QUICKIE: As Black History Month Comes To An End, Words of Wisdom From A Woman On A Mission

I freed a thousand slaves. I could have freed a thousand
more if only they knew they were slaves.

~Harriet Tubman

Acclaimed Cosby Show Artist Varnette Honeywood, Dead at 59

By Moses X Ball

The world has just lost an incredible individual. Varnette P. Honeywood has died.

Well-known as an artist and illustrator, Varnette P. Honeywood is highly regarded for her use of color and light, patterns and textures. Her work—primarily paintings, collages, and prints—has received wide exposure in galleries and individual and group shows, as well as in books and on television.

A graduate of Spelman College and member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Honeywood is famous for her upbeat depictions of black family life.

Carrying on the tradition of genre painting, a black artistic movement that followed in the wake of the Harlem Renaissance, her work portrays blacks in a range of settings, going about various activities, always stressing the colorful and creative aspects of African-American culture.

Her work tells stories and communicates ideas and thoughts. Much of Honeywood's art concerns the history of black Americans, their sufferings and triumphs, and celebrates the strength and leadership of black women.

Her work is probably most known for appearing on Cliff and Claire Huxtable's wall on The Cosby Show. I met Varnette back in the early 90's at the [Los Angeles] Crenshaw Plaza's yearly African American Fine Art Exhibition.

This was back when the exhibition featured some of the most well respected artists we have, from Jacob Lawrence, to Samella Lewis, Elizabeth Cattlett and John Biggers.

Varnette stuck out for me because she was so open about her process and full of so much advice for a young annoying kid who loved to draw pictures. I would go back every year (until leaving for college) and always check in with her, showing her new work and always learning something new from her practical wisdom.

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When Richard Pryor Is The Top Trending Topic On Twitter, It's Time For A Tribute... And A Movie!

Chris Rock and Adam Sandler are producing a new biopic focusing on the life of well-loved comedian Richard Pryor, who inspired countless comics during his career.

Pryor appeared in films and on stage from the 1960s to his 2005 death, though he is best known for his ribald standup routines.

Richard Pryor: Is It Something I Said details Pryor’s early life, rise to fame and his serious drug problems, which led to the famous “freebasing incident” of 1981. Marlon Wayans will portray Pryor in the flick, though the role was originally given to Eddie Murphy. Murphy passed on the movie due to “creative differences.”

Rumor has it that Pryor himself, who passed away in 2005 at 65, wanted Mike Epps to play the role.

Chris Rock said that Marlon’s screen test was amazing, and Wayans himself stated “I’m ready” to play the part.

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Beloved NAACP Leader Benjamin Hooks Has Died - What A Man!!!

The great black civil rights icon Dr. Benjamin L. Hooks has died at the age of 85.

A prominent lawyer and ordained Baptist minister who joined the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Hooks also worked as a judge and served as the first African American commissioner on the FCC. His most lasting legacy, however, was shepherding the NAACP over a challenging 15-year period of political and social change for the entire nation.

An American hero, Benjamin Hooks was born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1925 and grew up in the segregated South.

According to CNN, he went on to served in the U.S. Army during World War II, where he "found himself in the humiliating position of guarding Italian prisoners of war who were allowed to eat in restaurants that were off limits to him. The experience helped to deepen his resolve to do something about bigotry in the South," according to a biography published by the University of Memphis, where he was a professor in the political science department.

When no law school in the South would admit him, he used the GI bill to attend DePaul University in Chicago, where he earned a law degree in 1948. He later opened his own law practice in his hometown of Memphis.

"At that time you were insulted by law clerks, excluded from white bar associations and when I was in court, I was lucky to be called 'Ben,'" he once said in an interview with Jet magazine. "Usually it was just 'boy.'"

The NAACP "was suffering from declining membership and prestige when Hooks assumed his role as executive director," the University of Memphis biography said. But the organization would ultimately rebound, adding several hundred thousand new members under his leadership.

During Hooks' tenure, the civil rights organization worked with Major League Baseball on a program that expanded employment opportunities for African-Americans in baseball, including in positions as managers, coaches and in franchise executive offices, the NAACP said.

"Black Americans are not defeated," he told Ebony magazine soon after his induction. "The civil rights movement is not dead. If anyone thinks that we are going to stop agitating, they had better think again. If anyone thinks that we are going to stop litigating, they had better close the courts. If anyone thinks that we are not going to demonstrate and protest, they had better roll up the sidewalks."

Hooks also created an initiative that expanded employment opportunities for blacks in Major League Baseball and launched a program where corporations participated in economic development projects in black communities.

In 1965 prior to his stint with the NAACP, Hooks was appointed to a newly created seat on the Tennessee Criminal Court, making him the first black judge since Reconstruction in a state trial court anywhere in the South.

President Richard Nixon nominated Hooks to the Federal Communications Commission in 1972. He was its first black commissioner, and his ability to articulately address the lack of minority jobs and ownership in media persuaded the commission to propose a new rule requiring TV and radio stations to be offered publicly before they could be sold. Minority employment in broadcasting grew from 3 percent to 15 percent during his tenure.

