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Usher, Darius Rucker Join Oklahoma Tornado Benefit Concert

By goodblacknews on May 28, 2013
(Images courtesy of Getty)
(Usher, Darius Rucker; Images courtesy of Getty)

The event, titled “Healing in the Heartland: Relief Benefit Concert,” was organized by country singer and native Oklahoman Blake Shelton. Joining Rucker and Usher, who worked with Shelton on The Voice, are country stars Miranda Lambert, Luke Bryan, Rascal Flatts and Reba McEntire, among others listed in the lineup.
“I’m hoping it will raise a lot of money,” Shelton told Billboard after announcing his project during last Tuesday’s edition of The Voice.  According to Reuters, the May 20 tornado was the deadliest windstorm to hit the United States in two years and left 24 dead and 377 injured. After decimating the city of Moore and surrounding areas, the tornado caused an estimated $2 to $5 billion worth of property damage and loss while over 1,200 homes were left destroyed.
The proceeds from the benefit concert will go to the United Way of Central Oklahoma May Tornadoes Relief Fund and will be used for recovery and rebuilding needs.  The concert will be held tomorrow, May 29, and is set to air on NBC at 9 p.m. EST. According to the network, tickets went on sale Saturday morning and were sold out within five minutes.
article by Lilly Workneh via thegrio.com

Michigan's Jeralean Talley, 114, is now the Oldest Living American

By goodblacknews on May 26, 2013

Talley and godson Tyler Kinloch pictured with one of the seven catfish she caught at the Trout Farm in Dexter, Mich., on June 16, 2012.
Jeralean Talley and godson Tyler Kinloch pictured with one of the seven catfish she caught at the Trout Farm in Dexter, Mich., on June 16, 2012. (COURTESY OF MICHAEL KINLOCH)

Be nice, worship God and eat pigs’ feet: That’s how Jeralean Talley of Inkster, Michigan says she lived to celebrate her 114th birthday today — and be crowned the oldest person in the United States. Using census records, the Gerontology Research Group verified her title after the previous oldest American, Elsie Thompson, died at 113 in March. Talley is still a youngster, relatively speaking, compared to the world’s oldest person, Jiroemon Kimura, who is 116 and lives in Japan.
In a phone conversation on the eve of her 114th birthday, Talley told TIME, “I feel okay.” These days, the supercentenarian lives with her daughter Thelma Holloway, 75, and says she passes the time by watching The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Wheel of Fortune as well as listening to baseball on the radio – though she doesn’t have a favorite team. She can stay up as late as midnight and feasts on her favorite foods: potato salad, honey buns, McDonald’s chicken nuggets and Wendy’s chili.

Philadelphia Grandmother Jackie Hill Earns Culinary Degree, Credits Obama With Motivation

By goodblacknews on May 26, 2013
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After 39 years of setbacks and determination, Jackie Hill’s (pictured above right) dream of becoming a chef  came true on Thursday when she graduated summa cum laude from Montgomery County Community College (MCCC) with an associate’s degree in culinary arts, reports Philly.com.  With that amazing achievement, the 55 year-old Philadelphia mother and grandmother became the first in her family of ten to receive a degree.
“I have watched Jackie grow from being very tentative as an adult returning  to school to a whole different level of poise and grace,” said Karen Stout, president of the school who spoke to Philly.com.  “Hill’s story is like that of many other adult women,” Stout continues.  “They are women needing to find themselves and build confidence.”
Growing up, Hill was daddy’s little girl and her father, a preacher, was her entire world.  He was her cheering squad and made her feel that she could do anything.  It was her father who bought her first Easy-Bake Oven and a chef was born. She fed her dad exquisite edible concoctions with that little oven and he promised to set her up in business one day.  Tragically, that was not to be. 
Hill’s world spiraled out of control quickly when her father passed away.  The 16-year-old teen, stricken with grief, began “acting out.” She dropped out of high school, ran away from home, and then wound up pregnant.  Four more children would soon follow.

Tavis Smiley Marks 10th Year of Daily Talk Show on PBS

By goodblacknews on May 26, 2013
Talk show host Tavis Smiley speaks during the 'Tavis Smiley' panel at the PBS portion of the 2011 Winter TCA press tour held at the Langham Hotel on January 9, 2011 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
Talk show host Tavis Smiley speaks during the ‘Tavis Smiley’ panel at the PBS portion of the 2011 Winter TCA press tour held at the Langham Hotel on January 9, 2011 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Tavis Smiley has stood out in 20 years in broadcasting, and he has no intention of changing his style or substance.  He’s the rare black host with national TV and radio platforms, one who sees his job as challenging Americans to examine their assumptions on such thorny issues as poverty, education, and racial and gender equality.

