Museum Officials, Business Partners, Even Florida Governor Charlie Crist Is Pulling Out All The Stops For Black Art Exhibit

The Sunshine State has spared no effort to promote The Kinsey Collection, what many are claiming will be the most remarkable art and historic exhibit yet in tracing the African-American experience for Tallahassee residents. People are already feeling the impact.

Florida A&M University grads Bernard and Shirley Kinsey still consider Tallahassee a second home, and for six months "The Kinsey Collection: Shared Treasures of Bernard and Shirley Kinsey" will have residence at the Mary Brogan Museum of Art & Science. The exhibit officially opens to the public Friday and will remain here until March 21, 2010.

"I will tell you that we are projecting stronger admissions for the Brogan Museum than ever before," said Chucha Barber, the Brogan's CEO. "We have generated significant sponsorship for this exhibit, even more so than we had for the blockbuster Our Body — The Universe Within."

The list of corporate partners is a business Who's Who: Visit Florida, The Walt Disney Co., Target Stores, Progress Energy, State Farm, Edison Electric, the Anheuser Busch Foundation and AT&T, among others.

Local partner A.M.W.A.T. Moving & Storage volunteered to truck the exhibit here from Los Angeles and will take it to Washington, D.C., for its next venue, the Smithsonian Institution.

Barber said the biggest outreach is a cooperative effort with tourism marketer Visit Florida and American Express, which will promote the exhibit to more than 7.4 million people through the company's communications with its cardholders.

In Florida, the Governor's Office will join in marketing the exhibit with emphasis on February, Black History Month, she said.

Besides Los Angeles, the Kinsey Collection has been on display in Cincinnati, Chicago and in Bernard Kinsey's hometown of West Palm Beach, where it was housed at the Norton Museum of Art.

"We have had about 200,000 people see the collection, 12 to 15 million people have seen it on television, and about 2-plus million will see it at the Smithsonian," Bernard Kinsey said. "But what we're trying to do is a little different."

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The Sunshine State Goes Black After Power Outrages Have Floridians Up In Arms

The Party In Miami Just Stopped!!!

Massive power outages struck Florida today, with power reported out from Miami to Jacksonville on the east coast and as far north as Tampa on the Gulf Coast, police and utility officials said.

Motorists try to navigate an intersection after traffic lights go dark. About 4.4 million customers across South Florida were affected, Florida Power and Light Co. officials said.

The outage struck shortly after 1 p.m. ET as scattered thunderstorms passed through the region. But the cause of the outage was not immediately known. In Washington, officials at the Department of Homeland Security said there was no immediate concern that terrorism was behind the outage. Stan Johnson, a spokesman for the North American Electric Reliability Council, said eight power plants were off-line across the region.

Detective Robert Williams, a Miami-Dade County police spokesman, said power was out across the entire county. Outages stretched into neighboring Broward County, which includes Fort Lauderdale, he said.

In Palm Beach County, spotty outages ranged from Riviera Beach to Boca Raton, said sheriff's spokeswoman Teri Barbera. [CNN]

HAITIAN GANGBANGERS ARE LEAVING DEAD BODIES ALL OVER SOUTH FLORIDA

Black On Black War Among Haitian-Americans May Be Spreading

Jesse Cesar, the one time suspect in the notorious Boynton Beach Mall Christmas Eve homicide, was recently shot and killed in the daytime at a busy east Orange County shopping center.

About 3:40 p.m., Cesar, 22, walked out of All Pro barber shop, and witnesses heard gunshots ring out.

"It sounded like firecrackers," said Mike DeMerchant, 25, who works at an all-terrain vehicle dealership next door.

Workers at the dealership and others found the victim collapsed in front of nearby Johnny's Caribbean Restaurant, shot several times. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Many are concerned that Cesar's death may be the latest in a chain of gang killings.

The spike in homicides in Palm Beach County during the first quarter of the year was gang-related, officials said. Detectives and medical examiners reported at least five gang slayings in the first three months of this year.

Despite a police crackdown on gangs, there were 25 homicides in the first three months of 2007, up from 24 in the same period last year.

Whether it's New York, LA, or the Dirty South, we keep killing ourselves over meaningless ish.

Wake up Black men. WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!

SUN SENTINEL