23, 2011, Lil Wayne was injured in St. Louis skateboard accident. Lil Wayne said he was recovering after the accident.
Religion
Lil Wayne is a practicing Christian, who takes time to read the Bible regularly. While playing in Newark Symphony Hall, Lil Wayne professed his belief "in God and His son, Jesus." He then asked the Newark crowd if they also believed, and they responded affirmatively with a roar.
According to his Rikers Island inmate ID and prison records, Wayne is specifically a Roman Catholic.
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Philanthropy
On February 19, 2008, Lil Wayne and Cortez Bryant revisited their alma mater McMain Secondary School to get students to design an invitation to the gala introducing Lil Wayne's nonprofit One Family Foundation. The website Change.org states: "The mission of One Family Foundation, Inc. is to empower urban youth by engaging them in opportunities to cultivate their talents and skills, educating them to become productive and economically self-sufficient, and motivating them to dream beyond their circumstances."
Legal issues
Carter told CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric on her All Access Grammy Special in 2009 that he enjoys smoking marijuana recreationally. He also stated that he is "not addicted" to drinking purple drank (codeine cough syrup) any longer, as some had claimed. He has been arrested for use or possession of marijuana and other drugs:
On July 22, 2007, Lil Wayne was arrested in New York City following a performance at the Beacon Theatre; the New York City Police Department discovered Lil Wayne and another man smoking marijuana near a tour bus. After taking Lil Wayne into custody, police discovered a .40 caliber pistol on his person. The gun, which was registered to his manager, was in a bag located near the rapper. He was charged with criminal possession of a weapon and marijuana. On October 22, 2009, Lil Wayne pleaded guilty to attempted criminal possession of a weapon. He was due for sentencing in February 2010 and was expected to receive a one-year county jail sentence, but on February 9, 2010, Lil Wayne's attorney announced that the sentencing was delayed until March 2 due to dental surgery, which was performed on February 16. The surgery included eight root canals, the
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replacement of several tooth implants, as well as the addition of a few new implants and work on his remaining original teeth. On March 2, 2010, sentencing was postponed again when the courthouse reported a fire in the basement. On March 8, 2010, Lil Wayne was sentenced to a year in prison, which he served in Rikers Island. His lawyer said the rapper expected to be held in protective custody, separated from other prisoners. He was released on good behavior. However, in May 2010 Wayne was found by Rikers Island correctional staff to be in possession of contraband (an MP3 player, charger, and headphones). However at that time, it was reported by MTV and HipHopDX (and later confirmed) that Lil Wayne was to be released four months early in November. In April 2010, Lil
Wayne's friends created a website called Weezy Thanx You, which publishes letters written by Wayne in prison. In the first letter, titled "Gone 'til November", the rapper described his daily routine, saying he works out a lot, and reads the Bible every day. Wayne was released from Rikers Island prison facility on November 4, 2010 after serving eight months of his year-long sentence.
Following a performance at Qwest Arena in Boise, Idaho, Lil Wayne was arrested October 5, 2007 on felony fugitive charges after Georgia authorities accused the rapper of possessing a controlled substance. The incident was later described as a "mix-up" and the fugitive charges were dropped.
On January 23, 2008, Lil Wayne was arrested alongside two others. His tour bus was stopped by Border Patrol agents near Yuma, Arizona. A K-9 Unit recovered 105 grams (3.7 oz) of marijuana, almost 29 grams (1.0 oz) of cocaine, 41 grams (1.4 oz) of MDMA, and $22,000 in cash. Lil Wayne was charged with four felonies: possession of narcotic drug for sale, possession of dangerous drugs, misconduct involving weapons and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was granted permission to travel outside of the state and remain out of custody on the $10,185 bond he posted. On May 6, 2008, Wayne returned to court in Arizona to plead not guilty to the charges. A bench warrant was issued on March 17, 2010 when Lil Wayne did not show for a final trial management conference. However, the rapper was already in prison, serving a year-long sentence in Rikers on weapons charges. On June 22, 2010
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Wayne plead guilty to the charges. As part of the plea deal he may serve 36 months of probation. On June 30, 2010, he was sentenced to 3 years probation.
In February 2009, production company RMF Productions filed a $1.3 million lawsuit against Wayne, following a $100,000 advance payment for three shows, all of which were cancelled by the artist.
On October 2009, Lil Wayne, Birdman, Cash Money Records, and various music distribution outlets were sued for copyright infringement by Thomas Marasciullo, who claims his voice was used without permission. The rappers asked him to record some "Italian-styled spoken word recordings" in 2006. The lyrics were allegedly used on "Respect" and other tracks from the rappers' collaboration album Like Father,
Like Son and Birdman's 5 * Stunna.
On December 18, 2009, Wayne and 11 others were detained at the Falfurrias, Texas border patrol checkpoint after an unknown amount of marijuana was found on two of his tour buses.
The release of the album Tha Carter III has been marred by a series of lawsuits:
In March 2011, producer Deezle (Darius Harrison) sued Wayne and his parent labels Cash Money Records over unpaid royalties from the same album.
In May 2011, producer Bangladesh also filed a lawsuit against Weezy & Co. over unpaid royalties as well.
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In early June 2011, another producer named David Kirkwood filed a lawsuit against Young Money Entertainment and Cash Money Records on claims that the labels have failed to pay him over $1.5 million in royalties and production services for his work on the album, also including his songwriting on "Love Me or Hate Me", a bonus song featured only on the deluxe edition of the album.
Also in June 2011, Dallas producers Play-N-Skillz filed a lawsuit against him claiming Wayne owes them at least $1 million in unpaid royalties for "Got Money" from his album Tha Carter III a major hit for Wayne released in May 2008. The single has sold over 2 million copies since being released.
Public references by Barack Obama
Lil Wayne has been referenced in public speeches by President Barack Obama on at least two occasions, in mixed contexts. Speaking to a largely African-American audience during a general election campaign town hall speech in Georgia, then-
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U.S. Senator Obama exhorted children to stay in school and achieve their dreams through education and perseverance instead of hoping for shortcuts to fame and riches, stating: "You are probably not that good a rapper. Maybe you are the next Lil Wayne, but probably not, in which case you need to stay in school."
After assuming the Presidency, Obama later echoed this theme of personal and familial responsibility—and the difficulty of achieving Lil Wayne's lyrical skills or success—during an address to a meeting commemorating the 100th anniversary
of the NAACP, telling the audience:
They might think they've got a pretty jump shot or a pretty good flow, but our kids can‘t all aspire to be LeBron or Lil Wayne. I want them aspiring to be scientists and engineers, doctors and teachers, not just ballers and rappers. I want them aspiring to be a Supreme Court justice. I want them aspiring to be President of the United States of America.
Obama has also noted that the music on his iPod includes Lil Wayne:
My rap palate has greatly improved. Jay-Z used to be sort of what predominated, but now I've got a little Nas and a
little Lil Wayne and some other stuff.
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Controversy
50 Cent
After hearing word that Lil Wayne had written a diss song for him after 50 Cent made some unkind remarks, 50 lashed out at Wayne first on August 17, 2007 with the song "Part Time Lover". Wayne never really responded to the song, although a 50 Cent diss track called "Louisianimal" did leak much later on November 17, 2008. 50 responded to Lil Wayne in January 2009 in a song entitled "Play This On The Radio".As of August 14, 2009, the controversy between 50 Cent and Lil Wayne seems to have ended after 50 Cent appeared and performed at Lil
Wayne's America's Most Wanted Musical Festival stop in Anaheim, California.
Jay-Z
In early 2011, when Jay-Z & Kanye West's single "H•A•M" was released, Jay-Z took shots at Lil Wayne's mentor Birdman, saying "Really, you got Baby money" and "[you] ain't got my lady's money!". On August 24 2011, a song called "It's Good" by Lil Wayne (featuring Drake and Jadakiss) was leaked online and included Lil Wayne responding "Talkin‘ ‗bout baby money? I gotcha baby money. Kidnap your bitch, get that, How much you love your lady? money". Rapper Jadakiss later absolved himself of involvement in any brewing beef on his official Twitter feed.
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Keeping the Faith with
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Minister Andre‘ic Demar Morris is a
trailblazing anointed leader that
received the gift of music from God.
He was born July 7th, 1983 in the city
of Peoria IL. He is the Child of Patricia
Morris and Robin Robinson, and the
grandson of Mrs. Annie and Mr. Adell
Morris. He took interest in Music at
the early age of five. By the age of nine
his grandmother, Mrs. Annie Morris,
saw the future musician‘s potential.
She helped him get a jumpstart in his
musical journey. Even though his
music was stress a reliever, Minister
Morris didn‘t have it easy. He was
exposed to seeing his mother being
physically and mentally abused. These
types of events turned him to the
Light of God. He was taught how to
respect women because he knew they did not deserve to be abused. He didn‘t
want to be like the man he once seen abuse his mother. He knew he would be the
complete opposite.
