Alexander • Curry Family Circle

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Cookie Recipes

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Charged With Murder, Sexual Battery In Toddler's Death

SUNRISE, Fla. -- A woman was charged with murdering a 2-year-old girl she was caring for by hitting her so hard that she fell and cracked her head open, authorities said. Tyra L. Williams, 29, confessed to hitting the girl in anger, but other injuries also point to sexual abuse, said police spokesman Lt. Robert Voss. She has declined to talk to authorities about the other injuries, Voss said.Williams was caring for the girl in her apartment while the child's mother completed a Florida prison term. The girl had been in Williams' care since shortly after her birth, authorities said.

Read MORE, HERE

Monday, October 15, 2007

Why Did I Get Married - New #1 Top Movie

It looks like "Why Did I Get Married is a definitive hit this past weekend in theaters across the country! It's no surprise that Tyler Perry's latest creation was seen and loved by so many people. I did not get a chance to see it, but fear not, I will be there, flag waving and chanting T-Y-L-E-R P-E-R-R-Y, all through the movie (while ignoring background comments to sit down and shut up). I think Tyler is the best thing to hit the intracultural scene since... beans and cornbread.

In a note to Tyler; don't sweat it!!! Admittedly, racism exists and always will all around this great nation of ours. It pervades the fabric of America like mold and mildew. Get use to it and don't ever be surprised. Be prepared to deal with it when you least expect it to show its nefarious face. But, that's alright because we don't need no music; we got soul and everyone knows what a bland, unseasoned, and poor place this would be if not for our presence here throughout this country's existence. To witness the disrespectful racism Tyler and Janet Jackson experienced in a pre-release interview, click below.

Box office tallies are in: Why Did I Get Married brought in $21.5 million on its first weekend out, outpacing its nearest rival by 10 million dollars. That's fantastic and good news.

	Movie	Gross	Total	%
1		$21.5 m	$21.5 m	NEW
2		$11.5 m	$59.4 m	-31%
3		$11.0 m	$12.1 m	+1,428%
3		$11.0 m	$11.0 m	NEW
5		$7.4 m	$26.0 m	-47%

Good job, Tyler!

Check It Out!

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Nancy and Naomi Pierre's Testimony

It is no secret what God can do!!! On 2/5/07 Nancy had an emergency C-section (4th Child). As soon as the doctors opened her up, her uterus exploded. Baby Naomi had no heartbeat and was dead. Naomi was quickly revived and put on life support. Nancy lost blood,transfused twice, cardiac arrest three times- on a respirator and in coma for 11 days... but you prayed -God answered! Doctors were amazed and gave God the credit. This video has brought people to the Lord acknowledging his awesome power to heal! Thank you for your prayers!!

Black Men & Women Victimized!

This is Naima Franklin, of Chicago, who was missing recently. Do you have any idea how many Black women go missing on a monthly and annual basis? Do you realize that the rate of women to go missing is so high that there almost has to be some sort of conspiracy going on to contribute to genocide by erasing young potential mothers and children before they have a chance? Some have been found; victims of foul play. Others haven't ever been seen again. What's happening here? I stumbled upon a Missing Black Women’s web site and decided to help alert everyone about this.

Click HERE for the website!

Click HERE for the archives!

Video: Dramatic arrest caught on camera in Fort Pierce

original report here.

FORT PIERCE - A 15-year-old girl is facing a felony battery charge from a curfew violation incident in which a city police officer struck and pepper sprayed her after she bit him — actions shown in a police videotape released Thursday.

Fort Pierce Police Chief Sean Baldwin said he stands by how Officer Dan Gilroy handled the July arrest.

“It is shocking to see that a police officer has had to use that level of force against a child,” Baldwin said Thursday night. “But ... my opinion is he responded appropriately and in accordance with our policies.
“I do not expect my officers to stand there and allow a child or an adult to bite them,” he added.

Gilroy was trying to handcuff Shelwanda Riley, 15, of the 300 block of South 25th Street, for breaking the city’s curfew when she became increasingly violent and bit him, according to the police report.

Gilroy dragged the girl to the front of his car, dodging her kicks and swings and activating his in-car video camera to record the remainder of the encounter, his report said.

At one point, she “clamped down on my hand/wrist and I felt immediate pain shot up my arm,” the officer wrote. “The pain was shocking, and I thought the suspect was going to extract a large piece of flesh from my hand.”

Riley was in court Thursday and had her case scheduled to go to trial Nov. 28. She faces a felony charge of battery on a law-enforcement officer and misdemeanor charge of resisting an officer or obstructing justice without violence.

You be the judge...

Black Ice - Hockey - A Black Invention

Friday, September 28, 2007

Jena Defendent Mychal Bell Released

Bell’s Release Lauded by Activists; Jackson Says Other Jena Six Trials Need Change of Venue

Date: Friday, September 28, 2007
By: Sherrel Wheeler Stewart, BlackAmericaWeb.com

After being locked up for 10 months in a Louisiana jail, the first thing Mychal Bell wanted to do Thursday evening was pray. The second thing the teen wanted to do was eat barbecued ribs.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, one of several national leaders calling for justice in the case of the teens known as the Jena Six, prayed with Bell, his parents and supporters outside the LaSalle Parish Courthouse in the tiny town of Jena. Sharpton jokingly told the crowd Bell’s mother would “have to take care of the ribs.”

