The NFL allows teams to wear pink during the month of October for breast cancer awareness month, and pushes assorted pink memorabilia to consumers, though it only donates a small portion of the proceeds to actual breast cancer research. DeAngelo Williams, who lost his mother Sandra Hill to breast cancer last year, is going to personally help women in North Carolina get diagnosed according to ESPN. Williams is footing the bill for 53 mammograms for 53 women – one for each year of Hill’s life.
The median cost of a mammogram is $243, so this is an estimated value of $12,879, but it’s priceless in terms of early breast cancer detection. article by Micah Peters via ftw.usatoday.com
Marlon James won the 2015 Man Booker Prize for “A Brief History of Seven Killings” on Tuesday. (photo via cnn.com)
Marlon James, the Jamaican novelist, has won the prestigious Man Booker Prize for Fiction for “A Brief History of Seven Killings,” his fictional retelling of the 1976 attempted murder of Bob Marley.
James, 44, who now lives in Minneapolis and teaches at Macalester College, is the first Jamaican author to win the prize in the British award’s 47 years. It’s also the first for his publisher, Oneworld Publications.
‘It is a crime novel that moves beyond the world of crime and takes us deep into a recent history we know far too little about. It moves at a terrific pace and will come to be seen as a classic of our times,” said Michael Woods, chairman of the judging committee.
James didn’t expect to wow the critics, but that’s what he did with his 686-page epic novel.
“It’s like a Tarantino remake of ‘The Harder They Come’ but with a soundtrack by Bob Marley and a script by Oliver Stone and William Faulkner, with maybe a little creative boost from some primo ganja,” wrote Michiko Kakutani in The New York Times.
“It’s epic in every sense of that word: sweeping, mythic, over-the-top, colossal and dizzyingly complex. It’s also raw, dense, violent, scalding, darkly comic, exhilarating and exhausting — a testament to Mr. James’s vaulting ambition and prodigious talent.”
James’ other works includes two novels, “John Crow’s Devil” (2005) and “The Book of Night Women” (2009).
Last year, the prize was opened to any novel published in Britain and written in English. In previous years, winners had to come from Britain, Ireland, Zimbabwe and Commonwealth nations.
Stone Mountain in Georgia, which was once known for its Ku Klux Klan cross burnings, will soon be adding something very interesting: a tower/memorial in honor of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
The tower will feature a replica of the Liberty Bell. And accordingly it will give a literal interpretation to the line “Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia” from Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
The Stone Mountain Memorial Association, the authority that maintains the mountain and surrounding Stone Mountain Park, said in a statement that the “King Monument Bell” will “facilitate a more complete telling of the mountain’s history and an expansion of the park’s educational offerings.”
The statement also said additions will include a permanent museum exhibit to recognize contributions of African-American soldiers in both the Union and Confederate armies.
Though the association’s board has yet to take any formal action, its CEO, Bill Stephens, told Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Jim Galloway that the King tribute is “a great addition to the historical offerings we have here.”
Galloway was instrumental in pushing for the idea.
In the aftermath of the killings of nine African-Americans at Charleston, South Carolina’s, historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in June, Galloway proposed that Stone Mountain — “a three-dimensional history lesson (that) has pushed a one-sided view of America’s bloodiest conflict,” in his words — be made more representative of Southern history.
Stone Mountain, he observed, is within a predominately African-American community just outside Atlanta. The mountain and surrounding Stone Mountain Park are popular gathering spots for multicultural metro Atlanta, with much-hiked trails to the 825-foot summit and bucolic landscaping.
Get the rest of the story at CNN. article via eurweb.com
Black Lives Matter Caravan For Justice: Saturday, October 10th, 12:30 – 1:30 p.m., Politicon, Los Angeles Convention Center, 1201 S Figueroa St, Independence Hall (151)
Los Angeles, C.A. – What is being hailed as the first ever comic-con of politics and entertainment, Politicon is holding its inaugural convention at the Los Angeles Convention Center this weekend in the city with the largest, most militarized, and most violent policing forces in the nation. The lineup includes big names like Trevor Noah, James Carville, Newt Gingrich, and Ann Coulter – as well as Los Angeles based human rights activists, formerly incarcerated people, and the families of loved ones who have been killed by law enforcement.
