MERRICK WASHINGTON MAGAZINE
FOR THE BLIND
WINTER 2009
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Table of Contents
Editorial Committee Notes ……………... 1
Our Readers Write …………………….... 2
U. S. News and Politics
President Barack Obama ……………………….……... 3
Check out our section dedicated to the election of the US's
first African American President.
Obama Elected President as Racial Barrier
Falls (The New York Times)…………………..…... 3
A Time to Reap for Foot Soldiers of Civil
Rights (The New York Times) ……………………. 10
Barack Obama Announces National Security
Team (The Chicago Defender) …...….…………… 15
Welcome Mr. President ... We Have Been
Waiting For You! (Blackvoices.com) ..................... 18
Almost two million people voyaged to D.C. to
witness the inauguration of the first U.S president
of color.
The Obamas Get Personal (People).…………….. 22
Kiddie theater in the living room and family
heart-to-hearts upstairs in bed.
Democratic Presidential candidate Barack
Obama and his Family offer a rare peek into
their hectic home life.
2
Dick Parsons: Welcome to the “Citi”
(Essence.com)………………………………………..… 27
Roland Burris sworn into Senate
(Associated Press)…………………………………….... 28
Features
Ethiopia’s New Jerusalem
(American Legacy) ……………………………………... 31
Since the fourth century, Christianity has
thrived throughout Ethiopia, particularly in the
town of Lalibela, home of 12 extraordinary
ancient churches.
Black German Holocaust Victims
(Black-History-Month.co.uk)………….………….……. 34
Black History Facts
(Black History Every Day)............................................... 38
Sports
Tennis Phenom Ups His Game
(The CRISIS) ………..……..………………………..….. 40
Brother and Sister Take Silver in Fencing
(Blackvoices.com) ………………………….…...……… 42
Olympic 2008: Stars to Watch
(Blackvoices.com) …………………………....………… 43
Bolt Breaks 100-Meter Record,
Wins Olympic Gold (Associated Press) ………………. 46
Phelps Wins 8th Gold Medal; Breaks Tie
With Spitz (Associated Press) ……………………...…. 51
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US Hoops Back on Top, Beats Spain
For Gold Medal (News.yahoo.com) ………………..…. 57
Induction Ceremony at Hall of Fame
Goes Hog Wild (Associated Press) ………..…...……… 61
Edwin Moses – Men of Honor & Distinction
(American Legacy) …………………………………...… 64
Arts & Entertainment
Spike Lee – Men of Honor & Distinction
(American Legacy) ………………………………….….. 67
Four Tops vocalist Levi Stubbs dies at 72
(News.yahoo.com) …………….………………….....…. 70
More Than ‘Shaft’: Hayes was
Goldmine of Influence (Associated Press)……...…...….71
Remembering Eartha Kitt
(Entertainment Weekly)…………………………...……. 76
Beyoncé Opens Up About Life in the Spotlight
(Uptown) ………………………………………..……… 78
Others on Top in 2008
(Uptown) ……………………………………………….. 82
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Editorial Notes
By the time you receive this issue, Barack Obama’s
extraordinary victory as the nation’s first African American
president – and the joyful celebration it caused – will have
claimed a permanent place in our nation’s history.
According to an October 2008 JET article, Barack
Obama’s run for the Whitehouse was predicted 40 years
ago by Senator Robert F. Kennedy, whose brother John F.
Kennedy served as president from 1961-1963. RFK said in
1968 that things are “moving so fast in race relations a
Negro (black) could be president in 40 years.”
The senator recognized that prejudice in America
would continue to exist, “but we have tried to make
progress and we are making progress,” he said. “We are not
going to accept the status quo.”
He was right. On January 20th, 2009, the day after
Martin Luther King Jr. Day, an African American man
became our 44th president. As you’ll read in this issue’s US
News and Politics section, it was a historic moment that
moved and inspired audiences around the world.
Since our summer issue, African Americans athletes
have also been making headlines. In our expanded sports
coverage, you’ll find highlights from the 2008 Summer
Olympics in Beijing, where black athletes shattered world
records and made momentous strides in basketball, fencing,
swimming, tennis, and track.
With Black History Month (February) on the horizon,
we’ve included articles filled with details about important
facts and dates, as well as features honoring the experiences
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of people of African decent around the world, such as
Ethiopian Catholics and black survivors of the Holocaust.
Although we endured the loss of legendary artists in
2008, our Arts & Entertainment section shines light on a
cast of young, talented African Americans who have
already begun to preserve and extend the legacies
established by the generation before.
So, sit back, relax and enjoy the Winter 2009 issue.
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Our Readers Write
To MWM:
My name is Daniel Lee. I am one of your readers and I
enjoy reading the magazine very, very much. I am black
and I was born when your magazine was founded, 1952, by
two very beautiful people, smile. I think your magazine is
very educational for black people in America. I found out
many things that I did not know, mainly about Africa. Your
Winter 2008 issue was great! I wish you could print more
sports, and more information about singers.
Also, I would like to receive some print copies of the
Winter 2007 Issue. I would like to share them with my
friends so they can learn more about our native land,
Africa. Be black and proud.
Keep up the good work. Take care, and best wishes to
you and yours; and peace b e with you all.
-- Your friend always in Christ, dearly, and sincerely,
Daniel Lee
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U. S. News and Politics
The New York Times, Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Obama Elected President as Racial
Barrier Falls
By Adam Nagourney
Barack Hussein Obama was elected the 44th president
of the United States on Tuesday, sweeping away the last
racial barrier in American politics with ease as the country
chose him as its first black chief executive.
The election of Mr. Obama amounted to a national
catharsis — a repudiation of a historically unpopular
Republican president and his economic and foreign
policies, and an embrace of Mr. Obama’s call for a change
in the direction and the tone of the country.
But it was just as much a strikingly symbolic moment
in the evolution of the nation’s fraught racial history, a
breakthrough that would have seemed unthinkable just two
years ago.
Mr. Obama, 47, a first-term senator from Illinois,
defeated Senator John McCain of Arizona, 72, a former
prisoner of war who was making his second bid for the
presidency.
To the very end, Mr. McCain’s campaign was eclipsed
by an opponent who was nothing short of a phenomenon,
drawing huge crowds epitomized by the tens of thousands
of people who turned out to hear Mr. Obama’s victory
speech in Grant Park in Chicago.
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Mr. McCain also fought the headwinds of a
relentlessly hostile political environment, weighted down
with the baggage left to him by President Bush and an
economic collapse that took place in the middle of the
general election campaign.
“If there is anyone out there who still doubts that
America is a place where all things are possible, who still
wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time,
who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is
your answer,” said Mr. Obama, standing before a huge
wooden lectern with a row of American flags at his back,
casting his eyes to a crowd that stretched far into the
Chicago night.
“It’s been a long time coming,” the president-elect
added, “but tonight, because of what we did on this date in
this election at this defining moment, change has come to
America.”
Mr. McCain delivered his concession speech under
clear skies on the lush lawn of the Arizona Biltmore, in
Phoenix, where he and his wife had held their wedding
reception. The crowd reacted with scattered boos as he
offered his congratulations to Mr. Obama and saluted the
historical significance of the moment.
“This is a historic election, and I recognize the
significance it has for African-Americans and for the
special pride that must be theirs tonight,” Mr. McCain said,
adding, “We both realize that we have come a long way
from the injustices that once stained our nation’s
reputation.”
Not only did Mr. Obama capture the presidency, but
he led his party to sharp gains in Congress. This puts
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Democrats in control of the House, the Senate and the
White House for the first time since 1995, when Bill
Clinton was in office.
The day shimmered with history as voters began lining
up before dawn, hours before polls opened, to take part in
the culmination of a campaign that over the course of two
years commanded an extraordinary amount of attention
from the American public.
As the returns became known, and Mr. Obama passed
milestone after milestone —Ohio, Florida, Virginia,
Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Iowa and New Mexico —
people rolled spontaneously into the streets to celebrate
what many described, with perhaps overstated if
understandable exhilaration, a new era in a country where
just 143 years ago, Mr. Obama, as a black man, could have
been owned as a slave.
For Republicans, especially the conservatives who
have dominated the party for nearly three decades, the night
represented a bitter setback and left them contemplating
where they now stand in American politics.
Mr. Obama and his expanded Democratic majority on
Capitol Hill now face the task of governing the country
through a difficult period: the likelihood of a deep and
prolonged recession, and two wars. He took note of those
circumstances in a speech that was notable for its sobriety
and its absence of the triumphalism that he might
understandably have displayed on a night when he won an
Electoral College landslide.
“The road ahead will be long, our climb will be steep,”
said Mr. Obama, his audience hushed and attentive, with
some, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson, wiping tears from
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their eyes. “We may not get there in one year or even one
term, but America, I have never been more hopeful than I
am tonight that we will get there. I promise you, we as a
people will get there.” The roster of defeated Republicans
included some notable party moderates, like Senator John
E. Sununu of New Hampshire and Representative
Christopher Shays of Connecticut, and signaled that the
Republican conference convening early next year in
Washington will be not only smaller but more conservative.
Mr. Obama will come into office after an election in
which he laid out a number of clear promises: to cut taxes
for most Americans, to get the United States out of Iraq in a
fast and orderly fashion, and to expand health care.
In recognition of the difficult transition he faces, given
the economic crisis, Mr. Obama is expected to begin filling
White House jobs as early as this week.
Mr. Obama defeated Mr. McCain in Ohio, a central
battleground in American politics, despite a huge effort that
brought Mr. McCain and his running mate, Gov. Sarah
Palin of Alaska, back there repeatedly. Mr. Obama had lost
the state decisively to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of
New York in the Democratic primary.
Mr. McCain failed to take from Mr. Obama the two
Democratic states that were at the top of his target list: New
Hampshire and Pennsylvania. Mr. Obama also held on to
Minnesota, the state that played host to the convention that
nominated Mr. McCain; Wisconsin; and Michigan, a state
Mr. McCain once had in his sights.
The apparent breadth of Mr. Obama’s sweep left
Republicans sobered, and his showing in states like Ohio
and Pennsylvania stood out because officials in both parties
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had said that his struggles there in the primary campaign
reflected the resistance of blue-collar voters to supporting a
black candidate.
“I always thought there was a potential prejudice
factor in the state,” Senator Bob Casey, a Democrat of
Pennsylvania who was an early Obama supporter, told
reporters in Chicago. “I hope this means we washed that
away.”
Mr. McCain called Mr. Obama at 10 p.m., Central
time, to offer his congratulations. In the call, Mr. Obama
said he was eager to sit down and talk; in his concession
speech, Mr. McCain said he was ready to help Mr. Obama
work through difficult times.
“I need your help,” Mr. Obama told his rival,
according to an Obama adviser, Robert Gibbs. “You’re a
leader on so many important issues.”
Mr. Bush called Mr. Obama shortly after 10 p.m. to
congratulate him on his victory.
“I promise to make this a smooth transition,” the
president said to Mr. Obama, according to a transcript
provided by the White House .“You are about to go on one
of the great journeys of life. Congratulations, and go enjoy
yourself.”
For most Americans, the news of Mr. Obama’s
election came at 11 p.m., Eastern time, when the networks,
waiting for the close of polls in California, declared him the
victor. A roar sounded from the 125,000 people gathered in
Hutchison Field in Grant Park at the moment that they
learned Mr. Obama had been projected the winner.
The scene in Phoenix was decidedly more sour. At
several points, Mr. McCain, unsmiling, had to motion his
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crowd to quiet down — he held out both hands, palms
down — when they responded to his words of tribute to
Mr. Obama with boos.
Mr. Obama, who watched Mr. McCain’s speech from
his hotel room in Chicago, offered a hand to voters who
had not supported him in this election, when he took the
stage 15 minutes later. “To those Americans whose support
I have yet to earn,” he said, “I may not have won your vote,
but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your
president, too.”
Initial signs were that Mr. Obama benefited from a
huge turnout of voters, but particularly among blacks. That
group made up 13 percent of the electorate, according to
surveys of people leaving the polls, compared with 11
percent in 2006.
In North Carolina, Republicans said that the huge
surge of African-Americans was one of the big factors that
led to Senator Elizabeth Dole, a Republican, losing her reelection bid.
Mr. Obama also did strikingly well among Hispanic
voters; Mr. McCain did worse among those voters than Mr.
Bush did in 2004. That suggests the damage the Republican
Party has suffered among those voters over four years in
which Republicans have been at the forefront on the effort
to crack down on illegal immigrants.
The election ended what by any definition was one of
the most remarkable contests in American political history,
drawing what was by every appearance unparalleled public
interest.
Throughout the day, people lined up at the polls for
hours — some showing up before dawn — to cast their
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votes. Aides to both campaigns said that anecdotal
evidence suggested record-high voter turnout.
Reflecting the intensity of the two candidates, Mr.
McCain and Mr. Obama took a page from what Mr. Bush
did in 2004 and continued to campaign after the polls
opened.
Mr. McCain left his home in Arizona after voting
early Tuesday to fly to Colorado and New Mexico, two
states where Mr. Bush won four years ago but where Mr.
Obama waged a spirited battle.
These were symbolically appropriate final campaign
stops for Mr. McCain, reflecting the imperative he felt of
trying to defend Republican states against a challenge from
Mr. Obama.
“Get out there and vote,” Mr. McCain said in Grand
Junction, Colo. “I need your help. Volunteer, knock on
doors, get your neighbors to the polls, drag them there if
you need to.”
By contrast, Mr. Obama flew from his home in
Chicago to Indiana, a state that in many ways came to
epitomize the audacity of his effort this year. Indiana has
not voted for a Democrat since President Lyndon B.
Johnson’s landslide victory in 1964, and Mr. Obama made
an intense bid for support there. He later returned home to
Chicago to play basketball, his election-day ritual.
Elisabeth Bumiller contributed reporting from Phoenix, Marjorie Connelly
from New York and Jeff Zeleny from Chicago.
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The New York Times, Wednesday, November 4, 2008
A Time to Reap for Foot Soldiers
of Civil Rights
By Kevin Sack
Albany, Ga – Rutha Mae Harris backed her silver Town
Car out of the driveway early Tuesday morning, pointed it
toward her polling place on Mercer Avenue and started to
sing.
“I’m going to vote like the spirit say vote,” Miss
Harris chanted softly.
“I’m going to vote like the spirit say vote,
“I’m going to vote like the spirit say vote,
And if the spirit say vote I’m going to vote,
Oh Lord, I’m going to vote when the spirit say vote.”