Bell’s release from jail came just one week after thousands from across the country converged on the town calling for the equal justice in the case of six teens charged with beating a white schoolmate. Bell is the only who has been tried and convicted, but that conviction was overturned two weeks ago when an appeals court judge said the matter should have been handled in juvenile court, given Bell’s age at the time of the Dec. 4. 2006 incident.

Wednesday, Bell’s parents and civil rights leaders met with Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco and asked her to intervene. Blanco, a Democrat who had said she could do nothing because of the state’s separation of powers, called LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters with the group in her office and asked him not to pursue an appeal of the ruling. Walters had indicated he would indeed pursue the appeal, but announced Thursday that he would not.

Friday, September 14, 2007

True Justice for the Jena 6

Last fall in Jena, Louisiana, the day after two Black high school students sat beneath the "white tree" on their campus, nooses were hung from the tree. When the superintendent dismissed the nooses as a "prank," more Black students sat under the tree in protest. The District Attorney then came to the school accompanied by the town's police and demanded that the students end their protest, telling them, "I can be your best friend or your worst enemy... I can take away your lives with a stroke of my pen."¹

A series of white-on-black incidents of violence followed, and the DA did nothing. But when a white student was beaten up in a schoolyard fight, the DA responded by charging six black students with attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

It's a story that reads like one from the Jim Crow era, when judges, lawyers and all-white juries used the justice system to keep blacks in "their place"--but it's happening today. The families of these young men are fighting back, but the odds are stacked against them. Together, we can make sure their story is told, that this becomes an issue for the Governor of Louisiana, and that justice is provided for the Jena 6. It starts now. Please add your voice:

http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/

The noose-hanging incident and the DA's visit to the school set the stage for everything that followed. Racial tension escalated over the next couple of months, and on November 30, the main academic building of Jena High School was burned down in an unsolved fire. Later the same weekend, a black student was beaten up by white students at a party. The next day, black students at a convenience store were threatened by a young white man with a shotgun. They wrestled the gun from him and ran away. While no charges were filed against the white man, the students were arrested for the theft of the gun.²

That Monday at school, a white student, who had been a vocal supporter of the students who hung the nooses, taunted the black student who was beaten up at the off-campus party and allegedly called several black students "nigger." After lunch, he was knocked down, punched and kicked by black students. He was taken to the hospital but was released and was well enough to go to a social event that evening.³

Six Black Jena High students, Robert Bailey (17), Theo Shaw (17), Carwin Jones (18), Bryant Purvis (17), Mychal Bell (16) and an unidentified minor, were expelled from school, arrested and charged with second-degree attempted murder. Bail was set so high -- between $70,000 and $138,000 -- that the boys were left in prison for months as families went deep into debt to release them.⁴

The first trial ended last month, and Mychal Bell, who has been in prison since December, was convicted of aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery (both felonies) by an all-white jury in a trial where his public defender called no witnesses. During his trial, Mychal's parents were ordered not to speak to the media and the court prohibited protests from taking place near the courtroom or where the judge could see them.

Mychal is scheduled to be sentenced on July 31st, and could go to jail for 22 years.⁵ Theo Shaw's trial is next. He will finally make bail this week.

The Jena Six are lucky to have parents and loved ones who are fighting tooth and nail to free them. They have been threatened but they are standing strong. We know that if the families have to go it alone, their sons will be a long time coming home. They will lose precious years to Jena's outrageous attempt to maintain a racist status quo. But if we act now, we can make a difference.

Please add your voice to the voices of these families in Jena, and help bring Mychal, Theo, Robert, Carwin, and Bryant home. By clicking below, you can demand that Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco get involved to make sure that justice is served for Mychal Bell, and that DA Reed Walters drop the charges against the 5 boys who have not yet gone to trial.

http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/

Thank You and Peace,

-- James, Van, Gabriel, Clarissa, and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team
July 17th, 2007

References:

1. "Injustice in Jena as Nooses Hang From the ‘White Tree,'" truthout, July 3, 2007
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/070307B.shtml

2. "Racial demons rear heads," Chicago Tribune, May 20, 2007
http://tinyurl.com/yvh7t5

3. See reference #1.

4. See reference #1.

5. "'Jena Six' defendant convicted," Town Talk, June 29, 2007
http://tinyurl.com/ysxtgg

Other resources:

NPR: Searching for Justice in Jena 6 Case (streaming audio)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11756302

Democracy Now! - The case of the Jena Six ...
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/10/1413220

Too Sense: Free The Jena Six Now
http://halfricanrevolution.blogspot.com/2007/07/free-jena-six-now.html

While Seated: Jena Six
http://www.whileseated.org/photo/003244.shtml

Nooses, attacks and jail for black students in Jena Louisiana
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/6/28/144445/384

Justice In Jena, by Jordan Flaherty
http://www.zmag.org/content/print_article.cfm?itemID=12783&sectionID=30

The Perpetrator becomes the Prosecutor (and other related entries)
http://friendsofjustice.wordpress.com/blog/

'Stealth racism' stalks deep South
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/this_world/6685441.stm

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

6 arrested, charged in woman's weeklong torture

From The Charleston Gazette - Charleston, West Virginia

Carmen Williams doesn’t understand why her 20-year-old daughter was tortured, raped and tied up in a shed.