Los Angeles based organizations including Dignity and Power Now, Black Lives Matter LA, and the ACLU of Southern California will be joining the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in a Politicon event hosted and moderated by Tourè this Saturday in order to highlight how the families of the victims of police brutality are the ones leading the charge for change, introduce the key players, and encourage people to join the fight. This cumulative event also serves as the finale to the Caravan For Justice, a week-long statewide tour that has been guiding Californians on how to utilize the ACLU’s Mobile Justice app and rallying together those affected by state violence to take action.
“The people affected by state violence have always been leading this movement,” says Director of Health and Wellness Mark-Anthony Johnson of Dignity and Power Now. “This Saturday we’ll be center stage at Politicon, just as we’ve been center stage at the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and the police commission for years. We got civilian oversight of the sheriff’s department. We passed AB 953. We’re getting stronger and we’re not going anywhere.”
WASHINGTON (AP) — Black men from around the nation are gathering on the National Mall to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Million Man March and call for policing reforms and changes in black communities.
Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who spearheaded the original march, will lead an anniversary gathering Saturday at the Capitol called the “Justice or Else” march.
“I plan to deliver an uncompromising message and call for the government of the United States to respond to our legitimate grievances,” Farrakhan said in a statement.
Attention has been focused on the deaths of unarmed black men since the shootings of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in 2012 in Florida and 18-year-old Michael Brown in 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri. Deaths of unarmed black males at the hands of law enforcement officers have inspired protests under the “Black Lives Matter” moniker around the country.
The original march on Oct. 16, 1995, brought hundreds of thousands to Washington to pledge to improve their lives, their families and their communities. Women, whites and other minorities were not invited to the original march, but organizers say all are welcome Saturday and that they expect to get hundreds of thousands of participants.
The National Park Service estimated the attendance at the original march to be around 400,000, but subsequent counts by private organizations put the number at 800,000 or higher. The National Park Service has refused to give crowd estimates on Mall activities since.
President Barack Obama, who attended the first Million Man March, will be in California on Saturday.
Life has improved in some way for African-American men since the original march, but not in others. For example:
-The unemployment rate for African-American men in October 1995 was 8.1 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In September it was 8.9 percent.
-In 1995, 73.4 percent of African-American men had high school degrees. In 2004, 84.3 percent did, according to the Census Bureau.
-Law enforcement agencies made 3.5 million arrests of blacks in 1994, which was 30.9 percent of all arrests, the FBI said. (By comparison, they made 7.6 million arrests of whites that year, which was 66 percent of all arrests.) By 2013, the latest available data, African-American arrests had decreased to 2.5 million, 28 percent of all arrests.
Anti-Muslim protesters plan to demonstrate at mosques around the nation on the same day.
Walter Scott (image via facebook.com)
The relatives of police shooting victim Walter Scott have reached a $6.5 million settlement with the city of North Charleston. According to CNN, the settlement was approved Thursday night by the North Charleston City Council.
“This is the largest settlement of this type case in the history of South Carolina,” said Brady Hair, North Charleston’s City Attorney.
Mayor Keith Summey appears to be pleased with the settlement.
“I’m glad the city and the family were able to reach a settlement without the necessity of a lawsuit,” said Summey.
According to the Scott family’s attorney, the money will be used to support Scott’s four children.
“He was a good father,” said his brother Anthony Scott. “People say how was he a good father and behind on child support? The system needs to be changed. There needs to be some things changed in the system, so there is a balance. His children loved him, and he loved his children.”
He continued:
“The city of Charleston’s actions have ensured that Walter did not die in vain,” he said. “The city sent a message, loud and clear, that this type of reckless behavior will not be tolerated.”
Scott was gunned down in April by former police officer Michael Slager following a routine traffic stop. Slager was indicted in Scott’s murder shortly after the shooting. article by Jazmine Denise Rogers via madamenoire.com
James Blake (Getty Images)
An undercover officer who assaulted tennis star James Blake on a Manhattan sidewalk last month used excessive force, “according an investigation by the Civilian Complaint Review Board, New York City’s independent agency for police misconduct,” reports The New York Times.
The board substantiated the charge of excessive force against New York Police Department Officer James Frascatore and recommended punishment that could result in suspension or dismissal, writes the news outlet.
