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Innocent Brooklyn Man Freed After Year in Prison

By goodblacknews on December 18, 2012
RonaldBozeman
Ronald Bozeman

Ronald Bozeman was in good spirits according to the New York Post after being released from prison last week. Bozeman, 65, had spent over a year in jail for a crime he did not commit.

Bozeman was cleared of all charges related to a $9,000 robbery that occurred in downtown Brooklyn last year. Two witnesses had asserted to a grand jury that Bozeman was the gunman. Court records show these witnesses subsequently named another man, George Johnson, as the gunman during a second grand jury.

Prosecutors have moved forward in the case against Johnson. A spokesman for the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office said in a statement: “Based on a faulty ID procedure which we discovered and alerted the defense attorney to, we moved to have the charges against Bozeman dismissed.” Johnson has pleaded guilty to participation in the robbery.

Bozeman, who was held without bail and faced life in prison, was freed last Wednesday. “I feel relieved and not as bitter as I thought I would be,” he told the press. “The first thing I’m going to do is go get something to eat with my family.”

This mishap is being compared to the case of Jabbar Collins, an innocent man who went to prison for 15 years after being prosecuted by the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office. Collins is now suing for $150 million in damages amid accusations that Michael Vecchione, who prosecuted this case, threatened a witness and withheld evidence for over a decade that could have exonerated Collins. Vecchione is now a top aide to Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes.

article by Alexis Garrett Stodghill via thegrio.com

Smithsonian Exhibit Parallels Emancipation, Civil rights

By goodblacknews on December 18, 2012
Smithsonian parallels Emancipation, Civil Rights

Smithsonian parallels Emancipation, Civil Rights

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington for Civil Rights were 100 years apart, but both changed the nation and expanded freedoms.

Beginning Friday, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture is presenting a walk back in time through two eras. A new exhibit, “Changing America,” parallels the 1863 emancipation of slaves with the 1963 March on Washington.

Activists Peacefully Advocate for Change; Plead With Obama For Gun Control Action

By goodblacknews on December 15, 2012
White House Vigil Gun Control

Gun control advocates and past victims of gun violence gathered outside the White House on Friday evening urging President Barack Obama to address gun laws. (Photo credit: Jennifer Bendery)

WASHINGTON — Friday’s shooting in Newtown, Conn., put the spotlight on President Barack Obama politically and, for many people, it was personal, as dozens turned up outside the White House gates begging him to take action on gun control.  Activists, sympathetic parents, and those affected by gun violence in the past gathered to collectively grieve at the impromptu vigil. They chanted, lit candles handed out by advocacy groups, and pleaded for political action in the wake of the latest episode of gun violence to afflict the nation.

Judge Overturns Three Death Sentences Under Racial Justice Act

By goodblacknews on December 14, 2012
Gov. Bev Perdue signs the Racial Justice Act

Governor Bev Perdue signs the Racial Justice Act

A North Carolina judge voided the death sentences of three convicted murderers yesterday, two of whom were African-American, citing that race played a significant role in their trial and sentencing.

Death row inmates Tilmon Golphin, Christina Walters and Quintel Augustine had their cases reviewed under the Racial Justice Act of 2009, a policy that allows death row cases to be reconsidered if relevant evidence suggests racism was a factor in the original trial. The act specifies that if race was found to be a factor in the trial, inmates’ sentences would be reduced to life in prison without parole.

Lawyers for the three convicted felons, whose cases are all unrelated, found statistical evidence along with anecdotal and documentary evidence such as handwritten notes and race-based jury selection processes, that proved that racist methods were used in deciding their fate.

First Lady Michelle Obama Drops Off 900 Gifts for Annual Toys for Tots Drive

By goodblacknews on December 13, 2012
First lady Michelle Obama (C) greets Toys for Tots volunteers
First lady Michelle Obama (C) greets Toys for Tots volunteers during an event at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling on December 11, 2012 in Washiington, DC. The toys were donated by the staff members of the Executive Office of the President to the Marine Corps’ Toys for Tots Campaign. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
First lady Michelle Obama dropped off 900 gifts yesterday as part of a Toys for Tots event in Washington, D.C. An annual drive of the Marine Corps, the campaign received the huge donation from the White House where Mrs. Obama began collecting toys for the program in 2009.

The toys were collected from residents of the White House, including President Obama and the first couple’s daughters Sasha and Malia, in addition to employees, friends and corporate donors.