As a 21-year old student, she had bellowed that same
freedom song at mass meeting at Mount Zion Baptist
Church back in 1961, the year Barack Obama was born in
Hawaii, a universe away. She sang it again while marching
on Albany’s City Hall, where she and other black students
demanded the right to vote, and in the cramped and filthy
cells of the city jail when the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr. described as the worst he ever inhabited.
For those like Miss Harris who withstood jailings and
beatings and threats to their livelihoods, all because they
wanted to vote, the short drive to the polls on Tuesday
culminated a lifelong journey from a time that is at once
unrecognizable and eerily familiar here in southwest
Georgia. As they exited the voting booths, some in
wheelchairs, others with canes, these foot soldiers of the
civil rights movement could not suppress either their
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jubilation or their astonishment at having voted for an
African American for president of the United States.
“They didn’t give us our mule and our acre, but things are
better,” Miss Harris, 67, said with a gratified smile. “It’s
time to reap some of the harvest.”
When Miss Harris arrived at the city gymnasium
where she votes, her 80-year-old friend, Mamie L. Nelson,
greeted her with a hug. “We marched, we sang and now it’s
happening.” Ms. Nelson said. “It’s really a feeling I cannot
describe.”
Many, like the Rev. Horace C. Boyd, who was then
and is now pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church, viewed the
moment through the prism of biblical prophecy. If Dr. King
was the movement’s Moses, doomed to die without
crossing the Jordan, it would fall to Mr. Obama to be its
Joshua, they said.
“King made the statement that he viewed the Promised
Land, won’t get there, but somebody will get there, and that
day has dawned,” said Mr. Boyd, 81, who pushed his wife,
who uses a wheelchair, to the polls late Tuesday morning.
“I’m glad that it has.”
It was a day most never imagined that they would live
to see. From their vantage point amid the cotton fields and
pecan groves of Dougherty County, where the movement
for voting rights faced some of its most determined
resistance, the country simply did not seem ready.
Yes, the world has changed in 47 years. At City Hall,
the offices once occupied by the segregated mayor, Asa D.
Kelley Jr. and the police chief, Laurie Pritchett, are now
filled by Mayor Willie Adams and Chief James Younger,
both of whom are black. But much in this black-majority
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city of 75,000 also seems the same; neighborhoods remain
starkly delineated by race, blacks are still five times more
likely than whites to live in poverty and the public schools
have so re-segregated that 9 of every 10 students are black.
Miss Harris, a retired special education teacher who was
jailed three times in 1961 and 1962, was so convinced that
Mr. Obama could not win white support that she backed
Senator Hillary Rodman Clinton in the primaries. “I just
didn’t feel it was time for a black man, to be honest,” she
said. “But the Lord has revealed to me that it is time for a
change.”
Among the things Miss Harris appreciates about Mr.
Obama is that even though he was in diapers while she was
in jail, he seems to respect what came before. “He’s of a
different time and place, but he knows whose shoulders
he’s standing on,” she said.
When the movement came to Albany in 1961, fewer
than 100 of Dougherty County’s 20,000 black residents
were registered to vote, said the Rev. Charles M. Sherrod,
one of the first field workers sent here by the Student
Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Literacy tests made a
mockery of due process – Mr. Boyd remembers being
asked by a registrar how many bubbles were in a bar of
soap – and bosses made it clear to black workers that
registration might be incompatible with continued
employment.
Lucius Holloway Sr., 76, said he lost his job as a post
office custodian after he began registering voters in
neighboring Terrell County. He said he was shunned by
other blacks who hated him for the trouble he incited.
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Now Mr. Holloway is a member of the county commission,
and when he voted for Mr. Obama last week he said his
pride was overwhelming. “Thank you, Jesus, I lived to see
the fruit of my labor,” he said.
The Albany movement spread with frenzied abandon
after the arrival of Mr. Sherrod and other voting-rights
organizers, and Dr. King devoted nearly a year to the effort.
The protests became known for the exuberant songs that
Miss Harris and others adapted from Negro spirituals. (She
would go on to become one of the Freedom Singers, a
group that traveled the country as heralds for the civil rights
movement.) In the jails, the music helped wile away time
and soothe the soul, just as they had in the fields a century
before.
But the movement met its match in Albany’s
recalcitrant white leaders, who filled the jails with
demonstrators while avoiding the kind of violence that
drew media outrage and federal intervention in other civil
rights battlegrounds. The energy gradually drained from the
protests, and Dr. King moved on to Birmingham, counting
Albany as a tactical failure.
Mr. Sherrod, 71, who settled in Albany and continues
to lead a civil rights group here, argues that the movement
succeeded; it simply took time. He said he felt the weight
of that history when he voted last Tuesday morning, after
receiving radiation treatment for his prostate cancer. He
thought of the hundreds of mass meetings, of the songs of
hope and the sermons of deliverance. “This is what we
prayed for, this is what we worked for,” he said. “We have
a legitimate chance to be a democracy.”
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Over and again, the civil rights veterans drew direct
lines between their work and the color-blindness of Mr.
Obama’s candidacy. But they emphasized that they did not
vote for him simply because of his race.
“I think he would make just a good as president as any
one of those whites ever made, that’s what I think about it,”
said 103-year-old Daisy Newsome, who knocked on doors
to register voters “until my hand was sore,” and was jailed
in 1961 during a march that started at Mount Zion Baptist.
“It ain’t because he’s black, because I’ve voted for the
whites.” She added, “I know he can’t be no worse than
what there’s done been.”
Mount Zion has now been preserved as a landmark,
attached to a new $4 million civil rights museum that was
financed through a voter-approved sales tax increase.
Across the street, Shiloh Baptist, founded in 1888 still
holds services in the sanctuary where Dr. King preached
mass meetings.
Among those leading Sunday worship was the
associate pastor Henry L. Mathis, 53, a former
commissioner whose grandmother was a movement
stalwart. He could not let the moment pass without looking
back.
“We are standing on Jordan’s stony banks, and we’re
casting wishful eye to Canaan’s far and happy land,” Mr.
Mathis preached. “We sang through the years that we shall
overcome, our Father, our God, we pray that you show that
we have overcome.”
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Chicago Defender, December 3, 2008
Barack Obama Announces National
Security Team
by Wendell Hutson
After assembling his economic team last week, on
Monday, President-elect Barack Obama turned his focus to
building his national security team.
Obama nominated lawyer Eric Holder Jr. to be the
first black attorney general and former assistant secretary of
state Susan Rice to be the first black ambassador to the
United Nations.
“Eric has the combination of toughness and
independence that we need at the Justice Department,”
Obama said at a press conference Monday, formally
announcing his national security team picks. “The Attorney
General represents the people of America, and I am
confident Eric will uphold the U.S. Constitution and help
us bring those who do harm to this country to justice.”
Holder is currently a partner with the law firm
Covington & Burling LLP in Washington, D.C. and served
as a deputy attorney general for President Bill Clinton.
And when it comes to tackling terrorism and domestic
crimes, Holder said he is ready to address it head on.
“The Department of Justice plays a unique role on this
(national security) team,” he said. “This president and the
team before you are prepared to meet the challenges we
will face.”
Obama said Rice’s experience as a former Assistant
Secretary of State for African Affairs during the Clinton
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administration makes her a perfect choice for U.N.
ambassador.
She was also a foreign policy adviser to Obama’s
presidential campaign.
“Susan knows the global challenges we face,” Obama said.
Fighting poverty and diseases and ending genocide are
among the things Rice said must be done to improve
America and the world.
“We must invest in our common humanity if we are to
improve this nation,” Rice said. “We must renew American
leadership.”
Previously, Obama added four other blacks to his
administration: Valerie Jarrett, former board chair for the
Chicago Transit Authority, will serve as senior White
House adviser; Desiree Rogers, president of social
networking at Allstate Financial, will be White House
social secretary; Melody Barnes, campaign senior policy
adviser, is tapped to be White House Domestic Policy
Council director; and Robert Nabors, currently staff
director and clerk of the House Appropriations Committee,
is Obama’s pick for deputy director of the Office of
Management and Budget.
U.S. Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-7th), who is seeking to
replace Obama in the U.S. Senate, said both Holder and
Rice were excellent choices.
“It just goes to show that if you look hard enough you
can find qualified blacks for any position,” Davis told the
Defender. “We have not seen blacks in these roles before
so it is incumbent that they do well, which I know they
will.”
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And voters were also elated to see Obama is
appointing blacks to key cabinet posts.
“Obama is a hometown guy, and even though he does
not live in the 'hood,' it's nice to see he has not forgotten
where he came from,” said Brian Hubbard, 41. “I know
sometimes black folks forget where they come from when
they become popular but not Obama.”
Cheryl Hayes, 59, said she would have preferred if the
Secretary of State nominee were also black.
“I was glad to see that he is putting qualified blacks at the
forefront of his administration and not at the back,” she
said. “But it would be better if the face of the nation,
besides Obama, was black. Still, I am pleased with the
work he has done so far.”
Additionally, Obama chose Sen. Hillary Rodham
Clinton, D-N.Y., for Secretary of State.
“I am proud to join you on what will be a different and
exciting adventure in this new century,” Clinton said at
Monday’s press conference. “I will give this country my
all.”
Davis said despite some Clinton critics who fear she
will clash with Obama over diplomacy and the war in Iraq,
he knows from personal experience the two will be able to
work together and move the country forward.
“Obama is the boss, and at the end of the day when all
debates have been put forward, it is Obama who will have
the final say,” Davis said. “Clinton knows that and would
not have accepted the job if she thought she could not work
with him.”
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Blackvoices.com, Jan 20th 2009
Welcome Mr. President ... We Have Been
Waiting For You!
by Branden Cobb
He is the 47-year-old man with the funny name and
athletic build who came out of nowhere to rise to the height
of political success. He is uniquely American; the son of an
African father, a white mother from Kansas who was raised
in picturesque Hawaii by his white grandparents only to
grow up and marry a black female attorney from a working
class family.
He is a father, a brother, a lawyer, a community
activist. He has been a unifying force in the country unlike
no other since Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., drawing a
record setting crowd estimated at 2 million to the nation's
capitol to watch him take the oath of office today, January
20, 2009.
He is the 44th President of the United States today,
Barack Hussein Obama: the first African American in
history to lead America. ...
"My fellow citizens: I stand here today humbled by
the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed,
mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors," said
Obama.
As he mentioned during his Democratic nomination
acceptance speech in August 2008, on the same day as Dr.
King's "I Have A Dream Speech" on the steps of the
Lincoln Memorial, Obama is aware of the struggles our
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forefathers endured so that he could be thought of as the
right man for this country, at this time. He is now the one
entrusted to fulfill at least part of King's vision by forcing
people to see that being able to see past skin color is what
is going to help this nation overcome its greatest
challenges. While he has not done all the work, he has
helped the country takes major steps towards racial
acceptance and tolerance.
"We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn
from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted
the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged
from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot
help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass
...,"said Obama during his inaugural speech.
He may have fumbled through the oath of office,
demonstrating that he is not as great an orator as Dr. King,
the man for whom he is most compared; but he has become
the voice that's been heard from the plains to the
boardroom in this country; a respected speaker and leader
who has a way of reaching in and pulling faith in
possibilities from nearly everyone. Today, after lifting his
hand off the bible used by President Abraham Lincoln, the
man who released blacks from slavery, Obama called on all
Americans to join together to free this country from its
hopelessness.
Said Obama: "We remain a young nation, but in the
words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish
things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit;
to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious
gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to
generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are
23
free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure
of happiness."
Make no mistake, Obama is also the man chosen to
dig America out of the depths of financial ruin, two wars
and a crisis of confidence not seen seen since the forties.
The obstacles ahead for him will be steep and even he
concedes the work to be done can't be completed overnight.
"Today I say to you that the challenges we face are
real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be
met easily or in a short span of time. But know this,
America - they will be met," said Obama.
So fittingly, he began his day by attending a prayer
service at a church that's host Presidents before him since
the 1860's. But, he is not like all the rest; a point he drove
home in his first major address to the nation.
"Obama is an inspiration to all the world, and he has
inspired me and my family," said, Alicia Cooper, a mom
from Illinois. "Seeing him, my kids know that anything is
possible."
Still, he is a man who faces the job in front of him
with an optimism and determination not seen in years. He
infectious enthusiasm has brought him rock star fame,
drawing praise from leaders around the world and
celebrities and politicians here at home. Some say it's a
phenomenon that has not been witnessed since John F.
Kennedy in 1961. Much like him, Obama took the
opportunity to use his speech to challenge himself and
others to rise up.
"Today I say to you that the challenges we face are
real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be
24
met easily or in a short span of time. But know this,
America - they will be met," said Obama.
Similar to Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1945, Obama
realized he must have a rescue plan to save the country
that's allowed him to break through one of the glass
ceilings civil rights leaders fought to shatter. He did that by
vowing to steadfastly work on job creation, improving the
school, increasing diplomatic ties with America's friends
and enemies, and even extending a hand to the Muslim
world.
However, he made it clear he'd be tough in the war on
terror and ensure the US takes back its place as a
Superpower. But, it this line from his speech on this chilly
afternoon in Washington, DC today that sums up his vision
for his future and America.
"In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of
our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With
hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents,
and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our
children's children that when we were tested we refused to
let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we
falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace
upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and
delivered it safely to future generations," ended Obama.
Amen, President Obama, Amen!
----------
25
People, August 4, 2008
The Obamas Get Personal
Kiddie theater in the living room and family heart-to-hearts
upstairs in bed. Democratic presidential candidate Barack
Obama and his family offer a rare peek into their hectic
home life
By Sandra Sobieraj Westfall
“Oh,” says Michelle Obama, surveying her Chicago
living room. A stuffed panda is plopped beside the marble
fireplace. “That doesn’t really belong there. It was part of a
Kung Fu Panda performance the girls put on right here last
night.” In the next room, at the baby grand piano, daughter
Sasha is plucking keys of “Li’l Liza Jane” from a Faber
lesson book. It’s when the 7-year-old skips barefoot out the
front door that you’re reminded this three-story house in
the Hyde Park neighborhood does not belong to your
ordinary family. A Secret Service agent posted in the
dining room whispers into his sleeve: “Front porch.”