Current FCC Chairman Julius Genachowdki remarked: "The nation lost a great leader today in the passing of civil rights champion and former FCC Commissioner Benjamin L. Hooks. His historic appointment as the first African-American commissioner forever changed the FCC, reminding us of our mission to promote the interests of all Americans.

"During his five-year tenure at the FCC in the early 1970s, Mr. Hooks worked tirelessly to expand opportunities for minorities and the poor, communities that had long been without a strong voice at the agency or in the media landscape. He was a fierce advocate for minority broadcast ownership and increasing minority employment in the broadcast industry."

In 1977, Hooks left the FCC to helm the NAACP. It was there that he held court on a national and international stage. As history has demonstrated, he was clearly the right man for the job.

After he retired in 1992, his work did not stop there. Just last year, Hooks urged the FCC to remember that broadband access and adoption are essential to full civic participation in our society, reminding us all that there is still more that the FCC can do to realize a communications landscape which truly represents America's rich, vibrant diversity.



"In honor of Mr. Hooks' lifelong commitment to advancing the participation and rights of minorities and the poor, in 2002, the FCC renamed our Blacks in Government Chapter the FCC-Benjamin Hooks Chapter."

Tyrone Brown, president of Media Access Project and also a former FCC commissioner, said of Hooks: "Ben Hooks was a dedicated public servant and a true gentleman. His commitment to full participation by minority Americans in all aspects of radio, TV, and telecommunications - as technicians and programmers, as talent, editors and owners - set the foundation for a discussion that continues to this day. He showed me, his successor at the FCC, how civil debate can win majorities where table pounding might not."

Hooks later was chairman of the board of directors of the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis and helped create The Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change at the University of Memphis.

In his last keynote speech at the 1992 NAACP national convention, Hooks urged members who had found financial success to never forget those less fortunate.

"Remember," he said, "that down in the valley where crime abounds and dope proliferates ... where babies are having babies, our brothers and sisters are crying to us, 'Is anyone listening? Does anyone care?'"

In recognizing his passionate dedication to equality and justice, President George W. Bush awarded Hooks the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, in November 2007.

"As a civil rights activist, public servant and minister of the gospel, Dr. Hooks has extended the hand of fellowship throughout his years," Bush said. "It was not an always thing -- easy thing to do. But it was always the right thing to do."

Job well done Dr. Hooks. Rest in peace!

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Happy Birthday Cassius Marcellus Clay

Muhammad Ali (born January 17, 1942) is a retired American boxer and three-time World Heavyweight Champion, who is widely considered one of the greatest heavyweight championship boxers of all time.

As an amateur, he won a gold medal in the light heavyweight division at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. After turning professional, he went on to become the first boxer to win the lineal heavyweight championship three times.



Ali, Bumaye!

Two African American Brothers, Both Distinguished Judges, Honored In Pittsburgh

The occasion was a ceremony recognizing brothers Livingstone and Justin Johnson's induction into Wilkinsburg High School's Wall of Fame. But then the conversation quickly switched to the changes seen in the Pittsburgh area over the years, especially for the Black community.

The other members of this first class of inductees at Wilkinsburg are his elder brother, Judge Livingstone Johnson, 82; Wilkinsburg Mayor John Thompson; Carnegie Mellon University music professor Thomas Douglas; Valerie McDonald Roberts, manager of Allegheny County's Department of Real Estate; and James Richard, Wilkinsburg's tax collector from 1954 to 1986.

Judge Justin Johnson, 76, served on Pennsylvania Superior Court from 1980 to 2007. He received his doctorate from the University of Chicago and achieved the rank of major during his service in the U.S. Air Force, from 1956 to 1959 and 1963 to 1973. He graduated from Wilkinsburg High in 1951.

Back then, he was one of only three black students in the school; when Livingstone Johnson graduated in 1945, he was the only black student.

Livingstone Johnson, who served on the Court of Common Pleas from 1982 to 2007, said his parents, Oliver Livingstone and Irene Marsh Johnson, had to use a third-party buyer, or "straw man," to purchase their home on Ross Avenue in Wilkinsburg.

"The KKK had marches in front of the house when they found out," he said, adding that a group of his father's friends would stand armed guard on the ground floor so that his parents could get some sleep.

Livingstone Johnson graduated from the University of Michigan Law School in 1957 and received the Distinguished Flying Cross for flying 58 combat missions over Korea.

He noted that when his father became Allegheny County's first black district attorney in 1942, he also became its first black prosecuting attorney, a distinction that was important at that time.

"It was thought unseemly for a black man to be permitted to go into court and prosecute both black and white," Livingstone Johnson said, adding that some people were uncomfortable with a black man questioning white women on the stand, especially in cases involving sexual assault.

Livingstone Johnson pointed out that his father, who graduated from Braddock High School in 1916, attended Harvard Law School but was drafted to fight in World War I and finished his law degree at the University of Pittsburgh. He died in 1971.

Livingstone Johnson said he will always remember what one of his history teachers once told his class.

"He said that black people ought to be grateful for slavery, since they were fed and supported all that time," he said. "When I told my mother what he'd said, she said he was wrong, that I couldn't listen to things like that."