Jersey City Renames Street to Honor Former Tuskegee Airman and Local Entrepreneur

By goodblacknews on December 11, 2012
James 'Zimp' Smith street renaming ceremony on Dec. 8, 2012

James ‘Zimp’ Smith smiles as he greets his nephew, LeRoy Minnatee, after the street-renaming ceremony honoring Smith on Dec. 8, 2012 at the southeaster corner of Ocean and Dwight in Jersey City. (Alyssa Ki/The Jersey Journal)

A former Tuskegee Airman who became a prominent local African-American entrepreneur was honored today by town residents and local civic leaders during a street naming ceremony held in Jersey City this afternoon.

Roughly a hundred people gathered at the southeastern corner of Ocean Avenue and Dwight Street around 12 p.m. to celebrate the achievements of James “Zimp” Smith, the first successful African-American businessman to own his own franchise in Hudson County during an era when minority owned businesses were rare.

Morehouse College Launches LGBT Course

By goodblacknews on December 11, 2012
Members of the Morehouse College 2002 graduating class sing their school song during commencement ceremonies May 19, 2002 in Atlanta. About 500 men received their undergraduate degrees from the predominately black school. (Photo by Erik S. Lesser/Getty Images)

Members of the Morehouse College 2002 graduating class sing their school song during commencement ceremonies May 19, 2002 in Atlanta. About 500 men received their undergraduate degrees from the predominately black school. (Photo by Erik S. Lesser/Getty Images)

Newark Mayor Cory Booker Assists at Scene of Auto Accident

By goodblacknews on December 9, 2012

Cory Booker appears onstage at the Glamour Women of the Year Awards on Monday, Nov. 12, 2012 in New York.

CHARLES SYKES/INVISION/AP Mayor Booker’s latest heroic exploits came to light when a constituent asked him on Twitter if that was him assisting at the scene of an auto accident on Newark’s Clinton Ave. Despite his “hunger pains,” he admitted to being on the scene to help.

 His hunger and caffeine withdrawal haven’t dulled his superhero reflexes.  Already famous for carrying a neighbor out of a raging kitchen fire in April, Newark Mayor Cory Booker snapped into action at the scene of an injury car accident on Thursday, a witness told the Daily News.
 
The hometown heroics came just minutes after the 43-year-old Democrat recorded a video blog about the difficulty of his weeklong, $4-per-day food stamp challenge, which has him subsisting on beans, rice, vegetables — and no coffee.
 “I heard a crashing sound outside. I looked out my window and there were two sedans that collided. Within a few minutes, a big black car stopped near the site and two men got out. I recognized the mayor’s posture,” a 36-year-old witness who gave her name as Dydy told The News.

Obama To Sign into Law the Child Protection Act of 2012

By goodblacknews on December 7, 2012
President Obama (Saul Loeb/Getty Images)

Today, President Barack Obama will sign H.R. 6063, the Child Protection Act of 2012, in the Oval Office, a bill aimed at protecting victims of child pornography, sexual abuse and trafficking.

By reaching across their respective aisles, Texas legislators have been instrumental is the passage of the soon-to-be-signed new federal law.  During a late night legislative session on Monday, Nov. 26, the United States Senate passed the Child Protection Act of 2012, introduced by Texas Senator John Cornyn and Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut. Additionally, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith sponsored the Act’s counterpart – HR 6063 – in the House of Representatives. Smith’s colleagues passed the bill by voice vote in August.  

LeBron James Named Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year

By goodblacknews on December 6, 2012

LeBron James has taken his talents to the cover of Sports Illustrated as the magazine’s newly-crowned 2012 Sportsman of the Year.

“He was the most dominant athlete this year – MVP of the NBA regular season, MVP of the NBA playoffs, led the Heat to the NBA championship and Team USA to the gold medal in London,” Paul Fichtenbaum, Editor of Time Inc.’s Sports Group tells People.com.

At just 27, the eight-time NBA All-Star and former all-time leading scorer of the Cleveland Cavaliers joins such past Sportsman of the Year athletes as teammate Dwayne Wade, Brett Favre, Michael Phelps, Derek Jeter and Drew Brees.

“The intangibles [James] brought to the court were significant in leading his teams to victory. He was a selfless player, doing whatever it took to will the Heat and Team USA, making all of his teammates better,” Fichtenbaum says.

In addition to his on-the-court accolades, his off-court charitable endeavors also contributed to his new title. The basketball player – who is dad to LeBron Jr., 8, and Bryce, 5, with finacée Savannah Brinson – established a program to benefit children in Akron, Ohio.

Fichtenbaum says: “The program he built and developed in [the] Akron school district for young kids had a profound effect on children who ordinarily might fall through the cracks of an educational system,” he says. “He didn’t just lend his name to a cause, he was directly involved.”

Read more at http://www.eurweb.com/2012/12/lebron-james-is-sports-illustrateds-sportsman-of-the-year/#ZKeM5uudHPsh0fZG.99