2013-08-29

President Obama speech at the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington


President Obama speaks at the Lincoln Memorial at the Let Freedom Ring commemoration of the 1963 March on Washington

2013-08-27

Dr King on Meet the Press 50 years ago

50 years later: The President’s response

Commentary by Rev. Jesse Jackson
August 26, 2013

This Wednesday, Aug. 28, on the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington and Dr. Martin Luther King’s famous “Dream” oration, President Barack Obama will speak from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, joined by former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.

Much of the press is speculating about whether the president can reach the “King standard.” Can he deliver an address with the poetry and the vision that made Dr. King’s speech timeless?

But, I suggest to you that this is the wrong standard by which to measure the president. Barack Obama isn’t the leader of a March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. He is the leader of the government. The March on Washington 50 years ago was a call by an oppressed people seeking justice. As the call to the march detailed, we marched to “help resolve an American crisis,” a crisis “born of the twin evils of racism and economic deprivation.”

The marchers carried 10 demands to the nation’s capital, calling for comprehensive civil rights legislation, including the end to segregation and the right to vote, for immediate desegregation of the schools, for a “massive federal program to train and place all unemployed workers ­­— negro and white — in meaningful and dignified jobs at decent wages,” for an increase of the minimum wage, and for federal action against discrimination in employment, housing and federal programs. Dr. King’s speech called on the nation’s elected leaders to act.

The President’s task is to respond to this call. That was true 50 years ago, and it is equally true today. Last Saturday, tens of thousands gathered once more on the National Mall, calling for action. Once more, we gathered to “help resolve an American crisis.” Once more we carried an agenda — jobs, an increase in the minimum wage, defense of the right to vote, an end to discriminatory stop-and-frisk and stand-your-ground policies, an end to discriminatory sentencing, and comprehensive immigration reform. For President Obama, the question is the response — legislation, executive action, enforcement, and appropriations.

The President need not and cannot meet the King standard. He might best be measured against the Johnson standard. In response to the 1963 March, President Kennedy sought to move civil rights legislation. And when he was struck down, Lyndon Johnson took up the cause, expanded it and made things happen.

In 1965, President Johnson delivered a Commencement Address at Howard University titled “To Fulfill These Rights.” There, he laid out his response. He paid tribute to the protests that provided “the call to action.” He reported on the progress made. Passage of the 1964 civil rights legislation. Soon, passage of the Voting Rights Act, guaranteeing the right to vote. The barriers to freedom, he reported, “are tumbling down.”

But President Johnson acknowledged, “freedom is not enough. You do not take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race and then say, ‘you are free to compete with all the others.’”

So Johnson argued that next and the “more profound stage of the battle for civil rights” is not just “equality as a right and a theory, but equality as a fact and equality as a result.” Johnson then detailed the structural inequalities still facing African-Americans — unequal unemployment, incomes, rates of poverty, infant mortality, and more. And he laid out the strategy of his war on poverty to address this crisis. He announced his intention to call a White House conference to address the theme of “To Fulfill These Rights.”

Johnson understood how difficult this was. He launched his war on poverty in Appalachia, choosing to “whiten” the face of poverty, to reflect the reality that more poor people were white than black. He drove hard to push legislation and appropriations and executive action. The minimum wage reached levels not seen in comparable dollars since. Infant mortality and poverty declined. Real progress was made.

But as Dr. King warned, the war on poverty was lost to the war in Vietnam that robbed resources, attention and political energy. When he was assassinated, Dr. King was planning another march on Washington -- a Poor People’s Campaign, to bring the impoverished from across the races and the regions to camp in the nation’s capital and to call on our elected leaders once more to act.

So the question for President Obama isn’t whether he can match the poetry of Dr. King’s call. It is whether he can match the energy of President Johnson’s response. Will he call revive the Civil Rights Commission? Will he announce steps to guard the right to vote now under assault from North Carolina to Texas? Will he call on Congress for appropriations to ensure every child has access to a high quality public education? Will he move more aggressively to curb discriminatory sentences? Will he drive an increase in the minimum wage, a strengthening of our laws protecting workers and their right to organize, the move for comprehensive immigration reform?

We will listen to what he says. But as President, he will be measured by the hard prose of his actions, not the poetry of his words. We will be looking for what he does, not simply what he says.

Russia Warns U.S. Over Syria, Criticizes Delay to Peace Talks

Story by Henry Meyer

Russia criticized the U.S. decision to postpone a meeting aimed at preparing for a peace conference on Syria and warned against Western military intervention in the Middle Eastern country.

“We urge our American colleagues and all members of the international community to show common sense and strictly abide by international law,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said today in a statement on its website. “We are expecting the U.S. to fulfill its obligations regarding preparations for this conference.”

The meeting this week between U.S. and Russian diplomats aimed at reviving Syrian peace talks has been postponed as the U.S. and its allies weigh a response to claims that Syria’s government used chemical weapons against civilians, according to a State Department official.

Deputies to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov were scheduled to meet in The Hague to discuss restarting stalled negotiations to end the two-year Syrian civil war. U.S. officials will work with their Russian counterparts to reschedule the meeting, said the State Department official, who asked not to be identified discussing the postponement.

The meeting would have been the first of American and Russian officials since reports emerged of an alleged chemical weapons attack on a Damascus suburb that Syrian opposition groups say killed at least 1,300 people. The U.S. and its allies are weighing whether to respond militarily against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime over the Aug. 21 attack, which Kerry today denounced as a “cowardly crime.”

The delay was a decision by the U.S., Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said today on his Twitter Inc. account, adding that the need for peace negotiations is more pressing than ever at a time of threatened Western intervention.

“We regret that our American partners decided to cancel the bilateral meeting,” Gatilov said. “Fixing the parameters of a political settlement in Syria would be extremely useful now when the threat of military action hangs over the country.”

