National Effort to End the Death Penalty Hits Georgia and Maryland
Late last year, the NAACP announced its intentions to launch a national campaign to end the death penalty. This week, the Georgia and Maryland NAACP state conferences hosted events urging state legislators to end the death penalty.
The Georgia State Conference took its anti-death penalty appeal to the steps of the State Capitol on January 9. In a rally that was as symbolic as it was significant, NAACP members and anti-death penalty activists alike shared their reasons for why the death penalty should be eliminated in Georgia. As rallygoers held signs bearing the image of Troy Davis, speakers recalled the story of the Savannah, GA man who was executed last September despite serious doubts to his guilt. ...read more click here
The U.S. Department of Justice rejected a proposed South Carolina law requiring voters to have photo identification on December 23. The department blocked the law based on concerns it would hurt the ability of people of color to cast a ballot.
In a letter announcing the rejection, the Justice Department said the new law could possibly harm the right to vote of tens of thousands, noting that just over one-third of people of color who are registered voters did not have a driver's license needed to cast a ballot.
According to a letter to the state, minority registered voters were 20% more likely to lack DMV-issued identification, and therefore effectively disenfranchised by the new law. ...read more click here
Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Dedication
GE's $119B investment management unit gets new leader Dmitri Stockton to move from London to Stamford.
General Electric Co. has tapped its London-based head of global banking, Dmitri Stockton , to lead the company's $119 billion investment management arm. Stockton, 47, will take over as president and chief executive officer of GE Asset Management in Stamford from Jay Ireland, who has been named as CEO of GE Africa, a newly created post, the company said in a statement.
In that role, Ireland will oversee multiple GE units operating in Africa. Stockton will begin his new role in Stamford on May 1. read more click here Documentary film produced by Brave New Films
showing the influence of the Koch Brothers
attempt to re-segregate public schools read more click here
Cruel but Not Unusual Clarence Thomas writes one of the meanest Supreme Court decisions ever. By Dahlia Lithwick Posted Friday, April 1, 2011, at 7:43 PM ET read more click here
Waterbury Named One of the Nation's 100 Best Communities for Young People By America's Promise Alliance and ING Competition Recognizes Communities Taking Action to Help Reduce Local Dropout Rates and Create Brighter Futures for Young People Waterbury, Connecticut
The efforts of Waterbury civic and community leaders were honored today when America's Promise Alliance (the Alliance), the nation's largest partnership organization dedicated to youth and children, announced the city had been named a winner of the Alliance's 100 Best Communities for Young People (1 00 Best) competition presented by ING, a global financial services company and leading provider of retirement plans and programs for teachers. Its 20 10 recognition marks the first win for Waterbury in the competition. The 100 Best designation recognizes those communities that make youth a priority by implementing read more click here.
Compromise resolves....”A Hot Mess In Waterbury" Superintendent David L. Snead's decision to cancel a Waterbury Arts Magnet School play over the use of the "N"word. sparks controversy.
Parents and Concerned Citizens were not aware that the "N"word. was being used 16 times in August Wilson's JOE TURNER'S COME AND GONE, which to them, rendered the play inappropriate as a public school production, ...A compromised decision puts in preamble. read more click here
COMCAST CORPORATION, NBC UNIVERSAL and THE NATIONAL AFRICAN AMERICAN LEADERSHIP ORGANIZATIONS REACH A NEW DIVERSITY AGREEMENT The nation's leading civil rights organizations, The NAACP, National Urban League, and the National Action Network reached an agreement with Comcast Corporation, NBC Universal. The agreement urges COMCAST and NBCU to improve upon their current diversity efforts in the areas of corporate governance, employment/workforce recruitment and retention, procurement, programming, and philanthropy and community investments. The agreement sets forth specific and measurable actions to attain these four goals. read more click here
Jacqueline Owens work in diversity to be honored By ADAM BENSON
Norwich civil rights activist Jacqueline Owens will be honored with the Connecticut Council for Philanthropy's Willard M. McRae Community Diversity Award on Wednesday, officials said.
Norwich City Manager Alan Bergren nominated Owens, who is president of the Norwich chapter of the NAACP.
The award recognizes individuals who have made significant and ongoing contributions in promoting and recognizing diversity in communities the Liberty Bank Foundation, which is sponsoring the award, serves.
read more.... click here
FULL AUDIO: Dr. Laura Schlessinger 's N-word rant | Media Matters click here
nig·ger~ Define Nigger at Dictionary.com
—Usage note
The term nigger is now probably the most offensive word in English. Its degree of offensiveness has increased markedly in recent years, although it has been used in a derogatory manner since at least the Revolutionary War.
Definitions 1a, 1b, and 2 represent meanings that are deeply disparaging and are used when the speaker deliberately wishes to cause great offense.
Definition 1a, however, is sometimes used among African-Americans in a neutral or familiar way.
Definition 3 is not normally considered disparaging—as in “The Irish are the niggers of Europe” from Roddy Doyle's The Commitments —but the other uses are considered contemptuous and hostile.
–noun
1.... Slang: Extremely Disparaging and Offensive .
a. a black person.
b. a member of any dark-skinned people.
2.... Slang: Extremely Disparaging and Offensive . a person of any race or origin regarded as contemptible, inferior, ignorant, etc.
3.... a victim of prejudice similar to that suffered by blacks; a person who is economically, politically, or socially disenfranchised.