Come January, “front porch” for Sasha and big sister
Maila, 10, could be the Truman Balcony. Their father, 46year-old Barack Obama, the senator from Illinois whose
promise of hope and change has swept Democrats off their
feet this year, will in all likelihood claim his party’s
president nomination in August and perhaps take another
step toward writing history as the nation’s first black
President. If he does make it to the White House, it will be
with two of the youngest residents in more than 30 years,
since Amy Carter moved in at the age of 9 in 1977. Says
26
presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, who
considers the Obamas’ youthful household to be part of the
candidate’s allure: “To the extent that Obama’s appeal has
been to a younger generation, his exuberant children
symbolize that hope of a changing guard.”
Earlier this summer, the Obamas agreed to allow
People into their Chicago home and to travel with them on
the campaign trail for an intimate conversation about how
they live their lives. They are eager to protect their
daughters’ privacy – and the senator recently expressed his
regrets for letting the girls be interviewed on Access
Hollywood. The subject of the future “may come up when
we’re out for a walk (with the girls). ‘What’s it like living
in the White House?’ And we don’t really know,” says
Michelle, 44. So far, says Barack – impatient at first after a
draining day on the stump but ready to talk about the girls –
the race for the Presidency has seemed to do no harm to
their daughters; “I’ve been really happy by how nonplussed
they’ve been by the whole thing.”
For the past three years, the family has lived in a sixbedroom Georgian revival blocks from the University of
Chicago on the city’s South Side. The dark, wood-paneled
front door, scattered with Asian and African art picked up
during their travels, is mostly for when company comes. In
the den, paperback novels fill glass-fronted bookcases and
a family portrait by Annie Leibovitz is displayed in a frame
the only way it fits – turned on its side. In the dining room,
a mismatched light fixture stands out. “I know it’s wrong,”
says Michelle. “I’ve been meaning to change it for two
years now.”
27
There clearly hasn’t been much time for decorating
since Barack and Michelle Obama, flush with cash from his
bestselling memoirs, paid off their student loans and bought
the house for $1.65 million in 2005. Since then, Barack has
moved from the Illinois senate to Capitol Hill and launched
his presidential bid. Michelle juggled her job as a hospital
executive with two kids and no nanny until January, when
she took leave to support her husband’s candidacy. Was
this what the couple, both Harvard-trained lawyers,
envisioned when they married in 1992? “Whooo-boy!, No.
To me, life was you get married, you have kids, you buy a
home,” says Michelle, the daughter of a Chicago city
worker and stay-at-home mom. “I thought Barack would be
a partner at a law firm or maybe teach or work in the
community. We’d watch our kids go to college and go to
their weddings and take care of the grandkids and that was
it.” And now? She shrugs, eyes wide. “Who knows?”
Whatever the future may hold, the Obamas want a life
of stability and daily routine for their girls, something that
Barack, who was abandoned by his Kenyan father at the
age of 2, missed as he shuttled between his mom, who
moved to Indonesia, and grandparents, who lived in
Honolulu. “Our childhood was constant moving and
adventure but little stability,” says Obama’s half sister
Maya Soetoro-Ng, 38. “Barack wants for his girls a
rootedness and community that he didn’t have.”
As the family poses for photographs on the living
room couch, the women of the family gang up on the lone
male. Michelle pokes at Barack’s thinning hair, prompting
him to retort, “Well, Sasha has no teeth.” At which point
Maila, without skipping a beat, shoots back, “But what
28
about your head?” “Nice comeback,” says Michelle. After
a click of the shutter, Sasha reprimands her father: “You
weren’t smiling!” Barack rolls his eyes and smiles. “They
are just sweet,” he says afterwards. “They make me
happy.”
The girls may be irreverent, but they are also well
mannered, slipping off their shoes before climbing on the
velvet sofa. “There are downstairs rules,” Michelle says
later, like no shoes on the furniture. But in the girl’s thirdfloor playroom the couch doubles as a trampoline. “So
there are different rules in different parts of the house,”
Michelle continues.
In the kitchen, where it’s the girls’ job to set and clear
the dinner table, sunlight streams through a solarium-style
glass wall, showing off black granite countertops – and dust
collecting on an unopened bottle of Kendall-Jackson
chardonnay. Michelle’s 71-year-old mother, Marion
Robinson, is unpacking the family’s takeout lunch from
Subway. These days, with Barack gone, by his estimation,
“98 percent of the time,” and Michelle herself campaigning
two or three days a week, the girls’ grandmother runs them
to summer day camp and enforces, more loosely than their
parents would like, their nightly hour of TV time and 8:30
p.m. bedtime. As Robinson told PEOPLE last year, she’s a
little lax. “But don’t tell him because he cannot stand TV
watching.”
Sorry, Mrs. Robinson, “he” knows. We’re in the back
of the campaign bus, waiting out a July 4 hailstorm in
Butte, Mont., and Barack is talking about how, thanks to
Grandma, Malia has been picking up campaign reporting
from TV news. “When some folks were attacking Michelle,
29
Malia just asked, ‘What was that all about?’ And we talked
it through,” he says. Fortunately, he adds with a playful
grin, “she’s completely confident about her mommy’s
wonderfulness.”
While Dad’s on the road, the Obama women keep a
dizzying schedule – soccer, dance and drama for Malia,
gymnastics and tap for Sasha, and tennis and piano for
both. Three times a week, Michelle manages a 90-minute
workout. Tall, with well-toned muscles, she says she looks
into the mirror and sees a healthy woman. “But there’s
always 10 lbs. somewhere, right?” she asks. Barack comes
to her defense – “she’s fine. She looks good,” he says – and
prefers her without makeup or hairdo. “He doesn’t believe
in frills,” says Michelle.
Long gone are the days when Michelle and Barack
tried to split household chores. “I was doing the checkbook,
the house and car repairs, the grocery shopping,” says
Barack. “I would sometimes do the laundry, although not
fold.” “Which is really pretty useless,” says Michelle. She’s
only teasing; she knows he has the future of the family –
and of the country – on his mind. “It’s not enough that we
can provide our own kids with a healthy lifestyle,” she
says. “If they’re not living in a world where other children
have the same advantages, I start worrying about
everybody’s kids.”
Malia and Sasha have been to the White House once
before, in 2005. They were bored, Michelle says, until
President Bush’s dog Barney showed up and they ran with
him on the South Lawn. “They have a wonderful life in
Chicago,” says Barack. “So I’m sure there’s a part of them
that won’t be heartbroken if things don’t work out.”
30
Whether their dad is home or not, many mornings the girls
get into their parents’ bed, says Michelle. “I turn on the
lights so we’re sort of waking up. And we talk. We talk
about Daddy being President, about adolescence, about the
questions they have.”
Now that Barack is constantly on the road, he says he
misses those morning confabs, “Although I have to admit
that sometimes, because I’m more of the night owl, I
wasn’t always a full participant in these conversations. I’d
sort of lie there …” “A dead body,” pipes in Michelle,
completing his sentence. Whether Sasha and Malia end up
history-making first daughters or two nice young women
from Chicago, the Obamas are confident the experience
will be good for the girls and for their own 15-year
marriage. “Time and love and sacrifice and struggles make
you stronger,” says Michelle. To which Barack adds, “If I
ever thought this was ruining my family, I wouldn’t do it.”
---------Essence.com, January 22nd, 2009
Dick Parsons: Welcome to the “Citi”
Former CEO of Time Warner, Dick Parsons, is about
to take on a daunting task. He was just named CEO of
Citigroup, the struggling financial company that just
received a part of the $350 billion allocated in the federal
bailout, according to the NewYorkTimes.com. Parsons has
already announced plans to split the company in half,
including its retail brokerage arm, Smith Barney.
---------31
Associated Press, January 16th, 2009
Roland Burris sworn into Senate
New Illinois senator may have steeper
learning curve than most
WASHINGTON - Roland Burris took his place as Barack
Obama's successor in the U.S. Senate on Thursday, ending
a standoff that embarrassed the president-elect and fellow
Democrats who initially resisted the appointment by
scandal-scarred Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
"I do," Burris said with a grin as Vice President Dick
Cheney administered the oath of office to the former
Illinois attorney general who takes Obama's place as the
Senate's only black member.
More than a week after his colleagues were sworn in,
Burris was seated without objection or a roll call vote, even
though Majority Leader Harry Reid had said senators
would have their voices heard on whether to accept his
appointment.
Illinois congressional delegation members joined
Democratic and Republican senators in giving Burris a
congratulatory standing ovation, handshakes and hugs on
the Senate floor.
Both Reid and Illinois' senior senator, Dick Durbin,
smiled broadly and praised Burris in speeches, insisting
anew that their previous resistance wasn't about Burris
personally but rather about how he was appointed.
"To Senator Burris, on behalf of all senators —
Democrats and Republicans — we welcome you as a
colleague and as a friend," Reid said.
32
Durbin also offered his congratulations before
throwing a reception in his new colleague's honor, saying:
"I know this was a rocky road to this great day in his life
but a road well traveled."
It was a warm welcome that contrasted sharply with
last week's treatment, when Burris showed up on Capitol
Hill to be sworn in with his colleagues, only to be turned
away into the cold and rain by Senate Democratic leaders
who argued that Burris' appointment wasn't valid under
Senate rules.
But as the soon-to-be-impeached Blagojevich watched
from afar, Burris dug in and the two Senate Democratic
leaders ultimately relented under pressure from Obama and
rank-and-file Democrats who worried that the episode was
distracting from more important matters and putting the
party — and the president-elect — in a bad light.
No sooner was Burris sworn on Thursday than he was
expected to cast his first vote, on whether to give Obama
access to the second half of the $700 billion financial
bailout.
The vote was expected to be close; of the 99 senators,
Obama needs a majority to get the money. There is one
Senate vacancy because the election in Minnesota between
Republican Norm Coleman and Democrat Al Franken is
unresolved.
With Burris, Democrats now control the Senate 58 to
41.
Obama's election created a flurry of new faces in the
Senate, as he chose senators to fill key posts in his
administration.
33
Earlier Thursday, Sen. Joe Biden, the incoming vice
president, and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, nominated to
be the next secretary of state, bid goodbye to the Senate.
Sen. Ken Salazar of Colorado also was departing to become
Interior Secretary.
Longtime Biden confidant Edward "Ted" Kaufman
will replace him, while Denver Public Schools
Superintendent Michael Bennet will succeed Salazar. New
York Gov. David Paterson has yet to appoint Clinton's
successor, though his deliberations have been closely
watched because Caroline Kennedy, the scion of a political
dynasty, wants the job.
Obama resigned the Senate days after the November
election.
A few weeks later, Blagojevich — who had the power
to appoint Obama's successor — was arrested on charges
that included trying to trade access to Obama's Senate seat
for personal gain.
Late last month, Blagojevich shocked Obama's team
and Democrats in Washington when he appointed Burris to
the seat. This month, Blagojevich became the first Illinois
governor to be impeached.
----------
34
Features
American Legacy, Winter 2009
Ethiopia’s New Jerusalem
Since the fourth century, Christianity has thrived
throughout Ethiopia, particularly in the town of Lalibela,
home of 12 extraordinary ancient churches
By Chester Higgins, Jr.
In 1973, on my first visit to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, I
photographed the Emperor His Majesty Haile Selassie.
Pulled back to the country by the legend of Lalibela and the
Piety of its people, I returned there the next year to broaden
my knowledge by photographing the countryside and its
people. I have been back a dozen times since, most recently
in December 2007; my next trip to this special, sacred
country is slated for this December.
A millennium after the birth of Jesus Christ, Arab
armies descended upon neighboring Sudan, destroyed its
churches, and forced the conquered Christians to covert to
Islam. Cut off from their northern pilgrimage route to
Jerusalem through what was now Arab territory, the
Ethiopian Christians were determined to construct a “new
Jerusalem.” They renamed a nearby river Jordan and built
12 churches in a village they called Lalibela. Those
monuments stand today as testament to their faith and
resolve.
35
To protect the churches from invading Arab armies,
the people of Lalibela built them below ground, carving
them from bedrock so they could not be seen from afar. It
is said that construction of the New Jerusalem churches
took 100 years. Completed in the thirteenth century, the
structures are far more than holy buildings. They are sacred
sculptures.
Each day a procession of priests in colorful vestments
enters each church carrying large ceremonial silver and
gold crosses, singing liturgical chants in the sacred
language of Ge’ez, beating drums, and clanking silver
sistrums. A fog of incense fills the sanctuary. The faithful,
separated by sex, sit and stand on the stone floor for the
two-hour service, chanting and witnessing as the priests
prepare the holy offering on their behalf. When the pilgrims
emerge from the sunrise mass, held inside one of the 12
churches, they pour into a 30-foot courtyard and face sheer
stone walls 40-feet high on all sides. Above them there is
no ceiling, only brilliant, open sky. The feeling is that of
being lifted to heaven.
Lalibela, in the highlands of Ethiopia, is one of the
most sacred pilgrimage sites in the country. During Timqat
(Epiphany), Fasilka (Easter) and Genna (Christmas), the
town becomes host to some 200,000 pilgrims who arrive to
worship in the churches.
Traveling the road of a distant mountain just hours
away from Lalibela, I can look beyond the valleys and see
the isolated upper reaches of the Lasta Mountain range,
home to the extraordinary subterranean structures.
Everywhere the land is covered with crops. The people here
are farmers, blessed with two rainy seasons, a variety of
36
produce. I have found that they are generally very friendly
and open to conversation.
Ethiopians are a highly religious people; Ritual
permeates their daily lives well beyond the confines of
church walls. When people meet, they kiss cheeks side to
side three times, representing the Holy Trinity of the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Following ancient
custom, the Ethiopian calendar year commences September
11 and has 13 months, 12 of which have 30 days. The
thirteenth and holiest month, Pagume, has only five days,
one each for the worship of the Holy Father, the Son, the
Holy Spirit, and the Just Ones, Saint Raphael and John the
Baptist. Within each week there are two fasting days –
Wednesday and Friday – to purify the body.
The Old Testament mentions Ethiopia 20 times, the
last reference being Acts 8:27: “And he arose and went:
and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great
authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had
the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem
for to worship.”
According to church lore, Kandake (Candace), or the
queen of Ethiopia bore a child by King Solomon during her
royal visit to his court at Jerusalem in 1000 B.C.E. When
her son came of age, he traveled from Aksum to visit his
father in Jerusalem. Church legend has it that he returned to
his mother with the Holy Ark of the Covenant, the same
one that was built at the command of God and in
compliance with a vision of the prophet Moses on Mt.