Police tell her that what happened was probably a hate crime, that it happened because Megan Williams is black.

“Every time they stabbed her, they called her ‘nigger,’” her mother said.

But whatever the reason, Carmen Williams wants people to know what happened to her daughter. She agreed to talk to a reporter from her daughter’s room at Charleston Area Medical Center General Hospital.

She said a man and a woman — who Megan Williams thought were her friends — took her to the house of Frankie Lee Brewster in Pecks Mill, Logan County.

Megan Williams was held in the house for about a week, police said.

According to criminal complaints filed against six people in this case, she was beaten, stabbed, choked, sexually assaulted and threatened with death.

The details are even more horrible. According to the complaints, she was forced to eat dog and rat feces and to lick up blood. She was made to lick parts of Brewster’s body, under the threat of death. Her hair was pulled out. She was made to drink from the toilet. She was sexually assaulted while hot water was poured on her body, and while a man held a knife to her.

Click Here For Details...

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

They Didn't Get The Memo That Slavery Was Over

If this was a movie you would need every ounce of your suspension of disbelief for the movie to maintain its integrity. Buried on the last two pages of March's edition of People's Magazine is the most incredible story that only occurs in countries where lawlessness runs rampant. Meet the Wall family who claimed they were held in slavery until 1961. Slavery which was abolished in 1865 continued in a tiny rural town in Mississippi. This tiny town in Gillsburg, Mississippi was void of electricity, phone, or radio, and trips into town were forbidden for the Walls. The Wall family had no idea that they were free even though Black families in nearby Liberty, Miss., owned businesses and attended school.

Cain Wall Sr. was born in 1902 into peonage in St. Helena Parish, La. He worked the fields and milked cows for white families while believing he had no rights as a man. Peonage is a system where one is bound to service for payment of a debt...

Click Here For More...

Saturday, September 8, 2007

Catherine Tate - Translator

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

That Chandra Holloway Can Ballroom All Night!

This was at her mother's birthday party, Detroit West, on September 1, 2007. Loads of fun!

Mildred Kelley's Birthday Celebrations (Sept. 1)

And a good time was had by all on September 1 and Sept. 3. Sept. 1 at the Detroit West Club and Sept. 3 was an outside fish fry at the home of Julius and Mildred Kelley. Mildred, treat each day as the "first day of the rest of your life." May God bless you!

Back To School

Group News Blog discusses Brittney Exline, the 15-year-old who is the youngest female of African descent accepted into Ivy League School. The blog questions Ms. Exline's engineering-political science double-major entry into University of Pennsylvania: "Is this wise? Sticking an admittedly smart 15-year old with 18-22 year old kids? What smart kids want most is the approval and acceptance of other smart kids. Yet their social and relationship skills don't necessarily match up with their intellectual abilities, while their biology will always lag behind. Even though she may keep up academically, I wonder if taking her out of her natural biological and social grouping does her a long-term favor .On the other hand, getting picked on in high school because you're different. Not good. And the rush that comes from being truly challenged. Wow."

Read more HERE

Friday, August 31, 2007

Talented From An Early Age!

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Repost — O.K. Enough Already!

It had been prophesied a long, long time ago that God intended to use me in a big way. I was told that I should trust and obey what God's will is for my life. Furthermore, in a validating move, He saved my life* about this time last year in a situation that was against all odds where the chief surgeon at a large nationally ranked hospital had predicted my demise and/or the loss of a limb. Wrong! I'm still here with all of my original equipment.
I have finally determined that I will start to more fully obey and go wherever He leads me. I think that includes His purpose for the content of this blog. So, enough already with the pointing out of that which borders on the sacreligious... enough of the comedy of the profane... and enough of the ignorant stuff. There are an overabundance of web sites that serve to tittilate the senses. I don't have time to spend time doing anything less than that which will glorify my Father. I now dedicate this blog to whatever it will take to inform and educate others in the way that I have been lead by the Spirit. This is the first step in doing just that!
Click Here!

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Church Fight

C'mon Bynum-Weeks and every other church pastor / leader / member, on the premises or off! There is enough sin and injustice in the world today to battle than to fight each other! Channel your energies into the right thing and let God fight your battles. It's His, after all. If you accept the cloak of righteousness, wear it well and wear it all the time. Bank not on your own understanding. It is incidents like these where we let the adversary prevail. Watch and pray without ceasing.

A Girl Like Me

And still we rise to reject centuries of cultural suliminal brainwashing!

Friday, August 17, 2007

Max Roach - 1924-2007

Max Roach, a founder of modern jazz who rewrote the rules of drumming in the 1940s and spent the rest of his career breaking musical barriers and defying listeners’ expectations, died early yesterday in Manhattan. He was 83.

