I don't do a lot of crime stories. The MSM is full of them. But this story has generated lots of debate in Black chat rooms. Police investigating the execution-style killing of a journalist raided a bakery run by a Black Muslim splinter group Friday and seized weapons they said linked the group to the crime.
Police investigating the execution-style killing of a journalist raided a bakery run by a Black Muslim splinter group Friday and seized weapons they said linked the group to the crime.
Just before dawn, scores of officers in riot gear descended from heavily armed vehicles and stormed Your Black Muslim Bakery and three nearby residences. Seven people were arrested and numerous weapons were seized in the military-style operation.
The brazen slaying Thursday of Oakland Post Editor Chauncey Bailey has shocked Bay Area residents as well as journalists nationwide.
At a news conference Friday, police sketched a few details of the operation that they say captured Bailey's killers.
"We have scientific evidence that links the firearms to the murder of Chauncey Bailey" as well as two other recent killings, Deputy Chief Howard Jordan said the day after Bailey was shot in broad daylight while walking to work.
The masked gunman fled in a van, said a police spokesman, who described the attack as the work of a contract killer.
A lawyer for the Post, a black-owned weekly, said Friday that Bailey was working on a piece examining financial allegations against the bakery, which has filed for bankruptcy. Bailey was also working on a separate story on youth violence, but the attorney said he did not believe that the group was a focus of that story.
Now this is a tragedy. But it has also started a lot of self examination by many Black leaders.
For Some in Oakland, Editor's Death Shows Subversion of Black Activism
It was not just the brutality that stunned the city. To some, the suspect's ties to a black Muslim bakery held a darker significance, a symbol that Oakland's radical black movement -- a history that spawned such national figures as Huey Newton and Angela Davis -- had over the years gone awry, and that the violence that infused parts of that tradition had been tolerated too long.
"This community has a radical tradition, including the Black Panthers, the West Coast Black Arts Movement, the establishment of black studies," said Marvin X, a militant-turned-writer, standing in the doorway of a downtown photocopy shop. "Look at where we are now. We've gotten off course from our tradition. Radicalism has been aborted to criminality."
Bailey, 57, editor of the Oakland Post, a black weekly newspaper, was shot Aug. 2 on his way to work. His alleged killer, 19, was a foot soldier in a local institution, Your Black Muslim Bakery, an ambitious social welfare project that court records show was deteriorating into a criminal enterprise. Police allege that he was angry that Bailey was preparing to write critically about the bakery.
Bailey's death has shaken Oakland's black elite. Bailey was a member of their fraternity and, like them, had promoted Oakland's transition from 1970s crucible of black power to African American establishment showcase.
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CULTURE
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Chris Tucker's African awakening. In the 6 years between 'Rush Hour' films, the comic actor devoted his time to the continent's diverse troubles
Tucker hasn't wasted the years since "Rush Hour 2" on Cristal and posse prowling. But he has, in his words, "been seeing a whole lot of things I never thought I'd see, hanging with a lot of people I didn't even think I'd know."
"For the first time in my life I didn't have to be running after money, you know. And I met some people, like Colin Powell, who helped me understand what I could do with the celebrity I had earned, to do some good. And that led to the foundation."
The Chris Tucker Foundation -- http://www.christuckerfoundation.org -- began as a program to improve the lives of South African youth, but like Tucker himself, it has taken on a global reach.
"The more places you go, the more you see, the more you know needs to be done," he says. "I've spent a lot of the last few years in Africa, and it's a big place, man. And it's like the United States, or Europe, everywhere you go is different, with different issues. It's not just Darfur and the killing, or South Africa with the HIV and AIDS. Every place is unique."
One of the things Tucker did on what he calls his "unintentionally extended" hiatus from filmmaking was participate in PBS's "African-American Lives" project, which uses participants' DNA to trace their African heritage.
For Tucker, it was a revelation.
"We always thought the family had come from Ghana, but it turned out my father's people were from Angola, and my mother's from Cameroon. So I got to go there. We visited this tribal region in the bush in Angola where my father's ancestors might have lived. It's fascinating stuff."
Tucker is quick to point out that he was involved in African issues "before it was any big cause among celebrities," but says he's pleased for any attention the continent and its problems receive as a result.