However, this Webmaster believes that comedians or entertainers that use the “N” word are not knowledgeable in its true meaning or too lazy to find a better word for their skit. **
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Jashon Bryant's family wept openly in court and bolted from the courtroom last Tuesday after the verdict was read, freeing Officer Robert Lawlor
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$180 million in new funding specifically target smallbusiness!The special legislative session on jobs inOctober resulted in a comprehensive set of pro-business measures that will help small businesses-prosper and grow. read more click here
schedule. click here
The Connecticut Health Insurance Exchange is seeking a strategic
visionary and influential leader with the skills, passion and commitment to affect transformative change to support health care reform.
The ideal candidate will have a deep commitment to creating a consumer oriented system, a collaborative orientation, excellent conceptual abilities, superior management skills, and thrive in diverse and dynamic environments. applicant DEADLINE December 1, 2011....more info. click here
Slave descendants fight to stay in Cherokee tribe By JUSTIN JUOZAPAVICIUS
The Associated Press
First published Oct 07 2011 09:54PM
Updated Oct 8, 2011 11:16PM
Tahlequah, Okla. • Charlene White didn't learn the whole story about her grandfather's secret number until she was 12.
Prior to that time, she knew only that he had scrawled the mysterious digits — 3489 — on a crumpled piece of paper and hidden it in a drawer. The number was assigned to him as a boy to indicate that members of his family had once been slaves to the Cherokee Nation. It seemed to be a piece of personal history best left in the past.
"I feel like he felt it was shameful being known as a slave, especially a slave of the Indians," White said. "It was an embarrassment."
More than a century after her grandfather got the number, White is telling the story of her ancestors' servitude as she fights along with 2,800 other descendants of Indian slaves across the country to be embraced as full members of the tribe.
Just as many white Americans owned black slaves until after the Civil War, so did some Cherokee tribesmen. The practice generally ended with an 1866 treaty that freed the slaves and afforded them the same rights as native Cherokees.
But leaders of the Cherokee Nation, one of the largest and most influential American tribes, have been trying to change that policy by declaring that the descendants should not be considered Cherokee citizens unless they can show proof of Indian blood.
The descendants stand to lose part of their identity if the tribe is successful in removing them. In 2007, more than three-quarters of Cherokee citizens voted to kick out descendants of freedmen and other non-Indians. The dispute has been in and out of the courts ever since.
Loss of citizenship could also mean losing valuable tribal benefits such as medical care, housing assistance and grocery stipends. read more click here
Black unemployment: Highest in 27 years
By Annalyn Censky
Black unemployment (and underemployed) surged to 16.7% in August, its highest level since 1984, while the unemployment rate for whites fell slightly to 8%, the Labor Department reported
Economists blame a variety of factors. The black workforce is younger than the white workforce, lower numbers of blacks get a college degree and many live in areas of the country that were harder hit by the recession -- all things that could lead to a higher unemployment rate. read more click here
Wealth Gaps Rise to Record Highs Between Whites, Blacks and Hispanics ...Twenty-to-One
By Rakesh Kochhar, Richard Fry and Paul Taylor, Pew Research Center's Social & Demographic Trends
July 26, 2011
The median wealth of white households is 20 times that of black households and 18 times that of Hispanic households, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of newly available government data from 2009.
These lopsided wealth ratios are the largest since the government began publishing such data a quarter century ago and roughly twice the size of the ratios that had prevailed between these three groups for the two decades prior to the Great Recession that ended in 2009 ...read more click here.
Benjamin T. Jealous, president of the NAACP letter to Verizon's CEO Mr. McAdams click here
Public School Kids Get A College “Promise”
New Haven Independent News School Reform Videos, The city has an offer for freshmen in its public high schools: Keep up good grades and stay in school, and you'll get a full ride to a state college or university. That's part of a new “Promise” the city unveiled Tuesday as part of its ambitious school reform drive. read more click here
America 's High Tech " Invisible Man "
By Tyrone D. Taborn
You may not have heard of Dr. Mark Dean. And you aren't alone. But almost everything in your life has been affected by his work.
See, Dr. Mark Dean is a PhD. from Stanford University .. He is in the National Hall of Inventors. He has more than 30 patents pending. He is a vice president with IBM. Oh, yeah. And he is also the architect of the modern-day personal computer. Dr. Dean holds three of the original nine patents on the computer that all PCs are based upon. read more click here
Study points to poor health care for blacks By Pamela McLoughlin, Register Staff NEW HAVEN — A groundbreaking national study prompted by the Connecticut NAACP shows that African Americans are hospitalized at younger ages than whites for preventable medical conditions.
The study found that black adults were hospitalized an average of nine years earlier than whites for all health conditions combined.
The study, which will appear in the January edition of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, could become an important piece in the fight for health care reform, advocates say. read more click here **************************
Free health care clinic *********************
Annual Martin Luther King Jr. March Martin Luther King, Jr.
( January 15, 1929-April 3,1968)
Prominent African-American civil rights Leader click here
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Initiative to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Disparities Adopted by Connecticut Hospital Association Board of Trustees
Wallingford, CT – In pursuit of the goal of eliminating racial and ethnic disparities in health outcomes, the Connecticut Hospital Association Board of Trustees at its April 20 meeting endorsed an initiative to work with the Connecticut Chapter of the NAACP and other interested parties on a shared agenda. . read more click here **************************
Ken Reels NAACP Lifetime Member of Norwich NAACP Swearing in Ceremony as the New Vice Chairman of the Gaming Commission Foxwoods Resort & Casino ..see Photo Gallery **************************