In other words, he doesn’t squander his opportunities on PBS’ daily talk show “Tavis Smiley,” which marks its 10th year this month, or on public radio’s “The Tavis Smiley Show” and “Smiley & West,” the latter a forum for commentary he shares with scholar and activist Cornel West.

His quarterly “Tavis Smiley Reports” specials for PBS, in-depth looks at topics such as the relationship between the juvenile justice system and the teenage dropout rate, fit the same bold pattern.

Smiley, marking two decades in broadcasting this year, considers himself engaged in a calling as much as a career: “This is the kind of work I think needs to be done. I’m trying to entertain and empower people.”

First Lady Lauds American Express' $1M Donation to Preserve DC Slave House

By goodblacknews on May 25, 2013
First lady Michelle Obama is surrounded by schoolchildren from Willow Springs Elementary School in Fairfax, Va., after they performed part of a play at the Decatur House, a National Trust for Historic Preservation Site and home to the David M. Rubenstein National Center for White House History, in Washington, Wednesday, May 22, 2013. The events were part of an announcement of a major philanthropic effort to preserve the Decatur House.1 (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
First Lady Michelle Obama is surrounded by schoolchildren from Willow Springs Elementary School in Fairfax, Va., after they performed part of a play at the Decatur House, a National Trust for Historic Preservation Site and home to the David M. Rubenstein National Center for White House History, in Washington, Wednesday, May 22, 2013. The events were part of an announcement of a major philanthropic effort to preserve the Decatur House.1 (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Michelle Obama said Wednesday that stories of toil and sweat by slaves once held at a historic home within sight of the White House are an important part of U.S. history, including her own personal story, and are “as vital to our national memory as any other.”
The first lady commented as American Express announced its donation of $1 million to the White House Historical Association to preserve Decatur House and pay for education programs for children. The nearly 200-year-old house is owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and operated by the association.
Most of the money will be spent to preserve the building’s former slave quarters, where about 20 men and women “spent their days serving those who came and went from this house” and their nights “jammed together on the second floor of the slave quarters, all the while holding onto a quiet hope, a quiet prayer that they, too, and perhaps their children, would someday be free,” Mrs. Obama said.
The red-brick, three-story townhouse built in 1818 has been home to many, including several secretaries of state.  Mrs. Obama, briefly invoking her ancestry as a descendant of a South Carolina slave, said even more history came from the back of Decatur House, where the slave quarters were located, “the kind of stories that too often get lost, the kinds of stories that are a part of so many of our families’ histories, including my own.”

Obama Signs Bill Awarding 1963 Birmingham Bombing Victims Congressional Medal of Honor

By goodblacknews on May 25, 2013
US President Barack Obama (4th L) signs a bill in the Oval Office designating the Congressional Gold Medal to commemorate the four young girls killed during the 1963 bombing of 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, as (L-R) Birmingham Mayor William Bell, Dr Sharon Malone Holder, Attorney General Eric Holder, Rep Terri Sewell (D-AL), Thelma Pippen McNair, mother of Denise McNair, Lisa McNair, sister of Denise McNair and Dianne Braddock, sister of Carole Robertson look on May 24, 2013 in Washington, DC. The medal, the highest Congressional civilian honor, was given posthumously to Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley and Denise McNair who died September 15, 1963 when a bomb planted bywhite supremacists exploded exploded at the church. (Photo by Mike Theiler-Pool/Getty Images
US President Barack Obama (4th L) signs a bill in the Oval Office designating the Congressional Gold Medal to commemorate the four young girls killed during the 1963 bombing of 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, as (L-R) Birmingham Mayor William Bell, Dr Sharon Malone Holder, Attorney General Eric Holder, Rep Terri Sewell (D-AL), Thelma Pippen McNair, mother of Denise McNair, Lisa McNair, sister of Denise McNair and Dianne Braddock, sister of Carole Robertson look on May 24, 2013 in Washington, DC. The medal, the highest Congressional civilian honor, was given posthumously to Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley and Denise McNair who died September 15, 1963 when a bomb planted bywhite supremacists exploded exploded at the church. (Photo by Mike Theiler-Pool/Getty Images

President Barack Obama is set to sign a bill Friday that awards the Congressional Gold Medal posthumously to the four African-American girls killed in the 1963 Birmingham church bombing. The children were murdered when a bomb planted by white supremacists exploded at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, in September 1963.
The deadly blast at the church, which civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. used as a meeting place, was pivotal turning point in the Civil Rights Movement and sparked support for the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  Not only did the explosion kill the four girls- — Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Denise McNair – another 22 people were injured.
The Congressional Gold Medal is the highest civilian award given in the United States. It is awarded to people “who have performed an achievement that has an impact on American history and culture that is likely to be recognized as a major achievement in the recipient’s field long after the achievement.”