2013-08-25

50th Anniversary of the March on Washington at Lincoln Memorial 8-24-13

Rev Al Sharpton keynotes 2013 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington
Martin Luther King III and I at the 50th Anniversary of March on Washington
AFSCME President Lee Saunders, Martin Luther King3, Rev Al Sharpton, NUL President Marc Morial and others begin March from Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument
SCLC co-founder Joseph Lowery (Agitator) marches at 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington
Family holds up "I Have a Dream" sign - with girl to the right literally "Dreaming"
Horse escorts the 2013 March on Washington

Rev. Jesse Jackson and Kirk Tanter at the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington at the Lincoln Memorial

Marchers step down Independence Avenue from the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument

The lead line of a long march included Trayvon Martin's mother Sabrina Fulton, Rev Al Sharpton, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, NUL President Marc Morial, Martin Luther King the third, AFSCME's President Lee Saunders, Congressman Steny Hoyer...and more...begin a March of 100-thousand people.

CNN's Political Analyst Donna Brazile and I at the Lincoln Memorial for the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington 8-24-13

2013-08-24

President Obama's Weekly Address: Making Higher Education More Affordable for the Middle Class


In his weekly address, President Obama notes that while college education has never been more important, it has also never been more expensive, which is why he proposed major new reforms this week to make college more affordable for middle class families and those fighting to get into the middle class.

2013-08-22

50th Anniversary March on Washington Speakers and March Map



THE AUGUST 24TH NATIONAL ACTION TO REALIZE THE DREAM MARCH LED BY REV. AL SHARPTON & MARTIN LUTHER KING, III TO INCLUDE BRIEF REMARKS BY ATTORNEY GENERAL ERIC HOLDER, CONGRESSWOMAN NANCY PELOSI, CONGRESSMAN STENY HOYER, NEWARK MAYOR COREY BOOKER, REV. JOSEPH LOWERY, BERNICE KING, THE FAMILIES OF EMMETT TILL & TRAYVON MARTIN & MANY OTHERS FROM CIVIL RIGHTS, LABOR & THE CHURCH---

WHO:
Rev. Al Sharpton; Martin Luther King, III; Congressman John Lewis; Attorney General Eric Holder; Nancy Pelosi (Democratic Leader); Congressman Steny Hoyer; Corey Booker; Myrlie Evers-Williams; Marc Morial (NUL); Ben Jealous (NAACP); Bernice King; Rev. Joseph Lowery; Randi Weingarten (AFT); Lee Saunders (AFSCME); The families of Emmett Till and Trayvon Martin; and many others.

WHAT:
Pre-March Program – Lincoln Memorial
8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. Prayer
9:00 a.m. – 12:00 (NOON)

Program Main Speakers 11:00 a.m.
*Nancy Pelosi
*Bernice King
*Steny Hoyer
*Myrlie Evers-Williams (Widow of Medgar-Evers)
*Attorney General Eric Holder
*Martin Luther King, III
*Rev. Al Sharpton
*Trayvon Martin family
*Emmett Till family

12:30 p.m.
We will march down Independence Ave. passing the King Memorial to the Washington Monument.
• The Washington Monument is the official dispersal point. Once there, marchers will be told to go to their buses.
• There is a map attached with the march route

Immediately after the March, Rev. Sharpton and Martin Luther King, III will hold a debriefing (at Washington Monument)

50th Anniversary of the March on Washington Seminars by Rainbow-Push Coalition / SCLC



2013-08-19

THE BUTLER is the #1 Movie in America - The Official Butler Trailer plus Interviews with Forest Whitaker and Oprah Winfrey


Official Trailer for the Butler

THE BUTLER Interviews: Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, Cuba Gooding Jr., Lenny Kravitz & Lee Daniels

With a cast including, Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, Mariah Carey, John Cusack and Jane Fonda the film tells the story of a White House butler who served eight American presidents over three decades. The film traces the dramatic changes that swept American society during this time, from the civil rights movement to Vietnam and beyond, and how those changes affected this man's life and family.

2013-08-18

NPR's Teshima Walker Dies

The award-winning executive producer of DC-based NPR's "Tell Me More," Teshima Walker, died Friday morning in her home town Chicago Illinois, with family beside her, at the age of 44 following a two-year battle with colon cancer.

Since 2011, Walker was the executive producer for NPR's midday news program "Tell Me More", hosted by Michel Martin. Walker was part of the public radio family for more than a decade. She first joined the afternoon newsmagazine All Things Considered as a journalism fellow in 2000. Later she spent three years as a producer for The Tavis Smiley Show, and then for News and Notes. In 2007, Walker signed on as senior supervising producer of Tell Me More, and served the program in various capacities for the next six years. A Chicago native, Walker first came to NPR by way of WBEZ, where she was a senior producer for morning newsmagazine Eight Forty-Eight.

Walker briefly left NPR in January of 2006 when Cathy Hughes, founder of TV One and Radio One, created a talk network - Syndication One News-Talk Network. Walker served as Assistant Program Director responsible for helping to develop and manage the talk programs featuring author Michael Eric Dyson, Civil Rights leader Reverend Al Sharpton, legal expert Warren Ballentine, and a sports talk show 'The Two Live Stews'.

"Teshima made us all want to dig a little deeper, think harder, and be better," shares 'Tell Me More' host Michel Martin. "She was everything you could want in a manager and friend: kind and open-hearted when you needed her to be, and tough, but fair, when you needed her to be. While I already miss her amazing laugh and her incredible off-key rendition of the "Happy Birthday" song, I know I am better for having heard them both. We are all very grateful for the time we had with her, and thank her husband, parents and sister for sharing these precious last days with us."

Walker graduated from Tennessee State University in Nashville with a degree in Communications. She was a life-time member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. Walker received her Masters of Public Administration from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Teshima Walker is survived by her husband, writer Jimi Izrael, her parents, William and Vonceal Walker and her sister, Eureva Walker.

NPR contributed to story: //www.npr.org/people/134232730/teshima-walker

2013-08-15

Sprint finalizes deal with radio industry

Story by Inside Radio

The radio industry’s long, hard quest to activate FM receivers on cell phones takes a major step forward as Sprint announces it has signed a deal with the industry to install the NextRadio app on its smartphones beginning with two models: the HTC One and HTC EVO 4G LTE. The first of its kind deal will allow the mobile company to provide the NextRadio service on a broad range of Sprint smartphone devices during the next several years.