In the six decades since the brothers attended Wilkinsburg High, they agree that a lot has changed.

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Black R&B Crooner Teddy Pendergrass Dead at 59

A Legend Falls

3BAAS Media Group is so sad to report that the incomparable 70's balladeer Teddy Pendergrass passed away today from complications following surgery for colon cancer.

With hits such as "Turn Off The Light", "Come Go With Me", "Love TKO" and "You Got What I Need", Pendergrass was definitely a legend of music in his own right.

He blessed us with his soulful voice, there will only be duplicates never another original like Mr. Teddy Pendergrass.

The singer's son, Teddy Pendergrass II, said his father died at a hospital in suburban Philadelphia. The singer underwent colon cancer surgery eight months ago and had "a difficult recovery," his son said.

"To all his fans who loved his music, thank you," his son said. "He will live on through his music."

Pendergrass suffered a spinal cord injury and was paralyzed from the waist down in the 1982 car accident. He spent six months in a hospital but returned to recording the next year with the album "Love Language."

He returned to the stage at the Live Aid concert in 1985, performing from his wheelchair.

Pendergrass later founded the Teddy Pendergrass Alliance, an organization whose mission is to encourage and help people with spinal cord injuries achieve their maximum potential in education, employment, housing, productivity and independence, according to its Web site.

Pendergrass, who was born in Philadelphia on March 26, 1950, gained popularity first as a member of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes. The smooth velvet sounds that came out his mouth instantly won over black audiences.

In 1971, the group signed a record deal with the legendary writer/producers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. The group released it first single, "I Miss You," in 1972 and then released "If You Don't Know Me by Now," which was nominated for a Grammy Award.



Pendergrass quit the group in 1975 and embarked on a solo career in 1976. It was his solo hits that brought him his greatest fame. He came to define a new era of black male singers with his powerful, aggressive vocals that spoke to virility, not vulnerability.

His lyrics were never coarse, as those of later male R&B stars would be, but they had a sensual nature that bordered on erotic without being explicit.

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Joseph M. Wilcots, Acclaimed 'Roots' Cinematographer And Michael Jackson Collaborator, Dead At 70

The first African American in 1967 to join the International Cinematographers Guild, celebrated filmmaker Joseph M. Wilcots initially worked on camera crews for TV series such as "Mission: Impossible" and on films such as "The Last Picture Show," "The Cowboys" and "Lady Sings the Blues."

The trailblazer died Dec. 30 of complications from a stroke he suffered in 2008.

Clearly one of those incredible talents who the average person would never know, Wilcots contributions will be forever felt. In addition to being the cinematographer for 'Roots' and “Roots: The Next Generations," he also worked for 15 years in various capacities on Michael Jackson's music videos, tours and other projects.

Joseph Wilcots, 70, was highly praised for his cinematography and his sensitivity to those he worked with.

As a director of photography, he achieved his greatest acclaim for "Roots," the 1977 ratings phenomenon based on Alex Haley’s bestselling epic family saga.

"Joseph Wilcots could be considered the Jackie Robinson of cinematography," Steven Poster, president of the International Cinematographers Guild, Local 600, said in a statement.

In 1977, Wilcots received a national Emmy nomination for "outstanding cinematography in entertainment programming for a series" for Part Seven of "Roots." His work on "Roots" also earned him a local Emmy nomination.

"In doing a picture called 'Roots,' we felt it important that we should have an African American cinematographer," "Roots" executive producer David L. Wolper told The Times this week.

"It's extremely difficult to photograph African Americans," Wolper said, "because when you shoot a scene with an African American and a white person standing next to each other, the lighting is so complex, and he was an expert in that."

Louis Gossett Jr., who played Fiddler in "Roots," agreed.

"As the cinematographer, Joe said, 'This is going to take some time if this is going to look good,' " said Gossett. "It was a challenge for him to balance in the same scene those colors and the different gradations of skin."

As for the result, Gossett said, "We all loved it. It had to be very difficult for that man with that time frame and time pressure, but he did it."

Said LeVar Burton, who played Kunta Kinte, the African who is abducted, taken to America via slave ship and sold to a Virginia planter in the 1700s: "What stands out immediately is that the look and feel of 'Roots' holds up today, in 2010; it does not feel dated at all."

Burton said Stevan Larner was the director of photography on the first three hours of "Roots."

"Joe started in hour four and took it the rest of the way," he said. "What I remember about Joe on that shoot is that he's a very gentle, gentle soul, as well as a very talented man."

For Burton, who remains a popular figure on tv and on Twitter, the "compassion of the man" was evident while shooting the final scene in hour four in which Kunta Kinte is whipped and forced to take the name Toby.

"For me, the challenge was standing still while this guy with a whip was letting it go behind me at 120 miles an hour," recalled Burton. "We rehearsed it, Joe lit it, they gathered all the extras, [but] it wasn't working. I was way too skittish.