In addition to witnessing abuse, Minister Morris had a medical condition called
keloids, which he was diagnosed with in 1992. As a child he had a tough time
dealing with the excruciating pain, while concentrating in school. He was picked
on a lot by other students in school because of his disability, but through it all he
keept his faith. A few years after being diagnosed with Keloids, (1995) his
grandfather Adell Morris passed away, leaving Minister Morris devastated. Mr.
Morris looked up to his grandfather because he was the only male figure in his
life. His biological father wasn‘t around much during his youth.
Minister Morris graduated from Manuel High School in 2002, where he played
trumpet in the marching band under the great director George Graves Jr. He
also taught himself how to play the drums and the bass guitar. In June of 2004,
he married Cassandra M. Washington-Morris and they were blessed with four
beautiful children; Audreya Morris, Andre‘ic Morris Jr., Isiah Morris, and
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Malachi Morris. Andre‘ic and Cassandra later separated then divorced.
Minister Morris started doing online radio on February 26, 2008 and produced
his own show called The Andre’ic Morris Show as well as traveling on the road
professionally with Tim Woodson and The Heirs of Harmony of Grand Rapids
MI. His music has given him the ability to travel to over 15 different states. In
2009, Minister Morris was diagnosed with cellulitis which caused grave
financial difficulty (loosing him home, job, as well as vehicle) but by faith
through grace he‘s been living.
In 2009, Andre‘ic came back to his home church where he became both an
Associate Minister and a Minister of Music at Pleasant Grove M.B. Church
under the Pastor Joshua M. West. He is also a Sunday school teacher and
assistant bible study teacher. In 2010, he became the Minister of Music of The
United Usher Board of Peoria under the
President Essie Ellis. In October of 2010,
Minister Morris moved his online radio show
to WAZU 90.7 FM broadcasting from Illinois
Central College along with his co-host Lady
Gigi Gibson.
Minister Morris is a man who never had it easy.
Through all the illnesses, abuse and hard times,
he still kept his faith in God. He helped out
many churches, choirs, and quartet groups in
Peoria and many other communities, spreading
the word of god with the gift of music.
In June of 2011, he became the Minister Of
Music of the Unity Missionary Baptist District
Association under Moderator Pastor T.C.
Sturdivant. That same year in August, Minister
Morris was blessed with the opportunity to play
with a host of musicians at The Baptist General State Congress of Christian
Education of Illinois Convention. He is also the former booking agent for Lil'
Blair and The Violinaires and Bishop George Livingston (formerly of Willie
Neal Johnson and The Gospel Keynotes)
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He has been blessed to tour and play with anointed groups such as The
Independence Gospel Singers of Milwaukee, WI, The Gospel Crusaders, The
Notes of Melody both of Chicago, IL, The Heavenly Voices of Holly Springs,
MS, The Fantastic Jones Family, One Accord, and The Crawford Singers all of
Springfield, IL, Unity Gospel Singers of Decatur, IL, The Unityaires of
Champaign/Peoria, IL, The Majestic Sons Of Zion, Nell and The Gospel
Connection, The Sensation Traveling 5, The Soul Survivors, The Chosen Few,
The Religious Performance Alliance, The Spiritualnettes, The Gospel Wonders,
The Willing Four all of Peoria, IL, and a host of choirs and soloist of Peoria and
various cities.
Currently Minister Morris is working on a drama CD called Andre’ic Morris’s
Dark Secrets that he both produced as well as wrote.
In addition, Minister Morris is currently working on a stage play entitled Dark
Secrets which will debut in 2012. He also has a soap opera in the works that will
debut in late 2012-13.
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More Than 40,000 Attendees Expected to Be Present At Church of God In Christ Convention in October
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The Church of God in Christ 104th Holy Convocation will convene October 31 - November 9, 2011 in St. Louis, Missouri, and is expected to be the biggest convention of 2011 in St. Louis, says the St. Louis Business Journal.
The St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission says the 2010 convocation attracted 35,000 attendees that spent upwards of $35 million during the eight-day convention.
This year's convocation attendance is already expected to increase in size and economic impact to the region. This "places the convocation squarely on top of the St. Louis Business Journal's list of the city's largest 2011 conventions and group meetings" says the journal.
Presiding Bishop Charles E. Blake, Sr. explains that this convention will be an opportunity for the members of COGIC to "set down our buckets to receive the latter rain of inspiration, instruction and the work of ministry." The convocation is a time for the delegates to experience great speakers and some of the greatest gospel music singers in the nation.
The official Holy Convocation website has just launched and includes up-to-date information about the 104th Holy Convocation, including a list of events, speakers and musical artists for the week.
The informative site also includes an online Press Room with fast, easy navigation, ensuring a user-friendly experience for visitors, while providing user-friendly functionalities. Please visit www.cogic.org and click on the Holy Convocation banner for additional information.
About the Church of God in Christ: The Church of God in Christ is the fifth largest Protestant religious denomination in the United States, with churches in 60 countries worldwide and an estimated membership of nearly 6.5 million members.
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Words of Inspiration, Inspired
first seek me
i wish everyone could see
God lives through you and me
and there’s good in everybody you see
Jesus made us in his own image
everyone he made he put a heart into their body
and blew blood into there nostrils
so they could breath now
in these last days they act like they don't know him
how do they think they got here
do they think they came by train or bus or
do they think someone else made us
it beats me, so i'm telling you
they can quit all the fuss
because God made all of us he gave us life
you don't have to listen to me
seek the Lord for yourself for answers
if you don't know how to reach him
go somewhere by your self and call his name
straight from your heart i know the lord will answer you
and listen to what you have to say
because he's made that way
but try to do it today
because you seem so lost in a way
maybe cause you been in the dark to long
he said seek and you shall find me
i am not far away
i am available night or day
joya may be contacted at [email protected]
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Author Jo Lena Johnson on a mission for
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Good ... Absolute Good!
By Raaw'el
In order to BE something You must DO something
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Praying You Through
I find myself praying you through, the hopeless conditions that will bring about the new you. As I look in your eyes, I see darkness and despair, yet your light shines bright...your sweet scent lingers in the air. Right now, it all seems bleak, you feel defeated and alone, but God has performed a mighty work in you; your success is not your own.
Your struggle is with self, but you charge it to be, from people taking advantage of your kindness. Could it be, that you're being used by Him to make you see, that through your adversities & hopeless conditions you are anew, refreshed, created in His image; your just due, is at peace with Him, whose free & at ease. I find myself praying you through the darkness, your light is all I see
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Prominent inherited disease expert Dr. James Bowman dies
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Inherited disease expert Dr. James Bowman, who challenged the ethics of genetic screening and is the father of presidential aide Valerie Jarrett, has died at age 88, the University of Chicago
said on Thursday.
Bowman, an internationally recognized African-American pathologist and expert on inherited blood diseases such as sickle cell anemia, died on Wednesday from cancer, the school said.
"Jim Bowman was one of the early pioneers in the clinical applications of molecular genetics. He did important work on a common enzyme deficiency and on donated blood and was a great source of information for all of us on inherited diseases," said Alvin Tarlov, former chairman of medicine at the University of Chicago. Bowman joined the faculty in 1962.
Bowman gained attention in 1972 when he argued against laws mandating genetic screening for sickle cell -- a disease that strikes blacks -- as "inaccurate, misleading, politically motivated propaganda which has left mothers frantic."
Born in Washington, D.C., in 1923, Bowman experienced segregation first-hand and later would mentor many minority scholars seeking academic careers.
"In those days there was complete segregation. One could only go to theaters, movies, restaurants in the black neighborhood," Bowman said in an interview.
His father wanted him to follow him into dentistry but Bowman earned degrees in medicine from Howard University under an Army-paid program. Yet he was barred from entering as an officer because he was black.
After completing a stint as chief of pathology at an Army hospital in Denver, he moved overseas to a new hospital in Shiraz, Iran, in 1955 where he saw diseases such as smallpox, brucellosis and rabies for the first time.
His daughter Valerie was born in Iran in 1956.
One common inherited disease in Iran was favism, leading Bowman to several discoveries about enzyme deficiencies.