His death, at an undisclosed hospital, was announced by a spokesman for Blue Note Records, Mr. Roach’s last label. No cause was given. Mr. Roach, who had lived on the Upper West Side for many years, had been known to be in poor health for some time.

Mr. Roach’s death closes a chapter in American musical history. He was the last surviving member of a small circle of adventurous musicians — among them Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk and a handful of others — whose innovations brought about wholesale changes in jazz during World War II and immediately afterward.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Can You Identify These Two Characters?

Thomas Nelson, a friend, showed me this photo (without the frame) today. As you can see, it's years old. Both of the people here were much younger and neither had reached their pinnacle of success. Stevie Wonder, left, and Mohammad Ali, right. Those were the days!

Monday, August 13, 2007

Jill Scott — "Hate On Me"

A Neat, Simple and Easy Solution!

Consider the things happening in these United States today. We are witnessing weather unlike any witnessed ever before. There have been tornadoes in the Bronx, Kansas and many other Midwestern states. There have been flooding and flash flooding in Texas and the middle seaboard states. Remember the wildfires that raged in Utah, California, Georgia, Florida and Michigan (to name a few)?

We see the beginning of global warming and all of its dire consequences.

On the other hand we see atrocious, bold-faced crimes everywhere — some are in places where people think they should not be.

Wars that shouldn't be are raging seemingly without end and people are too docile to unite in calling for an end.

It seems obvious that this land is in need of healing. In my mind, the first solution would be to pray. The Bible gives a practical remedy:

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. — 2 Chronicles 7:14

Notice that everyone is not required to follow this prescription for healing; just those people who are called by his name! So why are we waiting. If it were a national physical emergency, we would witness an emergency response to rival the response to 9/11. This emergency is far worse. It seems to be a bad case of Karma coming to this nation for a prolonged visit. Any visit by bad Karma is too long because when it rains, it rains on the just and unjust alike.

I am calling for all of those who can care to humble themselves, pray, seek his face, and turn from your wicked ways — starting today, starting now-this moment.... Starting as soon as you realize that: "It's time to make a change and WE are the people who can do it!"

Friday, August 10, 2007

Why Black Women Are Angry

THE SOULS OF BLACK FOLKS: THE DUNBAR VILLAGE CASE & EQUAL PROTECTION (AND MEDIA COVERAGE) UNDER THE LAW

By now you should be aware of the Dunbar Village sexual assault and gang rape of a Haitian woman and her son that took place in June. This horrific crime that took place in this West Palm Beach, Florida housing project did so in part due to a congressional $168,000 cut in security that went to that development up until four years ago.

Now, unless you have been under a rock, or still have not caught on to the real power of this "blogging thing," Gina McCauley over at What About Our Daughters has decided to be a champion for another cause that is designed to speak up on behalf of women. Women - particularly Black women - should not be open targets for crime and sexual assault. All crime is wrong against any human being. However, as you well know, when it comes to Black women, or any woman that is not white, we have a mainstream society that seems not to care. It is what it is.

Gina is pissed! As we all should be. Yet, I want to suggest an effort that is designed to show tangible and measurable results. We can still call Jesse, Al and all the other Black and women groups with media access to speak up on this issue. I'm all for that. However, the reality is, with the plethora of social ailments that plague our society, especially within the African American community, it is easy for leaders of groups and legislative representatives to become overwhelmed. I can relate.

Click here for more...

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

What Will I Play Today? - 756

or maybe 772, which is his record plus his number! Go, Barry!!!

Monday, August 6, 2007

The Taste of Country Cooking

Discovering something new is great, but discovering a classic can be even better. In The Taste of Country Cooking, Edna Lewis focuses on the simple, seasonal cooking of her childhood in Freetown, Virginia—a freed slave community founded by her grandfather. It’s one of those cookbooks that we read both for pleasure and for great recipes: Any morning with creamed ham, sweet potatoes, biscuits, and coffee sounds good to us.

The next Jennfier Hudson (Dreamgirl)

And I'm tellin you, you're going to love me!

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

His Spirit Spoke To My Spirit

Quite a few years ago, I was working at Chrysler's Detroit Tank Plant, which was actually in Warren, Michigan. We manufactured battle tanks, M1's to be exact, and Abram modification kits to update older tanks that had been manufactured much earlier. After working the second shift and while on my way home, God began to deal with my spirit. He was talking with me. And what He said couldn't be denied. I never thought like that and what He said opened my eyes. As He spoke, He had me hysterically laughing one moment and bawling alligator tears the next. I was conscious that people driving next to me would think that I was a manic-depressive when in reality, I was simply being torn between two realities!

Click here to read what He spoke to me...

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Time To Give It Up — Thanks Again — Repost

This is the third year since I was hospitalized with necrotizing infasciitis (the flesh-eating disease). I intend to repost this information every year as a living chronicle of what God has done for me when a chief surgeon had all but given me up for dead. It is a witness to God's grace and mercy.