"He and the director, John Ermin, recognized this was a very important scene, and I needed to get comfortable with my back to the whip. Joe was very supportive, [saying], 'Let's go to something else; let's put this back on the schedule for another day.' "

In the early part of "Roots" when he was shooting Burton, Wilcots said in a 2007 interview with the Archive of American Television, "I wanted to make the audience smell the dirt and to create such an atmosphere that the dirt was the second part of the picture.



"And I was able to accomplish that by whenever I had the opportunity I would either start on the dirt or shoot something of dirt around and so there was like a hidden meaning, and it was the dirt and the earth."

Among Wilcots' other credits as a cinematographerare " Bill Cosby: Himself," "Where the Red Fern Grows: Part 2" and the TV series "Matlock," "Palmerstown, U.S.A." and "Brewster Place."

Wilcots was born Feb. 1, 1939, in Des Moines.

After a four-year stint in the Navy as a photographer, he worked four and a half years at Westheimer Co., a Hollywood optical house for which he was involved in providing visual effects for "Star Trek" and other TV series and commercials.

A celebration of Wilcots' life is pending. He passed away at Antelope Valley Hospital in Lancaster, California.

Rest in peace Mr. Wilcots. Job well done!

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South LA Barber Elvie Lewis Still Hookin' Brothers Up... At 94!

Local Black-Owned Shop Has Quite A History

Past the iron-mesh security door and the empty, 20-foot-long vinyl waiting bench, Elvie Lewis gives his ancient barber's chair a slap with a striped towel to dust off the last stray wisps of hair from the customer he has just finished.

With a weary grin, Lewis plops down in the ornate chair and tugs a lever to make it recline. With his head back and his feet up, he closes his eyes.

"It isn't like it used to be. You couldn't even sit down, it was so busy. We kept this place full when I was in my prime," he says softly.

If business is a bit slow, Lewis has earned a break. He has been cutting hair for 62 years. At the age of 94, he likes to call himself Los Angeles' oldest barber.

These days, he still has a steady hand -- and an even steadier clientele. Longtime customers trickle in Tuesdays through Thursdays; a steady stream comes Fridays and Saturdays.

His regulars travel from as far as Palmdale to the three-chair shop on South Normandie Avenue that Lewis has operated since 1952. He started cutting hair in 1947.

Longtime customers praise his $15 haircuts and his upbeat attitude.

Through the years, Lewis mastered each new style that came along. There was the buzz cut of the 1950s, the bushy Afro of the '60s, the dreadlocks and cornrows of the '70s, the 1980s' mullet, the high-top fade of the '90s and today's high-and-tight.

"My favorite style is what they ask for," he says with a grin. In his zip-up barber's smock, the short, cheerful-looking Lewis favors his own receding gray hairline cropped short.

Customers say it's his smile and encouraging outlook on life -- just as much as the haircut he gives -- that keeps them coming back.

"He started doing this the same year that Jackie Robinson broke into the majors," says Derrick Blakey, 50, who has frequented the shop for 22 years.

For much of that time, Lewis has allowed Blakey to sell T-shirts embossed with uplifting sayings such as "Wealth Is Good Health" and "Think Positive" in the shop. "Mr. Lewis is more than a hairstylist. He's an artist," Blakey says. "And he's an encourager. He's supported everything I've done."

Luvert Pineset, a 73-year-old retired high-rise maintenance worker who travels from Palmdale for his trims, appreciates Lewis' old-school, gentlemanly manner. "He's a nice man," Pineset explains.

"He's still got a steady hand," adds Robert Hunter, 76, a former steelworker from South Los Angeles who has been going to Lewis for more than a decade.

Lewis puts in a 7 a.m.-to-5 p.m workday Tuesdays through Saturdays. He's on his feet whenever he's cutting hair, despite the aches and pains that come from living nine decades.

He walks with a cane now, and four years ago he turned in his driver's license, swapping it for a simple ID card from the state.

Why didn't he retire 30 years ago?

"Everybody I know who retires goes out and gets another job. I already have a job," he says. "I'm not a 'honey do' man, you know, 'Honey do this, honey do that.' If I'm going to work at home, I may as well be working here."

Lewis' wife of 56 years, Mary, drives him to and from the shop from their home on West 66th Street, about a mile away.

"About the only places I go are to church, this barbershop and the VA hospital," he says. "For 45 years, I went on vacation all over the United States and to places like the Bahamas. Now my favorite place is here."

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Ebony Jet Publication Matriarch Eunice Johnson Passes

Creator of Ebony Fashion Fair Dies At 93

Statue of Ancient Black Pharaoh Found
After Americans Visit, Uganda Weighs Death For Gays

South Africa President Jacob Zuma to Marry Third Wife
NCAA May Force Schools to Test for Sickle Cell Trait
Obama Effigy Hanged in Jimmy Carter's Home Town
Black Civil War Troops To Get Recognition in South Carolina

Blacks Are 20% Genetically of European Ancestry
Evander Holyfield to Fight in Uganda
4-year-old Killed by Celebratory Bullet on New Year's Eve
Philadelphia’s First Black DA Set to Take Office
Boise State Football Star Ian Johnson - Where Is He Now?
Baltimore Has Blacks Leaving Faster Than Whites
African Americans Coping With Depression Not Being Treated
Popular Sports Radio Caller 'Incarcerated Bob' Is Dead

Folks Who Get It: Percy Sutton Epitomized What The Harlem Renaissance Was All About

Job Well Done Sir - Rest In Peace!

