Michelle Obama will add another title to her name on May 29. That’s the day the first lady will become a published author, when her debut book, “American Grown: The Story of the White House Kitchen Garden and Gardens Across America,” hits bookstore shelves nationwide. The book focuses on Mrs. Obama’s work on the White […]
Author Archives: Zenitha Prince
Special to the AFRO
Posted inAfro Briefs
Psychologist’s Rants Trigger Federal Discrimination Complaint
The racially incendiary postings of a New Orleans school psychologist are symptomatic of a prejudicial attitude toward Black and special needs students in Louisiana’s Jefferson Parish, a civil rights organization alleges in a discrimination complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Education. Mark Traina, who had worked with alternative schools and was responsible for referring […]
Posted inHealth, Religion
Catholic Institutions File 12 Lawsuits Challenging Health Care Mandate
Catholic institutions are striking back against a provision in the Affordable Care Act that would force them to pay for or provide contraceptives and perform procedures such as abortions. The Archdiocese of Washington and other local church-affiliated plaintiffs filed a legal action May 21 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against […]
Posted inAfro Briefs
Birther Conspiracy Continues
Questions about President Obama’s birth just will not die. The newest salvo: a literary agency’s promotional booklet that purports Obama was “born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia and Hawaii.” Breitbart.com, a conservative blog site created by former controversial blogger Andrew Breitbart, reported last Friday that it had obtained the booklet produced in 1991 by […]
Posted inAfro Briefs
Minority Births Outpacing Whites
The writing was on the wall but new census figures show the reality: more than half of all U.S. births last year comprised minorities, setting a new demographic milestone. According to U.S. Census Bureau figures released May 17, Hispanics, Blacks, Asians and other minorities accounted for 50.4 percent of births as of July 1, 2011. […]
Posted inAfro Briefs
Black Customer Sues Wal-Mart for Racist Intercom Announcement by Teenager
A New Jersey man is suing Wal-Mart for $1 million, claiming he was traumatized by a racist public announcement made in one of the retailer’s stores. Donnell Battie, a Winslow, N.J. resident, was in the Wal-Mart on the Black Horse Pike in Washington Township, N.J. on March 14, 2010, when a teenager allegedly got on […]
Posted inARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Tia Mowry Departing Hit BET Series “The Game”
The current fifth season of BET’s hit drama “The Game” will be the last for star Tia Mowry, the actress has confirmed. Taking to Twitter on May 15, Mowry told fans she was leaving the popular show and moving on to other endeavors. “Just wanted to let all my fans know that I will not […]
Posted inNational News
Trayvon Target Prompts Online Outrage
An online advocacy group is calling on Virginia authorities to investigate the company responsible for selling gun range targets depicting Trayvon Martin, whose slaying spawned a national controversy. Change.org—an influential Internet-based advocacy group, who had a role in rallying votes for President Obama in 2008—has initiated an online petition that calls on Attorney Gen. Ken […]
Posted inNational News
Will Obama’s Gay Marriage Endorsement Compromise His Black Support Base?
President Obama’s new stance on gay marriage may put him at risk with a major bloc of his supporters, African Americans. The president May 9 reversed his long-held opposition to same-sex marriage, saying the switch was an “evolution” based on his conversations with gay staff members, openly gay service men and women and his wife […]
Posted inAfro Briefs
Civil Rights Enforcer, Nicholas Katzenbach Dies
Nicholas deB. Katzenbach, who cast a long shadow in U.S. civil rights history, died this week at the age of 90. According to his alma mater, Princeton University, the longtime civil servant died from natural causes May 8 at his home in Skillman, N.J. “Mr. Katzenbach was a defining force in the civil rights movement,” […]
Posted inNational News
Stand Your Ground Law Bites Blacks in the Butt
For Blacks, either side of the controversial “stand your ground” laws has proven disproportionately punitive, as recently proven in the cases of Florida’s Trayvon Martin and Marissa Alexander, civil rights activists and legal and other observers say. In the case of Martin, the 17-year-old, hoodie-wearing Black teen was gunned down by community patrolman George Zimmerman, […]
Posted inBaltimore News
Marilyn O. Pickett; Wife, Mother, Sister, Friend
Friends and family of Marilyn Oliver Pickett are remembering her this week as a woman of excellence and great strength. Pickett, a member of Baltimore’s famed Murphy family, died May 3 at the Holy Cross Hospital in Wheaton, Md., after succumbing to a series of protracted illnesses. She was 65. “My fondest memories are of […]