Ohio Landlord Puts Up "WHITE ONLY" Sign

Cincinnati landlord Jamie Hein's, violated Ohio's anti-discrimination laws after she hung a "white only" sign outside her swimming pool. 

The swim pool owner lost her appeal with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission this past Thursday, as she proclaimed that the sign was simply a "decorative antique."

Former tenant Michael Gunn brought his bi-racial daughter to a Memorial Day weekend pool party, which was also attended by twenty other guests. Gunn commented that Hein later questioned him about the "chemicals" used in his daughter's hair, while she proceeded to blame his daughter (the only non-Caucasian at the party) for making the pool water "cloudy."

Later on in the week the tenant took his daughter back to the pool, only to see a sign that read "white only" hanging on the gate. 

As part of the commissions investigation, Gunn produced copies of texts that Hein had sent to his fiancé shortly after the family moved out, blaming "grease" in his daughters hair for the cloudy condition of the pool.

After an investigation into the allegations and "informal efforts to resolve the case", the Civil Rights Commission ruled in September that Hein had violated the law. Although Hein requested an appeal after the initial findings neither she nor her attorney, showed up to the hearing on Thursday.

Jaime Heins' sign of "White Only", clearly discriminated against more than just the Black race but all races that clearly do not have white skin -- which is a lot of people.

Does this news of racism surprise you? Do you think that historical events have anything to do with the way Republicans treat President Obama? Do you think it's coincidence that the majority of Republican candidates running for president -- have had a flip flop with the race card?

For Example: 

1. Ron Paul and his defense of racist newsletters.

2. Michelle Bachman commented that,  "Black kids had it better during slavery times?"

3. Newt Gingrich wants, "poor children to become janitors."

4. Rick Perrys' secluded West Texas hunting camp coincidently titled, "Nigger head camp". 

5. Rick Santorum slipped up during a town hall meeting saying he doesn't want to make, “Black people’s lives better by giving them someone else's money."

6. Hermain Cain actually is black, so not sure if he plans to do an "uncle Tom" move? 

As of lately, Jon Huntsman and Mitt Romney have yet to slip up with the race card; do you thnk they will?

When there's a constant outcry of inequality, racism, prejudice, discrimination and racial profiling -- these cries are for real. It isn't a joke and it isn't make believe. There are real people in this world that go through this kind of degradation on a daily basis; much worse during slavery but it still lurks beneath the surfaces.

If we are ever going to attain closure to this matter, America has to have a firm discussion on race relations. We need to call out the elephant in-the-room no matter how uncomfortable the climate.

2012 LA

Elementary School Slavery Lesson Gone Wrong

When sending your child off to school don't you assume they'll be educated and protected until you return to pick them up?

In Charlotte, North Carolina, when parents returned to pick their children up from school one day, many were distraught to learn what kind of activities had taken place. 

During a lesson on a Civil War tour guide, Ian Campbell who's black himself -- instructed black students to pretend too be slaves in front of their white classmates. 

Campbell, a historian of 15 years stated, "I am very enthusiastic about getting kids to think about how people did things in 1860, 1861 -- even before that period," he said.

One parent commented that Campbell, took his enthusiasm to far when picking three black children out of a group of mostly white students, to play the role of cotton picking slaves during his hands-on history lesson. 

Allegedly, the students were made to wear bags around their necks that were used to gather "pretend" cotton. Campbell simply commented, "I was trying to be historically correct not politically correct."

President Kojo Nantambu, of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg National Association for the Advancement of Colored People disagreed with the activities while stating, 


"There is a lingering pain, a lingering bitterness, a lingering insecurity and a lingering sense of inhumanity since slavery. Because that's still there, you want to be more sensitive than politically correct or historically correct."

Campbell claims that his lessons have been conducted this way in the past, and never caused such an uproar that he's receiving to date. Moreover, the tour guide made it his business to make his opponents aware, that his future tour guides will be conducted by asking volunteers instead of hand picking the participants; this way all children can be involved. 
  
2009 LA

Black History Moment Blast From The Past

On July 15, 1822, the City of Brotherly Love decided to live up to its slogan, by officially opening its school doors to black children.

The Board of Education opened a public elementary school for black boys, in what was then the old Presbyterian Meeting house. And four years later in 1826, the Board established a public elementary school for black girls.

WooHoo! Can I get a high five for justice?!

2009 LA

New Black Film: American Violet

Police drug raids in low-income communities across the country, often sweep up innocent people in the process. Once in the system it can become nearly impossible for these people to prove their innocence. They lose their freedom, their families are broken, and the true story is rarely told.