He is survived by his wife Barbara, the president of the Erikson Institute for early childhood education. His daughter Valerie Jarrett is a senior aide to President Barack Obama. www.reuters.com
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Sylvia Robinson, Pioneering Producer of Hip-Hop, Is Dead at 75
Sylvia Robinson, a singer, songwriter and record producer who formed the pioneering hip-hop group Sugarhill Gang and made the first commercially successful rap recording with them, died on Thursday in Edison, N.J. She was 75. She had been in a coma at the New Jersey Institute of Neuroscience and died there of congestive heart failure, a family spokeswoman said. Ms. Robinson lived in Englewood, N.J. Ms. Robinson had a successful career as a rhythm and blues singer long before she and her husband, Joe Robinson, formed Sugar Hill Records in the 1970s and went on to serve as the midwives for a musical genre that came to dominate pop music. She sang with Mickey Baker as part of the duo Mickey & Sylvia in the 1950s and had several hits, including ―Love Is Strange,‖ a No. 1 R&B song in 1957. She also had a solo hit,
under the name Sylvia, in the spring of 1973 with her sultry and sexually charged song ―Pillow Talk.‖ In the late 1960s, Ms. Robinson became one of the few women to produce records in any genre when she and her husband founded All Platinum Records. She played an important role in the career of The Moments, producing their 1970 hit single ―Love on a Two-Way Street.‖ But she achieved her greatest renown for her decision in 1979 to record the nascent art form known as rapping, which had developed at clubs and dance parties in New York City in the 1970s. She was the mastermind behind the Sugarhill Gang‘s ―Rapper‘s Delight,‖ the first hip-hop single to become a commercial hit. Some called her ―the mother of hip-hop.‖ ―Back in the days when you couldn‘t find females behind the mixing board, Sylvia was there,‖ said Dan Charnas, the author of ―The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop‖ (2010). ―It was Sylvia‘s genius that made ‗Rapper‘s Delight‘ a hit.‖
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At the time, the label the Robinsons had founded was awash in lawsuits and losing money. Facing financial ruin, Ms. Robinson got an inspiration when she heard Lovebug Starski rapping over the instrumental breaks in disco songs at the Harlem World nightclub. ―She saw where a D.J. was talking and the crowd was responding to what he was saying, and this was the first time she ever saw this before,‖ her son, Joey Robinson, recalled in a 2000 interview with NPR. ―And she said, ‗Joey, wouldn‘t this be a great idea to make a rap record?‘ ‖ Using Joey Robinson as a talent scout, she found three young, unknown rappers in Englewood — Big Bank Hank, Wonder Mike and Master Gee — and persuaded them to record improvised rhymes as the Sugarhill Gang (sometimes rendered as Sugar Hill Gang) over a nearly 15-minute rhythm track adapted from Chic‘s ―Good Times.‖ The song was ―Rapper‘s Delight,‖ and the Robinsons chartered a new label, Sugar Hill Records, to produce it. It sold more than 8 million copies, reached No. 4 on the R&B charts and No. 36 on Billboard‘s Hot 100, opening the gates for other hip-hop artists. Ms. Robinson later signed Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, and in 1982 she was a producer of their seminal song, ―The Message.‖ It was groundbreaking rap about ghetto life that became one of the most powerful social commentaries of its time, laying the groundwork for the gangsta rap of the late 1980s.
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Born Sylvia Vanderpool in New York City in 1936, Ms. Robinson made her recording debut at 14 singing blues with the trumpet player Hot Lips Page on Columbia Records while she was still a student at Washington Irving High School in lower Manhattan. She went on to make several other blues recordings for the label, including ―Chocolate Candy Blues,‖ before joining forces with Mr. Baker in 1956. After several hits, Mickey & Sylvia broke up in 1962 when Mr. Baker moved to Paris. Two years later, Ms. Robinson married Joseph Robinson, a musician, and settled in Englewood, where the couple opened an eight-track recording studio, Soul Sound, and established the All Platinum label. Ms. Robinson‘s survivors include her sons Joey, Leland and Rhondo and 10 grandchildren. Mr. Robinson died of cancer in 2000.
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Gospel Star Jessy Dixon Dies at 73
Jessy Dixon, a gospel singer and songwriter whose career spanned more than 50 years, died Monday. He was 73.
Dixon wrote songs for several popular singers, including Randy Crawford, Cher, Diana Ross, Natalie Cole and Amy Grant; opened for Paul Simon; and played keyboard with Earth Wind & Fire. But he was best known for his own gospel singing.
Dixon, who began studying music at age 5,originally aspired to be classical pianist, but he told the Associated Press in a 1997 interview that he knew early on that he wanted to use his talent in the church. "Going to church was like going to school," Dixon said. At church, he heard the likes of Mahalia Jackson and blues pioneer Thomas A. Dorsey, who is credited with creating modern gospel
singing.
Several of his early songs have become classics, sung in churches across America, including "Sit at His Feet and Be Blessed," "These Old Heavy Burdens" and "I Love to Praise His Name." Dixon's 1993 hit, "I Am Redeemed," held a place on Billboard magazine's gospel chart for more than five years.
Dixon rode a wave of increased gospel music interest during the 1980s to build a following in Europe. Back in the United States, he was a fixture on composer and singer Bill Gaither's Gospel Series, video concerts broadcast on religious-oriented cable television stations.
During his career, Dixon produced five gold records and garnered several Grammy nominations.
In his 1997 interview with the AP, Dixon noted that when he first began touring on his own outside the United States in the 1980s, the small audiences didn't have much respect for gospel as religious expression. "At first it was viewed as entertainment," he said. "But now when I go, they ask me to share my faith as a Christian." www.thegrio.com
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Derrick Bell, Law Professor and Rights Advocate, Dies at 80
Steve Liss/Time Life Pictures, via Getty
Images
Above:Derrick Bell walking with a group of Harvard law students after taking a voluntary unpaid leave of absence to protest
the lack of tenured minority female professors.
Derrick Bell, a legal scholar who saw persistent racism in America and sought to expose it through books, articles and provocative career moves — he gave up a Harvard Law School professorship to protest the school‘s hiring practices — died on Wednesday in Manhattan. He was 80 and lived on the Upper West Side. The cause was carcinoid cancer, his wife, Janet Dewart Bell, said.
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Mr. Bell was the first tenured black professor at Harvard Law School and later one of the first black deans of a law school that was not historically black. But he was perhaps better known for resigning from prestigious jobs than for accepting them. While he was working at the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department in his 20s, his superiors told him to give up his membership in the N.A.A.C.P., believing it posed a conflict of interest. Instead he quit the department, ignoring the advice of friends to try to change it from within. Thirty years later, when he left Harvard Law School, he rejected similar advice. At the time, he said, his first wife, Jewel Hairston Bell, had asked him, ―Why does it always have to be you?‖ The question
trailed him afterward, he wrote in a 2002 memoir, ―Ethical Ambition,‖ as did another posed by unsympathetic colleagues: ―Who do you think you are?‖ Professor Bell, soft-spoken and erudite, was ―not confrontational by nature,‖ he wrote. But he attacked both conservative and liberal beliefs. In 1992, he told The New York Times that black Americans were more subjugated than at any time since slavery. And he wrote that in light of the often violent struggle that resulted from the Supreme Court‘s 1954 desegregation decision, Brown v. Board of Education, things might have worked out better if the court had instead ordered that both races be provided with truly equivalent schools. He was a pioneer of critical race theory — a body of legal scholarship that explored how racism is embedded in laws and legal institutions, even many of those intended to redress past injustices. His 1973 book, ―Race, Racism and American Law,‖ became a staple in law schools and is now in its sixth edition. Mr. Bell ―set the agenda in many ways for scholarship on race in the academy, not just the legal academy,‖ said Lani Guinier, the first black woman hired to join Harvard Law School‘s tenured faculty, in an interview on Wednesday. At a rally while a student at Harvard Law, Barack Obama compared Professor Bell to the civil rights hero Rosa Parks. Professor Bell‘s core beliefs included what he called ―the interest convergence dilemma‖ — the idea that whites would not support efforts to improve the position of blacks unless it was in their interest. Asked how the status of blacks could be improved, he said he generally supported civil rights litigation, but cautioned that even favorable rulings would probably yield disappointing results and that it was best to be prepared for that. Much of Professor Bell‘s scholarship rejected dry legal analysis in favor of stories. In books and law review articles, he presented parables and allegories about race relations,
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then debated their meaning with a fictional alter ego, a professor named Geneva Crenshaw, who forced him to confront the truth about racism in America. One of his best-known parables is ―The Space Traders,‖ which appeared in his 1992 book, ―Faces at the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism.‖ In the story, as Professor Bell later described it, creatures from another planet offer the United States ―enough gold to retire the national debt, a magic chemical that will cleanse America‘s polluted skies and waters, and a limitless source of safe energy to replace our dwindling reserves.‖ In exchange, the creatures ask for only one thing: America‘s black population, which would be sent to outer space. The white population accepts the offer by an overwhelming margin. (In 1994 the story was adapted as one of three segments in a television movie titled ―Cosmic Slop.‖) Not everyone welcomed the move to storytelling in legal scholarship. In 1997 Richard Posner, the conservative law professor and appeals court judge, wrote in The New Republic that ―by repudiating reasoned argumentation,‖ scholars like Professor Bell ―reinforce stereotypes about the intellectual capacities of nonwhites.‖ Professor Bell‘s narrative technique nonetheless became an accepted mode of legal scholarship, giving female, Latino and gay scholars a new way to introduce their experiences into legal discourse. Reviewing ―Faces at the Bottom of the Well‖ in The New York Times, the Supreme Court reporter Linda Greenhouse wrote: ―The stories challenge old assumptions and then linger in the mind in a way that a more conventionally scholarly treatment of the same themes would be unlikely to do.‖ Derrick Albert Bell Jr. was born on Nov. 6, 1930, in Pittsburgh, to Derrick Albert and Ada Elizabeth Childress Bell. After graduating from Schenley High School near Pittsburgh‘s Hill District, he became the first member of his family to go to college, attending Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. He received his bachelor‘s degree in 1952. A member of the R.O.T.C. at Duquesne, he was later an Air Force officer for two years, one of them in Korea. Afterward he attended the University of Pittsburgh Law School, where he was the only black student, earning his degree in 1957.
