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California Passes Ban on Confederate Flag

By goodblacknews on September 27, 2014

Starting next year, the Confederate flag will no longer be available for sale or on display at government agencies in California. Governor Jerry Brown has signed a new law that prohibits selling or displaying items that have the flag on it.The law was introduced by Democratic Assemblyman Isadore Hall of Compton after his mom saw a replica Confederate at the Capitol gift shop. As a person of color, Hall says the state should avoid promoting symbols of racism. The gift shop no longer displays or sells the item.
Since it applies only to formal actions of government officials, lawmakers say the new law doesn’t violate free speech. More than this, it is still allowed for the flag to be displayed for educational purposes, like in museums or books.
Taking effect in January, the law also does not apply to people who protest or enter state property.
article via thegrio.com

Derek Jeter’s Yankee Stadium Farewell Scores Record-Setting Streams For MLB.TV

By goodblacknews on September 26, 2014

MLB.TV_Jeter_CelebrationMajor League Baseball’s online streaming service set a viewing record for a single game last night with the New York Yankees captain’s final game in pinstripes — where, in a moment almost too dramatically perfect to believe, he drove in the game-winning run. Fans accessed 641,000 streams, beating by 18% the previous one-game regular-season record set on this year’s opening day, March 31. Viewing peaked just before 10:20 PM ET when Derek Jeter hit his single to right and touched off the Yankees’ on-field celebration.

The streaming figure for Jeter is especially impressive because it doesn’t include any viewers in New York or Baltimore; MLB.TV subscribers only get to watch out-of-market games, so it doesn’t compete with local broadcast or cable telecasts. Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Boston were the top markets for last night’s game.  The only baseball event that topped last night was the Home Run Derby that took place the day before the All-Star Game in July. That attracted about 800,000 streams — but had the advantage of being available in all markets.

Fans clearly were cued in to the end of Jeter’s nearly 20-year career. In the past 24 hours they watched more than 15 million Jeter-related clips on MLB.com. The vast majority of MLB.TV subscribers pay $129.99 for a full season, which they can access via Apple and Android-powered devices, as well as all of the major gaming consoles and smart TVs.
It didn’t hurt, of course, that it was a most improbable ending to Derek Jeter‘s career at Yankee Stadium and, at the same time, utterly predictable: ninth inning, runner on second, game on the line and the player who has been called “Captain Clutch” at the plate.
As he has done so many times over the past two decades, Jeter jumped on a first-pitch fastball and with that instantly recognizable inside-out swing slapped the ball hard on the ground into right field to score the winning run in a dramatic 6-5 New York Yankees victory over the Baltimore Orioles.
Yankee Stadium, which had overflowed with love for Jeter all night, erupted in the kinds of cheers reserved for the greats of Yankees history.
It was an ending so perfect that even Jeter admitted, “I wouldn’t have believed it myself.”
“Everyone dreams of hitting a home run in the World Series or getting a game-winning hit,” Jeter said. “But I was happy with a broken bat and a run scored in the the seventh inning; I was happy with that being the end. But I’ll take this one.”

Ferguson Police Chief Issues Apology to Michael Brown's Family

By goodblacknews on September 26, 2014

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Ferguson, Mo. Police Chief Thomas Jackson (Photo: Scott Olson, Getty Images)

ST. LOUIS — As the parents of Michael Brown appeared Thursday in the nation’s capital to call on the Justice Department to take over the case of their 18-year-old son whom police shot in August, the chief in the St. Louis suburb where he was killed apologized to the Brown family.
Police Chief Thomas Jackson in Ferguson, Mo., issued a video apology Thursday to Brown’s parents and peaceful protesters, according to a St. Louis public-relations firm’s video.
“I’m truly sorry for the loss of your son. I’m also sorry that it took so long to remove Michael from the street,” said Jackson, dressed casually in a red polo shirt. “You have every right to be angry and upset. The time that it took involved the completion of the work of the investigators to preserve physical evidence and determine the facts, but 4½ hours was simply too long.”

