African-American News

Some Pennsylvania college students are upset that their school is requiring those who are overweight to take a fitness class in order to graduate.

Female and minority writers are still underrepresented in television, according to the statistics released Wednesday by the Writers Guild of America.

Marijuana, music and video games are potentially Mind Controlling agents. Mind control is also referred to as brainwashing, coercive persuasion, and thought reform. It refers to a broad range of psychological methods and processes thought to subvert an individual's control of his or her own thoughts, behaviors, emotions, or decision-making. Brainwashing and mind control theories originally developed to explain how the enemy indoctrinated their people using mind control techniques. Drugs and chemicals were also experimented with. The Nazis were heavily involved in such methods. Ecstasy was routinely given to the soldiers to keep them overly violent. What is not widely known is the fact that following the war, Nazi scientists infiltrated the American Psychiatric community, many becoming leaders.

The leader of the Nation of Islam began a major lecture series, a oeThe Time and What Must Be Done,a by using scripture, current events, social conditions and, at times humor, in a poignant warning about the need to change to avoid divine chastisement as an old world goes out and a new reality begins to come into existence.

It's a good thing President Obama will be having a jobs summit because the recovery of the African-American community from a recession, as part of the general recovery of the national employment picture, is not assured.

If a prominent white man said all white men in Congress should vote for or against a pending piece of legislation, what do you think the media firestorm would be like? As you ponder, consider that Jesse Jackson on Wednesday told a reception held by the Congressional Black Caucus, " You can't vote against healthcare and call yourself a black man ." ...

Sure, she's not a Super Bowl-winning quarterback nor will she ever be. But since Leigh Anne Tuohy has Baltimore Ravens offensive tackle Michael Oher by her side, Tuohy has won something more profound than any NFL championship could ever bring: the love of a person she gave hope to when there was none.

The FCC will hold a broadband field hearing on "digital inclusion."The hearing, to be held Dec.

*Highland Park, MI. -- A 37-year-old man was arraigned today in 30th District Court after being accused of shooting his teenage son execution-style while the boy pleaded for his life.

Jamar Pinkney Sr. faces one count of first-degree murder, three counts of felonious assault and one count of felony firearm.

Judge Bridgette Officer today in court ordered Pinkney Sr. to be held without bond as he awaits a preliminary exam on Dec. 1.

The courtroom was packed with emotional family members, including one who broke down and was escorted out of the room. Click over to read more and link to full story.

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! Nooooo it’s the Heron! Gil Scott-Heron that is!

The man that had been long thought dead has arisen and is back with a new album that has only been whispered about as legend in smoky after hour joints for years.

He’s come out of the shadows to grace the stage and preach once again.

Gil Scott-Heron, in case you’re not familiar as you should be, set the stage for hip-hop. The poetry and verse that he’s given us, like “The Revolution Won’t Be Televized”, gave Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five their Message.

Heron was one of the first to lay the truth on track and pave the way for the beginning of the rap game.

Reporting from Atlanta - In a ruling that could leave the government open to billions of dollars in claims from Hurricane Katrina victims, a federal judge said late Wednesday that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had displayed "gross negligence" in failing to maintain a navigation channel -- resulting in levee breaches that flooded large swaths of greater New Orleans.

U.S. District Judge Stanwood R. Duval peppered his 156-page decision, issued in New Orleans, with harsh criticism of the Army corps, at one point citing its "insouciance, myopia and shortsightedness" in failing to maintain the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet, known locally as MRGO.

Irene Khan meets members of the Alyawarr language group. Amnesty International has slammed the Australian government's inability to tackle the poverty the country's aborigines are facing. The London-based organization's visiting Secretary-General Irene Khan said on Wednesday that the conditions aboriginals are facing are deeply disturbing and require a new approach. "In the heart of the First World, I saw scenes more reminiscent of the Third World - of countries torn by war, dominated by repressive regimes or racked by corruption," AP quoted Khan, a Bangladesh-born lawyer, as saying. She underlined that the aborigines are suffering from the violation of their basic human rights.

The boys are back and better than ever in a new series! All your favorite characters are back along with appearances from a whole bunch of A-list celebrities, like Rove, Keisha Castle-Hughes, famous New Zealand fashion designers Denise L'Estrange-Corbet and Francis Hooper, Kate Sylvester and Karen Walker, as well as Michael Jones, Nathan Rarere, Teuila Blakely, John Campbell and Carol Hirschfeld, and even Prince Charles! New Zealand's first adult-targeted animated series – often compared to The Simpsons or South Park – Bro’Town follows five teenagers through the “mean streets” of Auckland, New Zealand. Set amongst the country’s growing Pacific Islander community, the series is based on the performance of the local four-man group The Naked Samoans. Of course, the boys get up to all sorts of antics in the second series. They attend Morningside Fashion Week, get lost in the bush, adopt a baby and convince their dad to buy a racehorse. All episodes of Bro'Town, Season 2 are now available in their entirety online for viewers in the U.S.!

