Across Black America

Sep 27 2012

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.


California
Internationally renowned musician/composer/producer/entrepreneur, Stix Hooper, one of the top drummer/percussionists, and generally best known to music fans around the globe as the founder of the Crusaders, the seminal instrumental group famed for their amalgamated Jazz sound, returns with his ensemble, Viewpoint, to the stage on Oct. 6 at Zipper Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles. Utilizing all the diverse elements that have contributed to his unique style, Hooper will take to the stage and showcase the broad spectrum of Jazz and the universal language of music.

District of Columbia
More than 170,000 volunteers are expected at more than 2,100 sites across the country on Saturday, Sept. 29, to take part in the largest single-day volunteer effort for public lands in the United States—National Public Lands Day (NPLD). Coordinated by the National Environmental Education Foundation, volunteers in every state will visit parks, urban green spaces, beaches, wildlife preserves and forests to chip in to help these treasured places that belong to all Americans. They will improve and restore the lands the public uses for recreation, education, exercise and connecting with nature. The event last year contributed an estimated $17 million in volunteer services to public lands, which include planting approximately 100,000 trees, shrubs and other native plants, as well as building and maintaining 1,500 miles of trails. NPLD is also supporting first lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move Outside! initiative’s emphasis on involving children and families in outdoor recreation as a way to help reduce and prevent childhood obesity. To get involved, go to publiclandsday.org.

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.

Sep 20 2012

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.


California
Major progress toward the creation of the new Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital occurred recently when the MLK hospital board named Dr. Elaine Batchlor as the institution’s new chief executive officer. Now as the hospital, still under construction, is built, Batchlor will begin to assemble its staff—physicians, personnel and also oversee the equipping of the new facility. Scheduled for completion in 2014, the hospital will have 130 beds, including a 21-bed emergency department and a critical-care unit. It also will provide a range of healthcare and social services. Batchlor, a doctor of internal medicine and rheumatology, previously served as chief medical officer for L.A. Care, the largest public health plan in the United States.


District of Columbia
A new class is opening up its doors to teach Hip Hop as an after-school activity. A Plus Kids, a nonprofit agency, has added the curriculum to a variety of other courses that include radio broadcasting, music, dance, acting, fashion and photography. The multi-faceted music and arts school, which also has a Spanish division, is designed to cultivate young talent for a future in the entertainment industry. The class, taught by renown Hip Hop historian and Rap artist Sean XLG, teaches kids, teens and young adults how to rap. The class begins with an overview of Hip Hop history to educate students on how the art form was created. “In learning the origins, students will develop an appreciation and respect for the craft and the pioneers who developed Hip Hop culture,” stated Sean XLG. The class will focus on the disciplines of songwriting, vocal performance and recording.

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.

Sep 13 2012

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.
 

California
Lisa Williams is a mom and former professor, and has always wanted to inspire the best in young people. In 2003, the World of Entertainment, Publishing and Inspiration (World of EPI) was formed with the mission of expressing joy by providing children with access to dolls that encourage dreams, promote intelligence, challenge perceptions, and open their hearts to all types of beauty. World of EPI just released its newest doll line, the Positively Perfect Diva Collection. “Having already created an infant and toddler line of multicultural dolls, the concept for this new line started with my desire to target girls in a slightly older age group,” said Williams. “I wanted young ladies to know that they are dignified, intelligent, vivacious and attractive—and the Diva Collection materialized.”
 

District of Columbia
In their continuing effort to make Black women’s issues a top priority and remind elected officials and candidates of the voting power of Black women, the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation’s Black Women’s Roundtable co-hosted nonpartisan roundtable discussions in conjunction with the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Tampa, and the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Charlotte. At the Charlotte Convention Center, Black Women’s Roundtable joined with Higher Heights for America to co-host, “Harnessing Black Women’s Political Power: The Chisholm Effect 40 Years in the Making,” a celebration and discussion about the power of the sister vote.

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.

Sep 6 2012

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.


California
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa recently announced the creation of the city of Los Angeles’ first Poet Laureate Program in collaboration with the Los Angeles City Council, the Mayor’s Office of Strategic Partnerships (OSP), and the Department of Cultural Affairs. The Los Angeles Poet Laureate will serve as the official ambassador of Los Angeles’ vibrant poetry and literary culture. The Poet Laureate will use the position as a platform to promote the city’s greatest writers and the transformative qualities of poetry and the written word throughout all parts of the community. Nominations will be accepted until 5 p.m. Oct. 10. The Poet Laureate announcement will be made in October. Los Angeles’ Poet Laureate will serve for a term of two years. The first Poet Laureate honored with this distinction will serve from November 2012 to October 2014 and receive a $10,000 annual grant from the Department of Cultural Affairs.