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After his stint at the Justice Department, he headed the Pittsburgh office of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, leading efforts to integrate a public swimming pool and a skating rink. Later, assigned to Mississippi, he supervised more than 300 school desegregation cases. In 1969, after teaching briefly at the University of Southern California, he was recruited and hired by Harvard Law School, where students were pressuring the administration to appoint a black professor. Mr. Bell conceded that he did not have the usual qualifications for a Harvard professorship, like a federal court clerkship or a degree from a top law school. In 1980 he left Harvard to become dean of the University of Oregon School of Law, but he resigned in 1985 when the school did not offer a position to an Asian-American woman. After returning to Harvard in 1986, he staged a five-day sit-in in his office to protest the school‘s failure to grant tenure to two professors whose work involved critical race theory. In 1990 he took an unpaid leave of absence, vowing not to return until the school hired, for the first time, a black woman to join its tenured faculty. His employment effectively ended when the school refused to extend his leave. By then, he was teaching at New York University School of Law, where he remained a visiting professor until his death. Harvard Law School hired Professor Guinier in 1998. Mr. Bell said his personal decisions took a toll on his first wife, Jewel, who had cancer when he left Harvard in 1990 and died that year. In 1992 he began a correspondence with Janet Dewart, who was the communications director of the National Urban League. Ms. Dewart proposed marriage before the couple even met. A few months later, Mr. Bell accepted. In addition to his wife, he is survived by three sons from his first marriage, Derrick A. Bell III and Douglas Dubois Bell, both of Pittsburgh, and Carter Robeson Bell of New York; two sisters, Janet Bell of Pittsburgh and Constance Bell of Akron, Ohio; and a brother, Charles, of New York. In ―Ethical Ambition,‖ Mr. Bell expressed doubts about his legacy: ―It is not easy to look back over a long career and recognize with some pain that my efforts may have benefited my career more clearly than they helped those for whom I have worked.‖ But Professor Guinier, who continues to teach at Harvard, differed with that view. ―Most people think of iconoclasts as lone rangers,‖ she said on Wednesday. ―But Derrick was both an iconoclast and a community builder. When he was opening up this path, it was not just for him. It was for all those who he knew would follow into the legal academy.‖
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Civil rights leader Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth dies at 89
The Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, who helped lead the civil rights movement, has died, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute said Wednesday, October 4, 2011. He was 89.
Shuttlesworth is among the iconic figures honored in the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame at the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site in Atlanta. King once called Shuttlesworth "the most courageous civil rights fighter in the South."
President Barack Obama issued a statement honoring Shuttleworth, saying he "dedicated his life to advancing the cause of justice for all Americans. He was a testament to the strength of the human spirit. And today we stand on his shoulders, and the shoulders of all those who marched and sat and lifted their voices to help perfect our union. ...
"America owes Reverend Shuttlesworth a debt of gratitude, and our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Sephira, and their family, friends and loved ones."
When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against segregated busing in Montgomery, Alabama, Shuttlesworth rallied the membership of a group he established in May 1956 -- the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights -- to challenge the practice of segregated busing in Birmingham.
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Shuttlesworth also helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, with King and other civil rights leaders.Shuttlesworth's efforts weren't without a price: his home was bombed on Christmas Day in 1956, but he and his family were not injured. He was, however, hurt in 1957 when he was beaten with chains and whips as he sought to integrate an all-white public school.
That same year, Shuttlesworth helped King organize the SCLC, serving as the organization's first secretary from 1958 to 1970. He later served briefly as its president in 2004. In 2001, President Bill Clinton awarded Shuttlesworth a Presidential Citizens Medal -- the nation's second-highest civilian award -- for his leadership in the "non-violent civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s, leading efforts to integrate Birmingham, Alabama's schools, buses and recreational facilities" and helping found the SCLC.
Shuttlesworth also protested segregated lunch counters and helped lead sit-ins at the eateries in 1960. He participated in organizing the Freedom Rides against segregated interstate buses in the South when he joined forces with the Congress On Racial Equality. In 1963, he was injured again when a fire hose was turned on him during a protest against segregation in Birmingham.
The blast of water, directed against demonstrators by order of Birmingham Commissioner of Public Safety Bull Connor, slammed Shuttlesworth against a wall. He was hospitalized but recovered. He was also a principal in the historic march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965, which he helped organize.
In the early 1960s, he moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he fought homelessness and continued the movement against racism. There, he founded and served as pastor of the Greater New Light Baptist Church from 1966 to 2006. In the 1980s, he established the Shuttlesworth Housing Foundation in Cincinnati, which provided grants to help low-income families buy homes.
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Tips for Using Social Media’s Neglected Child, LinkedIn
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Many of us browse LinkedIn with the same mindlessness used to flip through Facebook profiles. Maybe you‘re ogling a friend‘s glamorous career, stalking that cute boy you used to work with, or simply wasting time during the workday.
Either way, one thing is certain — you‘re probably not taking full advantage of LinkedIn. That‘s why freelance writer and author Susan Johnston refers to the site as the ―neglected child of social media.‖
Yet with her new ebook, LinkedIn and Lovin’ It: Unleash Your Business Potential with LinkedIn, there‘s no excuse to ignore the tool‘s potential.
If LinkedIn lacks tender love and care, that‘s a perception that will soon change. For some websites, referral traffic from LinkedIn dwarfs that from Twitter, TechCrunch reports. And hundreds of freelancers worldwide, some of whom Johnston interviewed for her book, vouch for LinkedIn‘s ability to drive traffic, clients and business.
Here‘s a sneak peek at Johnston‘s hints for using LinkedIn to make new connections, showcase your skills, and find an ―in‖ with companies you admire – rather than as a two-dimensional resume.
Have fun — without security concerns and distractions
The fact that LinkedIn is geared more toward professional networking may be ―a benefit, not a bug,‖ Johnston says. ―You don‘t have to worry about creating circles or
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limited profiles because you should assume that everything you post on LinkedIn might be viewed by a boss or prospective client. That awareness lets you focus on building your professional network but that doesn‘t mean you have to be all business all the time.‖
But don‘t be fooled: Just because the site isn‘t all fun and games doesn‘t mean you can‘t give your profile a bit of pizzazz. ―There‘s room for personality but there are fewer distractions, silly polls, and so on,‖ says Johnston. So what‘s one creative way to stand out and give your profile character? Johnston encourages adding apps to display your portfolio, link to blog posts, create events, identify travel plans or present slideshows.
Avoid awkwardness with flattery
LinkedIn‘s main purpose is linking people, yet sometimes it‘s difficult to do that when you don‘t actually know the person you want to connect with. Johnston recommends approaching someone you only sorta, kinda know by requesting an introduction from a mutual connection or using InMail. But how can you do so without seeming creepy? ―I‘d recommend customizing your invitation to connect instead of using the default,‖ says Johnston. ―For instance, ‗I didn‘t get a chance to introduce myself at the Designer‘s Conference last month, but I really admire your packaging designs (especially the ones for Old Spice) and I‘d love to connect if you‘re game.‘ Flattery can‘t hurt, right?‖
Need proof that LinkedIn messages are more credible than cold e-mails?
One of Johnston‘s favorite stories is about an author who set up an interview with Zappos‘ director of customer loyalty. ―She didn‘t have an email address but she‘d worked with someone from Zappos before, so she sent a customized LinkedIn invitation and that person referred her to his colleague,‖ says Johnston. ―She‘s now connected to both people and told me she doesn‘t think she would have landed that interview without LinkedIn.‖
Explore uncharted territory
Like other social networking sites, LinkedIn is constantly evolving and adding new features. Even once you think you‘ve mastered the network, there are probably tools or simply ways to use them that you‘re overlooking. Even Johnston was surprised to learn of several throughout her research. Which topped her list? SpeechIn, which allows you to listen to LinkedIn headlines on the go, whether you‘re on your computer or smartphone. And InMaps, which offers a color-coded visualization of your network.