Ten months after Democrats took over the Capitol and the first African-American president moved into the White House, black lawmakers are in control of some of the most powerful positions in Congress - and face new challenges to using their long-sought influence.

Would you join the oath keepers?

Such a time is near at hand again. The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the Courage and Conduct of this Army -- and this Marine Corps, This Air Force, This Navy and the National Guard and police units of these sovereign states.

Oath Keepers is a non-partisan association of currently serving military, reserves, National Guard, peace officers, fire-fighters, and veterans who swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic … and meant it. We won’t “just follow orders.”

Below is our declaration of orders we will NOT obey because we will consider them unconstitutional (and thus unlawful) and immoral violations of the natural rights of the people. Such orders would be acts of war against the American people by their own government, and thus acts of treason. We will not make war against our own people. We will not commit treason. We will defend the Republic.

Ten months after Democrats took over the Capitol and the first African-American president moved into the White House, black lawmakers are in control of some of the most powerful positions in Congress - and face new challenges to using their long-sought influence.

(CNN) -- A doctor in suburban Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, was arrested Monday and accused in the early morning death of his 9-year-old son, police said.

Dr. Stephen Wolf, 51, faces first-degree murder charges, said Nichols Hills, Oklahoma, Police Chief Richard Mask.

Third-grader Tommy Wolf was dead when authorities arrived at the family's home about 4 a.m. CT in response to several 911 calls,

"It was obvious there had been some type of altercation" when police arrived, Mask said. Arriving officers disarmed Wolf, he said, but did not elaborate except to say a knife was found at the home. Although the investigation is still under way, authorities believe the altercation may have begun in the boy's room "and proceeded from there" to other rooms, Mask said.

When the black folks rolled into Kennett, Missouri for our rally, the entire town stopped, the police showed up in massive force and there were even snipers on the rooftops. I assume the snipers were there for our protection, but after visiting the Lorraine Hotel (where Dr. King was killed) just the day before, I was honestly a wee bit nervous. There were people standing on the side of the road, taking pictures and some holding up flags with swastikas and confederate flags on them. It was very interesting.

There was a standoff with police and the city attorney's office over whether or not our permit was valid. This led to some yelling back and forth between Heather's father and the officers, but I simply sat quietly during the entire process, since we'd won the battle before it even began. After the yelling stopped, our outstanding legal team simply informed the officers that we had legal grounds to hold our march with the specified permit. The officers (joined by the city attorney) had a three minute meeting and then came back to inform us that we would be allowed to march as we'd specified. THIS IS A REMINDER THAT EDUCATION IS ONE OF THE GREATEST WEAPONS YOU CAN HAVE WHEN DEFENDING YOUR CIVIL RIGHTS - IT IS BEST TO JUST WALK SOFTLY AND MAKE SURE YOU CARRY THE BIGGER INTELLECTUAL STICK.

As social justice minded people, we may bristle at homophobia, sexism, racism or ableism, however; what we often fail to do is honour the rage, if it manifests in a way that makes us uncomfortable. If said rage interacts with something that we have personalized, somehow it is not acceptable and we turn our backs upon the marginalized person.

Black woman are often called angry, when they dare to speak about racism, thus denying that rage is a legitimate response to being demeaned. When you decide that you have the right to taunt someone, you have no idea what kind of marginalization that they have put up with before encountering you. You have no idea the fear they may have built up regarding those considered privileged, after countless encounters and yet we still expect that they will react in a way that soothes our sensibilities. The fight or flight instinct is alive and well in all of us.

EAST GREENBUSH, N.Y. - A Rensselaer County man is behind bars after allegedly tossing a teen into a fire early Friday morning in a fit of rage. It happened at an outdoor party in East Greenbush.

Police say it was 23-year-old Bruce Vroman who grabbed 18-year-old Derek George and threw him into the flames. Friends quickly pulled Derek out, but it wasn't fast enough.

18-year-old Derek George can barely speak through his pain. Second and third degree burns cover his leg, back, and half his face. "It hurts a lot," he says softly.

Derek was at a party around a bonfire when he says Bruce Vroman, a man he did not know, yelled a racial slur at him.

Derek's mother, Dorma George, explains, "Out of the blue they're like, 'you n***** you need to leave!' "