‘It’s an open and shut case. The whole world saw it.’Chauvin murder trial leaves behind deep questions and deep trauma
Across the United States, tensions are close to a boiling point because of a nationwide epidemic of police violence. Protestors in Brooklyn Center, Minn., ignored the city’s curfew and defied a phalanx of armed, militarized police officers as they rallied to show their anger and frustration surrounding the police killing of 20-year-old Daunte Wright in April. In Chicago, demonstrators took...
HIP HOP KING DMX HIS LIFE, LESSONS AND LOVE
by Tariqah Shakir-Muhammad, Shawntell Muhammad and Jihad Muhammad Father. Soon-to-be husband. Hip hop prophet. These are the names most will remember for hip hop icon DMX. The legendary artist passed away in New York, according to a statement released by the family. He was 50 years old. “Earl was a warrior who fought till the very end. He loved his family with...
Under the Shadow of Death
‘Race still reigns supreme’ The George Floyd murder trial has once again brought national and international attention on a mélange of issues including whether Blacks can ever get justice in America, particularly when a police officer is involved. Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is on trial and charged with second-degree murder, second-degree manslaughter and third-degree murder after kneeling on George...
FOOD SHORTAGES, COVID-19 AND FEARS OF A MAJOR CRISIS
Around the country Covid-19 has impacted the food-supply chain causing disruptions in deliveries, shortages in products and sent millions of people to long lines at food banks. One year into the pandemic, food insecurity continues to grow with people who never thought they would visit a food bank becoming regular visitors—and almost every major food producer still trying to...
Cries, condemnation but no convictions?: Despite protests, politics and lawsuits, killers of Blacks still almost never go to prison
What many called the random, brutal and callous murder of an unarmed man—George Floyd—on May 25, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minn., at the hands of police officers, unleashed a torrent of condemnation nationwide after the incident. The charges filed against four officers in the case were characterized as a long overdue racial and criminal justice reckoning. But it wasn’t, it was...
The High Cost of Crack Cocaine: A frying pan, baking soda still help destroy Black lives.
Aspiring lawyers Lawrence and Lamont Garrison, identical twin brothers, graduated from Howard University in May 1998. But a month before their graduation, they were arrested, and later sentenced for conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine. “It was terrible because they had no drugs, no guns or anything like that. My sons went to school every day. They were going to Howard...
Death by Zip Code: Housing Discrimination, Neighborhood Contamination and Black Life
Five years ago, Freddie Gray, a young Black man in Baltimore, was arrested for allegedly possessing a knife. A few days later, he died from injuries to his spinal cord sustained during his arrest and transport. But police brutality and misconduct are not the only dangers to Black life. As a boy, Freddie Gray lived in extreme poverty and thus...
The Reality of God: Truths about the Supreme Being provide the Foundation for the Nation of Islam
CHICAGO—The 40th annual observation of Saviours’ Day since the rebuilding of the Nation of Islam in 1981 was a “bearing of witness” to the foundational teaching of the Nation of Islam—“that Allah (God) appeared in the person of Master Fard Muhammad, July 4, 1930; the long-awaited ‘Messiah’ of the Christians and the ‘Mahdi’ of the Muslims.” Printed on the inside...
Snow, suffering, loss are signs of America’s downfall Latest onslaught of unusual, deadly and punishing weather is driven by divine chastisement
In boxing parlance, it’s called a shoeshine. It’s when an opponent is hit with a flurry of devastating combinations, leaving him dazed and confused. From Massachusetts to the Mexican border, Winter Storm Uri wreaked havoc with a lethal shoeshine combination of snow and ice from coast to coast, including the deep South and Southwest. It caused death and destruction in its...
Honoring a great one Celebrating the life and the contribution of President Jerry Rawlings of Ghana
In the pantheon of great African leaders who have joined the ranks of the ancestors, Kwame Nkrumah, Nelson Mandela, Robert Mugabe, Muammar Gadhafi, Sekou Toure and Gamal Abdel Nasser, it would be impossible to exclude Flight Lt. Jerry John Rawlings from that number. Mr. Rawlings led the Republic of Ghana for 19 years from 1981 to 2000 as its longest...