68 Years After WWII, Former Tuskegee Airman and Female Civilian Military Pilot Meet

By goodblacknews on May 25, 2013
Elder James H. Brown and Jane Tedeschi, who both served as pilots during WW II
Elder James H. Brown and Jane Tedeschi, who both served as pilots during WW II, met for the first time on May 17, 2013. Tedeschi had always wanted to meet a Tuskegee Airman, who she delivered planes for as part of her military service, a rarity for women, as it was for blacks, who were pilots. (Photo: Wish of a Lifetime)

Back in the early 1940s, it was almost unfathomable for the collective imagination to conceive of African-American and female pilots, particularly lending their talents to the battle of World War II. And yet, at roughly the same time, programs were developed by the U.S. military that made that seeming improbability a reality.
Elder James H. Brown, one of the prestigious Tuskegee Airmen (the corps of African-American pilots who participated in World War II), and Jane Tedeschi, a former member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) corps, are products of such programs. They challenged the popular stereotypes of the times that promoted the belief that neither black men nor women were fit to be pilots.
While their paths never crossed during the war, Tedeschi had always wanted to meet one of the brave Tuskegee Airmen, some of whom were stationed near the base where she served, and whose exploits she admired.
Tedeschi just recently got to do just that, bonding with Brown for the first time over their unique places in American history.   On May 17, through a partnership between the Brookdale senior living community where Tedeschi resides, and Wish of a Lifetime, an organization that fosters appreciation for seniors by fulfilling life-enriching requests, Jane got her decades-old wish. Sixty-eight years after the end of World War II, Jane, now 93, and Elder, 87, finally had the chance to connect. The result? Mutual appreciation and thanks.

Mos Def Releases Anti-Stop-And-Frisk PSA "Don't Tread On Me" (VIDEO)

By goodblacknews on May 24, 2013

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qajY8OjfGJs&w=560&h=315]
Mos Def has never been afraid of a good scrap.  The rapper is involved in a new fight, and it’s against New York City and their controversial stop-and-frisk policy. Teaming up with the Center for Constitutional Rights, Mos Def released an anti-stop-and-frisk PSA video. 
MosDef
In case you don’t know: stop-and-frisk is deemed controversial because it allows police to search any individual without reason, other than “probable cause.” Critics say that it unfairly stops Black and Latina people, and the stats back this claim up: according to a study released in February, 97 percent of people stopped in New York City were either Black or Latino. 
In Mos Def’s video, we see all the disturbing stats, plus some footage of an anonymous police officer talking about some of the NYPD’s dirty polices.  In the background, you hear a new Mos Def track called “Don’t Tread on Me.” 
Read more: http://globalgrind.com/news/mos-def-dont-thread-on-me-stop-and-frisk-psa-video#ixzz2UBLYH7ay

Homeless High School Teen Chelesa Fearce Graduates As Valedictorian & Will Enter Spelman As Junior

By goodblacknews on May 23, 2013

chelesa fearce
Chelesa Fearce is a shining example of a student that didn’t let obstacles get in her way when it came to her education. You see, during most of Chelesa’s high school career she was homeless and living in her mother’s car.  Chelesa, a senior at Charles Drew High School in Clayton County, Georgia, knew that her hard work would pay off, despite the obstacles presented to her.
“I just told myself to keep working, because the future will not be like this anymore,” Fearce said. “You’re worried about your home life and then worried at school. Worry about being a little hungry sometimes, go hungry sometimes. You just have to deal with is. You eat what you can, when you can.”
Although her family occasionally lived in an apartment, because of her mother’s lay-offs, they took refuge in shelters.  “Ended up back in another shelter because I got laid off from my job maybe about four or five times,” Fearce’s mother, Reenita Shephard said.  “I just did what I had to do,” Fearce said.
None of that stopped Chelesa from achieving a 4.466 GPA and a 1900 SAT score. On top of her regular high school course load, Chelesa was able to enroll in college courses during her last two years of high school. When she enters Spelman in the fall, she will do so as a college junior.  Brains apparently run in the family. Chelesa’s sister is graduating from George Washington Carver High School as a salutatorian.
“I read to them a lot. Everything was a learning experience,” Shephard said.  “Don’t give up. Do what you have to do right now so that you can have the future that you want,” Chelesa said.
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article by Yesha Callahan via clutchmagonline.com

UCLA Awarded $10M Grant to Study Autism in African-Americans

By goodblacknews on May 23, 2013

Areva Martin, Esq.
Areva Martin of the Special Needs Network

NBC Southern California – The National Institutes of Health awarded UCLA a grant to study the genetic causes of autism in African-American children.  Areva Martin of the Special Needs Network says “there’s a void” of qualified health care officials to make the diagnosis in communities like South LA.  The study hopes to change that, and aims to recruit at least 600 African-American families who have a child diagnosed with autism.
Watch video of this story by clicking here.
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article by Dr. Bruce Hensel via thegrio.com