It had been prophesied a long, long time ago that God intended to use me in a big way. I was told that I should trust and obey what God's will is for my life. Furthermore, in a validating move, He saved my life* about this time last year in a situation that was against all odds where the chief surgeon at a large nationally ranked hospital had predicted my demise and/or the loss of a limb. Wrong! I'm still here with all of my original equipment.
I have finally determined that I will start to more fully obey and go wherever He leads me. I think that includes His purpose for the content of this blog. So, enough already with the pointing out of that which borders on the sacreligious... enough of the comedy of the profane... and enough of the ignorant stuff. There are an overabundance of web sites that serve to tittilate the senses. I don't have time to spend time doing anything less than that which will glorify my Father. I now dedicate this blog to whatever it will take to inform and educate others in the way that I have been lead by the Spirit. This is the first step in doing just that!
Click Here!

Friday, July 27, 2007

Manzell Tyler Rocks - You Go, Manzell

Little Manzell Tyler rocks! Perfect rhythm all day long...

Thursday, July 26, 2007

12,800 miles on one gal of water?

Check out these Internet references: More Coverage

Sunday, July 22, 2007

TammyFaye Messner - A Modern Day Icon

Ex-evangelist Tammy Faye Messner dies at 65
By Tim Funk and Ken Garfield

The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer

Tammy Faye and her then-husband, television evangelist Jim Bakker,
talk to their TV audience at their PTL ministry near Fort Mill, S.C., in August 1986.
LOU KRASKY / AP

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Tammy Faye Messner, whose can-do Christian cheer helped her survive the PTL scandal and forge a second career as a pop-culture queen, died Friday after battling cancer for more than a decade.

She was 65. News of her death was posted on her Web site Saturday night.

For Tammy Faye, like Elvis, no last name was necessary.

She came to fame in the late 1970s as half of the televangelism team — Jim and Tammy Bakker — that founded the PTL empire in Fort Mill, S.C., which grew to include a hotel, campground and Christian theme park. On the "Jim and Tammy" TV show, she sang about Jesus and shed countless mascara-tinged tears, bringing ever greater support and donations from the faithful — and mounting ridicule from skeptics.

By the late 1980s, the first couple of Christian TV were in disgrace amid a flurry of damaging headlines: that Jim Bakker had a sexual encounter with church secretary Jessica Hahn, that he and associates had paid hush money to keep her quiet and that PTL had defrauded thousands of followers by overselling "lifetime partnerships" at its Heritage Grand hotel.

The PTL (for "Praise the Lord") story eventually faded. But the public's fascination with Tammy Faye — and her determination to re-invent herself — never dimmed.

More...

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Angela Bofill Has Second Stroke

Angela Bofill Suffers Second Stroke

Angela Bofill

Below is a note sent from Jesus Garber and Caryn Lee in regards to Angela Bofill's current medical condition and financial need.

My Friends, I received the news posted below from Caryn Lee regarding the current medical condition of Angela Bofill.

I have also been in contact with Angela's manager and he informed me that Angela is still in ICU, her condition is now listed as stable. She is conscious, completly paralyzed on her left side, but capable of speech. She is currently in hospital in California.

Angela is in need of your prayers. She has no health insurance and her managment is seeking donations through her website at angelabofill.com

I know from personal experience that it is possible to have a bill for more than $70,000.00 for just two weeks of ICU care for a stroke patient. That doesn't include doctor's bills and tests.

Angie has given us great music since 1978, now we have the opportunity to give something to her. If you can, whatever you can donate I'm sure would be greatly appreciated. If everyone who receives this email would give even just a little the sum total would add up to a lot. No amount is too small nor to large.

Please pass this request on to your address book, if each one can reach one we can make a difference.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

DeAuntae Farrow — A Cycle of Despair

12-year-old DeAuntae Farrow, a sixth grader at Maddux Elementary School in West Memphis, Ark., was shot and killed after a police officer allegedly shot him stating that he had been holding a toy gun that resembled a real weapon.

Family members are stating that the child did not have a gun and that he had been spending the night with his 14-year-old cousin in an apartment complex south of I-40 and I-50. Assistant Police Chief Mike Allen told the AP that one of the two Arkansas police officers fired at the 12-year-old only after he made an "evasive action".

Adrian Williams, Farrow's cousin who resides in the apartments where Farrow was killed told AP "he had nothing, I saw him with chips and pop in his hand". Continued

DeAuntae's Memorial

Click Here For Similar Content

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Support The Jena Six

Dear Laura,

Last fall in Jena, Louisiana, the day after two Black high school students sat beneath the "white tree" on their campus, nooses were hung from the tree. When the superintendent dismissed the nooses as a "prank," more Black students sat under the tree in protest. The District Attorney then came to the school accompanied by the town's police and demanded that the students end their protest, telling them, "I can be your best friend or your worst enemy... I can take away your lives with a stroke of my pen."1

A series of white-on-black incidents of violence followed, and the DA did nothing. But when a white student was beaten up in a schoolyard fight, the DA responded by charging six black students with attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

It's a story that reads like one from the Jim Crow era, when judges, lawyers and all-white juries used the justice system to keep blacks in "their place"--but it's happening today. The families of these young men are fighting back, but the odds are stacked against them. Together, we can make sure their story is told, that this becomes an issue for the Governor of Louisiana, and that justice is provided for the Jena 6. It starts now. Please add your voice:

http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/?id=2055-47851

Click Here to Read More...

