BHERC has been a pipeline for film and television greats like Gina Prince-Bythewood, Academy Award first Black Best documentary nominee David Massey, Ryan Coogler, and “a host of other filmmakers across the country.”
When Elder Dewitt Brown describes “animals,” he’s not just talking about four-legged furry creatures, but also two-legged human beings possessing meanness beyond measure. Brown details his journey to flee from this environment in “Escaping the Dogs of Mississippi,” a memoir outlining how he survived the racism of the deep South and went on to achieve rest in the Lord.
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.
Gloria Gray received nearly twice as many votes as incumbent George Dotson in the runoff election for Inglewood council District 1. According to the results at Sentinel press time, Gray had 1,485 votes or 64.72% compared to Dotson’s 809 votes or 35.28%.
Education is liberation. Dr. Owen Lloyd Knox dedicated his life to advancing the quality of education in the Black community, from students to administrators. Dr. Knox pioneered and founded several associations and programs centered around the Black educational experience, with representation and equality at the forefront.
Oscar winner Ruth E. Carter does not need an introduction. Carter made history as the first Black to win the Oscar for Best Costume Design for her stunning creations in the Marvel blockbuster “Black Panther.” She’s nominated again for the beautiful sequel, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”
One year after revered songstress, vocal teacher and community activist Barbara Morrison’s passing at age 72, her legacy is humming along in full swing. The City of Los Angeles has renamed the corner of 43rd Street and Degnan (where the Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center has stood for the past 14 years) “Barbara Morrison Square.” It was dedicated on the singer’s birthday last year, September 10, which also marked the date of the First Annual Barbara Morrison Jazz and Blues Festival.
Simon Burris is a brilliant historian sharing his vast knowledge of Black History by developing clever brainteasers, more commonly known as crossword puzzles. His creative and challenging games, which appear in the L.A. Sentinel Family section, are educating readers from ages eight to 80+ about the innumerable contributions of Black people.
There is an emotional, mental and moral sickness eating at the insides of American society and crushing and killing its most vulnerable victims with various forms of systemic violence whether physical, psychological, social or educational. This societal sickness is rooted in and reflective of the ways the ruling race/class feels and thinks about itself and others different and vulnerable and in the palpable and practiced hatred and hostility directed against them.