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Russell Simmons Assembles Stars to ask Obama to Change Drug, Jail Policy

By goodblacknews on April 10, 2013

russell-simmons-16x9LOS ANGELES (AP) — Lil Wayne, Ron Howard, Scarlett Johansson and Kim Kardashian are all on the same page when it comes to criminal justice reform.
They’re among more than 100 entertainers calling on President Barack Obama to focus on changing drug laws. Rap mogul Russell Simmons helped assemble the coalition of celebrities and civil rights leaders that presented a letter to the president on Tuesday.
The group praises the president’s efforts toward drug incarceration reform but insists “the time is right” to move toward replacing jail sentences with intervention and rehabilitation for non-violent offenders. The starry group, which also includes Jennifer Hudson, Nicki Minaj, Susan Sarandon and Will Smith, also asks Obama to form a panel to handle clemency requests and to support a measure that allows judges to waive mandatory minimum sentences.
“It is critical that we change both the way we think about drug laws in this country and how we generate positive solutions that leave a lasting impact on rebuilding our communities,” Simmons said, citing Department of Justice data that shows that the United States jails more of its citizens than any other country in the world.
Drug offenders comprise nearly half the federal prison population in the U.S.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press via thegrio.com

Harlem Mom Calls On Toymaker to Create Black Barbie Party Supplies

By goodblacknews on April 8, 2013

karen braithwaiteWhen Karen Braithwaite (pictured) could not find party supplies for her daughter’s fifth birthday gathering with images of Black Barbies, she took her gripe to Change.org and YouTube in order to twist the corporate arm of the famed doll’s manufacturer, reports CBS New York.
The Harlem-based, 40-year-old human resources manager could not fathom why the toy company makes Black Barbie dolls but failed to create a culturally diverse line of party goods that would follow suit. She refused to purchase supplies with images of blond-haired, blue-eyed Barbies for her daughter, Georgia (pictured), despite the child’s insistence.
Braithwaite is at the helm of the group of 14 Harlem moms who have taken up their concerns with Mattel. The Change.org online petition that Braithwaite started last month has thus far garnered nearly 5,000 signatures. The request has reportedly not fallen on deaf ears and the toy maker, which manufactured its first African-American doll, Christie, in 1968, is reportedly considering the move to create the cultural party supplies.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCJXk9uAeOI&w=420&h=315]
article via newsone.com
On Mattel’s social media page, the company tweeted two replies to people who brought the issue to their attention: “We work closely with our partners to develop and distribute Barbie products such as party supplies,” and “We will be sharing your valuable feedback with them to start conversations and evaluate the business.”

Dance Theater of Harlem Reopens after Nine Years

By goodblacknews on April 7, 2013
Virginia Johnson, the artistic director of Dance Theater of Harlem, with her dancers, at an open rehearsal. (Andrea Mohin/The New York Times)

In the early days of Dance Theater of Harlem its members, charged with proving to the world that black dancers could master ballet, needed a certain pluck. “It was a group of young dancers that went out and carried their own lights and did lecture-demonstrations and started performing,” said Laveen Naidu, 45, the organization’s executive director.

Dance Theater of Harlem performers rehearsing Robert Garland’s new “Gloria.”

That scrappy image has served Virginia Johnson well. The elegant artistic director of Dance Theater of Harlem — and its star ballerina for 28 years — Ms. Johnson, 63, was reminded of such humble beginnings last spring, when she held auditions for the rebirth of the company. (It had been forced to go on hiatus in 2004 when it announced its $2.3 million debt.) As Ms. Johnson put it, she had stars in her eyes. But she was in for a surprise.

“I was really shocked at how few African-Americans auditioned,” she said. “And that was the moment when we were looking in this room, and it was like, ‘No, but where are the black people?’ ”

She laughed, as she often does when describing a seemingly hopeless situation. “I thought about Arthur Mitchell with all the hodgepodge of dancers that came to him back in 1969 that he had to make into a company. I said, ‘O.K., it’s the same thing again, and this is great.’ It was actually more exciting than taking top-level dancers and making them into a company. It meant that we had to have that inner-grit thing going again.”

