NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — The sailor who was slain during a shootout aboard a guided-missile destroyer at a Virginia base saved another sailor’s life by jumping between her and a civilian gunman who was trying to board the ship, Navy officials said Wednesday. The Navy identified the slain sailor as Petty Officer 2nd Class Mark […]
Author Archives: wpadmin
Posted inAfro Briefs
Black Graduates Faring Worse than Whites in Job Search
A new report from the U.S. Department of Education examined the employment status of college graduates one year after they earned their bachelor’s degree, and found that in 2009, 12 percent of all African Americans who earned a bachelor’s degree in the 2007-08 academic year were unemployed. For Whites who had earned a bachelor’s degree […]
Posted inNational News
Finally, Recognition at Last !
WASHINGTON (AP) — They were heroes who didn’t get their due. On Tuesday, 24 mostly ethnic or minority U.S. soldiers who performed bravely under fire in three of the nation’s wars finally received the Medal of Honor that the government concluded should have been awarded a long time ago. The servicemen were identified following a […]
Posted inAfro Briefs
Black NYC Firefighters Announce $98M Settlement of Discrimination Lawsuit
NEW YORK (AP) — A Black firefighters’ group that had sued New York City, alleging discrimination, said Tuesday that minority fire department applicants will be eligible to receive back pay totaling $98 million. The settlement of the 7-year-old case was announced by lawyers from the Center for Constitutional Rights, who represented the group, the Vulcan […]
Posted inAfro Briefs
Jesse Jackson to Take on Tech’s Lack of Diversity
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Rev. Jesse Jackson plans to lead a delegation to the Hewlett Packard annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday to bring attention to Silicon Valley’s poor record of including Blacks and Latinos in hiring, board appointments and startup funding. Jackson’s strategy borrows from the traditional civil rights era playbook of shaming companies […]
Posted inAfro Briefs
3rd Person Dies from South By Southwest Crash
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A third person struck by a suspected drunken driver in Austin last week during the South By Southwest festival died Monday, police and family said. Sandy Thuy Le, 26, died from the injuries she sustained when she was run over outside The Mohawk music club early Thursday, Austin police spokeswoman Veneza […]
Posted inHealth
Jeff Bridges Touts Success of Little Rock Program for Low-Income School Kids
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Actor Jeff Bridges visited with students Monday at a Little Rock elementary school to highlight the success it and the state has had in distributing more breakfast to low-income children. Bridges, an Academy Award-winning actor, is the spokesman for the No Kid Hungry campaign, which is trying to increase participation […]
Posted inAfro Briefs
Church Services Remember Those Lost in East Harlem Blast
NEW YORK (AP) — As workers cleared some of the last of the rubble Sunday from the site of a massive explosion this week in New York’s East Harlem neighborhood, a pair of congregations gathered to mourn — one for its lost church and one for two members who were killed in the blast. At […]
Posted inAfro Briefs
Lawyers’ Committee Decries Senate Vote on the Nomination of Debo P. Adegbile to Serve as Assistant Attorney General
WASHINGTON, D.C.— Following today’s failed Senate cloture vote to proceed to the nomination of Debo P. Adegbile as Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (Lawyers’ Committee) released the statement below: The Lawyers’ Committee and its eight affiliated Local Committees have been and […]
Posted inARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Rap Disrespect of Black Icons Raises Concerns
Malcolm X and rap music have always fit together like a needle in the groove, connected by struggle, strength and defiance. But three recent episodes involving the use or misuse of Malcolm and other black icons have raised the question: Has rap lost touch with black history? Chart-topping rapstress Nicki Minaj provoked widespread outrage with […]
Posted inCommentary
Lawyers’ Committee Commends President Obama’s ‘My Brother’s Keeper’ Initiative
WASHINGTON, D.C., Today’s groundbreaking launch of My Brother’s Keeper Initiative and My Brother’s Keeper Task Force is critical to providing equal access and opportunity for success for boys and young men of color. “The Lawyers’ Committee commends President Obama for following through on his commitment to take bold and necessary actions in addressing decades-long issues […]
Posted inCommentary
Civil Rights Movement and Hip-Hop (Part 1)
African American History Month is an appropriate time to evaluate the relationship between the Civil Rights Movement and the evolution of Hip-Hop culture and activism. I am aware this may be a strange question to ask given the popular perception of a generation gap between the young and the elders. Yet the issues of consciousness, […]