Marlene Pinnock, Woman Beaten by California Highway Patrolman, Settles for $1.5 Million

By goodblacknews on September 25, 2014

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Marlene Pinnock, the 51-year-old woman punched repeatedly by California Highway Patrol officer Daniel Andrew on the side of a freeway in an incident caught on video, will receive $1.5 million under a settlement reached Wednesday night, and the officer has agreed to resign.
On July 1, a passing driver captured video of Pinnock being repeatedly pummeled by Andrew, and she filed suit in August.
marlenepinnock_zps31e51969The Associated Press reports that Pinnock and the CHP reached an agreement after a lengthy mediation.
“When this incident occurred, I promised that I would look into it and vowed a swift resolution,” CHP Commissioner John Farrow said in a statement. “Today, we have worked constructively to reach a settlement agreement that is satisfactory to all parties involved.”
The statement said that Officer Andrew, who joined the CHP in 2012 and has been on paid administrative leave since the incident, “has elected to resign.”
Andrew could still be charged criminally in the case. The CHP forwarded the results of its investigation of the incident to Los Angeles County prosecutors last month, saying he could face serious charges but none have been filed yet.
The bulk of the settlement will take the form of a special needs trust for Pinnock, the CHP said. Pinnock’s attorney Caree Harper said the settlement fulfilled the two elements her side was looking for.
“One of the things we wanted to make sure of was that she was provided for in a manner that accommodated her unique situation in life,” Harper said, “and that the officer was not going to be an officer anymore and we secured those things.”
article via forharriet.com

Little League World Series Sensation Mo'ne Davis to Donate Her Jersey to Baseball Hall of Fame

By goodblacknews on September 24, 2014

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — Philadelphia Little League sensation Mo’ne Davis is headed to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

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Mo’ne Davis will donate the jersey she wore in becoming the first girl to win a game at the Little League World Series. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Davis, the first girl to win a game at the Little League Baseball World Series, will donate the jersey she wore during the game to the museum Thursday. The top-notch pitcher be accompanied by teammates from her World Series team and the travel team she’s played on since she was 7.
Mamie “Peanut” Johnson, a former pitcher and one of only three women to play in the Negro Leagues, will also attend Thursday’s event at the Hall of Fame. Afterward, Davis and her teammates will face a team from upstate New York in an exhibition game at Doubleday Field.
Davis pitched Taney Little League into the Little League World Series, becoming the fourth American girl to appear in the tournament. In her first game, she shut out a team from Nashville 4-0 over six innings while featuring a fastball that reached 70 mph.
Copyright 2014 by The Associated Press via espn.go.com

Black University Student Leaders Form New Coalition For Racial Equality

By goodblacknews on September 23, 2014
BLACK IVY COALITION

The explosive wave of reactions to the fatal shooting of unarmed teen Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri has led Black student leaders to come together in support of racial equality with the formation of a multi-university group, the Black Ivy Coalition.

The coalition dedicated to social change is comprised of members from all eight Ivy League institutions, with plans to gain student memberships from colleges across the nation, and was officiated with the release of a statement summarizing their motivations and ambitions (see full text below). Their tagline? “It is now time for our generation to lead the movement against injustices toward people of color in the 21st Century.”
“We decided that our plan of action would be to create a network of black student leaders nationally to organize joint protests, legislative advocacy, and to also reach out to community organizers in communities like Ferguson so we can be more effective allies and campus advocates,” Denzel Cummings, UMOJA Co-Chair and University of Pennsylvania senior told The Huffington Post. “We felt this was important in creating a revival of collegiate advocacy.”
The revival Cummings mentions draws on the coalition’s inspiration from young leadership during the Civil Rights Movement such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and The Greensboro Four, both which received nods in the group’s official statement.

Michael Brown’s Parents in Atlanta To Push For Police Body Cameras

By goodblacknews on September 23, 2014
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The family of slain teen Michael Brown, who senselessly died early last month at the hands of Ferguson, Mo., police officer Darren Wilson, are now in Atlanta to kick off a nationwide effort to arm police with body cameras, according to WSB-TV.
Brown’s parents, Lesley McSpadden (pictured right) and Michael Brown Sr. (pictured), are trying to get legislation, the Michael Brown law, passed that will require officers to sport body cameras while on duty.
According to the couple, if Wilson would have been wearing the body camera, there would be no questions as to the tragic turn of events that led to their son’s murder. Wearing cameras have been associated with dramatic reductions in use of force and complaints against officers.
The couple attended a rally on Sunday that was held at a Baptist church in Atlanta. The pair reportedly felt Atlanta was a great place to start with their body camera quest, because the city’s chief of police is already on board with the body-worn camera project. At the rally, McSpadden and Brown met Jacqueline Johnson, the Mother of slain teen Kendrick, whose unusual death still has investigators baffled.
Kendrick, a 17-year-old Georgia high school student, was found dead with his body placed in a rolled-up wrestling mat at his school gymnasium. At first an investigation and autopsy deemed Johnson’s death accidental, but then his family hired a private pathologist who concluded he passed away from blunt force trauma. Johnson’s family members are reportedly convinced the teen’s death was racially motivated as he had been attacked and victimized previously by a white student.
The stop in the southern city is just the first, as McSpadden and Brown are on a tour of gratitude that began in Atlanta and will end on Thursday in Washington, D.C.
In the nation’s capital, both McSpadden and Brown plan on campaigning for the Michael Brown legislation they are hoping will get placed on the books.  The parents also want the federal government to take over the investigation of their son’s murder.
According to Benjamin Crump, the attorney who is representing both the Brown and Johnson families, Atlanta is a great place to begin their mission on getting laws passed for officers to wear body cameras, “We’re trying to make sure that this doesn’t happen to nobody else’s child, so we’re pushing for the Michael Brown laws to have body cameras on all these police officers,” he said.
article by Ruth Manuel-Logan via newsone.com

