Eric Garner’s family, supporters Protest outside Gracie Mansion New York City
The new waves of outrage follow the U.S. Justice Department’s decision this week to not file civil rights charges against New York City Police officer Daniel Pantaleo, who put Garner in the chokehold that city officials say cost the Staten Island man his life.
It is outrageous that I have had to be fighting for five years to get the Mayor to do his job to make sure that there is accountability when the NYPD murders our children,” Carr said. “The Mayor has been dragging his heels and obstructing accountability at every turn for the past five years.”
See also NYPD cop dodges federal charges in Eric Garner’s chokehold death
“Actions speak louder than words and so far I still haven’t seen action,” she later added. “I want to see action and will not stop fighting for my son until Pantaleo and all the other officers who did wrong are fired.”
Close to 500 Hundred Protesters were at the Rally at Gracie Mansion, close to 5 people were arrested, more protests and rallies are planned including one in Washington DC, in the coming days.
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20th Annual Anniversary Luncheon for Rainbow Push Coalition NYC-2018
The Wall Street Project was founded in 1996 by Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., and the Citizenship Education Fund; it was officially launched by Rev. Jesse Jackson and prominent minority business owners on January 15, 1997, Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday.
The Wall Street Project challenges Corporate America to end the multi-billion dollar trade deficit with minority vendors and consumers, while working to ensure equal opportunities for culturally diverse employees, entrepreneurs and consumers.
“The Wall Street Project is not an end in itself,” says Rev. Jackson, “nor a means to an end. It is an evolutionary process by which we view people of color and women as ‘value added’ and a mutually beneficial proposition to American business.
“The road to shared economic security travels through two-way trade, where all are included, and none are left in the margins of the marketplace. Industry by industry, the quantifiable gaps in opportunity and in access to capital for people of color-owned businesses define our agenda.
“Just as America did not realize how good professional sports could be until athletes of all colors could play, American business will not maximize its growth potential until all businesses have an equal opportunity to compete on an even playing field, where the rules are public and the goals are clear.
That is the goal of the Wall Street Project.” The Wall Street Project uses Operation Breadbasket’s model of research, education, negotiation, and reconciliation to achieve its mission to promote inclusion, opportunity and economic growth by encouraging public and private industries.
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The Shadow League Sports Trailblazers 4th Annual Shadow League Awards
New York, NY–November 6, 2017) The Shadow League (TSL), the premier online destination for journalistically sound sports coverage with a cultural perspective, hosted its 4th Annual Shadow League Awards on Wednesday, November 8th at ESPACE, in New York city.
The Shadow League honored three extraordinary men and women who are blazing trails for others and creating a significant impact in the sports arena. Richard Cho, General Manager of the Charlotte Hornets, Claressa Shields, Women’s WBC and IBF Super Middleweight Champion and Andrea Williams, Commissioner of the Big Sky Conference. The Shadow League Awards is presented by Buick.
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Recommit to Kids The Summit for America’s Future & Promise Night Gala-2017
America’s Promise Alliance, the nation’s largest network dedicated to improving the lives of children and youth, welcomes two-time Grammy-nominated singer and songwriter and 2017 Promise Hero honoree, Andra Day; Grammy-award winning saxophonist, Kenny G; and five-time winner of the Apollo Theater’s rising new star award, saxophonist Austin Paul, Jr. at the third annual Promise Night Gala in NYC.
Andra Day will sing her motivational anthem “Rise Up” with Harlem’s Boys & Girls Harbor Choir.
Promise Night honorees exemplify how leaders from business, entertainment, government, philanthropy, and the nonprofit sector can each have a role in improving the lives of America’s youth.
America’s Promise Founding Chair Gen. Colin Powell and Chair Alma Powell will present several awards throughout the event.