And Here For the Latest

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Angie & Terrence Burton - 2005

What a grand wedding for Angie & Terrence Burton! Although their wedding was in 2005, this is the first opportunity to host some of their wedding photos on the Internet. In case you don't know, Angie is the daughter of my brother, Ezra. Angie and Terrence were married at New Covenant Believer's Church in Columbus, Ohio. May God continue to bless the union of their love!

Saturday, July 14, 2007

History Amazing Grace

John Newton 1725-1807

“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound...” So begins one of the most beloved hymns of all times, a staple in the hymnals of many denominations, New Britain or “45 on the top” in Sacred Harp. The author of the words was John Newton, the self-proclaimed wretch who once was lost but then was found, saved by amazing grace.

Newton was born in London July 24, 1725, the son of a commander of a merchant ship which sailed the Mediterranean. When John was eleven, he went to sea with his father and made six voyages with him before the elder Newton retired. In 1744 John was impressed into service on a man-of-war, the H. M. S. Harwich. Finding conditions on board intolerable, he deserted but was soon recaptured and publicly flogged and demoted from midshipman to common seaman.

Finally at his own request he was exchanged into service on a slave ship, which took him to the coast of Sierra Leone. He then became the servant of a slave trader and was brutally abused. Early in 1748 he was rescued by a sea captain who had known John's father. John Newton ultimately became captain of his own ship, one which plied the slave trade.

Although he had had some early religious instruction from his mother, who had died when he was a child, he had long since given up any religious convictions. However, on a homeward voyage, while he was attempting to steer the ship through a violent storm, he experienced what he was to refer to later as his “great deliverance.” He recorded in his journal that when all seemed lost and the ship would surely sink, he exclaimed, “Lord, have mercy upon us.” Later in his cabin he reflected on what he had said and began to believe that God had addressed him through the storm and that grace had begun to work for him.

For the rest of his life he observed the anniversary of May 10, 1748 as the day of his conversion, a day of humiliation in which he subjected his will to a higher power. “Thro’ many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come; ’tis grace has bro’t me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.” He continued in the slave trade for a time after his conversion; however, he saw to it that the slaves under his care were treated humanely.

In 1750 he married Mary Catlett, with whom he had been in love for many years. By 1755, after a serious illness, he had given up seafaring forever. During his days as a sailor he had begun to educate himself, teaching himself Latin, among other subjects. From 1755 to 1760 Newton was surveyor of tides at Liverpool, where he came to know George Whitefield, deacon in the Church of England, evangelistic preacher, and leader of the Calvinistic Methodist Church. Newton became Whitefield’s enthusiastic disciple. During this period Newton also met and came to admire John Wesley, founder of Methodism. Newton’s self-education continued, and he learned Greek and Hebrew.

He decided to become a minister and applied to the Archbishop of York for ordination. The Archbishop refused his request, but Newton persisted in his goal, and he was subsequently ordained by the Bishop of Lincoln and accepted the curacy of Olney, Buckinghamshire. Newton’s church became so crowded during services that it had to be enlarged. He preached not only in Olney but in other parts of the country. In 1767 the poet William Cowper settled at Olney, and he and Newton became friends.

Cowper helped Newton with his religious services and on his tours to other places. They held not only a regular weekly church service but also began a series of weekly prayer meetings, for which their goal was to write a new hymn for each one. They collaborated on several editions of Olney Hymns, which achieved lasting popularity. The first edition, published in 1779, contained 68 pieces by Cowper and 280 by Newton.

Among Newton’s contributions which are still loved and sung today are “How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds” and ”Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken,” as well as “Amazing Grace.” Composed probably between 1760 and 1770 in Olney, ”Amazing Grace” was possibly one of the hymns written for a weekly service. Through the years other writers have composed additional verses to the hymn which came to be known as “Amazing Grace” (it was not thus entitled in Olney Hymns), and possibly verses from other Newton hymns have been added. However, these are the six stanzas that appeared, with minor spelling variations, in both the first edition in 1779 and the 1808 edition, the one nearest the date of Newton’s death. It appeared under the heading Faith’s Review and Expectation, along with a reference to First Chronicles, chapter 17, verses 16 and 17 [see the below for this Scripture – Graham Pockett].

Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound)
That sav’d a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears reliev’d;
How precious did that grace appear,
The hour I first believ’d!

Thro’ many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
’Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promis’d good to me,
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.

Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease;
I shall possess, within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But God, who call’d me here below,
Will be forever mine.

The origin of the melody is unknown. Most hymnals attribute it to an early American folk melody. The Bill Moyers special on “Amazing Grace” speculated that it may have originated as the tune of a song the slaves sang.

Newton was not only a prolific hymn writer but also kept extensive journals and wrote many letters. Historians accredit his journals and letters for much of what is known today about the eighteenth century slave trade. In Cardiphonia, or the Utterance of the Heart, a series of devotional letters, he aligned himself with the Evangelical revival, reflecting the sentiments of his friend John Wesley and Methodism.