District of Columbia
The Library of Congress exhibition commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Civil War will feature more than 200 unique items, many never before on public view. “The Civil War in America” will be free and open to the public, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Saturday, from Nov. 12, 2012, to May 23, 2013, in the Southwest Exhibition Gallery of the Thomas Jefferson Building at 10 First Street S.E., Washington, D.C. The exhibition will reveal the complexity of the Civil War through those who experienced it firsthand. Never-before-seen items in the library’s collections offer a human perspective on the war and shed new light on the many ways that the terrible conflict helped shape the American people and the nation. The Library of Congress blog (blogs.loc.gov/loc/) will begin a special series of posts on Wednesday, Sept. 17, to complement “The Civil War in America” exhibition. Every Wednesday until the exhibition opens, the blog will spotlight a never-before-seen item of interest, offering an in-depth look into the documents and other artifacts that tell the story of the nation’s greatest military and political upheaval.

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.

Aug 23 2012

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.


California
The Urban Victory Online Film Festival (UVOFF) opened this week at www.urbanvictory.com. It will be the first ever online festival to focus on films by or about African Americans and people of African descent. The festival will run from Aug. 15 to Sept. 30, and will feature more than 30 short films—dramas, comedies, and documentaries from a diverse group of filmmakers. See the list of films at http://urbanvictory.com/ film_makers. Viewers can watch any or all films for free upon registration at www.urbanvictory.com. If they view, rate, or comment on the films, they will be automatically registered in a drawing to win a pair of theater passes to one of the top regional Black film festivals in the U.S. Three viewer/advocates will win two passes each. In addition, awards will be given to filmmakers for best narrative short, best documentary and best international film.
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Visual icon Bernard Stanley Hoyes wowed an enthusiastic house recently with his “Seven Paintings, a Story in Performance” at the Ford Amphitheatre. Presented by Bernard Hoyes’ Caribbean Fine Arts Publishing and the Jamaica Cultural Alliance, “Seven Paintings” served as a tribute commemorating the 50th anniversary of Jamaica’s Independence. “Seven Paintings” serialized a story of ambition and redemption, featuring art selections from Hoyes’ popular Revival Series, the choreography of Pat Taylor with her Jazzantiqua Dance Ensemble, drumming in the Yoruba/Nyabengi tradition from the Kabasa Drum Ensemble and the “Tambourine Chorus.”
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Oakland Mayor Jean Quan recently presented actress Brély Evans, star of the recently opened film “Sparkle,” with the key to the city for her charitable contributions to the bay area community and the Sharon Randolph Foundation. Evans also hosted a private screening of “Sparkle” at Jack London Cinemas in Jack London Square. The event was part of the Sparkle for a Cause fundraiser that also featured an All-White Party Affair at Geoffrey’s Inner Circle. Proceeds from the screening and white party benefited the Sharon Randolph Foundation.

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.

Across Black America

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.
 

Alabama
Freeman A. Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will address the annual African American Business Council luncheon on June 28. Hrabowski, who is chairman of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Education Excellence for African Americans, has a national reputation for his work studying the performance of minority students in math and science. Hrabowski, named one of the 10 best college presidents in the country by Time magazine, was a child leader in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham in the 1960s.
 

Arkansas
The Liberty Counsel filed a motion and a brief in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas seeking to intervene on behalf of a Concepts of Life crisis pregnancy center to defend against a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights. The groups seek to impose a permanent injunction before the Human Heartbeat Protection Act goes into effect July 18. Liberty Counsel also filed a brief opposing the ACLU’s request for an injunction. The “Heartbeat” bill states that when a woman seeks an abortion at or after the 12th week, doctors must test for a fetal heartbeat before an abortion is performed and inform the pregnant mother that the child in her womb has a heartbeat. If a heartbeat is detected, a woman cannot have an abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, and if a mother’s life is in danger. “As we promised when the legislation was introduced, Liberty Counsel will defend this law without reservation for the people of Arkansas, born and pre-born,” said Matt Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. “No right is more foundational than the right to life. Without life, all other rights are irrelevant,” concluded Staver.