He does admit to also being pleased that at one press event with Bono in Ethiopia, more little kids tagged behind and chanted his name than were following the U2 superstar.
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This is just a fact in the news, I have no opinion on it. Minorities Now Form Majority in One-Third of Most-Populous Counties
Nonwhites make up a majority in almost one-third of the most-populous counties in the country and in nearly one in 10 of all 3,100 counties, according to an analysis.
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POLITICS
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Two editorials on immigration and Black America. The first is on how immigrations effects the composition of Black America. Shades of gray in being black. Immigration is redefining the African-American identity in the U.S. A few weeks ago, I saw part of the Pan Africanist dream come true. The second is a balanced look at the politics, examining it from several angles. "Memo to African-Americans: You can't win a war without allies"
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I'm with you. Sharpton's message to Hispanics: 'Tribalism is not serving the community. We need to sit down and see how we can share power'
Reve-rend Sharp-ton's com-ing to town! Wondering whether big Al would be hitting the streets with blacks who feel immigrants are pouring into their neighborhoods depriving them of jobs and scarce city resources, or banding together with Hispanics who've been treated like pinatas by Chicago cops, I blew in a call.
The Rev, readying himself for Wednesday's big news conference, told me he's coming as an ambassador for unity.
"We cannot afford to be each other's adversary; we must be each other's allies," said Sharpton, emphasizing his 2001, three-month jail stint protesting the U.S. Navy's bombing in Vieques, Puerto Rico. "It's important we understand Latinos don't take blacks' jobs -- they were doubly unemployed before the first person crossed the border."
Wow.
"Tribalism is not serving the community. We need to sit down and see how we can share power in Chicago. You can't have a one-sided coalition -- Harold Washington, Carol Moseley Braun and Barack Obama wouldn't have been elected without Latinos."
Big breath: "I'm here for anyone who is disadvantaged -- poor whites, Latino, Asian; we have to see how we can all be part of the solution."
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MONEY
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As a Black business owner myself. I understand the next story very well, I glad that at least in Tampa this organization exist to help rectify the situation.
When all the banks say no. Many African-American business owners are underserved by banks. That's where the Black Business Investment Corp. steps in.
It was the winter of 1989, and the timing was perfect. David Northern Jr. had worked at Ray Williams Funeral Home in Tampa since he came home after two tours of duty in Vietnam. The funeral home's owner wanted to retire and preferred that Northern and his friend and co-worker Jeffrey Rhodes take over the business.
All they had to do was come up with about $100,000.
Then things weren't so perfect.
"We talked to three or four banks and got turned down by all of them," Northern recalled. "It's hard for blacks to get a business loan at a bank.
"And when you keep getting turned down, it's disheartening. You hear the talk about pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, but good gosh."
They found one institution, however, that would help them get the money.
Rhodes and Northern turned to the Tampa Bay Black Business Investment Corp., a Tampa nonprofit that offers loans and financial counseling to African-American-owned businesses in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties.
The BBIC, which turns 20 this year, has written commercial loans totaling nearly $7-million so far. But the struggle continues: The nonprofit is facing budget cuts this year and a battle to maintain its share of funds from the state. And one of its core goals - persuading banks to put branches in low-income neighborhoods - remains a challenge.
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This is an important story to keep an eye on. Radio One, The nations largest owner of Black Radio Stations, financial chief steps down
His departure comes as Radio One has been under intense scrutiny by Wall Street analysts and Washington regulators for its poor financial performance and problems with its stock options program. The company also had to restate seven years of its financial results.
In the past two years, Radio One's stock has lost about two-thirds of its value, and last week the company reported another quarter of declining returns. Liggins this year announced plans to sell 10 stations in underperforming markets to reduce the company's significant debt and focus on boosting the profitability of stations in strategically important markets, such as Los Angeles.
That in itself wouldn't be remarkable but there is also a minny scandal brewing which I would like to see more reporting done on.
Is Radio One changing its programming to gain money from the RNC? Anyone have anything to add to this?
