National

Biden Visits California Community Devastated by Gun Violence

On his trip to California last week, President Joe Biden traveled to Monterey Park, approximately seven miles east of downtown Los Angeles, where he met with families of the victims of the mass shooting at Star Dance Studio, where 11 people were killed and nine injured during a Lunar New Year Celebration on Jan. 21.

Xernona Clayton and Other ‘Herstory Sheroes’ Honored in Atlanta

Civil rights icon Xernona Clayton became the first woman to be enshrined with a statue in downtown Atlanta on March 8. The eight-foot statue with its arms open, propped high on a pedestal, looks down on Xernona Clayton Plaza, making the petite icon a giant in the cradle city of the modern Civil Rights Movement.

Letter Claims Mexican Cartel Handed Over Men Who Killed Americans

A letter claiming to be from the Mexican drug cartel blamed for abducting four Americans and killing two of them condemned the violence and said the gang turned over to authorities its own members who were responsible. In a letter obtained by The Associated Press through a Tamaulipas state law enforcement official, the Scorpions faction of the Gulf cartel apologized to the residents of Matamoros where the Americans were kidnapped, the Mexican woman who died in the cartel shootout, and the four Americans and their families.

Tyre Nichols Death Spurs Justice Department Police Review

The Justice Department announced Wednesday, March 8, that it will review the Memphis Police Department policies on the use of force, de-escalation strategies and specialized units in response to the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols during an arrest.  Meanwhile, a judge ordered that video footage and other information pertaining to the Nichols case that was expected to be released Wednesday must be delayed to give lawyers time to review it.

Survivors of Deadly Mexico Kidnapping Being Treated at Texas Hospital

A road trip to Mexico for cosmetic surgery veered violently off course when four Americans were caught in a drug cartel shootout, leaving two dead and two held captive for days in a remote region of the Gulf coast before they were rescued from a wood shack, officials said Tuesday, March 7.  Their minivan crashed and was fired on shortly after they crossed into the border city of Matamoros on Friday as drug cartel factions tore through the streets, the region’s governor said. A stray bullet also killed a Mexican woman about a block and a half away.

Murdaugh Judge’s Own Legal Story Unfolded in South Carolina

The judge who sentenced Alex Murdaugh on Friday to life in prison for killing his wife and son has earned attention and plaudits for his even-handed demeanor throughout the trial and for his dressing-down of the once-prominent lawyer just before he sent him to prison. Judge Clifton Newman, a South Carolina native who attended racially segregated schools in the 1950s and 1960s, addressed Murdaugh directly during roughly 20 minutes of comments that ranged from invoking the memories of the defendant’s slain son Paul and wife Maggie to lamenting what he described as attacks on the credibility of the state’s justice system during the trial.

Black Vietnam Veteran Finally Honored with Medal of Honor

Nearly 60 years after he was recommended for the nation’s highest military award, retired Col. Paris Davis, one of the first Black officers to lead a Special Forces team in combat, received the Medal of Honor on Friday for his bravery in the Vietnam War.

‘Paul R. Williams: Hollywood’s Architect’ on PBS

Paul Revere Williams, born February 18, 1894 with an orphan background, followed his dream of becoming an architect and by the early 1920s was designing homes and commercial buildings in and around Los Angeles. At the time of his death on January 23, 1980, he had created some 2,500 buildings in the United States and around the globe.

Price Deeply Moved by Visit to West Africa

L.A. City Council President Pro Tem Curren Price and his family made a historic pilgrimage to the African Continent from Dec. 16-31, 2022. They traveled to West Africa, visiting the countries of Senegal and Ghana. 

2023 POLICE AND BLACK MEN:  DEAD OR ALIVE? 

We are only 31 days into 2023, but the level of violence and deadly occurrences between the police and Black men is already trending towards a record and tragic high.