Mario Van Peebles

Cynthia E. Griffin-  |   OW Managing Editor
Feb 28 2013

Mario Van Peebles’ ‘Fair Game?’ explores the challenges, solutions

Mario Van Peebles is working to connect the dots. The second-generation filmmaker this weekend participated in a screening in conjunction with Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education (SCOPE), of one of his newest films—“Fair Game?”—and says it is just the latest vehicle he has created to get out a message he feels is critical for young people to hear, particularly African American males.

“Fair Game?” looks at the plight of Black males in America, as told by . . . Black men in America.

Cynthia E. Griffin-  |   OW Managing Editor
Apr 5 2012

Film looks at life through the eyes of teens

As you begin to watch Mario Van Peebles’ new movie, “We the Party,” which opens in limited release Friday, your first thought is that it is the quintessential schoolboy movie with all the requisite pranks—mirrors on the shoes to look under girl’s dresses, finding a hot date for the prom, a preoccupation with getting sex, and learning the intricacies of avoiding the school bully without being horribly embarrassed.

Cynthia E. Griffin-  |   OW Managing Editor
Sep 29 2011

Found dead in an El Segundo hotel

Funeral services for R & B singer Mary Vesta Williams, best known for her singles “Congratulations” and “Don’t Blow a Good Thing,” will be held Tuesday at 11 a.m. at West Angeles Church of God in Christ. Williams was found dead on Sept. 22 in an El Segundo hotel. She was 53. 

El Segundo police said no criminal activity was suspected, but there were rumors of a drug overdose. The L.A. County Coroner’s office is awaiting toxicology results, which can take up to six weeks to obtain.

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.