Teenager

Jul 6 2012

Facing up to 26 years in state prison

INGLEWOOD, Calif.—A pastor at an Inglewood church was charged today with nine felony sex-related counts involving an underage girl.

Gordon Barrington Solomon, 50, of Christ’s Community Church, is scheduled to be arraigned today in Inglewood Superior Court on seven counts of committing a lewd act on a child and one count each of continuous sexual abuse and oral copulation of a person under the age of 14.

The criminal complaint alleges that the crimes occurred between June 1, 2010, and last Sunday.

Jul 6 2012

Christ’s Community Church

INGLEWOOD, Calif.—A 50-year-old pastor at a church in Inglewood was arrested on suspicion of engaging in sexual acts with a 14-year-old girl, a sheriff’s sergeant stated.

Gordon Solomon met the victim through his involvement with the Christ’s Community Church, said Los Angeles County sheriff’s Sgt. Dan Scott of the Special Victims Bureau.

Over the past two years, Solomon developed a relationship with the girl and the two exchanged emails and texts of a sexual nature and met at various locations, Scott said.

Nov 22 2011

Police looking for second suspect

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—A 17-year-old boy was fatally shot in southwest Los Angeles today, and police arrested one of two suspects believed involved in the crime.

Paramedics sent to Manchester and Western avenues shortly before 8 a.m. picked up the wounded teen but could not save him, authorities said. He was declared dead a hospital, said Los Angeles police Sgt. Tim O'Gorman of the 77th Street Station.

Jan 20 2011

Great-grandmother and teenager

INGLEWOOD, Calif.—The city has announced a $25,000 reward in hopes of tracking down the gunman who killed a great-grandmother and wounded a teenage boy last month in a suspected gang shooting at a local park.

Gwendolyn Taylor, 61, was on a Saturday afternoon outing with her family when she was shot at Rogers Park. Taylor died at a hospital.

The other victim, a 15-year-old boy, was treated at a hospital for an arm wound.

Across Black America

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

California
San Diego college students and volunteers will carry out their sixth home restoration project on Wednesday, July 10 through Sunday, July 14. as part of the “Healing our Heroes’ Homes” (H3) program created by the nonprofit Embrace. The five-day effort will take place at the home of medically retired Marine Corps Capt. Sarah Bettencourt. Bettencourt served with many different units across the country during the Global War on Terrorism and developed a rare neurological disorder in 2008. With a focus to restore the homes of disabled veteran homeowners, H3 falls in line with Embrace’s mission to mobilize college-student volunteers and community members to serve less fortunate members of civilian and veteran communities. The project for the Bettencourts’ home includes kitchen and bathroom remodeling, building ADA-compliant disability ramps, widening their driveway to ADA standards, widening doorways and landscaping.
 
District of Columbia
The 2013 Smithsonian Folklife Festival will showcase its five-year community research project on African American identity with the program “The Will to Adorn: African American Diversity, Style, and Identity.” This multicity collaboration examines the history and culture of the aesthetics of African Americans. The festival will be held June 26-30 and July 3-7, outdoors on the National Mall between Seventh and 14th streets. “Whether we realize it or not, we are all dress artists. The way we compose our look is a creative expression of our ideas about who we are and who we aspire to be,” said Diana N’Diaye, program curator. “This program explores the diversity of African American traditions of style, but also teaches young people the importance of documenting their own culture and saving that information for themselves and future generations.”