Percy E. Sutton stood proudly at the center of the struggle for equal rights. He was arrested as a freedom rider; represented Malcolm X as young lawyer; rescued the fabled Apollo Theater in Harlem; and became a millionaire tycoon in the communications business to give public voice to African Americans.

Displaying fierce intelligence and exquisite polish in becoming one of the nation’s most prominent black political and business leaders, the New York icon died on December 26. He was 89.

Percy Sutton was an eminent politician in New York City, rising from the Democratic clubhouses of Harlem to become the longest serving Manhattan borough president and, for more than a decade, the highest black official in the city. In 1977, he was the first seriously regarded black candidate for mayor.

His supporters saw his loss in that mayoral race as a stinging rebuff to his campaign’s strenuous efforts to build support among whites. But David N. Dinkins, who was elected the first black mayor in 1989, called Mr. Sutton’s failed bid indispensable to his own success.

“I stand on the shoulders of Percy Ellis Sutton,” Mr. Dinkins said in an interview.

Mr. Sutton’s business empire included, over the years, radio stations, cable television systems and national television programs. Another business invested in Africa. Still another sold interactive technology to radio stations.

Mr. Sutton had an immaculately groomed beard and mustache; tailored clothing; and a sonorous, slightly Southern voice that prompted the nickname “wizard of ooze.” Associates called him “the chairman,” and he liked it.

Percy Ellis Sutton, the last child in a family of 15 children, was born on Nov. 24, 1920, in San Antonio, Tex. His father, Samuel Johnson Sutton, was born into slavery and became principal of a black high school. His mother, Lillian, was a teacher.

The 12 children who survived to be adults went to college, with the older ones giving financial and moral support to the younger.

S. J. Sutton, an early civil rights activist who did not use his first name for fear it would be shortened to Sambo, farmed, sold real estate and owned a mattress factory, funeral home and skating rink — in addition to being a full-time principal.

Percy milked the cows, then rode around San Antonio with his father in the same Studebaker used for funerals, distributing milk to the poor. He liked to attach strings to cans to pretend to be a radio broadcaster. He was an Eagle Scout.

At 12, he stowed away on a passenger train to Manhattan where he slept under a sign on 155th Street. Far from being angry, his family regarded him as an adventurer, he said.

His family was committed to civil rights, and he bristled at prejudice. At 13, while passing out N.A.A.C.P. leaflets in an all-white neighborhood, he was beaten by a policeman.

He took up stunt-flying on the barnstorming circuit, but gave it up after a friend crashed. He attended three traditionally black colleges without earning a degree. Their present names are Prairie View A & M University in Texas, Tuskegee University in Alabama and Hampton University in Virginia.

During World War II, he served with the Tuskegee Airmen, the famed all-black unit in the Army Air Forces, as an intelligence officer. He won combat stars in the Italian and Mediterranean theaters.

He entered Columbia Law School on the G.I. Bill on the basis of his solid grades at the colleges he attended. He transferred to Brooklyn Law School so he could work days. He worked at the post office from 4 p.m. until midnight, then as a subway train conductor until 8:30 a.m. He then reported to law school at 9:30. He kept this schedule for three years and became a lawyer.

This punishing pace so annoyed his wife, the former Leatrice O’Farrell, that she divorced him in 1950 — only to remarry him in 1952. In between, he married and divorced Eileen Clark.

Mr. Sutton’s survivors include his wife, Leatrice Sutton; a son from their marriage, Pierre; and a daughter from his second marriage, Cheryl Lynn Sutton.After graduating from law school, Mr. Sutton made what he termed “a major miscalculation.” He enlisted in the Air Force because he mistakenly thought he had flunked the bar exam.

He returned to Harlem in 1953 and opened a law practice. The initial going was tough: he had to work at supplemental jobs that included scrubbing floors.

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Rev. Al Sharpton Takes Media To Task About Michael Jackson, Ends Up Saving A Soul!

(Terrence, right, with CA Assemblyman Mike Davis)

FIRST AME CHURCH CELEBRATES CHANGE, ONE MAN IN THE MIRROR AT A TIME

Driving up from San Diego, Terrence was a tall, lean, young black man with God on his mind. He couldn't have a picked a better morning. It was a beautiful communion Sunday at First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Los Angeles, California.

As the city awakened after joining with the rest of the country celebrating barbeque, family, freedom and fireworks - all the typical things associated with the 4th of July - now was the time for a different type of commemoration.

This day was particularly special to Terrence and others as they began the official mourning, and for throngs of fans a deeper level of grieving, over the still incalculable loss of music icon Michael Jackson.


Before the 10:00 AM service, it was agreed that the controversial political and civil rights social activist Reverend Al Sharpton would say a few words on Michael Jackson’s behalf. Sharpton met with First AME Pastor John Hunter, First Lady Denise Hunter, and a host of recognized community leaders in the criminal justice, legal, political, and ecumenical arenas.

