Black Man

Mar 29 2012

Acting erratically

Elgin Olu Stafford, 23, who was last seen leaving his residence in the 20000 block of Campaign Drive in Carson at 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday, March 20, remains missing, according to authorities. Stafford has no known medical or psychiatric issues, but had recently been exhibiting erratic behavior. He is African American, 5 feet 10 inches tall and 145 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. He has a tattoo of a bonsai tree on his right shoulder, and a birthmark near his left thumb. He was wearing a dark jacket, multi-colored pants and a black shirt.

Mar 29 2012

L.A. native, Harvard graduate, died March 22

NEW YORK—Memorial services were still pending for John A. Payton, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc. and tireless advocate for justice, equality and opportunity. Payton died late Thursday at Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore after a brief illness. He was 65.

Payton was the seventh leader of LDF, the nation’s first and preeminent civil rights law firm.

Mar 29 2012

Noted Martin Luther King Jr. historian to speak

 Claybourne Carson, professor of History, Stanford University and director of the school’s Martin Luther King Jr., Research and Education Institute is the 2012 Thurgood Marshall lecturer April 4 from 5:30-9 p.m. at UCLA. The free lecture will be held in Sunset Village-Covel Salons ABCD & Terrace. Selected in 1985 by the late Coretta Scott King to edit and publish the papers of her late husband, Carson has devoted most his professional life to the study of Martin Luther King Jr., and the movements King inspired.

Dec 29 2011

Millions protested to no avail

After 20 years on death row and three previous death warrants, Troy Anthony Davis was executed by the state of Georgia on Sept. 21.

Millions of people across the world protested the death sentence, petitioning a re-trial and for authorities to review the evidence in favor of Davis.

The Savannah native was convicted of the 1989 murder of Mark MacPhail, an off-duty police officer, but advocates and critics of the trial were concerned an innocent man would be put to death.

Roz Stevenson  |   OW Contributor
Dec 8 2011

Stanley G. Robinson shattered glass ceilings as a television and film executive

A celebration of life memorial service will be held for Stanley G. Robertson Dec. 19 at 11 a.m. at the Courtyard by Marriott, 6333 Bristol Park Way, Palisades Garden Room, Culver City.

Across Black America

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

California
Allied Integrated Marketing recently announced it is launching a new African American marketing division, Allied Moxy. The new division will create innovative campaigns that integrate publicity, promotions, digital and grassroots outreach to speak directly to the full diversity of African American consumers. Spearheading Allied Moxy are industry veterans Kim Walters and Gloria Jones. Walters will oversee national strategy from Los Angeles, while Jones will oversee regional/local strategy from Washington, D.C. Walters brings more than a decade of marketing experience working with entertainment companies such as Codeblack Entertainment, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, and A&E Lifetime Television, as well as consumer brands such as KIA and L.A. Gear and awards programs such as NAACP Image Awards and Soul Train Music Awards. Jones has been with Allied for five years running publicity and promotional campaigns for clients, including Universal Pictures, Focus Features and Relativity Media, and previously worked for WBDC-TV in D.C. and MTV Networks’ Nick @ Nite and TV Land.

 

Representing Los Angeles and Center Theatre Group, Tyler Edwards, a senior at the Orange County High School of the Arts, placed third at the national finals of the fifth annual August Wilson Monologue Competition (AWMC) at Broadway’s August Wilson Theatre in New York City. “I am thrilled . . . I’m so glad that I took it for L.A. the first time we got up . . . that’s what we’re talking about!” said an elated Edwards following the competition. Edwards, an aspiring actor, describes the soaring, lyrical monologues found in the plays by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson as “very inspirational,” and said prior to the Los Angeles Regional Finals of the August Wilson competition, “I would love to share a bit of that inspiration with any audience, in hopes that they leave with more appreciation than they walked in with.”

 

Georgia
Bounce TV, the nation’s first-ever over-the-air broadcast television network for African Americans, will launch a second new original comedy series, “Uptown Comic,” on June 18, immediately after the series premiere of the just-announced sitcom “Family Time.” “Uptown Comic” is a half-hour series featuring stage and skit performances by some of the hottest up-and-coming comics in the country. The show is currently in production in front of a live studio audience at the longest-running African American comedy club in the U.S.—Uptown Comedy Corner in Atlanta. Actor and comedian Joe Torry (Russell Simmons’ Def Comedy Jam) hosts. “Family Time,” a half hour situation comedy created by Bentley Kyle Evans ( “The Jamie Foxx Show,” “Martin,” “Love That Girl”) and produced by Evans and partner Trenten Gumbs is set to launch Monday, June 18, at 8 p.m. The series premiere of “Uptown Comic” will follow and be seen weekly at 8:30 p.m. (All Times Eastern.)