This year’s Promise of America honorees include:
Kenneth I. Chenault, chairman and CEO, American Express Company
Common, hip-hop artist, actor, film producer, and founder of the Common Ground Foundation
Arne Duncan, managing partner, Emerson Collective
Bryan Stevenson, executive director, Equal Justice Initiative
Dorothy Stoneman, founder, YouthBuild
Promise Hero honorees include: Andra Day and New England Patriot and Founder of Reading with Malcolm initiative, Malcolm Mitchell.
A salute by the Children of Gen. Colin Powell and Chair Alma Powell were done for their mother and father and there 20 years of Contribution to America’s Promise Alliance.
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Greater NY Chapter The Links Inc Spring Luncheon and Fashion Show
GREATER NEW YORK CHAPTER, THE LINKS, INCORPORATED CELEBRATES
66 YEARS OF SERVICE WITH THE 2016 WOMEN OF DISTINCTION SPIRIT AWARDS LUNCHEON
HONORING EMMY-WINNING JOURNALIST AND COMMUNICATIONS CONSULTANT
JACQUELINE ADAMS AND GOOGLE’S VP OF ACCESS STRATEGY AND EMERGING MARKETS
DR. MARIAN ROGERS CROAK
The Women of Distinction Spirit Awards Luncheon is the annual, signature fundraising event of the Greater New York Chapter of The Links, Incorporated. Each year, the Luncheon – which features an elegant fashion show, live music and vendor’s showcase – draws over 800 influencers from New York’s business, civic, social service, philanthropic and cultural sectors in support of the Chapter’s work in Services to Youth, the Arts, National Trends and Services, International Trends and Services, and Health and Human Services. This year’s Luncheon will honor Emmy Award-winning journalist and communications consultant Jacqueline Adams and technology pioneer Dr. Marian Rogers Croak, Vice President of Access Strategy and Emerging Markets for Google.
Among the highlights will be the popular Vendor Showcase, beginning at 11:00 AM and a spring fashion show. Barbara North-Lightning and Victoria James are the 2016 Luncheon Chairs. Luncheon Vice-Chairs are Kaylyn Johnson Chandler, DeNora M. Getachew, Icema D. Gibbs, Lynn K. Law, Katrina McGhee, Gerri Warren-Merrick, Rhonda R. Mims, Johnita Walker Mizelle, Helen C. Shelton and Linda Zango-Haley.
“The 2016 Women of Distinction Spirit Awards Luncheon will celebrate Greater New York’s 66 years of signature service, while honoring two accomplished women whose commitment to excellence in journalism and technology, respectively, have made a difference in our world today, “ says Rhonda Joy McLean, President of the Greater New York Chapter of The Links.
“We could think of no better way to honor our past and forge our future than to celebrate the achievements of Jacqueline Adams and Dr. Marian Rogers Croak as we continue to forge ahead with our mission of uplifting our community.”
In addition to the honorees, other notable attendees at the Luncheon include Link Natalie Fant, Eastern Area Director, The Links, Incorporated.
About the Greater New York Chapter, The Links, Incorporated
Established in 1946, The Links, Incorporated, is one of the nation’s oldest and largest volunteer service organizations of women who, linked in friendship, are committed to enriching, sustaining and ensuring the culture and economic survival of African-Americans and persons of African descent. The Links, Incorporated is a not-for-profit organization, which consists of nearly 14,000 professional women of color in 282 chapters located in 42 states, the District of Columbia and the Bahamas.
Greater New York Chapter, founded in 1949, was the first chapter chartered in New York and comprises members from all five boroughs in New York City and from Long Island. Under the leadership of President, Rhonda Joy McLean, Greater New York Chapter is committed to fostering community outreach in the New York metropolitan area through quality programs with a long-term impact on the well-being and enrichment of African-Americans and other traditionally underserved communities. For the past several years, Greater New York has focused heavily on enhancing the lives of those who have been victimized by domestic and family violence.