The free app comes preloaded on HTC One from Sprint for all new activations. Sprint says customers who already own HTC One or HTC EVO 4G LTE from Sprint can download NextRadio through Google Play at no additional charge. From Aug. 16 through Aug. 30, Sprint will offer a special two-for-one promotion of the HTC One.

A big part of the mobile company’s marketing pitch is the ability to listen to your favorite local radio station without draining its battery life. “When compared with streaming, NextRadio consumes about three times less battery life than other music apps,” Sprint says in a press release. The company is also playing up the interactive radio listening experience enabled by the app, which uses a wireless connection to bring to life additional content such as album art and artist information, listener feedback, song tagging capabilities, enhanced advertising options and social integration.

“Our customers already enjoy listening to a variety of music apps on their smartphones, but NextRadio makes it easier than ever to interact with the local radio stations they enjoy listening to in the car virtually anywhere,” Sprint SVP of product development Fared Adib said in a statement. “Marking another innovation milestone for Sprint, our partners at NextRadio is transforming the FM radio listening experience by allowing users to interact with their favorite radio shows by calling or messaging directly from their smartphone.”

NextRadio allows users to browse stations in their local area by genre or frequency, set favorites, view recently played stations or use a traditional tuner interface; call or text the radio shows and send instant feedback to the station; view album art, station logos, song and show details, and instant actions like sharing or purchasing songs right from their phone.

A headset or speaker wire plugged into the 3.5mm stereo audio jack is required and serves as the antenna for the FM radio chip. Stations on the NextRadio onscreen guide are divided by music genre or can be selected using the station’s dial position. The app also includes radio station logos, slogans and programming description.

Data for the NextRadio app is supplied by TagStation, the cloud-based engine that offers stations the ability to upload branding images that will display as default artwork in the app, as well as call letters, format, station name and slogan. This basic, free level of station integration is open to all radio stations. If a station does not register at TagStation, listeners using the NextRadio app will still be able to hear the radio station but may not see the station’s logo displayed. More than 1,500 stations have signed up for the free services offered by TagStation and thousands more are expected following today’s product launch. Beasley, CBS Radio, Entercom, Greater Media and Hubbard have registered for the additional services through TagStation. “Today we set a new course as an industry, one that will bring exciting audience and advertiser engagement opportunities,” Emmis Chairman & CEO Jeff Smulyan said. “This announcement is a credit to the entire radio industry, which has unified to make this happen.”

“We’re excited that an innovative wireless carrier like Sprint is leading the effort to offer American consumers something they’ve always loved – listening to the radio – right in the palm of their hands,” NAB CEO Gordon Smith says. “This service expands on that experience by enabling consumers to interact with local broadcasters directly through the application.”

2013-08-14

50th Anniversary Celebration of the March on Washington in Washington DC by the King Center




Rev. Bernice King, daughter of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Link: http://officialmlkdream50.com/

All events that are part of the 50th Anniversary March on Washington 'Freedom, Jobs, Peace and Social Justice' require credentials. They are:

• Continuation Rally at the Lincoln Memorial
Saturday August 24 - 9am - 12noon

* Continuation March from Lincoln Memorial to King Memorial
Saturday August 24 - 12noon to 1pm

* The Global Freedom Festival on The Mall (between 7th and 14th Streets, NW:
Saturday, August 24 – 3:00pm-8:00pm
Sunday, August 25 – Noon-8pm
Monday, August 26 – 10:00am-8:00pm
Tuesday, August 27 – 10:00am-8:00pm

• Interfaith Prayer Service at Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial
Wednesday, August 28 – 9:00am-10:30am

• Let Freedom Ring Commemoration and Call to Action at the Lincoln Memorial
Wednesday, August 28 – 11:30am-4:00pm (tentative)



For more information on the 50th Anniversary Celebration, please contact: info@mlkdream50.com

For All Media / Press Information please contact: Bunnie Jackson-Ransom at (404) 505-8188 or email: First Class, Inc. bjr@fclassinc.com and/or staff@fclassinc.com.

National Radio show "Keepin it Real with Al Sharpton" now on 1190AM WLIB New York

Left to Right: Senior Vice President of Programming, REACH Media Inc Gary Bernstein, Skip Dillard Operations Manager WBLS/WLIB, Reverend Al Sharpton, Charles Warfield President / COO at YMF Media, LLC, , Deon Levingston VP/General Manager ,YMF Media, LLC

REACH Media Inc. announces that Reverend Al Sharpton's radio show "Keepin' it Real with Rev. Al Sharpton" is now broadcasting live on 1190 AM WLIB Monday through Friday from 1:00pm to 3:00pm Eastern Time.

Sharpton has been a long presence in the New York market and now will be live daily discussing current topics, news, inspiration, and issues affecting African American communities.

President Barack Obama Recognized Integrated Military Force During Keynote Remarks at 60th Anniversary Korean War Event in Washington


Among the African American heroes recognized during the 60th Anniversary of the Korean War Armistice on July 27 in Washington, DC was U.S. Navy Ensign Jesse L. Brown, the first African American naval aviator to die in combat. Ensign Brown was shot down while providing close-air support for units of the 7th Marines during the Chosin Reservoir battle in December 1950. Of the 600,000 African Americans who served in the Armed Forces during the Korean War, it's estimated that more than 5,000 died in combat.

Brown was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for performing dangerous combat actions that resulted in his fatal crash. In March 1972, Brown's widow christened a Knox-class ocean escort ship the USS Jesse Brown.

CNN recently ran several stories about the quest of one Korean War veteran, retired Navy Captain Thomas Hudner, who had recently returned to North Korean in an effort to retrieve the remains of his fallen comrade, Jesse Brown. Capt. Hudner was flying his plane to support Ensign Brown's mission on December 4, 1950 when Brown was shot down. Hudner crashed his own plan in an unsuccessful attempt to save Brown. Capt. Hudner was later awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his valiant efforts.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

August 1, 2013 - Arlington, VA - President Barack Obama has participated in a special program along with Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) and other senior government officials that honored Korean War Veterans and commemorated the 60th Anniversary of the Signing of the Armistice that ended three years of fighting on the Korean Peninsula following North Korea's invasion of the Republic of Korea in June 1950. President Obama provided keynote remarks at the event, held at the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

"The Republic of Korea today has one of the world's strongest economies and is a staunch U.S. ally due to those service members who made the ultimate sacrifice and the service and sacrifice made by our Korean War Veterans," said Colonel David J. Clark, Director of the Department of Defense (DoD) 60th Anniversary of the Korean War Commemoration Committee. "What people need to understand is that the Korean War was a 'Forgotten Victory' and marked the end of Communist aggression in Northeast Asia."