Remember: Just because LinkedIn can be more straightforward than Facebook and Twitter doesn‘t mean it‘s no fun. Earning new clients, securing a job or simply researching your options all sound like great fun to me! www.blog.brazencareerist.com
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Occupy Wall Street Marks One Month
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Occupations Spread to Over 100 US Cities
Movement For Economic Justice Gains Global Momentum
Liberty Square, New York, NY — One month ago [on October 17, 2011] about 2,000 people rallied in Lower Manhattan and marched up Broadway. Stopping at Zuccotti Park an estimated 150 stayed the night and began an encampment. Renaming the space ―Liberty Square,‖ we kicked off a protest against bank bailouts, corporate greed, and the unchecked power of Wall Street in Washington. In the last month, the message of ―We are the 99%‖ has won the hearts and minds of over half of Americans (according to a recent Time survey) and is gaining ground globally, with 1500 protests in 82 countries
this past Saturday (October 15).
“I am here to celebrate the 30th day of this protest against corporate power,” said Karanja Gacuca from Liberty Square, a former Wall Street analyst who now organizes with Occupy Wall Street. “Concerned about the egregious Wall Street bonuses — particularly after the industry accepted a tax-payer bailout and the middle class continues to be squeezed — I believe
it's time for a fairer system that provides health care, education, and opportunity for all, and rejects corporate influence over government.”
Inspired by the uprisings across the Arab world, and fueled by the feelings of anger and helplessness of everyday Americans, in the past month Occupy Wall Street has:
Gone Global: On October 15th, protests were held from North and South America to Asia, Africa and Europe, with over 1,500 events in 82 countries, as part of a global day of action.
Flourished with Diversity: Occupiers of different ages, races, walks of life, and political beliefs have joined the movement. The mix grew quickly to include
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students, elderly people, families with children, construction workers on their lunch breaks, unemployed Wall Street executives, Iraq & Afghanistan veterans, moms, and many others.
Gained Support in the Heartland: Occupy actions are happening all across middle America, from Kethcum, ID to Kalamazoo, MI, from Orlando to Anchorage. Every day financial contributions arrive along with clothes, food, and notes of support from all across the country. A couple from West Virginia who have been sending supplies to Liberty Square occupiers writes: ―We are so grateful for all of you involved in this defense of America. We firmly believe this is ‗it.‘ If we can't grab this democracy this time, we'll sink and it will be a long time before we will have this opportunity again. Thank you for taking time from your busy life to be there.‖
Changed the Conversation: The people-powered force of shared anger at a broken system that profits the top 1% at the expense of the rest of us has shifted our national dialogue. The Occupy Wall Street protest has become a cultural phenomenon, mentioned everywhere from jokes on Saturday Night Live to the solemn dedication the national memorial to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by President Obama Sunday. We, the occupiers, have shown our country how to come together and respect differences while working together to build a movement for change.
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What a month, and we are only getting started!
Occupy Wall Street is a people-powered movement that began on September 17, 2011 in Liberty Square in Manhattan’s Financial District, and has spread to over 100 cities in the United States and actions in over 1,500 cities globally. #OWS is fighting back against the corrosive power of major banks and multinational corporations over the democratic process, and the role of Wall Street in creating an economic collapse that has caused the greatest recession in generations.
The movement is inspired by popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, and aims to expose how the richest 1% of people are writing the rules of an unfair global economy that is foreclosing on our future.
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Statement of NAACP
Position on the ―Occupy
Wall Street Movement‖ By Teresa Haley
The NAACP is encouraged by the broad national support and
by the great diversity of Americans who have been participating
in the ―Occupy Wall Street‖ campaign. The movement and the
peaceful protesters who are a part of the campaign seem to share many of the same goals as the
NAACP. ―For over 102 years the NAACP has supported, and continues to support, policies
which create, preserve and expand living wage jobs, increase economic opportunity and protect
the desire of every American to build and retain wealth and equity,‖ said Benjamin Todd
Jealous, NAACP President and CEO. ―And as such, NAACP units across the country are
encouraged to work with local
coalitions affiliated with the
―Occupy Wall Street‖ movement
to nonviolently advocate for
policies which will improve
economic conditions for all
Americans consistent with
NAACP priorities.‖ President
Jealous went on to say that the
largely peaceful protests are true
to ―the non-violent traditions and
philosophies upon which the
NAACP is based and has
operated under for our entire
existence.‖
Specifically, NAACP policies
support the ―Occupy Wall Street‖ movement‘s principles calling for:
The creation and expansion of employment opportunities through job formation and
support of small business development, support and growth;
Job creation through government and private investments in infrastructure, school
refurbishing projects, and the renovation and preservation of abandoned or foreclosed
homes and properties;
Decent, livable wages for all workers, including the right by employees to collectively
bargain for adequate pensions, health care and other benefits;
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The fair opportunity for small and minority-owned businesses to obtain government
contracts;
The abolishment of predatory financial services, such as exploitative pay-day loans and
unsustainable and discriminatory mortgage and lending products;
Opposition to barriers to homeownership including exorbitant down-payments,
predatory terms and continued housing segregation;
Programs and policies which encourage wealth building and preservation, including
housing counseling for Americans facing foreclosure, those wishing to purchase a home,
renters and the homeless; and a strong government role in the secondary mortgage
market which also serves to protect the interests of all homebuyers, encourages housing
fairness and discourages discrimination.
NAACP membership units will continue to adhere to the coalition and engagement policies and
procedures of the Association as we carefully evaluate the missions, goals, strategies and
objectives of each ―Occupy Wall Street‖ entity.
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US Army selects 1st black female 2-star general
By Tamy Cozier
Left: Marcia Anderson is the first African American woman to be promoted to a two star general in the U.S. Army. (Photo: Courtesy US Government)
Already the highest-ranking African-American female in the U.S. Army, Gen. Marcia Anderson's recent promotion to the rank of major general makes her the first black woman to hold the title in the history of the military branch.
Anderson formerly served as a deputy-commanding general of the human resources command in Fort Knox, Kentucky. Now in the third highest-ranking position in the army,
Gen. Anderson will now be stationed at the office of the chief of the U.S. Army Reserve in Washington, D.C.
The 30-year vet spoke to the Associated Press following her promotion. In her interview, the general spoke of the limited opportunities available for blacks prior to and the immediate years following World War II that affected many African-Americans, including her father.
"This is for people like him who had dreams deferred," Anderson to the AP referring to her father's failed dream of flying bombers during his time in the military. Her dad drove trucks instead because of the narrow opportunities for blacks at the time.
Anderson assumed her new post on September 30 in Washington, D.C.
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Where child sacrifice is a business
By Chris Rogers BBC News, Kampala
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A BBC undercover reporter is told: "We can bury the child alive on your construction site"
The villages and farming communities that surround Uganda's capital, Kampala, are gripped by fear. Schoolchildren are closely watched by teachers and parents as they make their way home from school. In playgrounds and on the roadside are posters warning of the danger of abduction by witch doctors for the purpose of child sacrifice.
The ritual, which some believe brings wealth and good health, was almost unheard of in the country until about three years ago, but it has re-emerged, seemingly alongside a boom in the country's economy.
Stephen's decapitated body was found in a field
The mutilated bodies of children have been discovered at roadsides, the victims of an apparently growing belief in the power of human sacrifice.
'Sacrifice business'
Many believe that members of the country's new elite are paying witch doctors vast sums of money for the sacrifices in a bid to increase their wealth.
At the Kyampisi Childcare Ministries church, Pastor Peter Sewakiryanga is teaching local children a song called Heal Our Land, End Child Sacrifice.
To hear dozens of young voices singing such shocking words epitomises how ritual murder has become part
of everyday life here.
"Child sacrifice has risen because people have become lovers of money. They want to get richer," the pastor says.
"They have a belief that when you sacrifice a child you get wealth, and there are people who are willing to buy these children for a price. So they have become a commodity of exchange, child sacrifice has become a commercial business."
The pastor and his parishioners are lobbying the government to regulate witch doctors and improve police resources to investigate these crimes.
―Start Quote
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Sometimes, they accuse us of these things because we make no arrests, but we are limited.‖
End Quote Commissioner Bignoa Moses Anti-Human Sacrifice Task Force
According to official police figures, there was one case of child sacrifice in 2006; in 2008 the police say they investigated 25 alleged ritual murders, and in 2009, another 29.
The Anti-Human Sacrifice Police Task Force, launched in response to the growing numbers, says the ritual murder rate has slowed, citing a figure of 38 cases since 2006.
Pastor Sewakiryanga disputes the police numbers, and says there are more victims from his parish than official statistics for the entire country.
The work of the police task force has been strongly criticised by the UK-based charity, Jubilee Campaign.
It says in a report that the true number of cases is in the hundreds, and claims more than 900 cases have yet to be investigated by the police because of corruption and a lack of resources.
'Quiet money' Allan was left for dead after a vicious attack
Tepenensi led me to a field near her home where she found the body of her six-year-old grandson Stephen, dumped in the reeds. She trembled as she pointed out the spot where she found his decapitated body; he had been missing for 24 hours.