BRAG 44th Annual Scholarship & Awards Gala
The 44th Annual BRAG Gala was held at The New York Hilton midtown Manhattan. This years theme “Dare, Defy, Disrupt,” exemplified the spirit of this years honorees. Honorees included Edward Enninful, Fashion and Style Director at W Magazine, who received the BRAG Business Achievement Award, Shawuan Johnson, SVP/ GMM of Women’s Apparel and Accessories at Tommy Hilfiger, received the BRAG Special Recognition Award and Boris Kodjoe, Patrick Kodjoe & James G. Brown, Jr. founders of ALFA (The Luxury for Custom-Tailored Clothing), where honored with The BRAG JJ Thomas Innovator Award.
Lloyd Boston, TV Host and Style Contributor, hosted of this year’s event and his year’s special music talent included guests DJ Kiss, as well as a live performance by singer/ songwriter Sebastian Mikael.
Honoree Edward Enninful was unable to attend due to travel, however, modeling icon Ajak Deng and W Magazine Market and Accessories Director Karla Martinez accepted on his behalf.
Scholarships were awarded to 31 students who are interested in pursuing careers in fashion and retail related industries.
About the BRAG Gala: Each year as BRAG celebrates excellence in fashion and retail, it also awards scholarships to students who are interested in careers in the industry, have achieved academic success, and exhibit the financial need. As advocates for diversity in retail-related industries, BRAG serves as one of few organizations that offer guidance to high school students, college students and young professionals. To date, BRAG has awarded over $900,000 in scholarships to more than 400 students.
Pat Cleveland: First Black Supermodel,
Cleveland studied at New York’s High School of Art and Design, where her first love was fashion. By her early teens, she was designing and wearing her own creations. Her modelling career began by accident in 1967 when she was spotted on a New York subway by Carrie Donovan, an assistant editor at Vogue. The 14-year-old was on her way to classes at LaGuardia Performing Arts School when, “This assistant followed me,” Cleveland recalled. “My girlfriend said, ‘You better run. There’s a dyke chasing you’. I said, ‘What’s a dyke?’”
After working with Ebony, Cleveland began to attract the attention of the major fashion designers of the day, working first with famous names such as Jacques Tiffeau and Stephen Burrows. Soon she was meeting and working with all of fashion’s top playmakers, including Diana Vreeland, Irving Penn and Andy Warhol. But despite her early success Cleveland grew disillusioned with America and its racist attitudes towards black models. One day, fashion illustrator Antonio Lopez invited her to try her luck in Milan and Paris instead.
Cleveland returned to United States in 1974 (the year of US Vogue’s first black cover model), and continued modelling into the 1980s. She went into semi-retirement after getting married and giving birth to two children, Anna and Noel. Today she still makes intermittent appearances on television and on the runway.
Interview with Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Dr.W.Baldwin Spencer
Winston Baldwin Spencer is the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda. He has been Prime Minister since March 24, 2004, when his party, the United Progressive Party (UPP), which he had led as the opposition party for several years, won a parliamentary election. He has also been Minister of Foreign Affairs since January 6, 2005.
In 2004, Baldwin Spencer led the United Progressive Party to a landslide victory in the general election. He defeated Lester Bird’s ALP, which had ruled Antigua and Barbuda for the previous 28 years. In Government he moved to enact a trio of good government reforms: a nationwide school meals program, raising the minimum wage and paying all civil servants.
Internationally Baldwin Spencer is known as a skilled diplomat who helped his country assume the leadership of the Group of 77 in 2008. He received the highest order of Cote d’Ivoire, the Commander of the National Order. He was also recognized by the United Nations for his leadership, receiving the Millennium Development Goals Achievement Award in recognition for his work advancing the cause of international development.
Nelson Mandela: The Story with live performance by Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Princess of Africa – 2013
In 1989, while in the last months of his imprisonment, he obtained an LLB through the University of South Africa. He graduated in absentia at a ceremony in Cape Town.
Nelson Mandela, while increasingly politically involved from 1942, only joined the African National Congress in 1944 when he helped formed the ANC Youth League.
In 1944 he married Walter Sisulu’s cousin Evelyn Mase, a nurse. They had two sons Madiba Thembekile ‘Thembi’ and Makgatho and two daughters both called Makaziwe, the first of whom died in infancy. They effectively separated in 1955 and divorced in 1958.
