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First ‘African-designed’ Smart Phone and Tablet Launches

By goodblacknews on December 31, 2012
The Way-C tablet (courtesy of VMK website)

The Way-C tablet (courtesy of VMK website)

Congolese technology company, VMK, is attempting to break into the smart phone and tablet market by unveiling the first homegrown devices specifically geared towards Africans.

VMK announced the launch of the new Way-C tablet and Elikia smart phone earlier this week. To market the devices as authentically African, the budding tech company chose the names Way-C, which means “the light of the stars” and Elikia, which translates to “hope,” in the local Lingala language.

“Only Africans know what Africa needs.” says Congolese entrepreneur and founder, Verone Mankou. “Apple is huge in the US, Samsung is huge in Asia, and we want VMK to be huge in Africa.”

“Wilmington Ten” Pardoned by North Carolina Governor

By goodblacknews on December 31, 2012
Wilmington Ten

Members of the “Wilmington 10” hold a brief communion service before boarding a prison bus on Feb. 2, 1976 in Burgaw, North Carolina, as they surrendered to start prison terms on convictions growing out of 1971 racial disorders in Wilmington, N.C. Four of the group shown from left are Connie Tindall, Rev. Ben Chavis, Jerry Jacobs and Anne Sheppard. (AP Photo)

After decades of claims that they were wrongly convicted, nine African-American men and one white women who were imprisoned for an arson fire in North Carolina that stemmed from racial unrest over integrated schools have been pardoned.  North Carolina Gov. Bev Purdue, who is leaving office in just one week, issued the pardons Monday.

Purdue’s office issued a statement, saying she had spent “a great deal of time over the past seven months reviewing the pardon of innocence requests of the persons collectively known as the Wilmington Ten.”

Two Black Scientists Selected for National Technology Award

By goodblacknews on December 29, 2012
 
Two African-American scientists have been named as part of a group that will receive the National Medal of Technology and Innovation Award by the Obama Administration, the White House announced.  Among the 12 recipients are James Gates, a physicist at the University of Maryland, and George Carruthers, an inventor, physicist, space scientist and professor at Howard University.

“I am proud to honor these inspiring American innovators,” President Obama said, in a statement. 

“They represent the ingenuity and imagination that has long made this Nation great — and they remind us of the enormous impact a few good ideas can have when these creative qualities are unleashed in an entrepreneurial environment.”

Panera Franchisee Pays to Settle Racism Lawsuit with Black Workers

By goodblacknews on December 28, 2012

Sam Covelli, the owner of several western Pennsylvania Panera Bread restaurants is paying for allegedly discriminating against African-American workers. The franchisee will pay Guy Vines, a former employee who is the lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit $10,000 and $66,000 in attorneys’ fees as part of the settlement. He’ll also pay out an extra 70 cents per hour to each member of the lawsuit for each year after their first year of employment with Covelli, according to a Courthouse News Service report.

Vines and other members of the class action lawsuit claimed they were forced to work in the kitchen because Covelli didn’t want black employees in public view, according to court documents. Vines’ attorney told the judge that about 200 to 300 black workers could be entitled to money.

In a January 2012 complaint, Vines claimed that he worked as a sandwich maker at Panera Bread from 2009 to 2011, but his manager said black workers like him were ineligible for promotion to management. The same manager also allegedly said “customers would not want to see an African-American working in the front of the store,” and feared he would lose his job for disobeying this rule.

Chief U.S. District Judge Gary Lancaster in Pittsburgh made the following statement regarding the settlement.

“Here, the class members allege that they were flatly ineligible for promotion because of their race and regardless of their job performance, They allege that this prohibition, although not written down anywhere, was the rule at all of defendant’s restaurants, and that defendant’s managers disobeyed it at their peril. This question of law and fact applies evenly across the class and is sufficient to ensure that ‘the action can be practically maintained and that the interests of the absentees will be fairly and adequately represented.’”

He gave final approval last week after a fairness hearing.

Covelli Enterprises and Panera Bread did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

article by C. Daniel Baker via blackenterprise.com

Berkeley’s First Woman Firefighter Debra Pryor Retires as First Woman Chief

By goodblacknews on December 28, 2012

Berkeley Fire Chief Debra Pryor is retiring Dec. 28, 2012 after 27 years in the Berkeley fire department. She was the city’s first woman firefighter, the first woman chief and the second black woman to head a fire department in the nation. (Doug Oakley/Staff)

BERKELEY, CA — It’s a drizzly cold Tuesday evening and Berkeley Fire Chief Debra Pryor is outside the city’s public safety building talking to a homeless man with two shopping carts piled high with possessions.  The man loops in and out of lucidity, but Pryor doesn’t appear annoyed, pressed for time or afraid. She listens and talks to him, then politely wraps it up and approaches a second man to ask if he needs help deciphering the front desk hours of the police station.