Sinai, and which had rested in the Temple of Jerusalem.
Since then, the home of the Ark remains in the holy
precinct of the most ancient Tsion (Zion) Church in the
37
former royal city of Aksum. The Patriarch (Pope) of the
Ethiopian Orthodox Church visits this holy shrine annually
for spiritual renewal. Travel by car between Lalibela and
Aksum is a two-day journey.
Because of this Old Testament history, Ethiopians
believe they hold a special place in the bosom of God. They
live and worship in their rock-hewn sanctuaries on the high
mountains of Africa, below the sparkling floor of heaven.
--Chester Higgins, Jr. is a staff photographer for The New
York Times. For the past three decades he has documented
sites of ancient sacred history along the Nile River. His
new Web site is chesterhiggins.com.
---------Black-History-Month.co.uk
Black German Holocaust Victims
By A. Tolbert, III
So much of history is lost to us because we often don’t
write the history books, film the documentaries, nor pass
the accounts down from generation to generation. One
documentary now touring the film festival circuit, telling us
to ‘Always Remember’ is ‘Black Survivors of the
Holocaust’ (1997). Outside the U.S., the film is entitled
‘Hitler’s Forgotten Victims’ (Afro-Wisdom Productions). It
codifies another dimension to the ‘Never Forget’ Holocaust
story--our dimension.
Did you know that in the 1920s, there were 24,000
blacks living in Germany? Neither did I. Here’s how it
happened, and how many of them were eventually caught
38
unawares by the events of the Holocaust. Like most West
European nations, Germany established colonies in Africa
in the late 1800’s in what later became Togo, Cameroon,
Namibia, and Tanzania. German genetic experiments began
there, most notably involving prisoners taken from the
1904 Hero Massacre that left 60,000 Africans dead,
following a 4-year revolt against German colonization.
After the shellacking Germany received in World War I, it
was stripped of its African colonies in 1918.
As a spoil of war, the French were allowed to occupy
Germany in the Rhineland--a bitter piece of real estate that
has gone back and forth between the two nations for
centuries. The French willfully deployed their own
colonized African soldiers as the occupying force. Germans
viewed this as the final insult of World War I, and, soon
thereafter, 92% of them voted in the Nazi party.
Hundreds of the African Rhineland-based soldiers
intermarried with German women and raised their children
as black Germans. In Mein Kampf, Hitler wrote about his
plans for these ‘Rhineland Bastards’. When he came to
power, one of his first directives was aimed at these mixedrace children. Underscoring Hitler’s obsession with racial
purity, by 1937, every identified mixed-race child in the
Rhineland had been forcibly sterilized, in order to prevent
further ‘race polluting’, as Hitler termed it.
Hans Hauck, a black Holocaust survivor and a victim
of Hitler’s mandatory sterilization program, explained in
the film ‘Hitler’s Forgotten Victims’ that, when he was
forced to undergo sterilization as a teenager, he was given
no anesthetic. Once he received his sterilization certificate,
he was ‘free to go’, so long as he agreed to have no sexual
39
relations whatsoever with Germans. Although most black
Germans attempted to escape their fatherland, heading for
France where people like Josephine Baker were steadily
aiding and supporting the French Underground, many still
encountered problems elsewhere. Nations shut their doors
to Germans, including the black ones. Some black Germans
were able to eke out a living during Hitler’s reign of terror
by performing in Vaudeville shows, but many blacks
steadfast in their belief that they were German first, black
second, opted to remain in Germany. Some fought with the
Nazis (a few even became Lutwaffe pilots)! Unfortunately,
many black Germans were arrested, charged with treason,
and shipped in cattle cars to concentration camps. Often
these trains were so packed with people (and equipped with
no bathroom facilities or food) that, after the four-day
journey, box car doors were opened to piles of the dead and
dying.
Once inside the concentration camps, blacks were
given the worst jobs conceivable. Some black American
soldiers, who were captured and held as prisoners of war,
recounted that, while they were being starved and forced
into dangerous labor (violating the Geneva Convention),
they were still better off than black German concentration
camp detainees, who were forced to do the unthinkable –
man the crematoriums and work in labs where genetic
experiments were being conducted. As a final sacrifice,
these blacks were killed every three months so that they
would never be able to reveal the inner workings of the
‘Final Solution’.
In every story of black oppression, no matter how we
were enslaved, shackled, or beaten, we always found a way
40
to survive and to rescue others. As a case in point, consider
Johnny Voste, a Belgian resistance fighter who was
arrested in 1942 for alleged sabotage and then shipped to
Dachau. One of his jobs was stacking vitamin crates.
Risking his own life, he distributed hundreds of vitamins to
camp detainees, which saved the lives of many who were
starving, weak, and ill – conditions exacerbated by extreme
vitamin deficiencies. His motto was ‘No, you can’t have
my life; I will fight for it.’ According to Essex University’s
Del Roy Constantine-Simms, there were black Germans
who resisted Nazi Germany, such as Lari Gilges, who
founded the Northwest Rann--an organization of
entertainers that fought the Nazis in his home town of
Dusseldorf – and who was murdered by the SS in 1933, the
year that Hitler came into power. Little information
remains about the numbers of black Germans held in the
camps or killed under the Nazi regime. Some victims of the
Nazi sterilization project and black survivors of the
Holocaust are still alive and telling their story in films such
as ‘Black Survivors of the Nazi Holocaust’, but they must
also speak out for justice, not just history.
Unlike Jews (in Israel and in Germany), black
Germans received no war reparations because their German
citizenship was revoked (even though they were Germanborn). The only pension they get is from those of us who
are willing to tell the world their stories and continue their
battle for recognition and compensation.
After the war, scores of blacks who had somehow
managed to survive the Nazi regime, were rounded up and
tried as war criminals. Talk about the final insult! There are
thousands of black Holocaust stories, from the triangle
41
trade, to slavery in America, to the gas ovens in Germany.
We often shy away from hearing about our historical past
because so much of it is painful; however, we are in this
struggle together for rights, dignity, and, yes, reparations
for wrongs done to us through the centuries. We need to
always remember so that we can take steps to ensure that
these atrocities never happen again.
For further information, read Destined to Witness:
Growing Up Black in Nazi Germany, by Hans J.
Massaquoi.
---------Black History Every Day
Black Facts
By Dr. A. Hodari
December 2008
December 1 – Richard Pryor born.
December 8, 1896 – J. T. White patented lemon squeezer.
December 16, 1976 – Andrew Young appointed
Ambassador to U.N.
December 24, 1814 – black Troops held position, battle of
New Orleans.
December 27 – Flo Jo born.
December 31, 1862 – Watch Night, residents of Rochester,
N.Y. joined Frederick Douglass in anticipation of
Emancipation Proclamation.
January 2009
January 2, 1965 – Martin Luther King, Jr. called for protest
when Alabama blacks not allowed to vote.
42
January 5, 1943 – George Washington Carver died.
January 12, 1952 – University of Tennessee admitted 1st
black student.
January 17 – Muhammed Ali born.
January 19, 1788 – Blacks organized Baptist Church in
Savannah, Georgia.
January 29 – Oprah Winfrey born.
February 2009
February 3, 1920 – Negro Baseball League founded.
February 5, 1934 – Hank Aaron born.
February 9, 1964 – Arthur Ashe, Jr. became 1st black on
U.S. Davis Cup team.
February 11 – Nelson Mandela freed.
February 14, 1867 – Augusta Institute, later Morehouse
College, opened in Atlanta.
February 18 – Toni Morrison born.
February 21, 1965 – Malcolm X assassinated.
February 29, 1942 – Tuskegee Airmen instituted.
March 2009
March 1, 1780 – Pennsylvania became 1st state to abolish
slavery.
March 3 – Jackie Joyner Kersee born.
March 11, 1959 – “Raisin in the Sun” opened on
Broadway.
March 14, 1794 – Eli Whitney patented cotton gin.
March 17, 1896 – C. B. Scott patented street sweeper.
March 20 – Spike Lee born.
March 26, 1911 – William H. Lewis became U.S. Assistant
Attorney General.
April 2009
April 2 – Marvin Gaye born.
43
April 8, 1974 – Hank Aaron set new home run record.
April 11, 1947 – Jackie Robinson played 1st game.
April 15, 1960 – Student Nonviolent Coordinating
Committee organized, Shaw University.
April 26, 1994 – 1st all-race elections in South Africa.
April 30, 1983 – “Memphis Blues” honored at Smithsonian
(29-30).
----------
SPORTS
The CRISIS, Fall 2008
Tennis Phenom Ups His Game
By Jemele Hill
Athletes don’t normally get much from losing, but key
losses are helping Donald Young Jr. get closer to becoming
tennis’ next American star.
At the U.S. Open in August, Young lost a dazzling
five-set thriller to James Blake, the ninth-ranked tennis
player in the world at the time. Although it wasn’t the first
time Young had taken a top-flight star to the brink of
defeat, the loss was an important hallmark. In the first set,
Blake beat Young in 18 minutes and disaster seemed
imminent. But Young showed major resolve on such an
enormous stage.
“It made me feel like I was at the level where I could
actually win those matches,” said Young, a Chicago native
who now lives in Atlanta.
44
The 19-year-old was a darling on the junior tennis
circuit and immediately was dubbed the next American
male tennis star. He earned the No. 1 junior ranking in
2005, becoming the youngest boy ever to be ranked No. 1
at the end of the season, as well as the first African
American male.
But as a pro, things didn’t come easy. While his game
was mature, his body was not. He weighed 145 pounds and
was consistently pounded on the ATP tour. After several
losses, Young began 2007 ranked 495th in the world.
“I came from juniors where I was beating most of the
people,” Young said. “It was hard going to the pros. I
wanted to stop and not play in any more pro tournaments. It
hurts the confidence for a while.”
But Young has put on 15 pounds, grown to 6 feet and
gained immeasurable confidence thanks to some significant
victories and “setbacks.” Earlier this year, he was ranked as
high as No. 73.
“I’m really happy (with) the way he’s growing up as a
human being and a person,” said Illona Young, Donald’s
mother and tennis coach.
Young’s parents were avid tennis players and
introduced their son to the sport. Illona wasn’t formally
instructed until she was an adult, although she was exposed
to tennis as a child. His father, Donald Sr. played tennis at
Alabama State.
The Youngs couldn’t afford a full-time professional
coach for their son so they assumed responsibility for his
coaching. They now run a tennis academy in Atlanta.
“There are no ulterior motives with parents,” Illona said.
“Your parents are going to be there no matter what.”
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Growing up in Chicago, Young was teased by his footballloving peers who couldn’t understand his interest in tennis.
“At school, I got talked about pretty bad,” Young said. “It
was called a sissy sport, a girl sport. But I liked it. I didn’t
care too much what everybody thought about it.”
With men’s tennis struggling to find the next Pete
Sampras, the road to stardom seems wide open for Young.
Patrick McEnroe, U.S. Davis Cup captain and general
manager of USTA Elite Player Development, says Young
has a great tennis mind and great skills.
“Gamewise, he’s a tremendous talent and basically he
can hit every shot,” said McEnroe, brother of tennis legend
John McEnroe. “For him, the key in moving forward is
finding out how to physically get to the next level.”
---------Blackvoices.com, August 18, 2008
Brother and Sister Take Silver
In Fencing
By Quibian Salazar-Moreno
The United States Men's Saber Team hasn't won a
medal since 1948. That changed over the weekend. Keeth
Smart, a fencing master out of Brooklyn, New York, helped
the U.S. team win the silver medal after losing to France.
Earlier in the weekend, his sister Erinn Smart helped win
the silver in the Women's Team Foil, the first ever for the
women's team and first foil medal for the U.S. since 1960.
These were medals that the U.S. teams were not expected
to win, but the siblings' perseverance shined through.
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"This year has been one of the hardest years of my life
as well as one of the greatest years of my life," Keeth told
Reuters after winning the silver medal. "I've been on a
roller coaster. I'll probably take a deep breath and it will all
hit me. I'm still on an emotional high."
Regardless of being the underdogs, Keeth and Erinn
had to overcome personal trials and tribulations of their
own. They lost both of their parents and Keeth himself
almost died in April. Keeth was diagnosed with a rare
blood disease that caused a low platelet count and doctors
told him he could die of internal bleeding within two days.
After weeks of intensive care and Erinn by his side, Keeth
got better, but their mother succumbed to cancer shortly
thereafter. The siblings already lost their father in 2005
after he suffered a heart attack while jogging.
"I'm proud of my medal, but I'm even more proud of
Erinn's," Keeth told the United States Olympic
Committee’s Aimee Berg. "She comes home jetlagged
from Korea, finds out I might die [from the blood disorder]
and came right from the airport to the hospital. Then she
flew to Florida because our mother was dying. I knew she
wanted this medal so bad. I'm so proud of her. It's the best
ending in the world."
----------
Olympic 2008: Stars to Watch
Allyson Felix – Track and Field
After winning a silver medal in the 200-meter at the 2004
Summer Olympics, sprinter Allyson Felix is looking for
more in 2008. The five-foot-six, 125-pound sprinter is very
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strong for her size. Look for her to challenge in all of the
sprinting events in Beijing. Felix is also a devout Christian
and feels that her sprinting ability is a gift from the lord.
Demetrius Andrade – Boxing
The amateur welterweight boxer they call “Boo Boo” won
the 2007 world championship. Andrade is a clear US medal
favorite at 152-lbs. His coach, Robert “Herb” Martin, says,
“(Andrade) has a way of turning up the heat when he needs
to. He can put pressure on you and get the win. Everything
he throws is pretty much on-point. He’s very sharp. He also
has a good eye.”
Candace Parker – Women’s Basketball
Parker was just 10 years old when she watched Lisa Leslie
win her first Olympic gold medal in Atlanta. Twelve years
later, Parker got the chance to help her L.A. Sparks
teammate win an unprecedented fourth straight gold.
Freddy Adu – Soccer
Soccer-phenom Freddy Adu made history in 2004 by
becoming the youngest American athlete in a century to
sign a major league pro contract. In the same year, he
became the youngest pro athlete to ever score a goal in
MLS history. Adu was recently named to the 18-man squad
that will represent the United States in the 2008 Olympic
Games in Beijing. Look for him to be a leader and fan
favorite.