Blake received word about the findings Tuesday in a letter from the panel. The incident took place during the U.S. Open on Sept. 9 in front of the Grand Hyatt Hotel on 42nd Street in Midtown. The assault, captured on video surveillance camera, reignited national outrage over the use of excessive force by police against people of color. From The New York Times:
[Frascatore] will now face an internal Police Department trial; the police commissioner, William J. Bratton, has the final say on discipline of officers.
“I want to express my appreciation to the Civilian Complaint Review Board for their quick and thorough review of the incident where I was attacked,” Mr. Blake said in a statement. “I have complete respect for the principle of due process and appreciate the efforts of the C.C.R.B. to advance this investigation.”
Blake’s lawyer, Kevin H. Marino, told The Times that his client “looks forward to participating in the forthcoming trial.”
Journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates is one of 24 people selected for this year’s “genius grants” from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced Tuesday.
Coates, the author of current New York Times bestseller “Between the World and Me,” is a national correspondent for The Atlantic, where he writes about cultural, political and social issues, most prominently racial issues. Recipients receive $625,000 over five years to continue work in their respective fields. Other winners include playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda, puppeteer Basil Twist, poet Ellen Bryan Voigt and writer Ben Lerner.
“I wished I could be cool,” Coates told The New York Times. “But you just can’t be cool.”
“The Case for Reparations,” Coates’ 2014 centerpiece essay on the state of race relations in the United States, prompted a frenzy of online discussion and debate over the legacy of slavery and institutional racism in America. article by Nick Gass via politico.com
(Photo via Getty Images)
Responding to long running complaints about the lack of national data available for how often police resort to deadly force, the FBI on Monday announced plans to track and publish the statistics.
The Washington Postreports that FBI Director James B. Comey described the information as vital in the ongoing debate over policing in the United States. Via the Washington Post:
Continuing “without comprehensive data only stalls meaningful conversation and fuels empty debates, both within law enforcement and in the communities we serve,” [Comey] wrote in a message accompanying the release of the FBI’s crime statistics for 2014.
This is not the first time Comey has criticized the lack of data available regarding how often police officers shoot and kill people. While the federal government does track some fatal police shootings, federal officials have acknowledged that this data is incomplete. Not all agencies in the United States participate in the voluntary reporting system, which had left a considerable gap in the ongoing public discussion.
Earlier this year, Comey joined former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Jr., who called the lack of information about the shootings “unacceptable,” notes the report.
The criticism came after protests against police violence following several high-profile law enforcement-involved deaths of unarmed Blacks, including Eric Garnerin New York City, Tamir Rice in Cleveland, Ohio, and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. article by Lynette Holloway via newsone.com
The newly-minted Sandra Bland Parkway in Prairie View, Texas, will keep its name.
The Prairie View City Council voted Tuesday to keep the name for a road that leads into Prairie View A&M University and was renamed this summer in honor of Bland, who died at the Waller County Jail in July after she arrested during a traffic stop, according to KHOU.
Police said Bland was found hanging in her cell after the July 10 arrest. But suspicions arose after the release of a police dashcam video of Bland’s traffic stop and arrest. An officer had stopped Bland for failing to signal a lane change, but their encounter became confrontational, and the officer arrested her for allegedly assaulting him.
To ease tensions in the community, the City Council voted in August to change the name of University Boulevard to Sandra Bland Parkway. It is the same stretch of road on which she was stopped and arrested. Not everyone agreed with the name change, and city leaders on Tuesday heard from a divided community on the issue. But lawmakers decided to keep the new name in honor of Bland, who had moved back to Texas in July to take a job with her alma mater, Prairie View A&M University.
“The whole world is talking about Sandra Bland,” said one supporter from the council podium, reports the news outlet. “And Sandra Bland is putting Prairie View on the map.”
When the street was renamed in August, ABC 13 reported that hundreds of Prairie View A&M alumni gathered with current students to march from the student-union building to the site where Bland was stopped, and then on to City Hall, where the street was renamed.
“If every time they pull over a student, they have to be reminded of what took place here, then that will help the relationship to be more respectful between the officers and the students,” protester Hannah Bonner told the news station in August.
Read more atKHOU. article by Lynette Holloway via theroot.com