'American Violet' is a new award-winning film that can help shine a light on this problem, as the film tells an amazing story about a young single mother that was swept up in an unjust and out-of-control drug raid, which targeted a black community in a small town in Texas. 

Based on true events the film examines how our country's drug laws and enforcement practices, purposely target African Americans in which the justice system uses threats and intimidation to steer the vulnerable towards guilty pleas regardless of their innocence and evidence.

The film is inspired by the real life story of Regina Kelly, an African-American single mother of four girls, who was arrested in the year 2000 during a military-style drug raid. 

The raid resulted in the arrest of nearly 15 percent of the towns young black male population regarding felony cocaine distribution. Ms. Kelly was innocent however her name along with the names of many others that were arrested (nearly all African American), were given to police by a single highly unreliable informant with personal reasons to antagonize her.

Despite Kelly's innocence, she was coerced into pleading guilty by her family and her public defender as a way to receive a minimal sentence, and still be with her young children. 

A felony conviction however would have resulted in the loss of her right to vote, and the public assistance programs in which her family depended upon, not to mention the tainting of her character and the ability to not obtain employment. Ms Kelly stood strong and maintained her plea of not guilty.

Support this movie if you wish to see Ms. Kelly's outcome. 

2009 LA

MLK Street Signs Limited to Urban Areas Only?

Something has come to my attention during my travels around the United States of America.

Are you familiar with the story of Dr. Martin Martin Luther King Jr., an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights movement?

 Well as a result of his efforts, his legacy to secure civil rights for black people in the United States lives on, and he is frequently referenced as a human rights icon to this day. 

He led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped to found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957, serving as its first president. In 1963 King would eventually make his infamous "I Have A Dream" speech, at a March on Washington event. 

In 1964, MLK became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end racial segregation and racial discrimination, through civil disobedience and other non-violent means. 

By the time of his death in 1968, he had refocused his efforts on ending poverty and opposing the Vietnam War. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2004. 

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day was established as a U.S. national holiday in 1986.

When national holidays roll around businesses usually close and people have a day off, in remembrance special people and moments that were captured in history. 

It's interesting that when Martin Luther King's national holiday rolls around, businesses don't close in remembrance and people are still made to go to work as if Kings achievements weren't worthy enough for people to stop and take notice.  

Moreover, traveling across the United States of America to the garden state of New Jersey, the high mountains of California, or the hot and open lands of Georgia, they all have one thing in common; Martin Luther King streets, avenues, and boulevards. However, I've noticed that all Martin Luther King streets seem to always be located in the most violent, dirty, rundown and poor neighborhoods. 

I have never, EVER, seen a Martin Luther King street sign in the suburbs, NEVER. What is the reason behind this and who decides where those signs should be placed? 

The street signs being in low income areas is fine, but why are they only limited to those areas? Is this someone's way of saying he was your black leader, so keep his name in your black communities?

King was awarded a national holiday yes, but I can't help but feel there is still some disrespect behind the positioning of those street signs. King was a leader and friend to all people not just black people, he just fought hard for black people due to the excessive hate and oppression.

I wonder if King was only awarded a national holiday because the government felt pressured to do it? 

If you remember former President George W. Bush and former presidential candidate Senator John McCain, were both opposed to having a national holiday in King's name although they knew his great battles and victories. Now why do you think this is?

Just an observation.

2009 LA

Happy Birthday Malcolm X

Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965), also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz was an African American Muslim minister, public speaker, and human rights activist. 

To his followers he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, and a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its crimes against black Americans. 

His opponents accused him of preaching racism and violence, and he has been described as one of the greatest and most influential African Americans in history.

After Malcolm's father (a minister) was murdered by the hands of racists and his mother declared unfit to raise his many siblings, she was then placed into a mental institution as Malcolm, was placed in a series of foster homes which lead to him raising himself in the streets. 

Rough life on the streets landed him in jail with a sentence of 8 to 10 years, and in prison was how he became a member of the Nation of Islam. 

His job as a public speaker for the Nation of Islam lasted nearly 12 years, until he departed from the Nation due to tension between he and the Nation's leader Elijah Muhammad.

Malcolm X was often labeled a racist and he admitted that for awhile he was, but only because his family and friends were constantly murdered by the hands of white people. It wasn't until he took a pilgrimage to Mecca, in which he discovered that all white people weren't alike. 