Earliest Surviving Footage for a Feature Film with a Black Cast to Be Exhibited by Museum of Modern Art

By goodblacknews on September 23, 2014
Footage from what may be the earliest surviving feature film with a black cast, made in 1913. (Credit: Bert Williams, “Lime Kiln Field Day Project”, via Museum of Modern Art)

For decades, the seven reels from 1913 lay unexamined in the film archives of the Museum of Modern Art. Now, after years of research, a historic find has emerged: what MoMA curators say is the earliest surviving footage for a feature film with a black cast. It is a rare visual depiction of middle-class black characters from an era when lynchings and stereotyped black images were commonplace. What’s more, the material features Bert Williams, the first black superstar on Broadway. Williams appears in blackface in the untitled silent film along with a roster of actors from the sparsely documented community of black performers in Harlem on the cusp of the Harlem Renaissance. Remarkably, the reels also capture behind-the-scenes interactions between these performers and the directors.

MoMA plans an exhibition around the work called “100 Years in Post-Production: Resurrecting a Lost Landmark of Black Film History,” which is to open on Oct. 24 and showcase excerpts and still frames. Sixty minutes of restored footage will be shown on Nov. 8 in the museum’s annual To Save and Project festival dedicated to film preservation.

“There are so many things about it that are amazing,” said Jacqueline Stewart, a film scholar at the University of Chicago. “It’s the first time I’ve seen footage from an unreleased film that really gives us insights into the production process.”

She added: “It’s an interracial production, but not in the way scholars have talked about early film history, in which black filmmakers had to rely on the expertise and money of white filmmakers. Here, we see a negotiation between performers and filmmakers.” Of the three directors of the film, one was black and two were white.

Tracey Lewis 1st Black Woman Promoted to FDNY Lieutenant in 12 Years

By goodblacknews on September 20, 2014

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The New York City Fire Department promoted a black woman to the rank of lieutenant for the first time in 12 years.  Tracey Lewis was promoted Wednesday. She’s the second-ever black female firefighter to be promoted to lieutenant in the department’s history.

Lewis has been a firefighter for 17 years, starting off as a cadet. She was an emergency medical technician and later worked on Engine 222 in Bedford-Stuyvesant Brooklyn.

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There are only nine black women firefighters at the FDNY. There are about 40 women total at the department of nearly 10,400 people. The department said it has promoted three women to lieutenant and one to captain this year.

Ella McNair was the first black woman promoted to rank of lieutenant in 2002.

article via nbcnewyork.com

President Obama Unveils Push via "It's On Us" Public Service Campaign for Young People to Do More Against Campus Assaults

By goodblacknews on September 20, 2014

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WASHINGTON — President Obama has tried to use the power of his office to combat sexual assaults on college campuses. On Friday, he got some help.
In a speech from the East Room, the president announced “It’s on Us,” a nationwide public service campaign aimed at urging young people to do more to prevent campus sexual assaults. Mr. Obama called for a “fundamental shift in our culture” in the way women are treated and in the response to victims of sexual assault.
“From sports leagues to pop culture to politics, our society does not sufficiently value women,” Mr. Obama said. “We still don’t condemn sexual assault as loudly as we should.”
At the event, the administration debuted a 30-second video, which features celebrities including the actors Kerry Washington and Jon Hamm, the musician Questlove, and NBA star Kevin Love.
Officials said the celebrities involved would know how to get through to the millennial generation.
Mr. Love, who plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers, and Olivia Munn, an actress in the HBO series “The Newsroom,” attended the announcement.  Mr. Obama also put a heavy emphasis on engaging men in the conversation.
“It is not just on parents of young women to caution them, it is on the parents of young men to teach them respect for women,” Mr. Obama said. “It is on grown men to set an example and be clear about what it means to be a man.”