NAACP

Jul 28 2011

Tyrone Willingham talks choices

Youthful exuberance at the 102nd NAACP national convention is not wasted even as the adults convene in downtown Los Angeles this week to solve this nation’s social injustices. And despite the fact that it might appear the convention is a meeting of gray hairs, young people are intimately involved in learning the ropes.

For many of the young people attending, this is their first visit to Los Angeles. But as their priorities are being developed, activities are scheduled throughout the conference to engage and mentor the more than 1,500 young people.

Juliana D. Norwood  |   OW Staff Writer
Jul 21 2011

Groups call for Tony Wafford’s resignation

Tony Wafford, the West Coast coordinator of Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network and president of Wafford Consulting and the Palms Residential Care Center, will have to pay former National Action Network program administrator Sharon Song Byrd damages for sexual harassment and battery. A continuation hearing was held Monday to determine the amount of damages Wafford must pay, but no amount has as yet been specified.

Anthony Asadullah Samad, Ph.D.  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Jun 23 2011

Between the Lines

The California Redistricting Commission, the first civilian redistricting effort in the state’s history, has released the first map after of the 2010 census reapportionment.

The commission’s effort to address federal and state representation, while keeping out major party partisan politics of the usual manipulation and gerrymandering, immediately came under fire from without and within.

Jun 16 2011

Educator, attorney, lyricist and writer

On June 17, 1871, James Weldon Johnson, writer of the lyrics for “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” (then called the Negro National Anthem), was born in Jacksonville, Fla., to James and Helen Johnson.

Coming from a well-educated and cultured family, Johnson was first taught by his schoolteacher mother. She  instilled in him a sense of appreciation for English literature and the European tradition in music.

Jun 9 2011

Panel speakers at Urban Issues Forum

In 1961 the Freedom Riders were young, unafraid and bold enough to believe they could make a difference and combat Jim Crow segregation and bigotry in the Deep South.

The four courageous California college students—Edward Johnson, Robert Farrell, and Helen and Robert Singleton—participated in the rides, seeking to improve the lives of their southern brothers and sisters while clearly endangering their own.

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.