He slept, drank, and ate, with white men that were also Muslim brothers; brothers that showed him respect and love. Malcolm took his new found intelligence back to America with a changed mind and spirit. No less than a year of his return he was gunned down in New York City, in the middle of a speech in front of members of the Nation of Islam.

I commend Malcolm for his bravery and strength, I respect Malcolm for standing up for his rights and the rights of others, I applaud Malcolm for staring evil in the eye and taking it dead on without a second thought, without a wince, without fear, because he knew his people needed him. 

This is why I commend President Obama so much because like Malcolm X, Obama took a position to stand up for those he knew needed him. He seemed to always stand strong and confident, which is what ultimately lead him to become the voice of the American People.

So today we wish a Happy Birthday to Malcolm X, for all that he was and all that he allowed others to become.

In the words of Malcolm X: 

My thinking had been opened up wide in Mecca. I wrote long letters to my friends, in which I tried to convey to them my new insights into the American black man’s struggle and his problems as well as the depths of my search for truth and justice. 

“I’ve had enough of someone else's propaganda,” I had written to these friends. 

“I am for truth, no matter who tells it. I am for justice, no matter who it is for or against. I am a human being first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” 

The American white man’s press called me the angriest Negro in America. I wouldn’t deny that charge; I spoke exactly as I felt. I believe in anger. I believe it is a crime for anyone who is being brutalized to continue to accept that brutality without doing something to defend himself. 

I am for violence if non-violence means that we continue postponing or even delaying a solution to the American black man’s problem. 

White man hates to hear anybody, especially a black man, talk about the crime that the white man perpetrated on the black man. But let me remind you that when the white man came into this country, he certainly wasn’t demonstrating non-violence.

Malcolm X (1925 - 1965)

Pulitzer Prize Highlights Racial Inequality

Pulitzer prizes were awarded to writers who focused on topics ranging from colonial slavery, to the 20th century of Black life.

Playwright Lynn Nottage (seen above) who wrote 'Ruined', a tale of survival set during an African civil war; she won a prize for drama.

The Pulitzer for general non-fiction went to 'Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II' by Douglas A. Blackmon, an Atlanta bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal.  
  
Blackmon stated of his Pulitzer, "It’s a huge honor for me,
but more importantly I hope it really validates the idea that this is a part of American history that we have ignored and neglected, and it’s time for a really dramatic reinterpretation of what happened to African-Americans during that period of time,” the Associated Press reported.

Newsweek editor Jon Meacham, won the biography prize for 'American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House'; a best-selling book about a populist president whose sympathy for the less fortunate never extended to slaves (book seen above-r).  

“Jackson represents the best and the worst of us,” Meacham stated according to the Associated Press.

2009 LA

National Congress of Black Women Honor Black Activist Sojourner Truth

Born a slave but reinvented a Black activist Sojourner Truth, will be the first African American woman to have a memorial bust in the United States Capitol presented by The National Congress of Black Women, Inc. 

The late Dr. C. Delores Tucker, had tried to achieve this effort for ten years and finally her dream has become reality as the unveiling of the bust, will include a presentation of Sojourner Truth's poem “Ain’t I A Woman” to be read by actress Cicely Tyson, and musical selections by Lomax Spaulding, Yolanda Adams, and Dorinda Clarke Cole at the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center Emancipation Hall. 

Two hundred and fifty guests and members of the National Congress of Black Women are expected to attend. 

“This accomplishment has been a struggle, but at the National Congress of Black Women, we have learned that it is from our struggles that we gain our victories. We never gave up, no matter what stood in our way. This bust of Sojourner Truth in the U.S. Capitol is an honor to all women, and will forever serve as a part of our history that celebrates the right to vote for all women,” said Dr. E. Faye Williams Esq., national chairwoman of the group.

2009 LA

"Ain't I A Woman"

Well, children, where there is so much racket there must be something out of kilter. I think that 'twixt the Negroes of the South and the women at the North, all talking about rights, the white men will be in a fix pretty soon. But what's all this here talking about?

That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman? 

Look at me! Look at my arm! I have plowed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man - when I could get it - and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman? 

I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman?

Then they talk about this thing in the head; what's this they call it? [member of audience whispers, "intellect"] That's it, honey. What's that got to do with women's rights or Negroes' rights? If my cup won't hold but a pint, and yours holds a quart, wouldn't you be mean not to let me have my little half measure full?

Then that little man in black there, he says women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause Christ wasn't a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.

If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them. Obliged to you for hearing me, and now old Sojourner ain't got nothing more to say.