Christmas

Julianne Malveaux  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Dec 6 2012

Counting the Cost

OK, I’ll admit it. I am truly the Grinch who wanted to steal Christmas. It takes me until about Dec. 23 to get in the spirit, and I only feel obligated to find gifts for children and close family. I like to give, which is why I share with a few charities that are close to me. And I like to connect, which is why I have a greeting card ritual.

But all this crazy frenzy after Thanksgiving and before Christmas sale stuff truly repels me. And while I don’t want to put a damper on anybody’s sprit, I want to say that this is the season to be careful.

Nov 19 2012

Infringed on free speech rights

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—A federal judge in Los Angeles today denied a bid by a group of Christian churches to force Santa Monica to allow Christmas Nativity scenes in a city park.

The Nativity Scenes Committee sued the city of Santa Monica in federal court last month, seeking to restore the nearly 60-year-old religious display to Palisades Park.

Anthony Asadullah Samad, Ph.D.  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Dec 22 2011

Between the Lines

The madness we now call “holidays” takes on a different meaning in times like these, when you have people without homes and homes without people.

Instead of society focusing on what it should be focused on—rectifying greed run amuck, or putting a stop to the gamesmanship of a dysfunctional Congress—we instead preoccupy ourselves with another holiday that becomes more absurd than the last.

Dec 15 2011

Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve

To promote a safe holiday season, Metro will offer a special holiday free fare program for all Metro Bus and Metro Rail lines operating on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.

The free fare program will be in effect between 9 p.m. and 2 a.m. on the nights and early morning hours of Dec. 24-25 and Dec. 31-Jan. 1.

Patrons boarding a Metro Bus, including the Metro Orange Line, or the Metro Red, Purple, Blue, Green or Gold rail lines during the hours designated will receive a free ride to their destination.

Aug 31 2011

Darnell Deshon Houston, Lamar McKnight, Ezekiel Simon

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—A large number of tips from the public led to the arrests of three people accused of gunning down a woman in South Los Angeles on Christmas night in front of her 3-year-old daughter, detectives said today.

Darnell Deshon Houston, 34, Lamar McKnight, 24, and Ezekiel Simon, 16, were all charged Tuesday with murder and attempted murder in connection with the Dec. 25 shooting that killed 25-year-old Kashmier Shari James, according to the District Attorney’s Office. Simon is a juvenile, but was charged as an adult.

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.