In 1780 Newton left Olney to become rector of St. Mary Woolnoth, St. Mary Woolchurch, in London. There he drew large congregations and influenced many, among them William Wilberforce, who would one day become a leader in the campaign for the abolition of slavery. Newton continued to preach until the last year of life, although he was blind by that time. He died in London December 21, 1807. Infidel and libertine turned minister in the Church of England, he was secure in his faith that amazing grace would lead him home.

Friday, July 13, 2007

Scooter Libby Trial: No Prison Delay By Judge Reggie Walton!

File this under the "I Didn't Know The Judge Was Black" category! Furthermore, I don't know where I've been lately that I didn't know this! Kudos to Federal Judge Reggie Walton for proving again that Black folks can be the consciouness of our great nation. We've done it before and we will do it again! The following reads, "The Good guy or Hata for June was tough but in the end you have to give the nod to Federal Judge Reggie Walton. The Brother was receiving death threats against his family and challenges to his judicial career via email and phone but he told Scooter Libby that he could not remain free while out on bail and to go directly to jail. It’s not his fault Bush said no, jail is too much and ordered clemency. Many judges would have been intimidated and allowed Libby to go free on bail but not Reggie Walton who stood tall when challenged. Some Black people in America simply do not scare very easy after Jim Crow, Slavery, lynching etc Judge Walton also made Libby pay a fine of $250,000 dollars. Just in case you been under a rock last week. Libby was convicted on March 6 of obstruction of justice, perjury, and making numerous false statements to the FBI." — from Playahata.com

What Kind of Southern Fried Justice Is This?

David McDade

AP

Ga. prosecutor under fire for releasing teen sex video
By SHANNON McCAFFREY, Associated Press
Posted Friday, July 13, 2007 at 7:45 am

ATLANTA -- David McDade has handed out some 35 copies of a video of teenagers having sex at a party.

McDade is no porno kingpin, but a district attorney. And he says Georgia's open-records law leaves him no choice but to release the footage because it was evidence in one of the state's most turbulent cases -- that of Genarlow Wilson, a young man serving 10 years in prison for having oral sex with a girl when they were teenagers.

McDade's actions have opened him up to accusations that he is vindictively misusing his authority to keep Wilson behind bars -- and worse, distributing child pornography.

"This has been a ferocious, vindictive prosecution of Genarlow Wilson," said state Sen. Vincent Fort, an Atlanta Democrat. "What is going on is a vendetta."

McDade, who is district attorney in Douglas County, in suburban Atlanta, did not immediately return calls Thursday.

He has said that while the law required him to release the video, he also believes the footage helps his case -- by showing that Wilson is not the squeaky-clean football star and honor student portrayed by his supporters.

"Most of those who do not want people to see the tape know that it's damning to their position," McDade told The Associated Press.

He released the video after receiving an open records request from the AP, and said he has given it to about three dozen people, including reporters, lawmakers and several members of the public who requested it.

It shows Wilson, then 17, receiving oral sex from a 15-year-old girl and having intercourse with another 17-year-old girl. It was shot at a 2003 New Year's Eve Party at a hotel room by another partygoer.

Earlier this week, Georgia's chief federal prosecutor, U.S. Attorney David Nahmias, said the video "constitutes child pornography under federal law," and he called on McDade's office to stop releasing copies.

"These laws are intended to protect the children depicted in such images from the ongoing victimization of having their sexual activity viewed by others," Nahmias said.

Nahmias' office refused to say whether he would bring criminal charges against the D.A.

Critics say that at the very least, McDade should have obscured the faces of the underage girls to conceal their identity, or sought a protective order to keep the material under seal.

Such steps are common in sex abuses cases, especially those involving underage victims, said Diane Moyer, legal director for the Pennsylvania-based National Sexual Violence Research Center.

"The bottom line is we need to have respect for the victims in these kinds of cases," Moyer said. "To release this kind of thing, to me it's prurient and it takes the open records law too far."

Several Wilson supporters likened McDade to disgraced Duke lacrosse prosecutor Mike Nifong and called on Georgia's attorney general to investigate.

"Mike Nifong lost his license, and if he lost his license, then certainly a district attorney that distributes child pornography ought to be investigated," the Rev. Raphael Warnock, pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, said Thursday.

State Sen. Emanuel Jones said he would introduce legislation to block district attorneys from handing over photographic images in sex cases.

"I'm going to call it the David McDade Act," Jones said. "Sometimes we have to protect our kids from district attorneys."

Wilson was convicted of aggravated child molestation for having oral sex with the 15-year-old girl. He has served more than two years of a mandatory 10-year sentence.

The law Wilson was convicted of breaking made consensual oral sex between teens a felony. It has since been changed by the Georgia Legislature. But the state's courts have held that the new law cannot be applied retroactively.

A judge last month called Wilson's sentence "a grave miscarriage of justice" and ordered him set free. But prosecutors are trying to block his release. The Georgia Supreme Court is set to hear the case next week.

McDade fought a bill in the Legislature earlier this year that would have helped Wilson. Some lawmakers who were on the fence changed their mind after seeing the tape.

