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SEED School in D.C. Shapes Scholars!

By goodblacknews on June 1, 2010
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(CBS)  A few miles from the White House in southeast Washington sit some of the worst public schools in America. The students there are mostly poor, mostly black, and their test scores are low. Only one in three finish high school; of those who do go on to college, just five percent graduate.
But right in the middle of this same area is also one of the most successful and innovative public schools in the country. Started in 1998, the school is called SEED. It’s the nation’s first urban public boarding school.
Ninety one percent of the students finish high school, and 95 percent go on to college. It’s a charter school that’s getting national attention. Admission is by lottery, open to any family in the district willing to take a chance. 

Texas Twins Top Class!

By goodblacknews on May 27, 2010
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They look alike, talk alike, dress alike…and they’re best friends.

But that’s not all twins LaTonya and LaToya Harris have in common. They’re also the top two graduates of South Garland High School class of 2010.  And they’ll even give their graduation speech together as valedictorian and salutatorian.
Although their parents say they’ve been baffled by the girls since birth, they can’t help but be proud of their twin prodigies.  So what’s the plan for next year?
The girls will begin their college careers (rooming together, of course) at The University of Texas – both on full scholarships.
article via www.thegrio.com

Women of Color Form “Sisters Tri-ing” To Foster Health and Athleticism!

By goodblacknews on May 21, 2010
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When Ayana Ball-Griffe crossed the finish line of the first triathlon she’d ever run, she noticed an odd phenomenon – she was one of only two women of color running in the marathon.  That revelation left her determined to see changes and get more black women out exercising. She came up with Sisters Tri-ing – as in triathlon.
“The purpose of Sisters Tri-ing is just to really encourage women of color to get healthy and fit” says Ayana.  Weight is a “heavy” issue for African-American women and the Center for Disease Control estimates nearly 80 percent of black women are either overweight or obese.  There can be several factors which may discourage women from putting in time at the gym. Among them are cost, time management and hair…yes, hair.
“You don’t want to get your hair done at the beauty shop and turn around and go sweat it out at the gym!” says Ayana.  Ayana takes that into consideration by offering hair stylists at her non-profit. She also has healthy eating classes and two personal trainers available for the women.  Many of the 90 local members also meet weekly to push each other physically and emotionally.  As one SistersTri-ing member puts it, “For me, it helps to have the encouragement and support and know that somebody is going through the same thing you are.”
article via www.thegrio.com

Women of Color Form "Sisters Tri-ing" To Foster Health and Athleticism!

By goodblacknews on May 21, 2010
Media_http4bpblogspot_giipk
When Ayana Ball-Griffe crossed the finish line of the first triathlon she’d ever run, she noticed an odd phenomenon – she was one of only two women of color running in the marathon.  That revelation left her determined to see changes and get more black women out exercising. She came up with Sisters Tri-ing – as in triathlon.
“The purpose of Sisters Tri-ing is just to really encourage women of color to get healthy and fit” says Ayana.  Weight is a “heavy” issue for African-American women and the Center for Disease Control estimates nearly 80 percent of black women are either overweight or obese.  There can be several factors which may discourage women from putting in time at the gym. Among them are cost, time management and hair…yes, hair.
“You don’t want to get your hair done at the beauty shop and turn around and go sweat it out at the gym!” says Ayana.  Ayana takes that into consideration by offering hair stylists at her non-profit. She also has healthy eating classes and two personal trainers available for the women.  Many of the 90 local members also meet weekly to push each other physically and emotionally.  As one SistersTri-ing member puts it, “For me, it helps to have the encouragement and support and know that somebody is going through the same thing you are.”
article via www.thegrio.com

Sixty-Four Years Ago Today: Emma Clarissa Clement Named American Mother Of The Year

By goodblacknews on May 2, 2010
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When the call came through to her Louisville home last week, Emma Clarissa Clement was off at a district church conference in Springfield, Ky. Her daughter took the message. Mrs. Clement had just been elected American Mother of 1946 by the Golden Rule Foundation. Said the citation: “A mother of children who are devotedly serving their country and their people, a partner in her husband’s ministry in his lifetime, a social and community worker in her own right.”
Emma Clement, 71, widow of a bishop, could well be proud of her three daughters and four sons. All of them had graduated from Livingstone College in Salisbury, N.C., where she had been married on her own Commencement Day nearly 50 years ago. Four were now college professors—one of them a college president, another, a chaplain, just out of the Army with a major’s commission. A fifth was still overseas as a Red Cross field director in Italy. Now her children could be prouder than ever of her.
It took a little while to get the call relayed to Mrs. Clement. She had to get the news of the honor that had come to her, and to her race, at the telephone office. There is only one telephone in the Negro section of Springfield, Ky.

article originally printed May 13, 1946 in Time Magazine

Black Residents Of Mossville Win Hearing In Legal Battle Over Industrial Pollution

By goodblacknews on March 30, 2010
(industrial pollution image via wikipedia commons)

According to nola.com, African-American residents of Mossville, Louisiana, a community just west of Lake Charles, have won a hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on charges that the U.S. government violated their rights to privacy and racial equality in not forcing local chemical plants to stop polluting.

To quote the article:

Mossville is adjacent to 14 chemical plants and refineries that release millions of pounds of toxic chemicals into the air, land and water each year, according to federal and state records.

Its residents have filed a variety of lawsuits and complaints against the plants and the Environmental Protection Agency in attempts to recover damages and reduce pollution, which includes cancer-causing dioxin and vinyl chloride.

Tests by the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registery in 2007 found chemicals in residents’ body fat that were the same as chemicals emitted by some of the nearby industries.

Several of the companies and their predecessors have been involved in releases of chemicals that have eaten the paint off cars, killed bushes and trees in people’s front yards, and polluted adjacent waterways.

“We believe that environmental protection should not be based on the color of our skin,” said Dorothy Felix, a petitioner in the case and a vice president of Mossville Environmental Action Now. “Our government can and must do better to protect our human rights.”

To read more, go to: https://www.nola.com/news/crime_police/black-residents-of-mossville-win-hearing-in-legal-battle-over-industrial-pollution/article_548a59ef-7724-5181-8c78-ea324648f933.html.

or: http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/02/26/toxic.town.mossville.epa/index.html