James Blake – Tennis
Best known for his speed and powerful forehand, James
Blake has been one of the more prominent American tennis
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players over the past five years. He is currently ranked 9th
in the world. In 2007, Blake compiled another consistent
season with two STP titles in five finals. Look for Blake to
play well in the 2008 Olympics.
Lisa Leslie – Women’s Basketball
Lisa Leslie is one of the only players to have dunked in a
WNBA game, and she is expected to dominate the games
this summer. Leslie is looking to win an unprecedented
fourth straight gold.
Jeremy Wariner – Track and Field
A quick fact, Jeremy Wariner is the first Caucasian man to
win Olympic gold at 400-meters since Viktor Markin in
1980. He won two Olympic gold medals in the 2004 games
and four World Championships medals. Wariner should be
carrying home more hardware in the 2008 games.
Venus Williams – Tennis
Venus is one-half of the Olympic gold-medal winning
Williams sisters from Compton, Calif., who have
dominated women’s tennis for a decade and plan to win
gold again in Beijing
Tyson Gay – Track and Field
America’s 100-meter world champion Tyson Gay had a
nasty fall and hamstring injury in the Olympic trials that
some thought would kill his chances at competing. Gay’s
100-meter performance in Indianapolis is the second-fastest
ever time in a headwind, trailing 2000 Olympic gold
medallist Maurice Greene. The Kentucky-native became
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the second man in history to win titles in the 100-meter,
200-meter and the 4x100-meter relay.
Serena Williams – Tennis
As the other half of the world famous Williams sisters,
Serena will play through a left knee injury in the weeks
before the games despite advice from a doctor – and her
father – that she rest before the Olympic games.
Usain Bolt – Track and Field
Nicknamed the “Lightning Bolt,” this Jamaican-born
sprinter is the current record-holder in the 100-meter sprint
with a time of 9.72 seconds. Bolt is highly rated by the
International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF)
and is seen by many track and field insiders as the “future”
of sprinting. He should make a big splash in Beijing.
---------Associated Press, August 16, 2008
Bolt Breaks 100-Meter Record,
Wins Olympic Gold
By Howard Fendrich, AP Sports Writer
Pure speed.
It emanated from those loping, waist-high strides 6-foot-5
Usain Bolt churned with his golden spikes — untied lace
and all — to win the 100-meter Olympic gold medal and
break his own world record Saturday night.
It was there for all to see, too, in the “Is that really
possible?!” gap of several feet between the Jamaican and
the rest of the field at the finish. And, of course, in those
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bright, yellow numbers on the red-and-black trackside
clock blaring the official time: 9.69 seconds.
Pure joy.
It radiated from Usain Bolt’s wide eyes as he playfully
nudged an opponent during the pre-race stroll through the
stadium hallways, and, moments later, when he clowned
with one of the volunteers at the start line before handing
her his black backpack.
It was there for all to see, too, in his “How good am
I?!” mugging for the cameras with about 20 meters to go,
already certain victory was steps away — outstretched arms
with palms up, slap to his chest while taking the last of his
oh-so-long 41 strides, leaning back to enjoy the moment
instead of leaning forward in effort. And in the armsswaying dance moves he showed off as reggae music
flowed from the loudspeakers to help him celebrate.
“I was having fun,” Bolt said. “That’s just me — I like to
have fun.”
Oh, did he have a blast on this night, making obvious
he is head-and-shoulders above the competition — and not
merely because he really is head-and-shoulders above the
competition, towering above foes in an event where no
world record-holder over the last two decades has been this
tall and where some didn’t
even reach 6 feet.
Those lanky legs allow Bolt to cover more ground, but
his turnover for each stride also takes longer. He might just
be turning the dash into a big man’s event, though.
Bolt’s sudden emergence truly began May 5 in Jamaica,
when he ran 9.76 seconds, just shy of countryman Asafa
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Powell’s then-record 9.74. This was someone to watch.
Then, on May 31 in New York City, Bolt broke Powell’s
mark by finishing in 9.72.
Now that is gone, too, and Bolt’s 0.20-second margin
of victory matched the largest in an Olympic 100 final over
the last 40 years.
“He’s just a phenomenal athlete,” said Trinidad and
Tobago’s Richard Thompson, the NCAA champion from
LSU who won the silver by finishing in 9.89, “and I don’t
think anyone would have beaten him with a run like that
today.”
Certainly not. Bolt turned in as transcendent a show as
Olympic track and field has seen in years, perhaps dating to
Michael Johnson’s world-record 19.32 seconds in the 200
meters at the 1996 Atlanta Games.
That mark could be next for Bolt, who considers the
200 his specialty. The heats for that event begin Monday,
and the final is Wednesday, a day before his 22nd birthday.
“It definitely brings track back,” said Walter Dix of the
United States, the bronze medallist in 9.91.
Back to the front pages. Back from being ignored,
spurned even, after a series of drug cases that stripped
medals and credibility.
It’s all particularly remarkable when you consider that
Bolt — from the same yam-farming Trelawny parish in his
Caribbean nation that was home to Ben Johnson — only
began competing in the dash 13 months ago.
“I told you all I was going to be No. 1,” Bolt said,
“and I did just that.” Even though his left shoelace was
dangling, the knot undone. Even though he skidded out of
the starting blocks with the seventh-slowest reaction time in
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the eight-man final. Even though as recently as this month,
Bolt left some doubt as to whether he would even contest
the 100 in Beijing, because he didn’t want to disrupt his
preparation for the 200.
The talk for weeks has been about how Bolt might
hold up in the four-round format at the Olympics, and how
he’d do squaring off against Powell and reigning world
champion Tyson Gay of the United States.
That didn’t pan out. Gay, who acknowledged he paid
for being sidelined the past 1 1/2 months after injuring his
left hamstring at the U.S. Olympic trials, didn’t even make
the final, finishing fifth in his semi. Powell, meanwhile,
was fifth in the final for a second consecutive Olympics,
adding to his reputation for flopping on the big stage.
“Usain was spectacular,” Powell said. “He was definitely
untouchable tonight. He could have gone a lot faster if he
had run straight through the line.” How low might Bolt be
able to push that time? 9.65? 9.59?
“Anything is possible. The human body is changing,
so you never know,” Bolt said. “I aim just to win, but when
I saw the replay, I was amazed.”
So was everyone else: the competition, if you can
really use that term to describe the other runners; the
91,000 or so fans whose photo flashes filled the still night
air; the millions watching on TV.
Years from now, people will look at the images from
the finish of the men’s 100 meters at the 2008 Olympics
and ask: Was Usain Bolt given a head start? Was it possible
for one man to end up that far ahead of seven other men,
seven other elite sprinters, the best the world has to offer? It
was, after all, the first Olympic 100 in which six men
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finished in under 10 seconds. One of them, sixth-place
finisher Michael Frater of Jamaica, described Bolt’s new
record this way: “No one will get near it.” Well, perhaps no
one other than Bolt.
There were other events on this clear night, other
medals awarded. Natalie Dobrynska of Ukraine won the
heptathlon, with Hyleas Fountain earning a bronze for the
first U.S. medal in that event since 1992. Valerie Vili won
the women’s shot put, giving New Zealand its first
Olympic gold medal in track and field since 1976. The
favorites advanced to Sunday’s semifinals in the women’s
100.
Ho-hum.
There’s nothing that could help restore some of track
and field’s luster the way a dazzling sprinter can. His coach
wanted Bolt to add the 400 to his repertoire instead of the
100, figuring height would help at the longer distance. But
Bolt insisted on taking on the shorter event, in part, he
admits, because it’s, well, shorter. Less taxing. Less time
spent running, sweating, working out. Bolt enjoys cars —
speed, clearly, is what drives the guy — and, like many
twenty somethings, he likes to go out with pals and dance.
He’s been frank about realizing he needed to go to the gym
more and party less to fulfill the potential that’s been
evident since he became the youngest-ever male world
junior champion in the 200 at age 15.
In some ways, he still is a kid at heart. His Saturday
morning began with some television-watching, followed by
some chicken-nugget-eating. Then he turned the TV back
on, before deciding to take a three-hour nap.
54
In the evening, a very special 9.69 seconds — read
those numbers again, slowly — changed his life. After he
kissed those shoes of his, and posed for photo after photo,
Bolt finally walked barefoot off the rust-colored track that
will always be meaningful to him and his sport. He was
handed a telephone: Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce
Golding was on the line.
Later, after Bolt left the stadium’s drug-testing area,
he was mobbed by Olympics volunteers who wanted
autographs on scraps of paper or their sky-blue shirts. They
wanted photos of him. And then along came a car and
driver, and Bolt slid into the front seat. The “World’s
Fastest Man” is enjoying the ride.
---------Associated Press, August 17, 2008
Phelps Wins 8th Gold Medal;
Breaks Tie With Spitz
By Paul Newberry, AP National Writer
Michael Phelps locked arms with his three teammates,
as though they were in a football huddle calling a play, then
hugged each one of them. It took a team to make him the
grandest of Olympic champions. And one last big push
from Phelps himself.
Going hard right to the end of a mesmerizing nine
days in Beijing, Phelps helped the Americans come from
behind Sunday in a race they’ve never lost at the Olympics,
cheering from the deck as Jason Lezak brought it home for
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a world record in the 400-meter medley relay. It was
Phelps’ history-making eighth gold medal of these games.
“Everything was accomplished,” he said. “I will have the
medals forever.”
Phelps sure did his part to win No. 8, eclipsing Mark
Spitz’s seven-gold performance at the 1972 Munich
Games.
Aaron Peirsol got the Americans off to the lead in the
backstroke, but Brendan Hansen — a major disappointment
in this Olympic year — slowed them down with only the
third-fastest breaststroke leg.
By the time Phelps dived in for the butterfly, the U.S.
was trailing Australia and Japan.
That’s when he really went to work.
With his long arms whirling across the water like
propellers, Phelps caught the two guys ahead of him on the
return lap and passed off to Lezak a lead of less than a
second for the freestyle. The Australians countered with
former world record-holder Eamon Sullivan as their
anchor.
“I was thinking not to blow the lead,” Lezak said. “I
was really nervous.”
Sullivan tried to chase down Lezak and appeared to be
gaining as they came to the wall, but Lezak finished in 3
minutes, 29.34 seconds — Phelps’ seventh world record in
his personal Great Haul of China.
The Aussies took silver in 3:30.04, also under the old
world record of 3:30.68 set by the U.S. in Athens four years
ago, while Japan held on for the bronze.
Phelps leaned over the blocks, looking to make sure
Lezak touched first. Assured the Americans had won, he
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thrust both index fingers in the air, pumped his right arm
and let out a scream. Peirsol also yelled and slapped Phelps
in the chest.
Spitz’s iconic performance was surpassed by a
swimmer fitting of this generation: a 23-year-old from
Baltimore who loves hip-hop music, texting with his
buddies and wearing his cap backward.
“I don’t even know what to feel right now,” Phelps
said. “There’s so much emotion going through my head and
so much excitement. I kind of just want to see my mom.”
Debbie Phelps was sitting in the stands at the Water Cube,
tears streaming down her cheeks, her two daughters by her
side. After getting his gold, Phelps quickly found his
family, climbing through a horde of photographers to give
all three a kiss.
Mom put her arm around his neck and gave him a
little extra hug. Her son sure earned it.
“The Beijing Olympics has witnessed the greatest
Olympian of all time — Michael Phelps of the USA,” the
announcer said as Phelps posed with his teammates. The
Americans still had to wait a couple of tantalizing minutes
for the official results to be posted. Finally, it flashed on the
board. World record. Gold medal No. 8.
“Nothing is impossible,” Phelps said. “With so many
people saying it couldn’t be done, all it takes is an
imagination, and that’s something I learned and something
that helped me.” Phelps, who won three relays in Beijing
along with five individual races, gave a shout-out to all his
teammates for helping him take down Spitz.
“Without the help of my teammates this isn’t
possible,” he said. “I was able to be a part of three relays
57
and we were able to put up a solid team effort and we came
together as one unit. “For the three Olympics I’ve been a
part of, this is by far the closest men’s team that we’ve ever
had. I didn’t know everybody coming into this Olympics,
but I feel going out I know every single person very well.
The team that we had is the difference.”
Phelps set seven world records and one Olympic
record, doing a personal best time in every event. “It can’t
be described. We’ll never, ever see it again,” said
Australian distance king Grant Hackett, who came up short
in his bid to win a third straight 1,500 freestyle title.
Beforehand, Hackett figured Phelps was likely to win six
golds, just as he did in Athens four years ago when the first
attempt to beat Spitz’s record came up just short.
“Everything lined up for him incredibly,” Hackett
said. “He’s a nice guy, a good bloke, and the last few years
I’ve never seen him change.” Back in Baltimore, some
10,000 fans hung around after an NFL preseason game to
watch the relay on the stadium’s big screen. “I think he’s
going to be a legend forever,” Ravens fan Ann Williams
said.
Phelps won some races by ridiculously large margins,
others with the closest of finishes — most memorably, his
seventh gold by one-hundredth of a second over Serbia’s
Milorad Cavic in the 100 fly. Along the way, he became
the winningest Olympian ever and left China with 14 career
golds — five more than anyone else with at least one more
Olympics to go.
“It’s been nothing but an upwards roller-coaster and
it’s been nothing but fun,” Phelps said. Ditto for Dara
Torres, who capped her improbable comeback with two
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more silver medals, missing gold by one hundredth of a
second in the 50 freestyle.
The 41-year-old Torres, a five-time Olympian and the
oldest American swimmer ever, also anchored the
American women to a runner-up finish in the 400 medley
relay. She got silver in all three of her races in Beijing,
giving her 12 medals in a remarkable career that began at
the 1984 Los Angeles Games — a year before Phelps was
even born. Surely this is the end.
Then again, never count Torres out — she’ll only be
45 for the London Games. “I go home extremely thrilled,”
said Torres, who also made sure to mention her ailing
coach.
Michael Lohberg is battling a rare, potentially fatal
blood disease and couldn’t travel to Beijing.
“I wouldn’t be here without Michael,” Torres said.
Germany’s Britta Steffen nipped Torres at the wall to
complete a sweep of the women’s sprint events in Beijing.
The middle-aged American smiled, her head dropping
back, when she saw a time of 24.07 — just behind
Steffen’s winning effort of 24.06. The German added to her
gold in the 100 free.