Of particular significance to the African American community is the fact that the Korean War was the first war in which America fought with a military force that was officially integrated, as authorized by the President of the United States. President Harry Truman signed an Executive Order that ended segregation in the U.S. Armed Forces in 1948; it took effect in 1950 while the Korean War was raging. That meant African American and white soldiers fought Communist forces, side-by-side, in horrible conditions and on challenging terrain.

Of the 600,000 African Americans who served in the Armed Forces during the Korean War, it's estimated that more than 5,000 died in combat. During his remarks on July 27, President Obama made special note of these facts. He also alluded to the fact that the first government entity to be officially integrated was the U.S. Military and that the results of that action benefited the nation tremendously, once the Korean War had concluded.

The program on July 27th paid tribute to all Korean War Veterans and commemorated the signing of the Armistice. In addition, United Nations Allies that provided combat troops, medical teams, and other support were also recognized.

Also in attendance were veterans and survivors from the first victorious battle during that war, won in July 1950 by the 24th Infantry Regiment, the nation's oldest African American combat unit. In addition, members of the 231st Transportation Truck Battalion, another African American unit, attended the ceremonies. The 231st was the only Maryland National Guard unit ordered to active duty to support the Korean War.

The Department of Defense 60th Anniversary of the Korean War Commemoration Committee, authorized in the 2011 Defense Authorization Bill, is dedicated to thanking and honoring all the Veterans of the Korean War, their families and especially those who lost loved ones in that war. Through 2013, the Committee will honor the service and sacrifice of Korean War Veterans, commemorate the key events of the war, and educate Americans of all ages about the historical significance of the Korean War.

For more information, visit www.koreanwar60.com

2013-08-13

Minister Louis Farrakhan says that Government cannot solve increasing Black Unemployment due to centuries of continued dire conditions


“Clearly, we are in a dire condition,” Farrakhan said in a recent address, “and the government of America cannot solve our problems.” “Let me show you a little bit more,” he later continued, “Even though we in 2013 are celebrating a two-term black president…the brother simply has not been able to repair the damage caused by centuries of racism [and] greed, which has now run this nation over a fiscal cliff.”

2013-08-12

Stop-and-Frisk Practice Violated Rights, Judge Rules

Story by NY Times
Written by Joseph Goldstein

In a repudiation of a major element in the Bloomberg administration’s crime-fighting legacy, a federal judge has found that the stop-and-frisk tactics of the New York Police Department violated the constitutional rights of minorities in New York, and called for a federal monitor to oversee broad reforms.

In a blistering decision issued on Monday, the judge, Shira A. Scheindlin, found that on hundreds of thousands of occasions since 2004, the police have systematically stopped innocent people in the street without any objective reason to suspect them of wrongdoing. She further found that the Police Department had “adopted a policy of indirect racial profiling” that targeted young minority men for stops.

The stops, which soared in number over the last decade as crime continued to decline, demonstrated a widespread disregard for the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures by the government, as well as the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause, according to the 195-page decision.

Judge Scheindlin’s criticism extended beyond the conduct of police officers; in holding the city liable for a battery of constitutional violations, the judge found that top police officials acted with deliberate indifference. She said that police commanders were content to dismiss allegations of racial profiling as “a myth created by the media.”

Citing statements by Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Judge Scheindlin accused the city of using stop-and-frisk as a checkpoint-style policing tactic, with the intent of deterring minorities from carrying guns on the street.

“I also conclude that the city’s highest officials have turned a blind eye to the evidence that officers are conducting stops in a racially discriminatory manner,” she wrote.

The judge designated an outside lawyer, Peter L. Zimroth, to monitor the Police Department’s compliance with the Constitution.

Judge Scheindlin also ordered a number of other remedies, including a pilot program in which officers in at least five precincts across the city will wear body-worn cameras in an effort to record street encounters. She also ordered a “joint remedial process” — in essence, a series of community meetings — to solicit public input on how to reform stop-and-frisk.

The decision to install Mr. Zimroth, a partner in the New York office of Arnold & Porter LLP, and a former corporation counsel and prosecutor in the Manhattan district attorney’s office, will leave the department under a degree of judicial control that is certain to shape the policing strategies under the next mayor.

City officials did not immediately comment on the ruling, or on whether they planned to appeal. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg scheduled a news conference at 1 p.m. to discuss the decision.

The Supreme Court had long ago ruled that stop-and-frisks were constitutionally permissible under certain conditions, and Judge Scheindlin stressed that she was “not ordering an end to the practice.” But she said that changes were needed to ensure that the street stops were carried out in a manner that “protects the rights and liberties of all New Yorkers, while still providing much needed police protection.”

The judge found that the New York police were too quick to deem as suspicious behavior that was perfectly innocent, in effect watering down the legal standard required for a stop.

“Blacks are likely targeted for stops based on a lesser degree of objectively founded suspicion than whites,” she wrote.

She found that in their zeal to identify concealed weapons, officers sometimes stopped people on the grounds that the officer observed a bulge in the person’s pocket; often it turned out that the bulge was caused not by a gun but by a wallet.

“The outline of a commonly carried object such as a wallet or cellphone does not justify a stop or frisk, nor does feeling such an object during a frisk justify a search,” she ruled.

She emphasized what she called the “human toll of unconstitutional stops,” noting that some of the plaintiffs testified that their encounters with the police left them feeling that they did not belong in certain areas of the cities. She characterized each stop as “a demeaning and humiliating experience.”