Clutching the only photo she has of her grandson, Tepenensi sobbed as she explained that although the local witch doctor had admitted to sacrificing Stephen, the police were reluctant to pursue the case.
"They offered me money to keep quiet," she says. "I refused the offer."
No-one from the Ugandan government agreed to do an interview. The police deny inaction and corruption.
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The head of the Anti-Human Sacrifice Police Task Force, Commissioner Bignoa Moses, says the police are doing all they can to tackle the problem.
"Sometimes, they accuse us of these things because we make no arrests, but we are limited. If we get information that someone is involved in criminal activities like human sacrifice, we shall go and investigate, and if it can be proven we will take him to court, but sometimes the cases are not proven."
Boy castrated
At Kampala main hospital, consultant neurosurgeon Michael Muhumuza shows me the X-rays of the horrific injuries suffered by nine-year-old Allan.
They reveal missing bone from his skull and damage to a part of his brain after a machete sliced through Allan's head and neck in an attempt to behead him; he was castrated by the witch doctor. It was a month before Allan woke from a coma after being dumped near his village home.
Allan was able to identify his attackers, including a man called Awali. But the police say Allan's eyewitness account is unreliable.
Some children are cut to collect blood for rituals
Local people told us that Awali continues to be involved with child sacrifice.
For our own inquiries, we posed as local businessmen and asked around for a witch doctor that could bring prosperity to our local construction company. We were soon introduced to Awali. He led us into a courtyard behind his home, and as if to welcome us he and his helpers wrestled a goat to the ground and slit its throat.
"This animal has been sacrificed to bring luck to us all," Awali explained. He then demanded a fee of $390 (£250) for the ritual and asked us to return in a few days.
At our next meeting, Awali invited us into his shrine, which is traditionally built from mud bricks with a straw roof. Inside, the floor is littered with herbs, face masks, rattles and a machete.
The witch doctor explained that this meeting was to discuss the most powerful spell - the sacrifice of a child.
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"There are two ways of doing this," he said. "We can bury the child alive on your construction site, or we cut them in different places and put their blood in a bottle of spiritual medicine."
Awali grabbed his throat. "If it's a male, the whole head is cut off and his genitals. We will dig a hole at your construction site, and also bury the feet and the hands and put them all together in the hole."
The attacks have created a climate of fear
Awali boasted he had sacrificed children many times before and knew what he was doing. After this meeting, we withdrew from the negotiations.
We handed our notes to the police. Awali is still a free man.
'No voice'
Allan's father, Semwanga, has sold his home to pay for Allan's medical treatment, and moved to the slums near the capital.
Sitting on the steps of their makeshift house, built from corrugated sheets of metal, I showed the footage of our meeting with the witch doctor to Allan on my laptop. He pointed to the screen and shouted "Awali!" confirming he is the man who attacked him.
Pastor Sewakiryanga says without the full force of the law, there is little that can be done to protect Uganda's children from the belief in
the power of human sacrifice.
"The children do not have voices, their voices have been silenced by the law and the police not acting, and the people who read the newspapers do nothing, so we have to make a stand and do whatever it takes to stamp out this evil, we can only pray that the government will listen." www.bbc.co.uk
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Troy Davis Is Dead; the Movement Continues
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At 11:08 pm, Wednesday September 21, the state of Georgia killed Troy Davis. Just before he was executed, Troy maintained his innocence, urged people to dig deeper into the case to find the truth, and said "For those about to take my life, may God have mercy on your souls, may God bless your souls." It's a tragic day for Troy, for his family, and for equality, fairness, and justice.
It's hard to know what to say at a time like this. In this moment, and in the days and weeks before Troy's execution, we've felt all kinds of things -- anger, sadness, inspiration, hope and hopelessness. This is a time to mourn and remember Troy, to contemplate the profound loss we're facing, to send love and support to Troy's family and friends. It's incredibly important to take the time to spiritually and emotionally care for Troy's family and the amazing community that has arisen to support Troy -- and it feels hard to muster the energy to do much more than that.
But before he died, Troy told us that this was about more than him -- and he called on those of us who have fought against his execution to continue fighting for justice, even if we weren't successful in saving his life. Now is also an important moment to take stock of what's brought us to this point -- the criminal justice system that allowed this to happen, and the movement we've built to fight for Troy and others facing injustice and oppression at the hands of that system.
Race, the criminal justice system, and the death penalty
At every stage of the criminal justice system, Black people and other
minorities face inequality and discrimination. We all know about people who've been treated unfairly by police or by the courts. When the entire system treats Black people unequally, it means that the death penalty is applied unequally too. Troy Davis' case underscores the way in which this systemic inequality can lead to a tragic miscarriage of justice.
In most cases, people who've been treated unfairly or wrongly convicted have some chance to correct the injustice. People who have been mistreated by the police can sue them. People who are wrongly serving time can be granted new trials, can be released from prison, and are sometimes entitled to compensation. As we all know, the safeguards that can correct abuse by the criminal justice system often fail, and rampant inequality persists. Usually, people can at least keep trying. But there's no way to correct a death sentence. If Troy Davis were serving a sentence of life in prison without parole, he could continue to press the legal system to grant him a fair trial -- but because the death penalty exists, he will not have that opportunity.
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Troy Davis' case has sparked a national conversation about the death penalty. In the past, much of the debate around the death penalty has focused on the morality of killing people as a legal punishment -- a very important question that brings out a lot of strong opinions. But even if we completely leave aside the question whether or not it can ever be right for the government to punish a murderer by killing them, there's an entirely different debate to be had -- whether or not we can have the death penalty and actually avoid the possibility of killing innocent people. In a criminal justice system that routinely misidentifies Black suspects and disproportionately punishes Black people, Black folks are more likely to be wrongfully executed.
There's plenty of evidence to suggest that the death penalty has been used to kill innocent people many times. Since 1973, more than 130 people have been released from death row because of evidence that they were wrongly convicted. Troy Davis is one of many people who were executed despite serious questions about their guilt, and he's called on his supporters to continue working to end the death penalty. A group of NAACP organizers went to visit Troy in prison yesterday, and NAACP's Robert Rooks said this about the visit: For someone that was facing death the very next day, he was just full of life and wanted to spend time talking to the younger staff, the interns, giving them direction and hope and asking them to hold onto God. And he challenged them. He challenged them by saying, "You have a choice. You can either fold up your bags after tomorrow and go home, or you can stand and continue this fight." He said it doesn't--it didn't begin with Troy Davis, and this won't end if he is executed today. He just asked us all just to continue to fight to end the death penalty, if in fact he's executed.
A powerful movement For years, ColorOfChange members have been an important part of a growing movement to stop Troy Davis' execution. Hundreds of phone calls from ColorOfChange members to the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole helped delay Davis' execution twice. Over the past year, there's been a huge outpouring of support for Davis from ColorOfChange members -- more than 100,000 of us have signed petitions, and we raised more than $30,000 to run radio ads in Georgia calling for justice for Troy. And we've been part of an even bigger movement -- NAACP, Amnesty International, National Action Network, Change.org, and others have all been a major
part of the fight for Troy Davis, and there are now over close to a million petition signatures
overall. Prominent people from all across the political spectrum have spoken out: members of the
Congressional Black Caucus, Desmond Tutu, former President Jimmy Carter, Pope Benedict
XVI, former FBI Director William Sessions, former Georgia Republican congressman Bob Barr,
and former Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Norman Fletcher. This movement couldn't stop
Davis' execution -- but it's a movement that won't die with Troy Davis. There's no better way to
honor Troy's memory than to keep fighting for justice. www.twitter.com/rashadrobinson
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Rizn High with Coya D. Holden
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Coya D (Sequoia Holden) is a model on the rise from Detroit Mi. At the young age of 24 she's accomplished
many things.
She's worked with many artists, photographers, and magazines such as: Curveology Mag, Pocketgirl Mag,
DonDiva Mag, Killa kaun,poetic, Hoodillustrated Mag, Donnarice Photography, 3m Photography and much
more. Stay on the lookout for this fierce Diva. For serious booking inquiries please contact
[email protected] or 586-443-6998.
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Esquire dubs Rihanna 'Sexiest Woman Alive'
By Clutch Magazine
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Men's glossy Esquire named Rihanna the "Sexiest Woman Alive" for 2011. The Bajan beauty is no stranger to adulation. Many have hailed her fashion sense, her music has set records, and her fans line up to see her sold-out shows. Simply put, Rihanna is a bonafide star, and love her or hate her, you can't knock her hustle.
In the latest issue of Esquire she chats about her country's initial lukewarm reception, how she prepares for a show, and being proud of Chris Brown.
Check out some highlights from the interview
On her pre-show routine:
I eat lozenges, steam my voice, do my makeup. I Skype my vocal coach and we sit there at the makeup table and do warm-ups for about a half-hour. Then, Jen, my personal assistant slash bartender, brings me a shot that she dilutes with a little something so it's not so harsh, like orange juice or soda water and lime.