Torres received her silver, then hustled back to the
locker room to grab her cap and a pair of old-fashioned
goggles that were probably older than some of her
teammates. She was trailing as she took the anchor leg and
couldn’t catch Libby Trickett on a frantic sprint to the wall,
with China claiming the bronze.
Still, not bad considering she had retired a second time
after the 2000 Sydney Games, then got the urge to compete
again after having her first child two years ago. Not content
59
swimming in the old-timers’ division, she set out to prove
that age is only a number.
Consider that point made.
Torres got off to a good start in the 50 and appeared to
be leading midway through the race, a frenetic sprint from
one end of the pool to the other. As they came to the wall,
Torres and Steffen were stroke for stroke. The German
reached out with her left hand and Torres stretched with her
right. Steffen’s fingertip got there first.
Completing a race for all ages, 16-year-old Australian
Cate Campbell earned the bronze in 24.17.
Australia’s relay women — Emily Seebohm, Leisel
Jones, Jess Schipper and Libby Trickett — took the gold
with a world record of 3:52.69. The Americans claimed
silver with the second-fastest time in history, 3:53.30, while
China took the bronze.
Torres was joined on the U.S. team by Natalie
Coughlin, Rebecca Soni and Christine Magnuson. Coughlin
received her sixth medal of the games, giving her 11 in her
career.
Hackett failed to become the first man to win the same
event at three straight Olympics.
The Aussie was upset in swimming’s version of the mile by
Ous Mellouli, who won Tunisia’s first Olympic gold at the
pool in 14:40.84.
“It’s like 90 yards of a touchdown. It was so close, but
I didn’t have much of a response,” Hackett said. “It’s
disappointing I didn’t win. I have no regrets, it certainly
was a close race.”
Mellouli held off Hackett in the closing meters of the
grueling race, swimming’s version of the mile. Hackett
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earned the silver in 14:41.53, well off his 7-year-old world
record of 14:34.56.
“He’s never hung on like that in the past,” Hackett
said of the winner. “He was the better competitor.”
Mellouli, who trains in Southern California, was coming
off a suspension after testing positive for amphetamines.
Ryan Cochrane of Canada took the bronze in 14:42.69.
After receiving his eighth gold, Phelps received another
award from FINA, the sport’s governing body, as the best
swimmer of the meet. Make it the best ever.
---------News.yahoo.com, August 24, 2008
US Hoops Back on Top, Beats Spain
For Gold Medal
By Brian Mahoney, AP Basketball Writer
Order is restored in international basketball. The
United States is back on top, but not by that much anymore.
Culminating a three-year mission to end years of
embarrassment, the U.S. Olympic team survived a huge
challenge from Spain, winning 118-107 in the gold-medal
game.
After overwhelming everyone for seven games, the
Americans led by only four points with under 2 ½ minutes
to play. Then the U.S. proved it could handle a close game
that seemed would never come in Beijing.
Their prize: the first U.S. medal since the 2000
Olympics.
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“Much respect to Spain, but the U.S. is back on top
again,” LeBron James said.
Argentina won the bronze with an 87-75 victory against
Lithuania.
Dwayne Wade scored 27 points for the Americans,
who found a much gamer Spanish team than the one it
humiliated by 37 points earlier in the tournament. Kobe
Bryant added 20 points.
In a game so devoid of defense that it felt more like an
NBA- All-Star game than one with a title at stake, the
Americans had too much offense down the stretch. Bryant
converted a clutch four-point play with 3:10 remaining,
holding his finger to his lips to quiet the rowdy Spanish
crown behind the basket.
Wade added another 3-pointer that made it 111-104
with just over 2 minutes left, and only then could the
Americans relax a little.
They began to celebrate during a break after some
technical fouls on Spain with 26 seconds left, then partied
at midcourt when it was over with “Born in the USA”
blaring over the arena’s speakers.
“We played with great character in one of the great
games in international basketball history, I think, “U.S.
coach Mike Krzyzewski said.
Nobody else had been close to the Americans in
Beijing. The team’s only Olympic competition had been
history, in a Dream matchup with guys named Jordan,
Magic, Bird and the rest of the U.S. team that dominated
the Barcelona Games in 1992.
Forget comparisons to those guys. The Americans
were lucky to be better than Spain on Sunday.
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Rudy Fernandez scored 22 points and Pau Gasol had 21 for
the Spanish, the reigning world champions who were
hoping to win their first Olympic gold.
U.S. players appreciated the game Spain gave them.
After the contest they hugged the Spanish players. Bryant
had an especially long embrace for Gasol, patting his Los
Angeles Lakers teammate on the back.
“They did what they were supposed to do,” Gascol
said. “We fought hard all the way.”
Seeming to appreciate the moment, after
congratulating Spain, the team joined in a circle, jumping
up and down at center court and waving triumphantly to the
crowd as Krzyzewski applauded on the sidelines.
The Americans had won their first seven games by
30.3 points, including a 119-82 rout of Spain. But they
never had control of this game, giving up open looks from
the perimeter and plenty of points in the paint against the
defending world champions, who were playing without
injured point guard José Calderon.
Bryant, who waited so long to finally wear the red,
white and blue, hit two 3-pointers in a big fourth quarter to
add the gold medal to the only piece of hoops hardware he
didn’t already own. The NBA MVP pounded his hands
toward the floor in celebration at the end.
James scored 14 points, while Carmelo Anthony and
Chris Paul had 13 apiece for the Americans, who had won
bronze medals in their last two international events, the
2004 Olympics and ’06 world championships.
The U.S. started planning for this game after the first
event, the low point in its hoops history, following a sixthplace flop two years earlier in the world championships.
63
Jerry Colangelo was given control of USA Basketball and
constructed a national team program in 2006, requiring
those who wanted to play to commit to three years.
He got Bryant and James quickly on board and landed
almost everyone else he asked for, finding a group of NBA
stars eager to give up their summer to get back what they
felt belonged to their country.
And he needed all of them against a Spain team that
on this day would have likely beaten any other recent U.S.
squad.
Jason Kidd ran his record to 56-0 in senior
international play and collected another gold to place
alongside the one he earned in 2000, becoming the 13th
U.S. player with multiple golds.
That elite list, which includes Michael Jordan and
seven other Dream Teamers, could grow in 2012. Paul and
Dwight Howard said they would be in London if asked, and
perhaps half this team could join them.
James ran out for pre-game warm-ups with his finger
in the air, already believing the U.S. was No. 1. But even
though the Americans were shooting better than 70 percent
for most of the first half, it would take a long time to prove
it.
James and Bryant were both on the bench after
picking up two fouls in the first 3 ½ minutes, and though
Wade came in and picked up their scoring load, the U.S.
reserves couldn’t open their usual cushion.
Spain hit seven of its first nine shots, leading for much
of the first quarter. A quick burst of 10 points by James and
Wade had the U.S. advantage up to 14 points with 4
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minutes left in the half, but Spain chipped away and trailed
only 69-61 at the break.
Spain was within four on a number of occasions in the
third, and Fernandez’s 3-pointer cut it down to 91-89 with
8:13 remaining. Bryant answered with a bucket, later added
a 3, and things seemed safe when James scored to make it
103-92.
Spain made one last push to close within 108-104 on
Carlos Jimenez’s 3-pointer, but Wade hit one on the other
end, and the final score became lopsided when the
Americans hit a bunch of free throws after the Spanish
became frustrated and were called for the technicals.
---------Associated Press, August 2, 2008
Induction Ceremony at Hall of Fame
Goes Hog Wild
By Michael Marot, AP Sports Writer
The Hall of Fame induction ceremony turned Hog
wild Saturday.
Darrell Green and Art Monk walked across the stage
waving their arms and urged thousands of Washington
Redskins fans to give them one more salute. Emmitt
Thomas, the former Chiefs player and Redskins coach,
simply waved back.
And they applauded the three other inductees without
Washington ties — Fred Dean, Andre Tippett and Gary
Zimmerman — because they understood they would have
been a good fit with the Redskins’ blue-collar players.
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Most didn’t shed a tear.
Green, as usual, was the exception.
“Deacon Jones said I was gonna cry. You bet I’m
gonna cry,” he said after his son, Jared, introduced him.
“You bet you’re life I’m gonna cry. You bet your life I will.
That’s my boy, that’s my boy right there.”
Clearly, this was Washington’s showcase.
From the red-and-yellow clad crowd to the pig’s
snouts to the responses whenever the Dallas Cowboys were
mentioned, the ceremony looked more like a team Hall of
Fame induction than a league-wide enshrinement.
Fans cheered louder each time Thomas mentioned a
Redskins player or coach. They chanted “Dar-rell, Darrell.”
Yes, it had everything but the band playing “Hail To
The Redskins.”
It was such a partisan crowd that Green’s son even
joked 95 percent of it was from Washington.
But the inductions were also marked by poignancy.
Dean, Tippett and Zimmerman all chose team owners as
their introductory speakers. Green, Monk and Thomas each
gave the honor to their sons. None was more moving than
that by Derek Thomas, who suggested his dad finally let
everyone know how good he was before breaking down as
he tried to announce his dad’s name.
“My dad always used to give me and my sister advice.
Like most kids, we didn’t always follow that advice,” he
said. “A piece of advice he gave me once was never make
athletes your heroes because they make mistakes, too. I
guess I didn’t follow that advice very well. I’d like to
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introduce you to my hero, my mentor, my father, Emmitt
Thomas.”
Green recounted a story in which his two best
childhood friends died before he started in the NFL, and
then asked for a special recognition to two late teammates
— Kevin Mitchell and Sean Taylor. Thomas spoke of the
hardship of growing up after his mother died when he was
8, and as a tribute to his grandfather asked the Hall of Fame
to let him enter with the name Emmitt Earl Fyles Dean.
“My late grandfather is still my hero. I remember those
long, hot summer nights sitting on the porch listening to a
game or a fight,” he said. “He taught me about honor,
commitment, love, religion and respect.”
Then there were the comedy routines.
In the middle of Dean’s deliberate, emphatic speech that
had the tone of a church sermon, he told the crowd he
forgot his glasses and couldn’t read his speech. Another
Hall of Famer responded quickly by handing them to Dean.
“I think that’s gonna work, dog,” Dean said, drawing
laughter.
Zimmerman talked about going from Minnesota to
Denver, and learning about The Curse.
“It happens when you’re protecting someone like John
(Elway) and what happens is the night before the game you
get little or no sleep,” he said. “Because if you didn’t do
your job, you’ll forever be known as the guy who lost our
franchise. ... I would also like to thank John, it was worth
every sleepless night.”
Others reflected on how they learned the game and
what helped them aspire to Hall of Fame careers.
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Tippett, a fearsome pass rusher in the mold of Lawrence
Taylor, talked about how he and his teammates at Iowa
would pretend they played for the Pittsburgh Steelers in
their black-and-gold uniforms. Tippett’s choice was Dennis
Winston. “In my youth, I watched every game I could. I
studied all the great players — Lambert, Ham, Bobby Bell
and many others,” he said. “Some kids play cops and
robbers. I emulated you.”
---------American Legacy, Winter 2009
Men of Honor & DistinctionEdwin Moses
and field is a gladiator sport. You’re on your own.
You have to find the drive and motivation within yourself.
And also bear the pressure. It’s all on you and you alone.”
–Edwin Moses
Reflecting on Edwin Moses’ remarkable career, one
wonders how one man can fit it all into a single lifetime.
Most people recognize him as an Olympic gold medallist
and track-and-field world record holder, but he is also a
sports administrator, youth advocate, diplomat, and
businessman. A scientist at heart, he tackles every
challenge, whether mental or physical, with an analytical
approach and preternatural endurance. His ability to take on
and excel in various arenas makes him a modern-day
Renaissance man and living proof of the power of a
disciplined mind.
Raised by two educators, Moses, along with his two
brothers, was taught to put his studies first. In high school
“Track
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he participated in sports, but it was an academic scholarship
in engineering that got him into Morehouse College.
Taking his physics study outside the classroom, he began to
apply quantum theory to his own athletic progress, altering
his training routine, method, and diet to achieve results.
“I became interested in track and field because it is a sport
where you could improve significantly with just tenths of a
second,” says Moses.
Morehouse had no track at that time, so Moses trained
at public high schools, designing his own program. His
work paid off at his first Olympic trials, where he set an
American record in the 400-meters hurdles. In 1976 at the
Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada, he won his first
gold medal and set both Olympic and world records in the
400-meter hurdles. This marked the beginning of one of the
most impressive winning streaks witnessed in the athletic
world. Over the next nine years, nine months, and nine
days, Moses amassed 122 consecutive wins, 107 of them
finals, earning him a place in The Guinness Book of World
Records.
Despite the United States’ boycott of the 1980
Olympics in Moscow, Moses continued to dominate the
sport, breaking his own world record at an international
event in Milan, Italy. In 1984 at the Olympics in Los
Angeles, he won his second gold medal, and then four
years later, added one more medal, a bronze, at the 1988,
games in Seoul, Korea. Along the way, he also picked up
two gold World Championship medals in Helsinki and
Rome.
Moses attributes much of his success to staying power.
“Track is a very solitary sport, and a lot of people couldn’t
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handle it … I just stayed in it a lot longer than other
athletes.”
His unprecedented achievement earned him a number
of honors from the sports community. In 1980, he was
named Athlete of the Year by Track & Field News. A year
later he became the first recipient of USA Track & Field’s
Jesse Owens Award, and in 1983 he received the Amateur
Athletic Union’s James E. Sullivan Award. The next year,
Moses became the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the
Year, and he was chosen to recite the Athletes’ Oath during
the opening ceremonies for the 1984 Summer Olympics in
Los Angeles.
Moses also emerged as an outspoken advocate for the
athletic community. He helped develop an Athletes Trust
Fund program to provide financial support for athletes
without jeopardizing their Olympic eligibility. As a
member of the Athletics Congress, he saw the dangerous
trend of drug use in his sport, and immediately took action
to stop it. He joined forces with an international team of
physicians and scientists to design the first random, out-ofcompetition drug-testing program.
After his retirement from track and field, Moses went
on to earn an MBA from Pepperdine University in 1994,
and co-founded the Platinum Group, a management
company that represents athletes in their business
endeavors. That same year, he was inducted into the U.S.
Track and Field Hall of Fame, and in 2008, he was awarded
a Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honor bestowed
on a civilian by the U.S. legislature.
Today, Moses continues to make his mark in ways that
honor his legacy. He has served for eight years as the
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chairman of the Laureus World Sports Academy, an
association of 45 living sports legends who share a belief in
the power of sport to break down barriers, bring people
together, and improve the lives of young people around the
world.