“No one should live in fear of being stopped whenever he leaves his home to go about the activities of daily life,” the judge wrote. During police stops, she found, blacks and Hispanics “were more likely to be subjected to the use of force than whites, despite the fact that whites are more likely to be found with weapons or contraband.”

The ruling, in Floyd v. City of New York, follows a two-month nonjury trial in Federal District Court in Manhattan earlier this year over the department’s stop-and-frisk practices.

Judge Scheindlin heard testimony from about a dozen black or biracial men and a woman who described being stopped, and she heard from statistical experts who offered their conclusions based on police paperwork describing some 4.43 million stops between 2004 and mid-2012.

But the stops were not the end of the problem, Judge Scheindlin found. Officers often frisked these people, overwhelmingly young black and Hispanic men, for weapons or searched their pockets for contraband, like drugs, according to the decision. Those encounters typically ended with the police letting the person go for lack of evidence of criminality.

Blacks and Hispanics were stopped about 88 percent of the time, a disparity that the Police Department has sought to explain by saying that it mirrored the disproportionate percentage of crimes committed by young minority men. In severe language, Judge Scheindlin dismissed the Police Department’s rationale.

“This might be a valid comparison if the people stopped were criminals,” Judge Scheindlin wrote, explaining that there was significant evidence that the people being stopped were not criminals. “To the contrary, nearly 90 percent of the people stopped are released without the officer finding any basis for a summons or arrest.”

Rather, Judge Scheindlin found, the city had a “policy of targeting expressly identified racial groups for stops in general.”

“Targeting young black and Hispanic men for stops based on the alleged criminal conduct of other young black or Hispanic men violates bedrock principles of equality,” Judge Scheindlin ruled, finding that the Police Department’s practices violated the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause.

George Duke Electric - Live at Java Jazz Festival 2011, and Montreux Jazz Festival 1976


George Duke in full concert. (Video by George Duke Electric, Java Festival Production and First Media)


The Billy Cobham - George Duke Band 1976 Montreux Jazz Festival in full concert

2013-08-09

From Adderley to Zappa…and All the Space Between: An Appreciation of George Duke

Story by The Urban Music Scene
Written by A. Scott Galloway

Some losses leave unfathomable fissures in the foundation of family, community and industry. The transition of George Duke at age 67 from Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) is such a loss. The proof lies in the first 48 hours of homage that swept across social media - emanating as much from the hearts of folks who knew him as among the warmest, funniest and most generous of men to walk the earth as from musicologists who strained to mainline the panoramic palette of his musical breadth and depth. The passing of George Duke demands that one ponder long and hard of the experience, wisdom, perspective and personality that has ascended. Yet voluminous traces have been left behind for generations to study and enjoy long into the future. It is “the future” that the electric keyboard and synthesizer wizard always had his third eye locked on…heart anchored in ancient reveries of Afro-acoustic ivories…and The Spirit ever in it.


Born January 12, 1946 in San Rafael, California and reared in nearby Marin City, George Duke was already an anomaly as a gospel-rooted, classically trained pianist, dazzled by Duke Ellington as a 4 year-old at a concert with his mother, marveling at the man who simultaneously commanded a piano and a band to do his melodious swinging bidding. George was playing in church by 7, steadily studied and graduated from San Francisco Conservatory of Music with a bachelor’s degree in trombone and composition (with a minor in contrabass) while cutting his teeth at the Half Note club accompanying his buddy, then-aspiring singer Al Jarreau.


Though he would later record with jazz greats Sonny Rollin, Gene Ammons and Don Ellis, Duke joined Julian “Cannonball” Adderley’s and Nat Adderley’s groups recording on the progressive classics Soul Zodiac, The Happy People, Pyramid and The Black Messiah among others, produced by forward thinker David Axelrod. Just before and after working with Cannonball, Duke joined brilliantly eccentric rock impresario Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention band, captured on irreverent slabs of wax such as Apostrophe, Chunga’s Revenge, 200 Motels and Live/Roxy & Elsewhere. That he was able to make singular, instantly identifiable contributions in these two widely disparate workshops in his early `20s says as much about George’s insatiable hunger, curiosity and adaptability as a musician as it does his open-heartedness as a man. Listen to his instrumental AND vocal arranging on the ensemble oddity The Third Wave (1970) and dig how he was weaving it all together even then.


Duke’s progress was steady and astounding when it came to his solo recordings. From his 1966 debut, George Duke Presented by The Jazz Workshop of San Francisco, then Save the Country on Pacific Jazz Records followed by a string of eight blissfully experimental audiophile LPs released via the German MPS label between 1971 and 1976, Duke’s voracious appetite engulfed West African music, electronics, soul-jazz and a toe-tappin’ take on the Beatles’ “Come Together.” From a solo piano album to trio dates to the all-star tour de force I Love The Blues, She Heard My Cry, Duke was taking absolute advantage of his foreign soil apprenticeship. He was not pandering to money-stacking commerciality. He was pumping iron in a virtual aural gym, exercising his creative muse, his compositional acuity, his mastery of the evolving science of electronic keyboards, and his prodigious abilities at production, arranging and recording studio engineering. When his contractual obligation to MPS served to preclude him from outside projects, Duke went underground, creating the alter-ego “Dawilli Gonga” which enabled him to record in dozens more super strengthening situations. He was also writing introspective lyrics…and singing, developing distinctive, soulful tenor to falsetto tones that would become his signature as much as his touch on any keyboard - plugged or unplugged.


And - thanks to Zappa - Duke learned after all the seriousness not to take ANY of it too seriously…to let his innate humor run rampant through his musical interactions in the same manner that it did his interpersonal ones.


During this fertile late `60s/early `70s period, Duke was making key alignments with like-minded musicians. A jazz-rock link-up with French electric violinist Jean-Luc Ponty resulted in three pioneering albums and on-going collaborations thru the decades. A short-lived association with Panama-born drummer Billy Cobham that began on the latter’s Crosswinds LP (featuring the mind-altering ballad “Heather” with Michael Brecker on tenor sax and John B. Williams on upright bass) followed by a co-led quartet featuring bassist Alphonso Johnson and guitarist John Scofield (in a one-off album on Atlantic Records) documented Duke’s concept of making sophisticated music that was also palatable to a greater number of people with earthiness and humor while so many other so-called jazz-rock fusion bands had turned the music into bloated chops-heavy cutting contests.