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As with any court case, the facts will come out during the trial. 3 Black borrowers from Boston accused Countrywide Home Loans Inc. of racial discrimination saying the nation’s largest home lender charged them more for subprime mortgages than white borrowers in similar financial situations.
The lawsuit, filed in US Court in Boston, contended Countrywide violated federal housing discrimination laws because the black homeowners in Boston paid higher fees to the network of agents that generate Countrywide’s new customers. The company, the suit said, uses an ‘‘unchecked, subjective surcharge’’ that adds to the total costs of loans for its customers, and black borrowers, it contended, paid more than whites.
The suit seeks class-action status and more than $100 million to reimburse black customers of Countrywide and its subprime subsidiary, Full Spectrum Lending Inc., including about 10,000 in Massachusetts.
Countrywide denied the allegations.
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I thought twice about recording this story. It is very informative, but it was the source that put me off. Judge for yourself. (I would place this under the broken clock theory) Razing West Harlem. Why Columbia's proposed expansion has met resistance.
The university defends its $7 billion plan robustly. "Columbia projects that the expansion in Manhattanville will create 6,000 new University jobs, as well as an average of 1,200 construction jobs per year for nearly a quarter century," a recent press release stated. "The University has a strong record of employing community residents with a wide range of skills and experience in the workforce, as well as the engagement of minority-, women- and locally owned contractors--many of which are already playing key roles on Columbia's architecture and construction management teams."
What about local opinion in West Harlem? "Columbia foresees a Manhattanville graced with grand educational institutions and infused with money and energy after many lackluster years," the New York Times reported last month. "Some people, among them merchants who expect a boom in business, are eager for the change. But others in Manhattanville are unsure, and still others are strongly opposed, saying that the university is charging into Manhattanville just as the neighborhood begins to perk up, that they will be priced out of the revamped area and that other initiatives, like building affordable housing, are much more compelling."
The neighborhood has historically been zoned for manufacturing, which has typically stymied hopes for new commercial and residential development. Columbia needs to change this. It cleared the first hurdle in June, when the New York City Department of City Planning officially certified its rezoning application. According to Bollinger, the public review process "will probably last until the end of this calendar year."
Conditions in Manhattanville have improved demonstrably since the crack cocaine epidemic. "With crime much lower than it has been, outsiders now feel safe enough to move in," according to the New York Times. "I've been here since 1980," Sprayregen says. "The neighborhood has never been better." But will the holdout properties still be condemned?
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HEALTH
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There is a well documented reluctance for People of Color to seek help from therapist.
New therapist in town targets blacks, Latinos.
"I spiraled into a deep depression and I did like most people do," Yancey recalled. "I reached out to my best friend who I called and called. She realized she couldn't help me, so she had a professional call me, and I went into counseling for six months."
That experience inspired Yancey to reach out to others suffering from depression and led her to become a licensed clinical counselor.
After 10 years of counseling individuals and couples in private practice and school settings, in April she opened Yancey's Counseling Center at 9811 Mallard Drive, just off of Route 197 in South Laurel.
Yancey is making a special effort to reach out to the black and Latino communities in Laurel, prompted by the resistance to therapy she noticed among her family members and among parents in the Latino-dominated Prince George's County school where she was a counselor.
"African Americans and Latinos are more supportive of seeking counseling for alcohol and substance abuse, but not as much in dealing with depression because it's often looked down on," Yancey said.
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INTERNATIONAL
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I'm going to right a whole diary on this subject some day. As many of you know I am of Jamaican descent. I grew up on Dancehall Reggae, it's full of conscience lyrics, dance music, sex, violence, funny songs, and yes homophobia.
Curbing Homophobia in Reggae
Reggae was once associated with politically conscious lyrics, Rastafarians and the palm fringed shores of its native Jamaica. But forget Bob Marley and Peter Tosh singing about peace and love; these days some of reggae's biggest acts are just as likely to be advocating the killing of homosexuals in their music.
And that has advocates like Britain's leading gay rights veteran Peter Tatchell up in arms. A few years ago, along with Jamaican groups, Tatchell launched the Stop Murder Music campaign aimed at bringing the genre to heel. Tatchell has recently succeeded in convincing some of the most notoriously homophobic figures in reggae and dancehall music to stop singing violently anti-gay lyrics like Jamaica-based artist Capleton's hit "More Prophet": "Shoulda know seh Capleton bun battyman [burn gays]/ Dem same fire apply to di lesbian/ All boogaman [gays] and sodomites fi get killed."