Dance Theater, formed by Mr. Mitchell and Karel Shook, took on the barrier-breaking mission of training and presenting black classical ballet dancers to the world. For years the company was more than a thriving, internationally touring troupe. It showed that ballet was no longer just a white domain. But then the company disappeared, leaving a gaping hole.  One year off turned into nine; disillusionment set in. Now Dance Theater is making a comeback. Beginning Wednesday the company, lean at just 18 members from 44 in 2004, will perform at the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Wendell Pierce Creates Supermarket Chain to Help New Orleans Residents

By goodblacknews on April 7, 2013

Wendell Pierce welcomes the first customers inside his 25,000 square-foot store.
Wendell Pierce, best known for his roles on “The Wire” and “Treme” is now launching a chain of grocery and convenience stores in places where fresh food can be hard to find.   As a boy, Pierce dreamed of leaving his hometown one day for the world stage. Today, the veteran actor with global credits has returned on a mission: rebuilding neighborhoods, brick by brick, aisle after aisle.
After Hurricane Katrina devastated this city in 2005, Pierce seized an opportunity to help his childhood neighborhood — Pontchartrain Park, an historic enclave for middle-class blacks — get back on its feet. He started the nonprofit Pontchartrain Park Community Development Corp. with a goal of replacing hundreds of flood-ravaged, 1950s-era houses with new homes.  Now, the next item in his recovery recipe is a long-missing ingredient.
Pierce, 50, and his partners are investing big in something seemingly so small: convenient access to a grocery store. They have launched a chain of convenience stores, Sterling Express, and a full-service grocery store, called Sterling Farms, the latter just unveiled in what is often described as a “food desert,” a neighborhood where residents must travel more than a mile to a store selling fresh food. According to 2011 data, 19 percent of all Orleans Parish households have no access to a vehicle.

Artist Kehinde Wiley Gains Attention for Exhibit at Phoenix Art Museum

By goodblacknews on April 3, 2013
New York-based painter Kehinde Wiley‘s current exhibit Kehinde Wiley: Memling at the Phoenix Art Museum is attracting national attention, most recently via a mention in Time Magazine’s ‘Pop Chart’ in the March 18 issue. Wiley’s eight portraits take their poses and contexts from the works by the legendary 15th century Flemish master Hans Memling but Wiley has substituted contemporary sitters for the historical figures. 

Detroit Receives $8 Million Worth of Donated Police Cruisers and Ambulances

By goodblacknews on March 30, 2013

detroit ambulances
The business community donated $8 million dollars worth of police cruisers and ambulances to Detroit to improve emergency response times, said Mayor Bing on Monday.

With the donation, the city of Detroit now has 23 new ambulances, allowing the city to replace its current fleet of ambulances which frequently break down.

“This is not about downtown; this is not about Midtown; this is about the neighborhoods, so we can go out into these neighborhoods and let our people know that we support them, and we have not forgotten about them,” Bing said.
Bing says this is an indication of how the city and business leaders are working together to fight crime in the city.
“We believe these additional vehicles will enhance the visibility of the police and fire efforts in the city of Detroit, improve safety and security in our neighborhoods and have an immediate and lasting impact for everyone who lives, works and plays in our city,” said Roger Penske, founder and chairman of Penske Corp., the Bloomfield Hills-based transportation services firm.
Pictures of the new vehicles shown at a press conference revealed that the cruisers added to the fleet were Dodge Chargers, Ford Tauruses and Chevrolet Caprices. The EMS vehicles were Horton Terrastar ambulances.  The new cruisers and ambulances are being outfitted with new equipment and should be ready to use within the next two to four months.
article via yourblackworld.net

Los Angeles Sheriff Seeks to Replace Men's Central Jail Cells With Classrooms

By goodblacknews on March 22, 2013
Screen Shot 2013-03-21 at 7.10.22 PM
Sheriff Lee Baca Addresses Inmates

NBC Southern California – The gutting of Men’s Central Jail cells to be replaced with inmate classrooms is one element of a dramatic re-envisioning of the Los Angeles County jail system as proposed by Sheriff Lee Baca.

During his tenure, Baca has expanded educational opportunities for county inmates. Gutting the old central jail to make room for inmate classrooms would take the program to a new level.