More importantly, Duke connected with bassist Stanley Clarke, a musical twin who also embraced rock ‘n roll lunacy, bedrock jazz, prodigious instrumental accomplishment and The Funk. Watching their companionship evolve from Duke guesting on Clarke classics such as “Silly Putty” (from 1975’s Journey to Love with drummer Steve Gadd) and “Life is Just a Game” (from 1976’s School Days, with Cobham on drums) then Clarke on Duke tunes like the acoustic masterpiece “Seasons” and the country-funkin’ hay romp “Down In It” (both on From Me to You) to the `80s/`90s “Clarke-Duke Projects” that swung from the Top 10 Philly Soul throwback “Sweet Baby” to a cultural message song for the youth entitled “Find Out Who You Are” (a soul song featuring jazz royalty Joe Henderson AND Wayne Shorter contributing saxophone solos) - was fascinating to behold.


Duke’s full concept took shape upon signing to Epic Records by Ron Alexenburg (at the suggestion of Columbia Records President Bruce Lundvall whose jazz keyboard roster was full up with Herbie Hancock, Ramsey Lewis, Chick Corea’s Return to Forever and Joe Zawinul’s Weather Report). Duke’s contract guaranteed full artistic control beginning with 1977’s From Me to You. Duke next created the masterwork Reach For It, a high spirited Latin Funk Fusion classic kissed with a pair of gorgeous soul ballads and a Funk Bomb for the ages in the title track, “Reach For It” - the house party jump-starter/anthem that vaulted to #2 on Billboard’s “R&B Singles” chart and became his concert-closing staple from that point on (featuring co-led rap vocals by Shreveport, Louisiana’s own Ndugu Chancler, a frequent Duke co-conspirator). This led to the George Duke Band which put the international spotlight on a teenaged Sheila Escovedo (later “Sheila E”), bassist Byron Miller, singers Josie James and Napoleon Brock Murphy, guitarist Charles “Icarus” Johnson and drummer Ricky Lawson. This, in turn, begat a series of outrageously theatrical stage shows, the introduction of Duke’s famous strap-on/portable “clavitar” keyboard, often mistakenly referred to as his “Dukey Stick” which was actually a magic wand prop that Duke wielded in the productions like a “Star Wars” light saber. Duke scored another Funk hit of outrageous sexual braggadocio about the device on 1978’s Don’t Let Go.


The gold-selling Reach For It is not only a seminal album in the George Duke canon, it is the perfect one – the succinct 10-song template of his accessible essence with not one track of filler. It morphs seamlessly from molten Latin Rock to hardcore P-Funk to the dreamiest of Quiet Storm balladry and concludes with a wordless Brazilian Jazz rhapsody. I would be shamefully remiss to ignore that though Marvin Gaye, Al Green and Teddy Pendergrass are looked upon as the purveyors of Soul Music’s male sexual machismo, it was George Duke who was musician & man enough to uncannily approximate the sound of the ultimate orgasm on this LP’s “Watch Out Baby.” Finally, Reach For It pointed the way to Duke’s obsession with galactic sound-scapes with the intro and outro “The Beginning” and “The End,” foreshadowing more expansive interludes and ultimately projects such as 1983’s storybook epic, Guardian of the Light.

Duke took an extended holiday to Brazil two years later, planting his heart among its beaches and rain forests. Though this regional passion is famously represented by his 1979 album A Brazilian Love Affair, it started long before in works recorded with vibraphone master Cal Tjader, trombonist Raul de Souza, and particularly stunning Brazilian singer Flora Purim and her percussion shaman husband Airto.


From all that jazz, George Duke plunged head first into producing R&B-Pop artists and albums – sometimes with shades of contemporary jazz be it with progressive fence-straddlers such as Dee Dee Bridgewater, Seawind, Hiroshima, Blackbyrds and The Brecker Brothers but more often with straight up chart-toppers such as female duo A Taste of Honey (1981’s gold-selling “Sukiyaki”), former L.T.D. lead singer Jeffrey Osborne (his first several solo albums including hits “On the Wings of Love” and “Stay With Me Tonight”), Earth Wind & Fire singer Philip Bailey’s debut LP Continuation and Angela Bofill’s Quiet Storm gem “Still in Love.”

Duke’s greatest commercial achievement would be a reluctant one. While he had recorded deliciously sophisticated Soul-Pop singles for songbird Deniece Williams such as the wistful “Do What You Feel,” the anthemic “Black Butterfly” and a dragonfly float through Curtis Mayfield’s timeless “I’m So Proud” (from a lady’s point of view), his biggest production with “Niecy” was a song he patently hated: “Let’s Hear It For The Boy.” Williams loved the song and insisted he produce it as she foresaw it as her ticket to a pop breakthrough. It is to Duke’s supreme credit that he turned in a soaring arrangement that thrilled millions as a key song in the blockbuster popcorn movie “Footloose” and became a platinum-plus seller for the singer that topped both Billboard’s “R&B Singles” and “Pop Hot 100” charts.

Duke recorded three albums for Elektra Records in the `80s, the middle one - 1986’s self-titled George Duke - being of particular interest as his I-can-do-that-better project. The first single was a response to the trend of all-star vocal team-ups such as “We Are The World” and Dionne Warwick’s “That’s What Friends Are For.” George’s was a warm and fuzzy number titled “Good Friend” featuring Stephanie Mills, Jeffrey Osborne, Deniece Williams, Kenny Loggins, Joyce Kennedy, Howard Hewett and Irene Cara. Two other songs on the album were his touché’ retort to the work of English synth-beat Picassos The Art of Noise in his 12” “Broken Glass” (his slicker take on “Beat Box”/”Close to the Edit”) and the Quiet Storm instrumental “African Violet” (George’s Motherland flip on “Moments in Love”). It was cool to see George tinkering into the wee hours in his state of the art home studio, Le Gonks West, to suss out sounds of the day then put his Dukey spin on them. It was also the birthplace of Duke’s secret side project 101 North, an indie label studio group that lucked up on the urban adult radio hit “So Easy” (a Josie James & Carl Carlwell duet). Le Gonks West will be forever cherished as sacred hallowed ground by his friends and peers for all the Pouilly-Fuissé-fueled “Audio Sonic Goulash” and love - brewed fresh Night After Night.