Pryor, 51, is retiring Friday after 27 years in the fire department and 27 years of smashing race and gender barriers: she was the city’s first female firefighter, its first female fire chief and the second black female fire chief in the country behind Rosemary Cloud of East Point, Ga. (Earlier this year Oakland named Teresa Deloach Reed as its fire chief, making her the first black woman fire chief of a major metropolitan city.)

Essence Magazine Commemorates Michelle Obama’s Life in New Book

By goodblacknews on December 28, 2012

'A Tribute to Michelle Obama'

‘A Salute to Michelle Obama.’ (Image: Essence Magazine)
The editors at Essence magazine have been hard at work this fall on a new tome celebrating first lady Michelle Obama’s life and achievements. A Salute to Michelle Obama, available now in paperback, features an array of images of the first lady punctuated with essays penned by legendary black women. Yet, what makes it special are quotes from African-American female fans of Mrs. Obama interwoven through this compendium of her accomplishments.

“We reached out to women and asked, ‘What do you believe has been the impact of Michelle Obama?’” Patrik Henry Bass, Senior Editor at Essence, told theGrio. He was inundated with streams of enthusiastic praise in response from the Essence audience.  “I was surprised, in a delightful way,” he said of women’s reactions.

Detroit Lions’ Calvin Johnson Breaks Receiving Record

By goodblacknews on December 23, 2012

<> at Ford Field on December 22, 2012 in Detroit, Michigan.

Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson is on the cover of the latest installment of the Madden series (’13), appropriate because he is putting up video game type numbers in real life. Johnson, highly regarded as one of the best receivers in the NFL, surpassed the legendary Jerry Rice in receiving yards gained in a season on Saturday (12/22) in a loss to the Atlanta Falcons. A highlight in an otherwise disappointing season for the Lions, Johnson currently has 1892 yards and can go for the 2000 yard mark.

article by Jamiyl Samuels via theurbandaily.com

Congressman Tim Scott to Become First Black Senator from the South Since Reconstruction

By goodblacknews on December 21, 2012

TimScottOrangeTieGovernor Nikki Haley of South Carolina announced she will tap Congressman Tim Scott for South Carolina’s vacant Senate seat. Rep. Scott’s appointment will make him the first black senator from the South since the 19th Century.

The Senate seat became vacant after Sen. Jim DeMint announced he was stepping down to take on a leadership role at the Heritage Foundation in January, causing many to wonder who Gov. Haley would pick to fill the vacancy.

After a lot of debate, Gov. Haley ended the speculation today when she announced that she was appointing Rep. Scott.

“It is with great pleasure that I am announcing our next U.S. senator to be Congressman Tim Scott,” Gov. Haley said. “I am strongly convinced that the entire state understands that this is the right U.S. senator for our state and our country.”

Rep. Scott, who was raised in a single-parent household, credited his mother’s guidance for positively affecting his life.

Meet Twenty-Two People Exonerated in 2012

By goodblacknews on December 21, 2012

Exonerated: James Harden, Jonathan Barr, Michael Saunders, Robert Taylor, Vincent Thames, Harold Richardson, Terrill Swift (CBS)

For the fourth year in a row, the Innocence Project, an organization dedicated to overturning wrongful convictions as well as making substantive reforms to the criminal-justice system, has released an annual report of people who were exonerated this year after spending time behind bars for crimes they did not commit.

This year’s roundup includes 22 people — 13 of whom are black — who, combined, served more than 279 years because of problems like eyewitness misidentification, faulty forensics and false confessions before they were freed. The Innocence Project says that nearly half of its cases involved innocence proved by new developments in DNA technology.

Obama Named Time Magazine Person of The Year

By goodblacknews on December 19, 2012

timeobamaPresident Barack Obama has been named Time’s Person of the Year.

Managing editor Richard Stengel unveiled the magazine’s choice on Wednesday’s “Today.” He said it was remarkable that the president won two terms with over 50 percent of the popular vote as a Democrat. He also noted that Obama took office in an economic crisis, and credited him with creating a new political “alignment like Ronald Reagan did forty years ago.”

This is the second time that Time has chosen Obama. The magazine said it named him Person of the Year in 2008 for winning against the odds and becoming the first black president of the United States.

“For finding and forging a new majority, for turning weakness into opportunity and for seeking, amid great adversity, to create a more perfect union, Barack Obama is TIME’s 2012 Person of the Year,” Stengel explained in his note this year.

Time’s Michael Scherer wrote in a profile of the president:

Beyond the Oval Office, overwhelming challenges remain: deadlocked fiscal-cliff talks; a Federal Reserve that predicts years of high unemployment; and more unrest in places like Athens, Cairo and Damascus. But the President seems unbound and gives inklings of an ambition he has kept in check ever since he arrived at the White House to find a nation in crisis.

article via huffingtonpost.com