Nelson Mandela rose through the ranks of the ANCYL and through its work the ANC adopted in 1949 a more radical mass-based policy, the Programme of Action.
In 1952, he was chosen at the National Volunteer-in-Chief of the Defiance Campaign with Maulvi Cachalia as his Deputy. This campaign of civil disobedience against six unjust laws was a joint programme between the ANC and the South African Indian Congress. He and 19 others were charged under the Suppression of Communism Act for their part in the campaign and sentenced to nine months hard labour suspended for two years.
A two-year diploma in law on top of his BA allowed Nelson Mandela to practice law and in August 1952 he and Oliver Tambo established South Africa’s first black law firm, Mandela and Tambo.
At the end of 1952 he was banned for the first time. As a restricted person he was only able to secretly watch as the Freedom Charter was adopted at Kliptown on June 26, 1955.
Nelson Mandela was arrested in a countrywide police swoop of 156 activists on December 5, 1955, which led to the 1956 Treason Trial. Men and women of all races found themselves in the dock in the marathon trial that only ended when the last 28 accused, including Mr. Mandela were acquitted on March 29, 1961.
On March 21, 1960 police killed 69 unarmed people in a protest at Sharpeville against the pass laws. This led to the country’s first state of emergency on March 31 and the banning of the ANC and the Pan Africanist Congress on 8 April. Nelson Mandela and his colleagues in the Treason Trial were among the thousands detained during the state of emergency.
During the trial on June 14, 1958 Nelson Mandela married a social worker Winnie Madikizela. They had two daughters Zenani and Zindziswa. The couple divorced in 1996.
Days before the end of the Treason Trial Nelson Mandela travelled to Pietermaritzburg to speak at the All-in Africa Conference, which resolved he should write to Prime Minister Verwoerd requesting a non-racial national convention, and to warn that should he not agree there would be a national strike against South Africa becoming a republic. As soon as he and his colleagues were acquitted in the Treason Trial Nelson Mandela went underground and began planning a national strike for March 29, 30 and 31. In the face of a massive mobilization of state security the strike was called off early. In June 1961 he was asked to lead the armed struggle and helped to establish Umkhonto weSizwe (Spear of the Nation).
On January 11, 1962 using the adopted name David Motsamayi, Nelson Mandela left South Africa secretly. He travelled around Africa and visited England to gain support for the armed struggle. He received military training in Morocco and Ethiopia and returned to South Africa in July 1962. He was arrested in a police roadblock outside Howick on August 5, while returning from KwaZulu-Natal where he briefed ANC President Chief Albert Luthuli about his trip.
He was charged with leaving the country illegally and inciting workers to strike. He was convicted and sentenced to five years imprisonment which he began serving in Pretoria Local Prison. On May 27, 1963 he was transferred to Robben Island and returned to Pretoria on June 12. Within a month police raided a secret hide-out in Rivonia used by ANC and Communist Party activists and several of his comrades were arrested.
In October 1963 Nelson Mandela joined nine others on trial for sabotage in what became known as the Rivonia Trial. Facing the death penalty, his words to the court at the end of his famous ‘Speech from the Dock’ on April 20, 1964 became immortalized:
“I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”
On June 11, 1964 Nelson Mandela and seven other accused Walter Sisulu, Ahmed Kathrada, Govan Mbeki, Raymond Mhlaba, Denis Goldberg, Elias Motsoaledi and Andrew Mlangeni were convicted and the next day were sentenced to life imprisonment. Denis Goldberg was sent to Pretoria Prison because he was white while the others went to Robben Island.
Nelson Mandela’s mother died in 1968 and his eldest son Thembi in 1969. He was not allowed to attend their funerals.