While this was unfolding, a cacophony of mainstream media outlets descended south of Interstate 10 tasked with ferreting out any additional information about the legendary talent who, even in death, has seen renewed appreciation for his extraordinary talent.

Since word spread of Jackson’s death, radio airplay for songs including “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough,” Pretty Young Thing” and “Remember The Time” has increased by a staggering 1,735%.

Sales of his solo albums “Thriller” and “Off The Wall” are up an unprecedented 4,000-percent, from 10,000 copies sold the week before his death to 422,000 sold for the week that ended June 28, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

And he has caused over 1 million people across the globe to salivate over the improbable chance that they, straight from the pages of Willie Wonka and The Chocolate Factory, will be so lucky as to witness a special memorial tribute at the fortress-like Staples Center, a mere four miles away from the sanctuary that just the week prior LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa chose to be sworn into his second term in office.

The purpose of Al Sharpton’s visit to the oldest black church in the Southland was to announce the commencement of a “Love Vigil” Tuesday July 7.

This would not only take place at Staples, the adjacent Nokia Theatre and First AME, but the goal was that it would spread to countless venues around the world.

In addition, efforts had already begun to have a national day of honor along with a postage stamp to recognize the King of Pop’s significant contributions to the arts.

Not that Terrence was necessary consumed by these things taking place. Wearing a simple t-shirt, black jeans and black tennis shoes, he listened as Pastor Walt “Baby” Love schooled those in attendance about Michael Jackson’s classic “Man in The Mirror” song, played during a three minute video tribute that paid homage to the award winning entertainer’s incredible journey.

Pastor Love revealed how the acclaimed gospel family “The Winans” had actually sung back-up on the track, and that noted gospel singer Pastor Andre Crouch had arranged the song that continues to give special meaning to so many.

But then the conversation at the pulpit quickly turned to more somber news, including the murder of famed former NFL Quarterback Steve McNair, along with the heart-wrenching details of a congregation member who lost four family relatives in a fatal car accident.

Before audience members could completely absorb these tragedies, uplifting news came in the form of the FAME Assistance Program gearing up to host an inaugural, full-day school initiative over the summer for 100 kids in response to the Los Angeles Unified School District’s canceling of a majority of course studies due to massive cuts in education that continue to wreak havoc on California.

Palpable among Angelenos, the frustration over the state’s continued loss of millions of dollars while lawmakers in Sacramento try to resolve a bleak situation did not deter Terrence and others who sat in their pews and received the message being delivered by Al Sharpton.

In fact many shouted Amen as the Harlem-based pastor, never at a loss for words, thanked God for another day before describing how he first met Michael Jackson when he was only thirteen in 1969. He answered critics by detailing the numerous times he had stood by the Jackson Family before chastising the despicable way the media who, according to Sharpton, was attempting to destroy, degrade, denigrate and undermine a man who has broke every record in the history books. Or as he further noted, a genius that had to “deal with a freakish situation” in life.

By not showing the proper deference and respect for a struggling African American working family from Gary, Indiana who saw their dreams materialize, who proved to be a powerful symbol in the face of racism and discrimination, who have given so much to the world, Sharpton warned that this double standard playing out, through comparisons to the passing of Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley, had clear racial undertones.

Undeterred, he preached about how these global vigils would deal with the message, while the media would be reduced to dealing with the mess.

But it was Reverend Sharpton’s statements about praising God through trials, tribulations and suffering, no matter what a person is going through, that clearly resonated with the congregation and elicited the longest standing ovations among the many.

After the church erupted in a crescendo of praise and Sharpton turned to take his seat on the pulpit, Pastor John made a call to anyone in the sanctuary who was ready to surrender their life to a Higher Power.

From nowhere, Terrence emerged. The toothy young man from San Diego rose from where he had been stationed, made his way to the altar, and accepted God in his life.

Of course for many, this was all overshadowed by the press conference that immediately followed. Here is where a long row of cameras rolled, shutters flickered, and questions were lobbed with ferocity about the details surrounding the actual funeral for Michael Jackson, the current status of his three small children, and musings over whether if more diversity was seen in the mainstream media, would that cause the tone to be less jarring and astringent.

Those questions would linger. But for one person who decided to follow Michael Jackson’s call to take a look at them self, it was a service like no other.

I’m starting with the man in the mirror
I’m asking him to change his ways.
And no message would have been any clearer
If you want to make the world a better place,
Take a look at yourself and make that… CHANGE!

July 5, 2009

By Kevin Ross, President & CEO 3BAAS Media Group

The Life of Michael Jackson on Blogtalkradio's Kevin Ross Show

(Click the photo of Michael Jackson to hear the chilling 911 Emergency Call)

Kevin Ross of 3BAAS Media Group paid tribute today to Michael Jackson on his eponymous Internet radio show that featured Lee Bailey of EUR Web and Blogtalkradio CEO Alan Levy. In between the legendary singer's memorable tunes, guests turned nostalgic when talking about The King of Pop's legacy and the future of music overall.

