By MICHAEL TARM, KATHLEEN FOODY and ROGER SCHNEIDER, Associated Press HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. (AP) — A gunman on a rooftop opened fire on an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago on Monday, killing at least six people, wounding at least 30 and sending hundreds of marchers, parents with strollers and children on bicycles fleeing in […]
Category: NEWS
Posted inNews
LDF Issues Statement on Video Footage of Police Shooting of Jayland Walker
Today, the Akron, Ohio, police department released body camera footage of the fatal police shooting of Jayland Walker, a 25-year-old Black man who was stopped by law enforcement for an alleged traffic matter earlier in the week. The video footage raises more questions than it answers about the conduct of the eight police officers who shot Mr. Walker approximately 60 times and have since been placed on administrative leave. In response to today’s video release, Legal […]
Posted inStop Killing Us
Video shows Akron police kill Black man in hail of gunfire
By Associated Press AKRON, Ohio (AP) — A Black man was unarmed when Akron police chased him on foot and killed him in a hail of gunfire, but officers believed he had shot at them earlier from a vehicle and feared he was preparing to fire again, authorities said Sunday at a news conference. Akron […]
Posted inMusic
The Moore Report: Rumor has it: a Black man showed Elvis Presley how to sing
By Ralph E. Moore, Jr., Special to the AFRO Otis Blackwell is one of the most famous songwriters, but most folks never heard of him. Blackwell wrote several bestselling songs for Elvis Presley. And admittedly, I never heard of Blackwell until Stevie Wonder received a Grammy Award for Best Male Vocalist in 1976 and acknowledged Otis Blackwell as a magnificent […]
Posted inWashington D.C. News
D. C. Reporters notebook: Why civic engagement? We are the ones we’ve been waiting for
By Deborah Bailey, AFRO D.C. News Editor The issues are huge Access to voting, access to health care, instruction in our public schools, access to healthy food – or access to any food at all in some neighborhoods, public safety, and the skyrocketing cost of buying a home are major concerns for all of us. […]
Posted inWashington D.C. News
Civic engagement in action: Kimberly Jeffries Leonard is the president’s volunteer service lifetime awardee
By Deborah Bailey, AFRO D.C. News Editor Kimberly Jeffries Leonard, Ph.D is a living example of what civic engagement looks like in action. Jeffries Leonard, national president of the Links and The Links Foundation, is a 2022 recipient of the President’s Volunteer Service Lifetime Award. The honor was bestowed on her this spring at the […]
Posted inWashington D.C. News
Community violence interrupters: does the concept work?
By Samuel Williams, Jr., Special to the AFRO Last week, the AFRO introduced the concept of violence interrupters in Washington, D.C.’s peacemakers, serving as frontline workers in D.C. neighborhoods with the highest rates of violence using a public health approach to reduce shootings and homicides. A pilot program started in 2019 by the name “Cure […]
Posted inNational News
The 2022 Gay Pride March, New York City: a reporter’s reflection
By Cara Williams, Special to the AFRO I became an ally today. It started slowly. I walked through flamboyant floats, outrageous outfits, and striking men dressed in drag. I wondered to myself: “Is that what Pride is all about.” I learned today, it is so much more. Though I am not gay, people may assume […]
Posted inWashington D.C. News
Howard Summer Multi-Media Institute participants witness historic Supreme Court activity during two week session
By HR Harris, Special to the AFRO We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness… (preamble to the U.S. Declaration of Independence) Thirty-five high school graduates of Howard […]
Posted inNational News
Social Media protests planned on July 4 in response to Supreme Court abortion decision – Wear blackÂ
By Deborah Bailey, AFRO D.C. Editor While the Federal and District Governments are planning fireworks and parades for downtown Washington D.C., others are preparing to wear black on 4 July in protest of the U.S. Supreme Court’s July 25 decision overturning Roe V. Wade and the right to abortion. A movement on social media has […]
Posted inCommentary
TBE#26 – Essence Festival: A Birthday Party That Has Grown Into A National Cultural Touchstone
By Marc H. Morial, President and CEO, National Urban League “It’s within our DNA as black women, and some of it is within the historical evolution of who we are as black women, where we were trained and groomed to give so much of ourselves. Essence was specifically created to be a platform where we […]