On March 31, 1982 Nelson Mandela was transferred to Pollsmoor Prison in Cape Town with Sisulu, Mhlaba and Mlangeni. Kathrada joined them in October. When he returned to the prison in November 1985 after prostate surgery Nelson Mandela was held alone. Justice Minister Kobie Coetsee had visited him in hospital. Later Nelson Mandela initiated talks about an ultimate meeting between the apartheid government and the ANC.
In 1988 he was treated for Tuberculosis and was transferred on December 7, 1988 to a house at Victor Verster Prison near Paarl. He was released from its gates on Sunday, February 11, 1990, nine days after the unbanning of the ANC and the PAC and nearly four months after the release of the remaining Rivonia comrades. Throughout his imprisonment, he had rejected at least three conditional offers of release.
Nelson Mandela immersed himself into official talks to end white minority rule and in 1991 was elected ANC President to replace his ailing friend Oliver Tambo. In 1993 he and President FW de Klerk jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize and on April 27, 1994 he voted for the first time in his life.
On May 10, 1994 he was inaugurated South Africa’s first democratically elected President. On his 80th birthday in 1998 he married Graça Machel, his third wife.
True to his promise Nelson Mandela stepped down in 1999 after one term as President. He continued to work with the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund he set up in 1995 and established the Nelson Mandela Foundation and The Mandela-Rhodes Foundation.
In April 2007 his grandson Mandla Mandela became head of the Mvezo Traditional Council at a ceremony at the Mvezo Great Place.
Nelson Mandela never wavered in his devotion to democracy, equality and learning. Despite terrible provocation, he never answered racism with racism. His life has been an inspiration to all who are oppressed and deprived, to all who are opposed to oppression and deprivation.
Yvonne Chaka Chaka aka Princess of Africa did a live performance, where Nelson Mandela was honored with the South South Awards 2013. In New York, his two daughters Zindzi Mandela and Josina Machel picked up the award on his behalf.
Exclusive Interview with John F. Robinson, President & CEO of NMBC at the 40th Anniversary and 32nd Annual Awards Luncheon – New York, 2012
John F. Robinson is the Founder, President and CEO of The National Minority Business Council (NMBC), a non-profit organization that has been instrumental in fostering small businesses by providing educational opportunities, business seminars and a wide array of professional services to small businesses and women and minority business owners.
Through the help of corporate supporters, and with the hands-on leadership of Robinson, the NMBC has continued to expand its scope to assist small businesses and entrepreneurs in procurement opportunities, global expansion, business development, and the technical training necessary to keep competitive in the world market. In recent years, the group has become more vocal with regards to local, state and federal government policies impacting its members.
For his four decades of leadership, Robinson was recently honored with the “2011 Neighborhood Achievement Award for Minority and Women-owned Enterprise Advocacy,” presented by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Bishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize Winner Speaking on Early Child Marriage Issues
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the South African anti-apartheid activist, Nobel Peace Prize winner and chair of the Elders, a group of independent global leaders working for human rights, was in Washington on Wednesday to promote his latest campaign: ending child marriage in the developing world. In 2011, the Elders created “Girls Not Brides: The Global Partnership to End Child Marriage,” which now has 200 members in 38 countries.
“We are really pushing this campaign for ending child marriage by 2030. It’s prevalent all over what you might call the developing world. It’s in virtually every African country, said Tutu. “I was actually surprised. I used to think it was something that happened only in Asia. My eyes were opened by the fact that the highest incidence is actually in Africa.”
It is a tradition where the family recognizes that they will benefit economically from dowries and things of that kind, and also having one less mouth to feed. They also think they are concerned for the girl’s virtue, that she might end up maybe being raped. It’s economic, too. For a new family [that the woman is married into], you have one extra pair of hands.
But it is a very debilitating practice. The girl child is not physically, let alone emotionally, ready to bear a child. The statistics are that girls who give birth when they are under 15 are five times more likely to die giving birth than girls of 19 and over. Their children are 60 times more likely to die before their first birthday.
The World Liberty TV Team was on hand at The CGI 2012, where we had the pleasure of hearing Archbishop Desmond Tutu, on the topic of Early Marriage.