Blacks

Cynthia E. Griffin  |   OW Managing Editor
May 17 2012

‘The moral equivalent of Jim Crow’

Because of the mass incarceration of African Americans, a Black child born today in America is less likely to live and grow up in a home with two parents than a Black child born during slavery.
And according to civil rights attorney Michelle Alexander, that is the shocking reality that has developed particularly since the so-called “war on drugs” began.

Jan 12 2012

The lender will pay $335 million in mortgage-loan discrimination case

Bank of America’s agreement to pay the largest housing fair lending settlement in history to settle allegations that Countrywide Financial Corp., its recently acquired subsidiary, has proved to be another indictment of the mortgage banking industry.

The Department of Justice alleged in its case that Countrywide engaged in widespread discrimination against African American and Hispanic borrowers just before the near-collapse of the U.S. economy.

Bank of America has agreed to pay $335 million. The bank agreed to acquire Countrywide four years ago.

Cynthia E. Griffin  |   OW Managing Editor
Nov 24 2011

Local organizations that teach their clients to fish

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
—Chinese Proverb
 

Nov 18 2011

427 reported hate crimes countywide

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Reported hate crimes in Los Angeles County fell by 28 percent in 2010 to the lowest level in 21 years, according to the county Commission on Human Relations’ annual report released.

The commission defines a hate crime as one where hatred or prejudice toward a victim’s race or ethnicity, religion, disability, gender, or sexual orientation was a substantial factor in the crime.
According to the 2010 Hate Crime Report, there were 427 reported hate crimes countywide last year, a decline of 166 from the previous year.

Sep 23 2011

The search for treatment among African Americans

Say mental illness in the African American community, and most likely you will cause a pause in conversations as large as the white elephant in the room. Mental illness has a disturbing and persistently negative history in the Black community throughout the United States.

Fueled by mistrust of a system that often views Black people as nothing more than guinea pigs ripe for experimentation, accepting the label “mentally ill” comes with a huge stigma.

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.)