Inmates who obtain their high school graduate equivalent degrees (GEDs) are more likely to find work when released into society, and less likely to re-offend, Baca is convinced.

The response to the county’s inmate educational program is “like nothing I’ve seen in my 47 years in law enforcement,” Baca told reporters Tuesday outside the County Hall of Administration.  “It’s a good idea,” said one man following his release from Men’s Central Jail after serving a week for a drug violation. “Not everyone, but a lot of the men want to change.”

“Education can help,” said the former inmate, who declined to give his name. Other aspects of his plan include building a new central jail, repurposing Lancaster’s Mira Loma detention center, and transferring women inmates out of the Century Regional Detention Facility, either to Mira Loma or to the Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic.

First Lady Michelle Obama Delivers Easter Gifts to Military Families

By goodblacknews on March 21, 2013
First lady Michelle Obama smiles during a reception for Ireland's prime minister in the East Room of the White House on March 19, 2013 in Washington, DC. President Obama met with Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny prior to the annual St. Patrick's Day lunch hosted at the Capitol. (Photo by Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images)

First lady Michelle Obama smiles during a reception for Ireland’s prime minister in the East Room of the White House on March 19, 2013 in Washington, DC. President Obama met with Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny prior to the annual St. Patrick’s Day lunch hosted at the Capitol. (Photo by Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images)

BETHESDA, Md. (AP) — Michelle Obama marked the first day of spring with an early Easter celebration as she delivered holiday treats to military families and children.  The first lady stopped by the Fisher House at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., on Wednesday as families decorated Easter cards.
She asked the children if they were ready “to show me how to make some stuff.”  Mrs. Obama, accompanied by first dog Bo, carried a basket full of cookies made by the White House pastry chefs in the shape of the Portuguese water dog.  She also brought tickets for the families to attend the White House Egg Roll on April 1.  The Fisher House program provides temporary housing for military families while their loved ones receive medical care.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press by Stacy A. Anderson via thegrio.com
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Dying Cancer Patient Gets Married Weeks Before She Is Expected To Die

By goodblacknews on March 16, 2013

Evonne Lee LOUISVILLE kentucky
Evonne Lee, a dying cancer patient, got her wish Tuesday when she married her longtime boyfriend at the hospital where she is expected to die, WAVE 3 reports.  Hospital staff at University Hospital in Louisville, Ky., consider Lee an inspiration for the way she is living the final days of her life; doctors have given her weeks to live. Lee and her new husband, Don Tyler, knew they would wed when they first first met some eight years ago. But when Lee was diagnosed with cancer last year, jumping the broom became a priority.
Tyler popped the question on Christmas Day. It was around that time that Lee’s health began to deteriorate. Here is some background on how Evonne has decided to make the best of the time she has left:

Security Officer Wins $13.2 Million Verdict for Civil Rights Violations by Cleveland Detectives

By goodblacknews on March 10, 2013

davidayers.jpg
David Ayers, center, walks out of the Cuyahoga County Justice Center a free man in 2011 after serving 11 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit. Ayers won a $13.2 million verdict in federal court Friday. At right is Carrie Wood of the Innonence Project. (Plain Dealer file photo)

CLEVELAND, Ohio — A federal jury awarded $13.2 million to a former housing authority security officer Friday after finding two Cleveland detectives fabricated or withheld evidence at his 2000 murder trial.
David Ayers, 56, who spent 11 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit, and several jurors wept as the verdict against detectives Denise Kovach and Michael Cipo was read in U.S. District Court.
“These detectives didn’t do their jobs at all,” juror Stephanie Kocian told The Plain Dealer in an interview. “They manipulated the evidence, and didn’t look at anyone else except the most convenient suspect to convict. The word ‘railroaded’ was thrown around the jury room during deliberations.”
At the time of his 1999 arrest, Ayers had been working for more than eight years as a security officer with the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority. He was accused and eventually convicted of the beating death 76-year-old Dorothy Brown, who lived in a CMHA high rise in Cleveland.
Ayers continued to maintain his innocence, filing appeals while serving a life prison term for aggravated murder. He finally prevailed in 2011, when DNA tests proved that a single pubic hair found in Brown’s mouth did not come from him.