Reggie Calloway, formerly of the group Midnight Star, was one of several callers who paid tribute to the controversial superstar know as well for his sometimes wacky behavior as for a music career spanning five decades and 19 Grammys.

Twice inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Jackson is believed to have sold close to half a billion records with such chart-topping hits such as Beat It, Billie Jean, Black or White, and of course Thriller. On his radio show, Ross erred in stating the Jackson's record sales were at 1 billion.

Speculation remains as to whether former wife and mother to two of the children Debbie Rowe will raised Paris Michael Katherine Jackson, 11, and Michael Joseph Jackson Jr., 12, after giving up all custody rights in exchange for money.

As to the MJ's youngest, 6 year-old Michael Joseph Jackson Jr. (affectionately referred to as "Blanket"), no word on that child's mother or the role she may want to play in the child's life at this point.

In the meantime, the autopsy on Michael Jackson's body could take up to eight weeks before conclusive results are announced. In the meantime, speculation grows over the circumstances surrounding the death of the Black man who altered his appearance to the point of being unrecognizable.

Police are looking for Jackson's doctor who administered a dose of the drug Demoral that may have caused Jackson to go into cardiac arrest.

Stay tuned folks, this is only the beginning of the circus that without question is about to unleash.

Eartha Kitt, Legendary Entertainer, International Icon Dies

Eartha Kitt, a sultry singer, dancer and actress who rose from South Carolina cotton fields to become an international symbol of elegance and sensuality, has died, a family spokesman said. She was 81.

Andrew Freedman said Kitt, who was recently treated at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, died Thursday in Connecticut of colon cancer. This is our 3BAAS tribute.


Kitt, a self-proclaimed "sex kitten" famous for her catlike purr, was one of America's most versatile performers, winning two Emmys and nabbing a third nomination. She also was nominated for several Tonys and two Grammys.

Her career spanned six decades, from her start as a dancer with the famed Katherine Dunham troupe to cabarets and acting and singing on stage, in movies and on television. She persevered through an unhappy childhood as a mixed-race daughter of the South and made headlines in the 1960s for denouncing the Vietnam War during a visit to the White House. Through the years, Kitt remained a picture of vitality and attracted fans less than half her age even as she neared 80.

When her book "Rejuvenate," a guide to staying physically fit, was published in 2001, Kitt was featured on the cover in a long, curve-hugging black dress with a figure that some 20-year-old women would envy. Kitt also wrote three autobiographies.

Eartha As The First Black Cat Woman On Batman... Sorry Halle

Once dubbed the "most exciting woman in the world" by Orson Welles, she spent much of her life single, though brief romances with the rich and famous peppered her younger years.

After becoming a hit singing "Monotonous" in the Broadway revue "New Faces of 1952," Kitt appeared in "Mrs. Patterson" in 1954-55. (Some references say she earned a Tony nomination for "Mrs. Patterson," but only winners were publicly announced at that time.) She also made appearances in "Shinbone Alley" and "The Owl and the Pussycat."

Her first album, "RCA Victor Presents Eartha Kitt," came out in 1954, featuring such songs as "I Want to Be Evil," "C'est Si Bon" and the saucy gold digger's theme song "Santa Baby," which is revived on radio each Christmas.

AP Writer Polly Anderson has more Eartha history. / ABC News

Folks Who Get It: Phenomenal African American Sculptress Tina Allen Dead at 58

Funny, Energetic Artist Captured Black Figures In Bronze

By Our Weekly writer Shirley Hawkins

Internationally renowned sculptor and painter, Tina Allen, who has won commissions to sculpt the likenesses of Malcolm X and Nelson Mandela, passed away this week due to complications of pneumonia after a massive heart attack.

Born in 1949 in Hemptead, N. Y., Allen began painting at the age of five and was discovered at the age of 10 by William Zorach, who was considered one of the greatest living sculptors in the world. Allen was the daughter of Gordon “Specs” Powell, a studio percussionist for CBS Records.

Allen, who was considered a social activist as well as an artist, created her first three-dimensional work when she sculpted a bust of Aristotle in high school. She soon began winning competitions and awards, but Allen revealed that though she had originally intended to paint, “sculpture was more natural for me than painting.”

In 1986, she entered a competition in Boston for a commission to create a memorial statue of African American labor activist A. Philip Randolph, who founded a union for train porters in 1925. To her surprise and delight, Allen won the $85,000 commission and her career began in earnest.

In 1988, Allen moved to Los Angeles where she produced many sculptures and paintings that reflected the Harlem Renaissance. She also focused on the black male, which is shown in her creations entitled “Proud Father and Son” and “The Banjo Lesson.” Allen has promoted the contributions of African American women through her work entitled “Ethiopia.”

Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke, a long time friend of Allen, reflected, “I think all of us know that Tina was an exceptionally talented woman as a sculptress. Tina always did excellent work.”

Burke recalls that Allen also possessed a great sense of humor. “She was the funniest woman I ever knew,” said Burke. “She would keep you in stitches for hours. She had an ability to lift you up and make you smile and to bring you out of whatever depths you’re in.”

