Our Voice

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

District of Columbia

After reading an article in Clubhouse Jr. Magazine, second-grader Justice Flora decided to respond to the publication’s summer challenge to collect shoes for those displaced in Haiti. Flora established a goal of 500 pairs of shoes collected by Aug. 15 and with a little help from his parents Justice began sending personalized letters to friends and family members in early July asking for their donations. Through the Flora family-concentrated effort, Justice’s goal was reached quickly. By the time his cutoff date arrived, his summer labor had translated into 1,120 pairs of donated shoes. The youngster’s contribution was substantial enough to place as the largest donation by a single family to the Shoes 2 Share Ministry, the nonprofit organization that sponsored the challenge.

Indiana

A 10-year-old girl was killed recently while playing in her Indiana home. The girl was accidentally shot after her mother’s boyfriend was acting carelessly with the gun and it went off, hitting the girl in the torso. The young girl was rushed to a hospital where she died. The boyfriend, 27-year-old Steven Bixler was arrested on preliminary charges of reckless homicide, but has since been released on bond.

Minnesota

Tensions have been rising in Minneapolis as Africans Americans and Whites have had numerous disagreements regarding the building of a new dog park. More that 15 percent of the dog owners in the city are African American, and they are all for a new dog park in the area, the controversy is regarding location. It has been suggested that the dog park be built on the already existing Martin Luther King Jr. Park. Most African American looked at even the suggestion of putting a dog park on the same property as a slap in the face to Dr. King, but most Whites were supportive of the idea. Blacks suggested that the $30,000 that would be spent to incorporate a dog park in the property would be better used to build an information trail in the park where at each stop you could read something new about the significant things that Dr. King did and sa