Buju Banton — whose smash hit from the 1990s "Boom Bye Bye" also advocates the shooting and burning of gay men — last week signed the "reggae compassionate act" after a three-year campaign by Stop Murder Music. Banton, a Grammy-nominated artist who broke Bob Marley's record of most number one singles in a year on the Jamaican charts, pledged to "respect" the rights of gays to live without fear of violence.
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Haiti: Security is improving in what was a Caribbean failed state. Poverty and
The United Nations has been charged with keeping the peace in Haiti since the ousting of Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February 2004. But, until recently, there was very little peace to be kept, particularly in the capital. Gang violence and kidnapping ravaged Port-au-Prince; Cite Soleil, in the hands of local gangs, was its focal point.
Last December, under a new Brazilian general, the UN force moved into Cite Soleil, setting up bases and shooting it out with the gangs. As the UN took charge, local residents turned against the criminals, nearly all of whose leaders have now been killed or captured. In February, UN troops would enter Cite Soleil only in armoured vehicles. Now they patrol on foot.
Some streets in Cite Soleil have been paved with stones and cement; some rubbish is being picked up. Street markets are back, though there is little to sell, and few buyers--78% of Haitians live on less than $2 a day, according to the World Bank. Ask almost any resident of Cite Soleil whether life has changed in the past six months and he will tell you, yes--before he used to be poor and shot at, and now he is just poor.
Nevertheless, a start has been made. Foreign leaders are dropping in to see it. Last month Canada's prime minister, Stephen Harper, whose government has given much aid to Haiti, visited Cite Soleil--something that would have been unthinkable only months ago.
This week the UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, was in Port-au-Prince. Though there are some complaints of misconduct by troops, most Haitians want the UN to stay. Canada apart, most of the money for the mission comes from the United States and France, and most of the troops from Latin America. Mr Ban said he will recommend that the mission's mandate be extended for at least another year when it expires in October.
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I hope this film is shown in the USA at some point.
TheStar.com - World - Movie on Rwanda reopens old wounds
For Rwandan President Paul Kagame, it was a step back in time as he watched a Canadian feature film about one of the saddest periods in his country's history – the 100 days in 1994 that saw the slaughter of between 800,000 and one million people.
Kagame saw the film, based on Gen. Roméo Dallaire's book Shake Hands with the Devil, at a special preview for about 75 people in the Rwandan capital last night. It took place at the plush Serena Hotel in downtown Kigali. On hand were government officials, including cabinet ministers, as well as the movie's producer Laszlo Barna and several Rwandan actors and crew.
"You could hear a pin drop," Barna said about the reaction of Rwandans as they watched the film.
The two-hour documentary, which depicts Dallaire's fight to get the world to pay attention to the genocide that took place in Rwanda that fateful spring, will have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 9.
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ODDS and Ends
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I don't know how to describe this (other then to say it's sorta snarky) you just have to read itJohn Ridley: This Time Martin Luther King Really is a Commie (Sorta)
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OBITUARIES
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In light of rescent Supreme Court decisions, this loss looms larger. Civil Rights Attorney Oliver Hill Dies
Oliver W. Hill, a civil rights lawyer who was at the front of the legal effort that desegregated public schools, has died at age 100, a family friend said.
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Diaries of Note on Daily Kos
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Something a little different.
Cultural Dkos: Jazz & Brazilian Music by diarist gnat
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Unfortunately nearly every Black man has had that encounter at night where a White lady clutches her purse a little tighter as you pass, but I must admit this is a new one....
Who's afraid of a large, black man? by diarist TimCbrowne
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The standard disclaimer on all Obama stories....
Barack Obama's Southern Strategy by diarist Nuisance ndustry
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The Death of "N#gger" - Don Imus' Legacy by diarist TheManWithNoPoint
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In my opening I said "I don't do a lot of crime stories". This diary sums up part of the reason I don't perfectly. Race and the Media by diarist Sal Gambini