StoryChat Post a CommentPost a Comment View all CommentsView All Comments
Posted by: Rammy- Fri Jul 13, 2007 10:33 am
Mekinjinear, Put the prosecutor paint brush back in the bucket! There are hundreds of thousands of hard-working, unappreciated, vastly underpaid prosecutors toiling in the trenches every day. The Nifongs, this guy and a few others are not examples of what's going on. The great majority of prosecutors get a file and do a job; they don't have agendas. The leave that to the pols. We should thank them profusely, not paint them.
Posted by: DEFCONID4- Fri Jul 13, 2007 10:14 am
And he says Georgia's open-records law leaves him no choice but to release the footage because it was evidence

Yes he had a choice. He could have witheld the tape until someone sued to make it public. It would have gone to a judge and my guess the tape would have been sealed under a court order. IMO he distributed child porn and should be serving 5-15. IMO, make no mistake, I have said it before that the ones we have to watch out for are a select few of these "officials" that get off on this stuff. This article, to me, is proof of that.
Posted by: meknjinear- Fri Jul 13, 2007 9:35 am

Imagine that! A Prosecutor with an agenda that overrides the fair and balanced administration of justice! Who has ever heard of such a thing......?

The countdown to this video's release onto YouTube commences.....

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Cat eats with fork and chopsticks

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

New School News

Dear family people,

It's ya boy, Victor. I just wanna let y'all know that I will be going to Vincennes University in the fall and I would love to hear from all my family peeps with words of support and encouragement, plus papers of green... and not the wrapping paper kind. Ya heard? Click here for the school's website: Vincennes University. My e-mail address is: vmcguirefour8s@gmail.com.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

My Peeps, my peeps - Rev. Charles Emory

We are indeed the "salt of the earth." Everything we do is done with more passion, more soul, from the tennis courts to the golf course, from the basketball courts to the boxing ring, from the track to the football field, from the courts to the churches, and from the classroom to the theater of war. I wouldn't trade being one of my people for anything in the world!!!

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Last of the original Drifters dies at 81

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- Bill Pinkney, the last survivor of the original members of the musical group The Drifters, died Wednesday. He was 81.

Pinkney was found dead at the Hilton Daytona Beach Oceanfront Resort, Daytona Beach Police spokesman Jimmie Flynt said. The death was not considered suspicious, he said.

Pinkney was scheduled to perform for Fourth of July festivities there.

Pinkney's manager, Maxine Porter, declined to discuss his cause of death, but said Pinkney had had health problems.

The Drifters, whose hits include "Under the Boardwalk," "Up on the Roof," and "Save the Last Dance For Me," still performed Wednesday night. An announcement about Pinkney's death was made after the show, said the group's publicist, Donnie Lowery.

Pinkney, born in Dalzell, S.C., wasn't with The Drifters when they recorded their biggest hits. He left in the band in 1958 because of an argument over cash. His distinctive bass voice can be heard on the group's version of the holiday classic "White Christmas."

Even though he left the group, Pinkney didn't let go of The Drifters' name. He fought for laws allowing performers or bands to claim an affiliation with a classic group like The Drifters or The Coasters only if at least one member recorded with the original group.

The Drifters were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.

Pinkney was a World War II veteran and pitched for the New York Blue Sox of the Negro Baseball League in the late 1940s and early '50s.

Porter said funeral arrangements were pending but that he would be buried in South Carolina.

A Permanent Home For My Testimony

This is the third year since I was hospitalized with necrotizing infasciitis (the flesh-eating disease). I intend to permanently repost this information as a living chronicle of what God has done for me when a chief surgeon had all but given me up for dead. It is a witness to God's grace and mercy. It had been prophesied a long, long time ago that God intended to use me in a big way. I was told that I should trust and obey what God's will is for my life. Furthermore, in a validating move, He saved my life* during April 2006 in a situation that was against all odds where the chief surgeon at a large nationally ranked hospital had predicted my demise and/or the loss of a limb. Wrong! I'm still here with all of my original equipment. I have finally determined that I will start to more fully obey and go wherever He leads me. I think that includes His purpose for the content of this blog. So, enough already with the pointing out of that which borders on the sacrilegious... enough of the comedy of the profane... and enough of the ignorant stuff. There is an overabundance of websites that serve to titillate the senses. I don't have time to spend time doing anything less than that which will glorify my Father. I now dedicate this blog to whatever it will take to inform and educate others in the way that I have been lead by the Spirit. This is the first step in doing just that! Click Here!

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Monday, October 15, 2007

Movie

Gross

Total

%

1

$21.5 m

$21.5 m

NEW

2

$11.5 m

$59.4 m

-31%

3

$11.0 m

$12.1 m

+1,428%

3

$11.0 m

$11.0 m

NEW

5

$7.4 m

$26.0 m

-47%

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Friday, September 28, 2007

Friday, September 14, 2007

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Saturday, September 8, 2007

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Friday, August 31, 2007

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Friday, August 17, 2007

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Monday, August 13, 2007

Friday, August 10, 2007

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Monday, August 6, 2007

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Friday, July 27, 2007

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Friday, July 13, 2007

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Thursday, July 5, 2007

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