----------
Arts & Entertainment
American Legacy, Winter 2009
Men of Honor & DistinctionSpike Lee
“I
think it is very important that films make people look at
what they’ve forgotten.” – Spike Lee
Hollywood is all about survival of the fittest, and
Spike Lee has proven that he is a survivor. Over the past 20
years, he has established himself as one of the most
enduring and respected figures in a brutally fickle industry.
Known as much for his dynamic personality, sharp wit,
unapologetic penchant for speaking his mind, and fierce
loyalties – to actors, to the New York Knicks, to his
beloved Brooklyn, and most of all to his art – Lee has
earned a broad base of fans, who love to watch him almost
as much as his provocative movies.
Born in Atlanta, Georgia to a jazz composer and an art
teacher, Shelton Jackson Lee and his five younger siblings
grew up in a household filled with art and culture.
Eventually, the family moved to Fort Greene, a
predominantly black neighborhood in Brooklyn.
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After graduating from high school, Lee attended
Morehouse College, the alma mater of both his father and
grandfather. It was there, while pursuing a mass
communications degree that he first became interested in
filmmaking. Upon graduating, he returned to New York to
attend the Institute of Film and Television at New York
University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Lee’s student films
underscored his immense talent, but as he moved out into
the real world, he needed a commercial success to give him
a foothold in the industry.
The boost came in 1986 with his independent sleeper
hit, She’s Gotta Have It. The low-budget film was shot in
two weeks for $175,000 and eventually made $7 million. A
few years later, he wrote, directed, produced, and starred in
Do the Right Thing, a brilliantly conceived film about race
relations in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. It garnered both
a firestorm of controversy and critical acclaim. It also
earned Lee an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay, as
well as four Golden Globe nominations.
Over the last two decades, Lee has become the most
prolific, influential, mainstream African American director
working today, with a string of diverse, commercial
successes, such as Mo’ Better Blues, Jungle Fever, He Got
Game, Inside Man, The Original Kings of Comedy, and 25th
Hour, that have given him the clout he needs to contend
with Tinseltown. He went head-to-head with studio giant
Warner Brothers for the chance to direct Malcolm X, and
won. Even the productions that did not bring in blockbuster
dollars, like Bamboozeled and Girl 6, earned him critical
praise for this versatility and ability to tackle tough issues.
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Lee has also found success producing and directing an
array of other projects. The HBO film Four Little Girls
about the 1963 16th Street Baptist Church bombing earned
another Oscar nomination for Best Documentary, and his
HBO documentary about Hurricane Katrina, When the
Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, also picked up
three Emmy Awards. Sought after in the music industry as
well, he has produced and directed numerous videos for
Chaka Khan, Tracy Chapman, Anita Baker, Public Enemy,
Bruce Hornsby, Michael Jackson, and the late Miles Davis
among others.
His commercial work began in 1988 with his Nike Air
Jordan campaign, which he developed in collaboration with
basketball great Michael Jordan. He would work with
Jordan again on a public service announcement for the
United Negro College Fund called Two Michaels. Other
commercial projects have included Levi’s Button-Fly 501,
AT&T, and ESPN television commercials, as well as TV
spots for Philips, Nike, American Express, Snapple, and
Taco Bell.
Off screen, he has authored six books on the making
of his films, as well as the children’s book Please Baby
Please, which he co-authored with his wife Tonya Lewis
Lee. His business ventures include his production
company, 40 Acres and A Mule, and Spike/DDB, a fullservice advertising agency, which he created in partnership
with DDB Needham.
Never afraid to ruffle a few feathers, Lee uncovers
both the beautiful and unsightly sides of human nature and
forces society to contend with itself. He holds everyone to a
higher standard, both in and out of the industry, regardless
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of race or ethnicity, demanding that we all think, talk,
debate, challenge ourselves and each other, and always
strive to do the right thing.
---------News.yahoo.com, Oct. 17. 2008
Four Tops vocalist Levi Stubbs dies at 72
By Gary Graff
Detroit (Billboard) – Arguably the most powerful
voice in Motown’s storied history has been silenced. Four
Tips lead singer Levi Stubbs Jr. died at his home in Detroit
after a long series of health problems, including cancer and
a stroke that forced him to stop performing in 2000. He was
72.
“He had one of the most prolific and identifiable
voices in American history,” the Motown Alumni
Association’s Billy J. Wilson told Billboard.com. “It’s a
deep loss, to the entire Motown family and to the world.”
Stubbs’ death leaves Abdul “Duke” Fakir as the Tops’ only
living member from the original quartet, which formed in
1954 as the Four Aims and signed with Motown nine years
later. Laurence Payton passed away in 1997, and Renaldo
“Obie” Benson died in 2005.
Fakir continues to lead a version of the Tops that
includes Payton’s son Roquel, former Temptations member
Theo Peoples and Motown veteran Ronnie McNeir.
Stubbs – born Levi Stubbles in Detroit – gave voice to
enduring hits such as “Baby I Need Your Loving,” “I Can’t
Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch),” “Reach Out I’ll
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Be There” and “Brenadette.” The Four Tops have sold
more than 50 million records and racked up 45 chart hits
for the Motown, ABC Dunhill, Arista and Casablanca
labels, and the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame in 1990.
Stubbs also provided the voice of Audrey II, the maneating plant in the film version of the musical “Little Shop
of Horrors” in 1986, and of Mother Brain in the 1989
animated TV series “Captain N: The Game Master.”
Stubbs’ last public appearance with the group was at the
group’s 50th anniversary concert July 28, 2004, at Detroit’s
Music Hall Center.
---------Associated Press, August 11, 2008
More Than ‘Shaft’:
Hayes was Goldmine of Influence
By Nekesas Mumbi Moody, AP Music Writer
With its riveting orchestration, definitive guitar play
and signature sensual baritone vocals, Isaac Hayes’ theme
song for the 1971 movie “Shaft” not only became one of
pop music’s iconic songs, but also the defining work of
Hayes’ career.
Yet the “Theme from Shaft,” which would earn both
Grammys and an Oscar, was just a snippet of the
groundbreaking music for which Hayes — who died
Sunday at age 65 — was responsible.
He penned soul classics like “Hold On I’m Comin’”
for Sam & Dave, helped usher in the era of disco and was a
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goldmine for countless hip-hop and R&B artists who used
his illustrious arrangements as the focal point for their
songs decades later.
“Isaac Hayes embodies everything that’s soul music,”
Collin Stanback, an A&R executive at Stax, told The
Associated Press on Sunday. “When you think of soul
music you think of Isaac Hayes — the expression ... the
sound and the creativity that goes along with it.”
His influence also extended beyond music. His
trademarked bald head, full beard and muscular frame,
often adorned with a multitude of gold chains, made him a
fashion trendsetter at a time when most of his
contemporaries were sporting blowout Afros. He was also a
symbol of black pride, and an activist for civil rights.
The Rev. Al Sharpton called Hayes a “creative
genius” and added, “even in his later years he never
hesitated to appear for a cause or endorse something that he
felt was for the good of mankind. He will be sorely
missed.”
Hayes also acted in movies including “Tough Guys,”
“I’m Gonna Get You Sucka” and “Hustle & Flow.” He had
recently completed the movie “Soul Men,” in which he
played himself; the film also starred Samuel Jackson and
Bernie Mac, who died on Saturday after a bout with
pneumonia. And a new generation of fans discovered the
man behind “Shaft” when, in 1997, he became the voice of
Chef on the Comedy Central show “South Park.”
Hayes, a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,
was pronounced dead at Baptist Memorial HospitalMemphis in Memphis, Tenn., after collapsing Sunday
afternoon near a treadmill in his home nearby.
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Steve Shular, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office, said
authorities received a 911 call after Hayes’ wife and young
son and his wife’s cousin returned home from the grocery
store and found him collapsed in a downstairs bedroom. A
sheriff’s deputy administered CPR until paramedics
arrived.
Stanback said he was shocked to learn of the death of
the singer, who was about to start work on a new record for
Stax, the label Hayes helped make legendary.
In an industry filled with colorful and dynamic
figures, Hayes was a standout on several levels, from his
smooth baritone to his flamboyant style: It was almost as if
he was made to be a musical god.
But Hayes spent the early part of his career firmly in
the musical background. A self-taught musician from
Covington, Tenn., he made a name for himself playing with
various bands around Memphis. In 1964, he was hired by
Stax Records to be a backup pianist, working as a session
musician for Otis Redding and others. He also played
saxophone.
He began writing songs, establishing a songwriting
partnership with David Porter, and in the 1960s they wrote
classic hits for Sam and Dave such as “Hold On, I’m
Coming,” “Soul Man,” and “When Something is Wrong
With My Baby.” They also wrote for other Stax artists
including Carla Thomas.
Hayes’ work as a composer helped him secure a deal
as a solo artist. His first album, “Presenting Isaac Hayes,”
was a poor seller, the result of an impromptu jam session.
But after getting creative control, he delivered his next
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album, “Hot Buttered Soul” in 1969, and it made him a
star.
Hayes offered something completely different to the
musical world. In an era of straightened hair or Afros,
Hayes was bald: “His look was just so profound,” Stanback
said. “He was like a superhero.”
Whereas other soul crooners showed their passion
through wails, Hayes delivery was calm, cool — almost
subdued. He prefaced songs with “raps,” and they ran
longer than typical standard of three minutes: One song, a
cover of Glen Campbell’s “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,”
ran 18 minutes.
“(Radio) jocks would play it at night,” Hayes recalled
of his songs in a 1999 Associated Press interview. “They
could go to the bathroom, they could get a sandwich, or
whatever.”
Next came “Theme From Shaft,” a No. 1 hit from the
blaxploitation film “Shaft” starring Richard Roundtree.
“That was like the shot heard round the world,” Hayes said
in the 1999 interview.
At the Oscar ceremony in 1972, Hayes performed the
song wearing an eye-popping amount of gold and received
a standing ovation. TV Guide later chose it as No. 18 in its
list of television’s 25 most memorable moments. He won
an Academy Award for the song and was nominated for
another one for the score. The song and score also won him
two Grammys.
In 1972, he won another Grammy for his album
“Black Moses” and earned a nickname he reluctantly
embraced. He was also part of the historic “Wattstax”
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concert in riot-ravaged Watts neighborhood in Los
Angeles.
Besides “Shaft,” Hayes composed film scores for
“Tough Guys” and “Truck Turner.” He also did the song
“Two Cool Guys” on the “Beavis and Butt-Head Do
America” movie soundtrack in 1996.
Additionally, he was the voice of Nickelodeon’s “Nick
at Nite” and had radio shows in New York City (1996 to
2002) and then in Memphis.
Though his last big hits on the charts ended in the
1980s, Hayes’ presence in contemporary music continued
as his songs were sampled on numerous hits by rap and
R&B performers, ranging from Ashanti to Public Enemy to
Jay-Z.
“The rappers have gone in and created a lot of hit
music based upon my influence,” he said. “And they’ll tell
you if you ask.”
Stanback said: “A lot of artists owe Isaac [their
careers] because a lot of music was based on his
foundation.”
He garnered another audience and cult following with
his work on “South Park.” A school cook, Chef was in
many ways the voice of reason in the otherwise outrageous
animated social commentary, unwittingly imparting pearls
of wisdom on the schoolboys who often came to him with
their dilemmas; this, in spite of the fact that his foremost
devotion was — true to Hayes’ music and persona — being
a ladies’ man.
In the 1999 interview, Hayes described the character
as “a person that speaks his mind; he’s sensitive enough to
care for children; he’s wise enough to not be put into the
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‘wack’ category like everybody else in town — and he l-oo-o-o-ves the ladies.”
But Hayes angrily quit the show in 2006 after an
episode mocked his Scientology religion. “There is a place
in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends
and intolerance and bigotry toward religious beliefs of
others begins,” he said.
Co-creator Matt Stone responded that Hayes “has no
problem — and he’s cashed plenty of checks — with our
show making fun of Christians.” A subsequent episode of
the show seemingly killed off the Chef character.
Hayes remained active in entertainment, even as he became
a senior citizen. His Web site listed upcoming appearances
and he was making plans for his Stax album.
Stanback said it was to include Hayes’ work on
vintage tracks that he had left unfinished over the years.
“We were actually getting ready to schedule a trip to
Memphis to talk to Isaac,” he said.
Stanback called his death a tragedy. “Isaac Hayes was
a wonderful human being and his spirit will live long in the
form of his music,” he said.
---------Entertainment Weekly, Dec 27, 2008
Remembering Eartha Kitt
By Michael Slezak
In an era when manufactured "celebrities" are as
common as drab backyard sparrows, Eartha Kitt, who died
on Christmas day of colon cancer at age 81, was the kind of
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strange, wondrous, exotic bird you lay eyes on once and
never forget. I first discovered Kitt when I was a young boy
watching after-school reruns of Batman; she was touted in
the credits as an "Extra Special Guest Villainess" for her
role as "The Catwoman," and while everything about the
show was pure ridiculousness -- nothing more so than the
way Kitt gleefully rolled her r's on words like "prrrrrrrhaps"
and "terrrrrrrrific" -- it was an exercise in futility to try to
take my eyes off the giddy woman in the black bodysuit
who seemed to turn her every scene into a wild one-woman
show.
I could pretty much say the same of Kitt's performance
in the 2000 Broadway production of The Wild Party. I
remember exiting the theater and marveling how with just
two solo numbers (including the show-stopping "When It
Ends," a defiant ode to man's mortality), the then 73-yearold Kitt managed to steal the show from her terrific costars
Toni Collette and Mandy Patinkin.
This past summer, however, I got to see Kitt in a
cabaret setting, the forum where it was said she felt most at
home. Sitting maybe 20 feet away from the stage at Café
Carlyle in New York City, and watching Kitt vamp and
shamelessly flirt with male audience members, I was struck
by how few octogenarians would still attempt to play the
sex kitten, let alone pull it off (and doing two shows a
night, no less). Perhaps even more impressive, though, was
Kitt's understanding that to be seductive, you don't always
have to be so bloody serious. Indeed, she broke out into her
trademark cackle several times during old chestnuts like
"Too Young to Be Meant for Me" and "Champagne Taste.”