By the `90s George Duke snugly settled into the nickname affectionately bestowed upon him: “Big Daddy!” He was nurturing a new wave of talents in a successor role to one of his mentors, Quincy Jones. Under “Q,” Duke had recorded on You’ve Got It Bad Girl in 1973 and participated in the 1979 sessions for Michael Jackson’s ground-breaking Off The Wall. Now in his own right, Duke was introducing and nurturing bright shining lights such as singers Lalah Hathaway, Dianne Reeves, Rachelle Ferrell and Chante’ Moore, instrumentalists such as bassist Christian McBride, guitarist Jef Lee Johnson and drummer “Little John” Roberts. He was producing movie music on acts from newcomers After 7 to veterans The Dells for director Robert Townsend’s “The Five Heartbeats,” scoring the documentary “Be Inspired: The Life of Heavy D,” writing the TV theme for the sitcom “Malcolm & Eddie” (voiced by Vesta Williams), and holding down the Musical Director chair for several “Soul Train Music Awards” programs, Anita Baker on the road and a Nelson Mandela tribute concert at Wembley Stadium in London. Duke was also writing and producing on the legendary Miles Davis’ final Warner Bros. studio albums Tutu and Amandla, and playing/arranging for the illustrious Nancy Wilson on This Mother’s Daughter and Nancy Now. He recorded six CDs for Warner Bros. including his symphonic dream project, Muir Woods Suite, and produced an all-star Christmas CD.

For the changing millennium, Duke went even more Big Daddy-stylee by starting his own label, BPM Records, releasing the projects Face the Music (2003), Duke (2005) and In a Mellow Tone (2006), PLUS the collector coveted DVD Tokyo Japan 1983 which captured for posterity the amazing all-star band of Steve Ferrone, Louis Johnson, Paul Jackson, Jr., Robert Brookins, Lynn Davis and Marci Levy - walking the walk of Black entrepreneurship. His `70s classic “Brazilian Sugar” was also featured in the 2006 video game “Dead or Alive Xtreme 2.”

Likely due to his excellence in so many musical arenas, George Duke is least acknowledged for the stretch of his lyrics. Listen again to his love songs such as “Someday,” “Just For You,” “Is Love Enough” and it’s smash hit prequel “No Rhyme, No Reason”:

“Sometimes love has no rhyme or no reason / Even when you try to be cool / At the strangest times love can make a connection / If you trust your heart to choose”


Contrast that with the conscience-calling “Somebody Laid It On Us” (from 2008’s Dukey Treats), “Buffalo Soldiers” (from Illusions), “Change the World” (from DreamWeaver) and the existential musings “Feel” and “Faces in Reflection”:

“Somewhere within there’s the one that is you…come…faces do reveal shadows of you that you cannot conceal…”

Duke was constantly pushing the lyrical envelope to explore richer themes of existence, conscience, culture, history and uplift.

George Duke’s final decade found him busy as ever guesting on albums from Bootsy Collins and Lee Ritenour to Terri Lyne Carrington and a forthcoming one on Regina Belle, producing from soul band Tower of Power to gospel star Smokie Norful, and releasing three last albums via Heads Up International Records: Dukey Treats (2008), Déjà Vu (2010) and this year’s 13-song DreamWeaver which was released July 16th and debuted at #1 on the Contemporary Jazz chart on the strength of songs like his revisiting all his analog synths on “Brown Sneakers,” the eerily prophetic “You Never Know,” the CD-closing nod to Roy Rogers & Dale Evans’ “Happy Trails,” and “Missing You,” George’s adoring tribute to his lovely wife of 42 years, Corine, who preceded him in death in July 2012.


The last two times I saw George Duke perform were both summer nights under the stars at the behemoth Hollywood Bowl. The first was in 2011 during a tour co-headlining with bassist Marcus Miller and saxophonist David Sanborn - truly a tall order of master musicianship. George was strong throughout and in playful funky form. His final L.A. performance was June 15th at the “Playboy Jazz Festival” in the closing Saturday night slot co-billed with his longtime friend Jeffrey Osborne for whom George had just produced the singer’s first jazz standards CD, A Time For Love. Anyone who thought their show would be a reenactment of that laidback project got the surprise of their life as George & Jeffrey came out with four guns drawn, blasting a combination of Dukey hits, Jeffrey singing solo hits AND hits from his days in the 10-piece band L.T.D. - all concluding with a jam through, what else, “Reach For It.” George was noticeably thin – his outfit hanging loosely on him – and his voice was not at full strength, but he led the band flawlessly through a crack set of songs that were every bit as slammin’ as the original recordings and then some. Everyone in the audience was partying hearty and anyone who attends that festival on the regular knows that this is a Herculean feat to achieve as the last act on the bill. I was truly blessed to be sitting in box seats flush center to take in George’s unforgettable Cali curtain call…


In closing, I believe what George would love and appreciate more than anything is for just one boy or girl to be sparked by his story enough to wholeheartedly pursue a life in music like he did. Note that I did not write “career” in music…but Life. George lived long enough to see young people sample his music – Daft Punk smashing his song “I Love You More” for their track “Digital Love” or Kanye’ West in producer mode sampling “Someday” for Common’s “Break My Heart” - and perhaps aspire to aspects of his mastery...his dexterity on keyboards…his plaintive falsetto. But to see a kid “reach for” unimpeachable all-around musical excellence – the ability to realize anything one can imagine, as an artist AND at the service of others, in a head/heart space where theory meets technology and, all importantly…feel – that would have “Big Daddy” bouncin’ on clouds.


The Aura Will Prevail.

For Rashid


A. Scott Galloway is a music journalist based in Los Angeles whose specialty writing niche is liner notes essays for classic album CD reissues and compilations. He has composed over 300 of those including Soul Music Records’ 2012 reissue of George Duke’s 1978 LP, Don’t Let Go. Mr. Galloway first met and interviewed George Duke in 1989 at the Sunset Blvd. offices of Elektra Records in West Hollywood during promotion for Duke’s 21st CD, Night After Night.