I have to have it [a shot of liquor]. I take it very seriously, so there is a level of anxiety, always. I overthink everything when it comes to my job. The drink calms my nerves. I sip it while I watch the opening act from my dressing room. Sometimes I go out into the audience. I put on a really big hoodie and sneak out there."
On her country's initial reaction to her:
I grew to realize that that hate was just pride. I realized that it's a part of our culture. I'm always representing Barbados. All over the world, no matter what I was doing, no matter what I achieved, no matter what award it was, I always shouted them out. So, I started making them feel like, "This is our girl. If people in the UK could get this excited about her, what's wrong with us?" And I never turned my back, too.
On Chris Brown's comeback:
It's incredible to see how he pulled out of it the way he did. Even when the world seemed like it was against him, you know? I really like the music he's putting out. I'm a fan of his stuff. I've always been a fan. Obviously, I had some resentment toward him for a while, for obvious reasons. But I've put that behind me. It was taking up too much of my time. It was too much anger. I'm really excited to see the breakthrough he's had in his career. I would never wish anything horrible for him. Never. I never have.
Read the rest over at Esquire.
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Menswear Muse: Michael Jackson
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Although it‘s been two years since Michael Jackson‘s untimely passing, his music and
style from the days he was in the Jackson 5 to the day he was dubbed the ‗King of Pop‘
continue to have a lasting impact on the world.
Michael was a fashion icon, whose style was monumental and phenomenal, having
inspired looks by some of the worlds greatest entertainers including Beyoncé, Jay Z,
Lady Gaga, Kanye West and Rihanna. In honor of the King of Pop‘s birthday we‘ve put
together some of his favorite styles that still endure today:
1. Michael Jackson‘s Signature Sequin Blazer
Sequin blazers were one of Michael Jackson‘s signature looks and have inspired some of
the world‘s top fashion designers. Even Beyoncé, who recently performed at the MTV
Video Music Awards in a plum sequin jacket by Dolce and Gabbana continues to
channel Michael‘s unforgettable style.
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2. Michael‘s Military Jackets
Michael has led us to believe that no wardrobe is complete without a fabulous military
jacket. Needless to say, this is one look that has inspired millions of his fans across the
globe. Beyoncé and Rihanna have been spotted at different events rocking a military
jacket creating a casually glamorous look while Jay-Z has performed some of his
greatest hits in a black military jacket.
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3. Michael‘s Signature Glove
Michael Jackson has some of the greatest performances of all time. Once he hit the stage
and slipped that white sequin glove on, you knew magic was about to happen. Chris
Brown, whose love for the pop star is clearly visible in his stage persona, performed at
the 2010 BET Awards Michael Jackson tribute wearing none other than the sequin
signature glove.
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4. Michael Jackson‘s Top Hat
‗Till this very day, I still get chills watching Michael‘s old performances from when he
would Moonwalk across the stage to his Smooth Criminal Lean which he always
performed in white or black top hat. This look has inspired big names in hip hop and
R&B like legendary group Run DMC and Neyo.
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By Destinee Love
To order visit: www.destineelove.net
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Relationship Vitalities
Part II of II
By Destinee Love
We tend to get into a relationship and think that once
we've found intimacy and true love it should stay that
way. After all, it was hard enough to find real intimacy
with another person. Once we've found it, we should get
to keep it, right?
Then we find out that it doesn't work that way. Some
love advice is this: Intimacy and true love is a dynamic
process, not a static emotion. Our feelings of closeness
and love with our mate decline and flow with feelings of
irritation, disappointment, upset and indifference.
What you can begin to learn is that love has a lot to do with acceptance of your mate and
their quirks and personality. There will be things we like and things we don't like as
much. The polish we felt for each other will wear off some. The fantasy ideal we had for
how great it was going to be in the honeymoon phase must give way to reality. But
learning how to love or keeping your love alive, means to not expect our mate to keep us
happy all the time. That is an expectation no one can fulfill. Your mate cannot fill your
inner emptiness. You have to keep taking your own journey. You cannot make your
mate happy unless the happiness is imbedded within first.
Learning to stay in a relationship when the infatuation wears off and a little conflict and
disappointment shows up is another way to learn something useful about love. No one
is perfect, neither are most relationships. It is the love you share that helps you work
through the good and the bad. People are quick to run when something little happens
instead of talking it over. When you stay and work it through, the bond between the two
of you grows stronger and stronger by communication. Some of the best love advice is to
you is to pray, be strong, and to keep learning more about your relationship‘s ability to
last!
Much Love, and remember to ―Keep It Sexi!!!‖
Available at Barnes & Noble, and Amazon Kindle.
For order information: http://www.essenceofdestinee.com
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Laila Ali, Co-Host of ‘Everyday Health’
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Known for her athletic prowess and provenance, Laila is now focused
on her passion for health and wellness, motivating young women, and
raising her family.
About the Show
Each week, co-hosts Laila Ali, Ethan
Zohn, and Jenna Morasca bring you
inspiring stories of people who have been
affected by a health crisis and who are
now "paying it forward," delivering a
message of hope and healing to others
with that condition. Whether it‘s
surprising a cheerleading squad for
children with disabilities with an
appearance from one of their celebrity
idols, or coordinating a Flash Mob to
raise awareness for cystic fibrosis, the
Everyday Health team is there to make these dreams come true — and to celebrate the
amazing strength of the human spirit. Everyday Health helps you feel good — and feel
better — every day.
Laila Ali is a world class athlete. She is also an author, president of the Women's Sports
Foundation (WSF), founder of the Laila Ali Lifestyle Brand, and a working mother. With
her enthusiasm for living a healthy life, her drive as an elite athlete (she is an undefeated
former world champion boxer with 21 knockouts in 24 bouts), and her desire to inspire
others to live healthier and happier, it is no wonder she is perceived as a world-
champion ambassador of health and wellness.
These traits make Laila perfectly tailored for Everyday Health, which she co-hosts with
former Survivor winners Ethan Zohn and Jenna Morasca. As co-hosts, they seek the
unique "people stories" that inspire minds, capture hearts, and motivate American
audiences. Similar to the overall philosophy of Everyday Health, Inc., this television
series focuses on everyday health stories that matter. Each episode profiles one
extraordinary person who is in the midst of a health crisis, or is helping a friend or
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family member who is facing a life-
altering health event, while leading
philanthropic efforts that benefit the
wider population.
In addition to her fundraising work
for the hunger relief charity Feeding
America and the WSF, Laila gains
enjoyment from the fitness
component of her daily healthy
lifestyle. This focus helped her earn a
reputation as an expert in the field,
and as a role model for healthy living.
In the ring, and at home as a working
mother with two young children, Laila
is fervent in her efforts to help and inspire others. She's also at home in front of the
camera, having been a regular correspondent on CBS' The Early Show as its resident
Health, Fitness, and Lifestyle expert. She also is well-known for charging into the final
round in season four of ABC's Dancing With the Stars, a show with roughly 40 million
viewers every week. Although she had no previous dance experience, Laila impressed
the judges with how quickly she progressed (including a perfect week during the
Quickstep and Cha-Cha-Cha competition). Laila finished third in mid-2007 and
received high praise (including the first perfect 10 score from judge Len Goodman for
the Rumba event).
Laila's efforts to inspire others led her to write the motivational book Reach!, which is
designed to help young women who may need to be inspired in life. She drew from her
own experiences and challenges as examples for her readers.
Laila is the youngest daughter of Veronica Porsche Anderson and boxing legend
Muhammad Ali. She possesses a unique blend of personality and celebrity status, yet
retains an innate sense of being "every woman." A resident of Los Angeles, Laila is
married to former NFL player Curtis Conway. The couple has a son, Curtis Muhammad
Conway, Jr., and a daughter, Sydney, who was born in April 2011.
www.everydayhealth.com
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Magazine
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Jumping Jacks Around the World
[On October 11, 2011], something special happened. People around the world joined together
towards the same goal: to set a Guinness World Record® for the most people doing jumping
jacks in a 24-hour period. The challenge was to have more than 20,000 people from around the
Below: First Lady Michelle Obama leads a group of 400 local children on the South Lawn of
the White House to help break the Guinness World Records title for the most people doing
jumping jacks in a 24-hour period, Oct. 11, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Chuck
Kennedy)
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world do jumping jacks for one minute. Joined by National Geographic Kids Magazine, First
Lady Michelle Obama had the chance to launch the effort to break the record from the South
Lawn of the White House:
I get to do a lot of cool things, but this is really exciting. I never thought in my entire life that I
would be here today to break a Guinness World Record. Woohoo! And I‟m here doing it with
all of you and that makes it even more fun, because the whole country -- the world is going to
see just how much fun we can have not just breaking a world record but also doing some
exercise, right? Because that‟s one of my big things. “Let‟s Move” is about kids eating healthy
and moving and staying active, so you all are ready for life and for all the challenges that you‟re
going to face.