Still, my favorite moment of the show -- Kitt's rendition of
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"La Vie en Rose" -- didn't feature any hip-gyrating or legflashing at all; her voice vibrating with each word like a
plucked string, Kitt was so beautifully somber that the
clanking of cutlery and the rumble of ice against glasses in
the intimate dinner theater ceased entirely.
---------Uptown, December 9, 2008
Beyoncé Opens Up About:
Life in the Spotlight
By Tomika Anderson
Sure, Beyoncé is hopelessly beautiful, married to the
300 million dollar man, and has seriously deep pockets of
her own. But can she cook? That’s what I most want to
know as I sit across from the fresh-faced, doe-eyed
songstress inside the penthouse suite of the luxurious Soho
Grand hotel.
“Well, I don’t have a lot of time to cook,” reveals
Beyoncé, who’s clad in a black ruffled blouse, low-hanging
diamond pendant, leather pants, and spiked boots. She
pauses to consider her culinary répertoire, and then adds, “I
actually made oxtails with peas and rice not too long ago. It
came out pretty good,” she beams.
Rats. Yet one more thing this 27-year-old, charttopping tour de force can add to her overflowing list of
achievements. Honestly, it’s enough to make this average
chick want to jump off a bridge.
Since the Houston-bred singer-turned-actress and
entrepreneur burst onto the scene more than 10 years ago as
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lead vocalist of Destiny’s Child, it was clear that nothing
about Beyoncé Knowles was average. Grammys? Got 10 of
’em. Movies? Her last film, Dreamgirls, won two Oscars.
Even her clothing line seems recession-proof: House of
Deréon continues to expand—adding shoes, handbags, and
eyewear—under the watchful eye of B’s mom and business
partner, Tina Knowles.
And lately things have only gotten better for the
bodacious newlywed, who tied the knot with Shawn “JayZ” Carter during a hush-hush, star-studded Manhattan
ceremony this past April.
For starters, she came in second on Forbes magazine’s
list of the world’s highest paid music stars this year,
beating out Madonna, Celine Dion, and Justin Timberlake.
At this point Beyoncé’s entertainment empire—a clothing
line, tour sales, platinum-selling records, and endorsement
deals with L’Oréal and American Express, among others—
rivals that of her man’s. “Jay and I keep our businesses
separate,” she confides. “I had mine before we met, and he
had his.”
She’s also back in the spotlight with two rousing new
singles off her November release, I Am: “If I Were a Boy,”
a folksy pop song written for wronged women worldwide,
and the rollicking party-in-a-bottle Single Ladies (Put a
Ring on It.) Pulling 17 songs from the 70 she recorded
during her “downtime,” Beyoncé says her fans will be
pleased to note the range in her material this time around.
“I felt like it was time for me to take more risks with my
sound,” she says of her third solo studio album. “So I really
experimented this time around.”
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Mrs. Carter has also been acting up a storm. Not only
will she star opposite Ali Larter and The Wire’s Idris Elba
in the upcoming Fatal Attraction-themed flick Obsessed,
out in February, the two-time Golden Globe nominee has
also signed on to play not one, but two legendary singers:
notorious Hollywood vixen Eartha Kitt and troubled blues
great Etta James.
“(Playing Etta James) was so challenging and scary
but also the most fulfilling thing I’ve ever done,” Beyoncé
says of her transformation to become the singer, who
famously battled a drug habit, in this month’s Cadillac
Records, a biopic chronicling the rise and fall of the 1950s
label that launched the careers of Muddy Waters, Chuck
Berry, and Bo Diddley. Beyoncé reportedly spent time in a
Brooklyn rehab facility visiting drug addicts to prepare for
the role. “Etta is so bold and so unapologetic,” she says
with admiration. “It doesn’t matter who she is around.
Learning about how strong she is taught me how to take
more risks.”
One of those risks involved tackling James’ signature
song, the wedding staple At Last, which Beyoncé says
made her even more nervous than the acting. “I was
terrified because I’d never met Etta James and I heard she
was in the audience (the night of the screening),” she
recalls. “I was scared to look at her! When I first walked
out onstage she was sitting there like, ‘All right, who is this
girl about to come up here and sing my song?’ Fortunately,
I could see her kinda transform by the end,” Beyoncé says
smiling. “Then she was like, ‘Bad, girl! You bad!’ And I
was like, now that is a compliment.”
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Beyoncé’s sister and fellow R&B singer Solange also
observed how challenging playing James was for B. “I’ve
seen how much she prepared for this movie,” says Solange.
“She really poured herself into this role—it’s amazing how
much she sacrificed Beyoncé for Etta James. I think this is
the role that can completely show people how much of an
actress she really is.”
Acting has become so much of a priority, reveals the
self-described perfectionist and control freak, that she finds
herself critiquing other actors’ performances. “I’m the
worst person to go see a movie with,” says Beyoncé, who
admits she works with an acting coach, “because I’ll talk
through it! I’ll be like, ‘Oh, she killed that!’ Or, ‘You see
how he put his hands in his pocket?’ I’m the worst!”
Given her jam-packed schedule, you might think that
Beyoncé and Jay don’t see kids in their future. You’d be
wrong. They absolutely do, she says—just not right now. “I
do eventually want to have children,” she explains. “I’m
just not in a rush. I just kept my nephew (Julez) for the
weekend,” she says, referring to Solanges’s four-year old
son. “He’s a beautiful little boy but he’s way too smart!
And I’m telling (Solange and my family), you all are
making it real hard for me! I am not ready! I just can’t! So,
we’ll see. Maybe in a couple more years, but right now I’m
not ready. And I’m sure once I have children, everything,
my priorities are going to be different. But right now, I’m
working on my acting, and eventually one day I want to do
Broadway and win a Tony and an Oscar and just continue
growing as an icon.”
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Others on Top in 2008
Beyoncé wasn't the only one who reigned supreme in 2008.
It was a good year for many-- for some, it was a personal
best. We gathered experts in entertainment, fashion, sports,
and politics to select who they thought were la crème de la
crème.
RIHANNA
In 2008, the Jay-Z protégé evolved into a trendsetting
femme fatale, winning a Grammy and scoring a handful of
Billboard hits, including “Umbrella” and “Take a Bow,”
from her multiplatinum album Good Girl Gone Bad, and
the fearless “Disturbia,” from the subsequent Reloaded.
Determined not to be another cloying industry pop tart, the
Cover Girl spokesmodel, aka Chris Brown’s honey,
stepped out of the box, proving just how irreplaceable she
is. —Lashieka Purvis Hunter
TYLER PERRY
2008 saw this playwright, director, and producer release
and star in two box office successes, Meet the Browns and
The Family That Preys, and become the first African
American ever to launch his own major TV and film studio.
His television series House of Payne, which was tepidly
received by some critics, now airs on both TBS and the
CW. The movie mogul returns to his cross-dressing act in
Madea Goes to Jail, due out in February, and will make a
cameo appearance in 2009’s heavily-anticipated Star Trek
film. —Lashieka Purvis Hunter
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TYRA
In 2008, “the new Oprah” stayed on her grind, garnering
1.5 million viewers for The Tyra Banks Show and earning
more than $23 million. The America’s Next Top Model star
and executive producer launched two CW reality series:
Stylista, coined as the reality TV version of The Devil
Wears Prada, and Operation Fabulous. With supermodel,
producer, and actress securely under her Gucci belt, Tyra
also took on one more title: Emmy winner.
—Lashieka Purvis Hunter
LIL WAYNE
The tats, the platinum teeth, the sagging jeans, the defiance.
Where wasn’t Lil Wayne in 2008? Tha Carter III sold a
million copies the first week it dropped despite a climate of
declining record sales. Labeling himself as one of the best
rappers (dead or alive), the New Orleans native became one
of the most sought after and controversial verbal assassins
of the year, appearing on just about every mix tape and
single from artists such as T.I. to Gym Class Heroes. Up
next? Lil Wayne dabbles with acting in Hurricane Season
and C.R.E.A.M: The American Dream, and there’s talk that
he and T-Pain will be dropping a joint album.
—Lashieka Purvis Hunter
“Selling more than 1 million CDs in a week is nothing
short of a miracle for a rapper—or an artist from any
genre—in today’s music marketplace.”
— Margeaux Watson
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PATRICK ROBINSON
The talented Mr. Robinson did more than put Gap back on
the fashion map—he completely relocated the basicsfriendly retail chain, re-establishing the company’s cool
factor. His edgy debut collection has been hailed by major
fashion magazines, including Vogue and Glamour. Now
the only question for the designer: How long will he make
us wait for the next collection? —Tshinguta Lily Perry
“Patrick Robinson is a perennial favorite in fashion. From
helming Perry Ellis to creating his own signature line, he’s
the ultimate insider. Now that he’s the creative director for
one of the most important retailers in the world, he’s poised
to become a household name. I think 2008 laid the
foundation for Patrick to have a phenomenal 2009!”
—Bevy Smith
ARLENIS SOSA
When a passerby who happened to be a designer snapped
Sosa’s picture and sent it to the Marilyn Agency in New
York, the foundation was laid for the 19-year-old. The girl
who had never been outside of her native Dominican
Republic is now the newest face for cosmetics giant
Lancôme. She also made her runway debut this fall for
Oscar de la Renta, Donna Karan, Carolina Herrera, Proenza
Schouler, Zac Posen, Narciso Rodriguez, and Tommy
Hilfiger. Not bad for someone who has been in the game
for little more than a year. —Tshinguta Lily Perry
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CHANEL IMAN
If 2007 was the appropriately named model’s breakout
year, then 2008 established Chanel Iman as one of the
world’s top models. Galliano, Jacobs, and Stella are just a
few top tier designers who have demanded the Culver City,
CA native’s presence on their runways. Not to mention, she
was the first black model to represent at Gucci since 2005.
We didn't see her only on the runway—the 19-year-old’s
face was plastered all over new and improved Gap
billboards. We'll soon spot her in campaigns for Victoria
Secret’s Pink label. —Tshinguta Lily Perry
JOURDAN DUNN
It’s only right that Dunn was one of the cover girls of
Steven Meisel’s groundbreaking all black issue of Italian
Vogue. The 18-year-old London native, who was
discovered while shopping, spent the better part of the year
smashing down doors wherever she strutted. The number
one stunner was the first black model to walk for Prada in
over 10 years and became one of the few folks of color to
grace the cover of British Vogue, while courageously
calling the industry on its lack of diversity.
—Tshinguta Lily Perry
URSULA STEPHEN
Image consultant and hairstylist to the stars, Stephen helped
to transform Rihanna from pop star to an international
superstar with one haircut. Since turning heads with that
infamous bob, Stephen signed with Mega Management PR
and is the stylist of choice for celebs like Keyshia Cole and
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Michelle Williams. She is also a beauty expert for a host of
fashion magazines.
—Tshinguta Lily Perry
CULLEN JONES
Among the 800 swimmers at the U.S. Olympic swim trials,
Cullen Jones wasn’t hard to find (as the only African
American, he was that one). Jones earned an Olympic spot
and swam the third leg on the 100-meter relay team that
won gold—only the second African American to win
Olympic gold in the pool. We’d like to say Jones was a
natural from day one, but that would be a stretch—he was 5
when he started lessons, after nearly drowning at a water
park. Sure wish Al Campanis—the former baseball
executive who once said blacks can’t swim “because they
don’t have the buoyancy”—was around to witness Jones’
Olympic moment. —Jerry Bembry
“There are certain victories that transcend the field,
the court, or the pool, and there’s no doubt that the gold
medal of swimmer Cullen Jones is one of those landmark
achievements.” —Ahmad Rashad
GLENN “DOC” RIVERS
The Boston Celtics ended the 2006–2007 season with the
NBA’s second worst record—and fans demanding the head
of team coach Glenn “Doc” Rivers. But one year later, and
after key trades that fetched Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen,
Doc Rivers had transformed the Celtics into a team even
the bruthas could love. Under Rivers’ guidance, the Celtics
won a league-best 66 games in 2008, with a finale that was
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just what the Doc ordered: an NBA title, Boston’s first
championship in 22 years. —Jerry Bembry
CORY BOOKER
When the economy goes south, violent crime tends to go up
in places like Newark. So the bad news from Wall Street
and Washington should be giving Mayor Cory Booker
headaches, given that crime and economic development
have been his administration’s top priorities. But violent
crime in Newark is down nearly 40 percent since he took
office, and just recently, Booker helped craft a resolution to
settle a battle over who was in charge among some of the
highest-ranking uniforms in his police force. With the
media on the lookout for the “next Barack Obama,” it
seems Booker may be the heir apparent. —Keith Reed
DAVID PATERSON
One minute, you’re second fiddle in New York State
government, playing behind a modern day Eliot Ness. A
sex scandal later, Client No. 9 is cutting deals to avoid the
clink, and the fate of the Empire State rests on your
shoulders. Not only did David Paterson, a Harlem native
and the first legally blind governor of any state, come out in
front to save international insurance giant AIG at the
beginning of the economic crisis, but he’s not shy on social
issues either. Anyone who witnessed his speech during the
2008 NAACP convention — in which he lambasted the
legacy of white supremacy and the disenfranchisement of
African-Americans — would be hard pressed to find
another governor who’d go there. —Keith Reed
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VALERIE JARRETT
Jarrett is to Barack Obama what Karl Rove was to Bush 43
during his first campaign. Except she’s better looking, not
evil, and probably won’t out CIA operatives whose spouses
piss off the administration. Jarrett’s ties to the Obamas
started when she hired Michelle for a job in Chicago Mayor
Richard M. Daley’s administration nearly 20 years ago. But
as Senior Adviser for Obama’s campaign, she’s way more
than a friend of the family. Barack’s famous speech on race
in response to the Rev. Wright controversy was given on
her advice. We see why people call her Barack’s other
secret weapon. —Keith Reed
BARACK AND MICHELLE OBAMA
Must we explain why this ultimate power couple is having
the best year of all politicos? In 2003, no one outside the
Illinois legislature knew Barack Obama’s name, and even
fewer knew that of his attorney/hospital administrator
spouse, Michelle. Now, as President of the United States,
he’s poised to occupy the chair at the apex of world
political power and she will sit at his side. Together they
lead a family that seems destined to become the modernday portrait of Camelot. Best year? Try best life.
—Keith Reed
“They have changed the landscape of American politics.
Obama’s campaign has revolutionized the rules of the
game, from raising money and setting up a ground
organization, to fully realizing the American ideal that
anything is possible for anyone. They are a movement, and
there is no way back.”—Adaora Udoji
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