Three major Black Methodist denominations will come together from March 1 to March 3 to discuss issues facing Black males and their roles in Black families and communities. Representatives from the African Methodist Episcopal, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion and the Christian Methodist Episcopal churches held a press conference at the National Press Club in […]
Category: NEWS
Surgeon General Launches Mental Health Campaign for African-American Community at Howard University
It was a crime so heinous, so hideous, that it defied many, if not most people’s imagination. A disturbed Washington, D.C., mother had apparently killed her four African-American daughters, ages 5 to 17, and left their bodies rotting in their home for seven months while she went about her daily routine. The bodies were discovered […]
A 100th Anniversary That Begs Compassion and Giving
It was one hundred years ago this year that Chicago physician Dr. James B. Herrick first described the strangely shaped red blood cells on the blood film of a medical student from Grenada. He gave a name to a condition that today still haunts tens of thousands of patients across the nation – sickle cell […]
53-Year-Old Man Crashes Aircraft into Texas IRS Building
A Texas man flew his small plane into an Austin federal office building on February 18 in an apparent suicide attack on offices of the Internal Revenue Service located inside. Two people were killed and two hospitalized after Joseph Stack, 53, flew his Piper Cherokee PA-28 into the seven-story office building. The office contains an […]
Secrets Exposed, Myths Vanquished at Minority Business Summit Luncheon
There were no tennis shoes, jeans or sweatshirts present at the Minority Business Summit’s “Men of Influence” luncheon on February 20, just neatly creased slacks, fashionable ties and double-breasted suits. But the only thing sharper than the dress code may have been the entertaining and sharp dialogue among the event’s guests. Inside the Billie Holiday […]
Rapping Soldier to Face Court Martial in Iraq
A soldier facing a court-martial for allegedly making threats in a rap video he sent to the Pentagon can be sent overseas to go on trial in Iraq, a federal judge ruled on February 17. Lawyers for U.S. Army Spc. Marc Hall requested that the soldier’s trial take place in the United States and not […]
No Federal Charges Filed in Bell Shooting
Five New York City Police officers will not face civil rights charges in the 2006 shooting death of Sean Bell, the U.S. Justice Department announced February 16. Bell, 23, was shot leaving his bachelor party at a strip club in the early morning hours of November 25, 2006, his wedding day. A review of the […]
California Admissions Ruling Challenged
A coalition of civil rights groups is bringing a new challenge to a California law that prohibits the state from considering race in state university admissions. The lawsuit was filed in Oakland on Feb. 16 by the Michigan based Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration, and Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality By Any Means […]
New York Times Questions Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Fundraising
While the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation raised more than $55 million between 2004 and 2008, only $1 million went to the caucus’s political action committee, according to an article published February 13 in The New York Times. The remainder of the funds was used for the caucus’s unregulated non-profit dealings, according to the Times, which […]
NAACP Elects Md. Woman as New Chair
NEW YORK – The NAACP Board of Directors unanimously elected Roslyn Brock as its new chairman during its annual meeting in New York on February 20. Brock, 44, of Elkridge, Md., became the fourth woman and the youngest person to assume the helm of the 100-year-old civil rights organization. “It is a very humbling moment […]
Barry Wants to Talk About AllegationsBut Not Yet
Beleaguered Washington, D.C. Councilman Marion Barry has one week to respond to the allegations outlined in the Bennett Report, released on February 16, which accused him of using taxpayer funds for personal purposes. In another of a string of charges made against him since he returned to the council five years ago as the Ward […]
Jackson Expresses Outrage Over Ore. Police Shooting
The Rev. Jesse Jackson denounced the shooting of Aaron Campbell in Portland, Ore., calling the incident an outright “execution” and expressing anger that another unarmed Black man has been gunned down by police. Campbell, 25, was killed January 29 by a White police officer after stepping out of an apartment with his hands over his […]