And what we‟re going to show people today is that moving is fun, right? You can do it just
dancing around in your backyard. You can get moving if you‟re walking your dog. Or you can
get moving doing some jumping jacks, right? There are so many ways to keep moving.
Below: First Lady Michelle Obama greets children on the South Lawn of the White House after
they did jumping jacks to help break the Guinness World Records title for the most people doing
jumping jacks in a 24-hour period, Oct. 11, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Chuck
Kennedy)
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Nielsen Study Shows African-American Buying Habits New study claims African Americans’ buying power is expected to reach $1.1 trillion
By C. Zawadi Morris
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With a buying power of nearly $1 trillion
annually, if African Americans were a country,
they‘d be the 16th largest country in the world,
according to a recent report entitled, The State of
the African-American Consumer.
The study – a joint effort between Nielsen and the
National Newspaper Publishers Association
(NNPA), a federation of more than 200 Black
community newspapers across the U.S. – African
Americans‘ buying power is expected to reach $1.1 trillion.
Collectively, says the report, African Americans over index in several key categories
(television viewing, mobile phone usage and trips to grocery channels) and exert a large
influence on popular culture and trends, indicative of the high growth industries of the
future.
Report Highlights.
The number of African-American households earning $75,000 or higher grew by almost
64 percent, a rate close to 12 percent greater than the change in the overall population‘s
earning between 2000 and 2009. This continued growth in affluence, social influence
and household income will continue to impact the community‘s economic power.
African Americans make more shopping trips than all other groups, but spend less
money per trip. African Americans in higher income brackets, also spend 300 percent
more in higher-end retail grocers more than any other high-income household.
There were 23.9 million active African American Internet users in July 2011 – 76
percent of whom visited a social networking/blog site.
33 percent of all African Americans own a smartphone.
African Americans use more than double the amount of mobile phone voice minutes
compared to Whites – 1,298 minutes a month vs. 606.
The percentage of African Americans attending college or earning a degree has
increased to 44 percent for men and 53 percent for women.
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business
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UBR Spotlight: Master Entrepreneur
Robert L. Johnson
By Alfred Edmond, Jr.
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Preceding page: First African American billionaire Bob Johnson shares wealth of wisdom. (Image: Courtesy of Subject)
This week on The Urban Business Roundtable, UBR Contributor Renita D. Young talks with
master wealth builder Robert L. Johnson, founder of The RLJ Companies and America‟s first
Black billionaire. Johnson made business history when he took BET public in 1991, making it
the first Black-owned company traded on the New York Stock Exchange, 11 years after he
founded the cable network in 1980. This would be far from the last of “firsts” Johnson would
achieve on his way to being named No. 2 on Black Enterprise„s list of Titans: The 40 Most
Powerful African Americans in Business in the 40th anniversary issue of the magazine.
In 2000, after taking the BET private again, he sold the cable network to Viacom for $3.2 billion
to become the first African American billionaire. He acquired the Charlotte Bobcats in 2003,
creating the first Black-owned NBA franchise. Johnson sold the Bobcats to NBA legend
Michael Jordan in 2010, but continues to hold a minority stake in the team. Johnson has also
launched a plethora of other ventures under the RLJ banner, including RLJ Development, L.L.C.,
ranked No. 6 on the Black Enterprise 100s list of the nation’s largest Black-owned
industrial/service companies with 2010 revenues of more than $578 million. In addition,
Johnson is widely considered to be the No. 1 Black hotel owner in America, with hotels from the
United States to Liberia.
In addition to joining Young at the Roundtable, Johnson will also be sharing his wealth building
philosophy this Saturday, September 17, 2011, as the keynote speaker for the 18th Annual
WVON1690 Financial Seminars at Malcolm X College in Chicago. You‟ll also get the chance
to meet me at the seminars; I‟ll be there for an exclusive conversation with Ariel Investments
CEO and legendary investment expert John Rogers. In fact, in my “Alfred‟s Notepad”
segment, I make the case for why entrepreneurs need to make their ongoing financial literacy a
top priority, because there is a strong correlation between the effective management of personal
finances and the smart investment of business resources. To register or learn more about the full
agenda of free financial seminars, go to WVON.com or call 773-247-6200.
If you have a question you want answered or a topic you want addressed on The Urban Business
Roundtable, connect with me at BE Insider, the social media network for people who are
serious about Black Enterprise. You can also find me on Twitter and Facebook.
Alfred Edmond Jr. is the senior VP/editor-at-large of Black Enterprise and the host of the
Urban Business Roundtable, a weekly radio show, sponsored by Ariel Investments, airing CST
Wednesdays at 8:30 a.m., Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 9:30 a.m. on WVON-AM
1690, the Talk of Chicago. You can also listen live online at WVON.com. Check back each
week for UBR Spotlight, which features additional resources, advice and information from
and about the topics, entrepreneurs and experts featured on the show.
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52-year-old ex-con Bozella wins pro boxing debut
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Previous page: Dewey Bozella, from New York, poses during the weigh-in ceremony on Friday Oct. 14, 2011, in Los Angeles. Bozella is to be featured in his professional boxing debut against Larry Hopkins on Saturday. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Dewey Bozella has won his pro boxing debut at 52 years old, beating Larry Hopkins by unanimous decision on Saturday night.
Wrongfully convicted of murder, Bozella spent 26 years in prison before he was exonerated in 2009. The New York native became the light heavyweight champion of Sing Sing while earning two college degrees behind bars.
Golden Boy Promotions fulfilled Bozella's dream by putting him on the undercard of Bernard Hopkins' bout with Chad Dawson. His victory, punctuating by a devastating punch to Larry Hopkins' head at the final bell, brought the crowd to its feet.
"I used to lay in my cell and dream about this happening," Bozella said. "It was all worth it. It was my dream come true."
Bozella was convicted of killing 92-year-old Emma Crapser on her way home after a night out playing bingo. He maintained his innocence throughout a quarter-century behind bars, even turning down a plea-bargain offer in 1990 that would have required admitting guilt, until his conviction was overturned.
Bozella battered the winless Hopkins throughout the second half of their four-round
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fight. Hopkins also lost points for losing his mouthpiece six times in the final round, apparently exhausted and unable to match Bozella's conditioning.
Bozella didn't have a younger man's hand speed, but he moved with a confident ease and showed strong technique in the ring, constantly moving his head and outmaneuvering Hopkins. Both cruiserweights absorbed big shots in the first two rounds, but Bozella was never hurt beyond a welt near his left eye.
Bozella dominated the fourth round, even finishing the final seconds in style. After Hopkins spit his mouthpiece into the air and flailed at it with his boxing gloves, Bozella decked him with a right cross at the bell, leaving Hopkins woozy on the ropes.
With his family and friends gathered around him in the ring, Bozella raised his gloves in victory when the judges favored him 39-36, 38-37 and 38-36.
"This was my first and last fight," said Bozella, who lives in Newburgh, N.Y. "It's a young man's game. I did what I wanted to do, and I'm happy. I appreciate everybody that made this possible. This has been one of the greatest experiences of my life."
Bozella has never lived without tragedy. His father beat his pregnant mother to death when he was 9 years old, and two of his brothers were murdered on the Brooklyn streets.
Four months after he moved to Poughkeepsie, N.Y., in 1977, he was suspected of killing Crapser, but not indicted by a grand jury. Bozella cleaned up a life of petty crime and embraced boxing at a gym run by former heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson, but he was arrested and convicted of Crapser's murder in December 1983 on the strength of false testimony from other convicts.
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Bozella's story attracted the attention of Oscar De La Hoya and his business associates, who arranged for Bozella to fight in Los Angeles after he passed the California State Athletic Commission's fitness requirements.
Although the crowd loved Bozella's fight, he hopes to spend his life training fighters in Newburgh.
"I'm going to concentrate on the Dewey Bozella Foundation, which really means opening a gym in my town," Bozella said.
"Because there are no gyms, and I'd like to see kids who are on the street have something productive to do. No more fighting for me."
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The Little Rock Nine was a group of African-American students who were enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957. The ensuing Little Rock Crisis, in which the students were initially prevented from entering the racially segregated school by Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus, and then attended after the intervention of President Eisenhower, is considered to be one of the most important events in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. On their first day of school, troops from the Arkansas National Guard would not let them enter the school and they were followed by mobs making threats to lynch.[1]
The nicknamed "Little Rock Nine" consisted of Ernest Green (b. 1941), Elizabeth Eckford (b. 1941), Jefferson Thomas (1942–2010), Terrence Roberts (b. 1941), Carlotta Walls LaNier (b. 1942), Minnijean Brown (b. 1941), Gloria Ray Karlmark (b. 1942), Thelma Mothershed (b. 1940), and Melba Pattillo Beals (b. 1941). Ernest Green was the first African American to graduate from Central High School.
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