Mr. Galloway is pictured to the left sitting on the panel “A Tribute to Teena Marie” in the Clive Davis Auditorium of the Grammy Museum in Downtown Los Angeles – January 2011(L to R: KJLH Program Director Aundrae Russell, George Duke, A. Scott Galloway and Alia Rose, Teena Marie’s daughter)

2013-08-07

President Obama on Trayvon Martin


President Obama on Trayvon Martin

Video by NBC

2013-08-06

Jazz/Funk legend George Duke dead at 67

b. George Duke, 12th January 1946, San Rafael, California, U.S.A.
d. 5th August 2013, St. John’s Hospital, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

Jazz musician George Duke died Monday in Los Angeles at age 67. A pioneer in the funk and R&B genres, he had been battling chronic lymphocytic leukemia, according to his label Concord Music Group, which confirmed his death reports USAToday.com.

“The outpouring of love and support that we have received from my father’s friends, fans and the entire music community has been overwhelming,” said his son, Rashid Duke, in a statement. “Thank you all for your concern, prayers and support.”

Soul Walking Link on George Duke: http://www.soulwalking.co.uk/George%20Duke.html

2013-08-05

Major League Baseball suspensions for 12, reports say

Story by ESPN

Major League Baseball has agreed to 50-game suspensions with 12 players for their roles in the Biogenesis case, multiple media reported Monday. Alex Rodriguez was expected to be served with the harshest penalty, and an announcement was expected later in the day. Initially confirmed by FoxSports.com, the players to have agreed to the suspensions without the right to appeal are:

• Nelson Cruz, Rangers outfielder

• Everth Cabrera, Padres shortstop

• Jhonny Peralta, Tigers shortstop

• Antonio Bastardo, Phillies reliever

• Jordany Valdespin, Mets outfielder

• Francisco Cervelli, Yankees catcher

• Jesus Montero, Mariners catcher

• Cesar Puello, Mets outfield prospect

• Sergio Escalona, Houston Astros pitching prospect

• Fernando Martinez, Yankees outfield prospect

• Fautino De Los Santos, free-agent pitcher

• Jordan Norberto, free-agent pitcher

Milwaukee outfielder Ryan Braun was the first player to reach an agreement with MLB on a suspension for his connection to the Biogenesis case. The 2011 NL MVP accepted a season-ending 65-game suspension last month.

2013-08-04

Happy Birthday President Obama

Friends --

Barack's 52nd birthday is today -- and I want to make sure you have a chance to wish him all the best.

Add your name to Barack's birthday card now - Link: https://my.democrats.org/page/s/happy-birthday-president-obama?firstname=First+Name&lastname=Last+Name&email=ktanter%40radio-one.com&zip=20706&utm_medium=email&utm_source=obama&utm_content=1+-+Add+your+name+to+Baracks+birthday+card+n&utm_campaign=em13_20130803_mo_flotusbday_nsnk&source=em13_20130803_mo_flotusbday_nsnk

I've been doing these cards for Barack for a few years now, and I can't tell you how much he enjoys getting messages from folks like you.

He thinks of you all each day when he heads into work, and it's Americans like you who he's fighting for every single day.

Sign this card and let him know that you're with him as he works to make sure every person has health care they can count on, to continue building our economy so it works for everyone, to keep fighting climate change, and to protect women's rights.

Add your name now:

http://my.democrats.org/Happy-Birthday-POTUS

Thanks,

Michelle

President Obama's Weekly Address: Securing a Better Bargain for the Middle Class


In this week’s address, President Obama tells the American people that his plan for creating a better bargain for the middle class builds on the progress we’ve made, fighting our way back from the worst economic recession of our lifetimes.

2013-08-01

George Zimmerman armed during recent Texas traffic stop



Story by Yahoo
Written by Jason Sickle
Video by AP / Forney Police Department, Texas

DALLAS – George Zimmerman, who was recently acquitted in the controversial shooting death of Trayvon Martin, had a handgun in his truck's glove box when a Texas police officer pulled him over for speeding near Dallas last Sunday, authorities say.

Zimmerman immediately told the Forney, Texas officer he had the gun when the officer approached his door. Earlier reports by a Dallas TV station that the weapon was sitting outside the glove box were inaccurate, said Forney city manager Brian Brooks.

Transporting a gun inside a vehicle's compartment is legal in Texas. Zimmerman's conceal carry permit was re-instated after he was found not guilty, but the gun involved in the death of Martin is now with federal investigators who are conducting their own probe.

The Sunday traffic stop, which was captured on the officer's dashboard camera, lasted about five minutes.
"It wasn't for super-excessive speeds, they just got him on regular speeding," Brooks told Reuters. "It's a pretty routine stop except for the fact that it was George Zimmerman."

On July 13, Zimmerman was found not guilty in the 2012 shooting death of Martin, an unarmed black teenager in Sanford, Florida. The trial of the onetime neighborhood crime watchman was televised to a wide audience and his acquittal led to nationwide protests and prompted President Barack Obama to speak out on the case.

On the dashcam video, the Zimmerman says "Nowhere in particular" when Officer A.R. Humphrey asks him where he is headed.

"Nowhere in particular. Why do you say that?" the officer responds.

"You didn't see my name?" Zimmerman replies.

The officer then studies Zimmerman's driver's license and says, "What a coincidence."

Asked by the officer if he was clear of criminal warrants, Zimmerman replies, "Absolutely."

"Go ahead and shut your glove compartment, and don't play with your firearm, OK?" the officer says before walking back to his patrol car to check Zimmerman's license and vehicle registration.

Zimmerman's legal team declined to answer questions about the traffic stop, but did send out a message on Twitter: "For his safety, we won’t make any comments about Zimmerman’s whereabouts, and we will work to protect his privacy."

Mark O'Mara, his attorney, has previously said that Zimmerman planned to arm himself because of threats against his life.

The officer let Zimmerman off with a warning and sent him on his way.

"Have a safe trip," the officer said.