Through her artwork, Allen wanted to leave a legacy for African American children. “Our children must be able to say greatness comes out of people who look like me,” she once said.

Locally, Allen had been commissioned to create sculptures of community activists Lillian Mobley and Celes King Jr. She was also commissioned to create sculptings of Sammy Davis Jr., Alex Haley, Dr. Ralph Bunch, Marcus Garvey, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Dr. Charles Drew, George Washington Carver, Sojourner Truth, Betty Shabazz, and Tupac Shakur.

As her acclaim grew, Allen’s prodigious talent kept her traveling extensively to such far away places as Africa, Europe, and Asia, South. LA Times Has Details & Photos.

Good job Tina. Congratulations, you've been promoted. Source

Angel City Classic Mourns The Loss of Black Moses, Will Continue Scheduled "Stax Records Fifth Quarter Tribute to Isaac Hayes"

This Cat Was A Bad Mutha...

The Farmers Insurance Group Angel City Classic team is deeply saddened to learn about the untimely death of incomparable singer, songwriter and music industry icon Isaac Hayes.

"Isaac Hayes will forever be known as a gifted musical genius. An Oscar and Grammy Award winning artist with his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, we have all been anticipating how exciting it was going to be to have him be part of this Classic," said Black Educational Events CEO John T. Fleming, whose company is producing the event. "Now, the planned tribute has even greater meaning, as throngs of attendees will also be coming to pay their respects to Mr. Hayes' life and legacy."

Isaac Hayes Likely Died From A Stroke

Hayes was the first African American to win an Academy Award in a non-acting category for "Best Original Song" for the hit blockbuster "Shaft." With his deep baritone voice, signature bald head and innovative sense of style, the pioneer of urban soul laid the foundation for some of today's musical performers.

It was because of his many accomplishments that Hayes was scheduled to appear Saturday, September 27, 2008 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum during the Concord Stax Fifth Quarter Concert immediately following the Classic featuring the Morehouse College Tigers and the Prairie View A&M Panthers.

This was the same venue where he gave his breakout performance over 35 years ago during Wattstax, a concert held to quell tensions and soothe a community still reeling from the Watts Riots during a very turbulent period in American history.

Stax Records VP of Artist & Repertoire, Collin Stanback, foresees an outpouring of artists joining what will inevitably be a huge celebration for Hayes. "This is of course tragic news about the loss of such a giant in the music business. Stax Records was in many ways the house that Isaac built as a prolific songwriter and performer and I can't think of a more fitting way to show our gratitude for everything he gave us than to fill the L.A. Coliseum with all of his fans," said Stanback.

Expected to be the largest gathering of African-Americans for a sporting event in the country with over 70,000 people, title sponsor Farmers Insurance Group is also joined by Concord Music Group/Stax Records, Tri-Destined Studios, McDonalds, Wells Fargo, Wachovia, Metro, Coors Light, and NBC Universal's "The Express" about the first Black Heisman Trophy winner.

Additional sponsors include MoneyGram, Law Offices of Skadden Arps, SCLC L.A., U.S. Bank, Avon, Enterprise, Food-4-Less, Personal Services Plus, N2U Management Group, Hammond Entertainment, 1 Plus One Management, 3BAAS Media, actress Jennifer Freeman, and actor/producer Nick Cannon's "Stop Hating" campaign.

For more information on the event, visit http://www.angelcityclassic.com/

Nelson Mandela Parties Like It's His 90th Birthday

QUNU, South Africa (AP) — Some came in exquisitely beaded traditional skins, others wore T-shirts emblazoned with his name, and Nelson Mandela welcomed all to the festive tent outside his home Saturday for the formal celebration of the anti-apartheid icon's 90th birthday.

Hundreds of guests stood and cheered and a Xhosa choir sang "Here is our hope!" at the entrance of Mandela — walking in with his successor as South Africa's president, Thabo Mbeki, and African National Congress leader Jacob Zuma. Mandela, wearing an intricately patterned shirt in shades of brown, stopped to personally greet a few of the 500 honored guests as he made his way to the head table.

For more information, visit the Associated Press.

Folks Who Get It: Mildred Loving Was Going To Marry Her White In Shining Armor, Even If It Meant Getting Arrested!

INTERACIAL MARRIAGE, A LOOK BACK

Mildred Loving, an African American woman whose challenge to Virginia's ban on interracial marriage led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling striking down such laws nationwide, has died.

Loving and her husband Richard, shown in this January 1965 photograph, had to endure all types of government sanctioned racism simply because they were in love. And as much as this country sometimes does not want to deal with it's ugly recent past, this story clearly reminds us of where we've been and where we're going.

Peggy Fortune said Loving, the 68-year-old matriarch of racially mixed marriages, died Friday at her home in rural Milford. She did not disclose the cause of death.

"I want (people) to remember her as being strong and brave yet humble — and believed in love," Fortune told The Associated Press.

Loving and her white husband, Richard, changed history in 1967 when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld their right to marry. The ruling struck down laws banning racially mixed marriages in at least 17 states.

"There can be no doubt that restricting the freedom to marry solely because of racial classifications violates the central meaning of the equal protection clause," the court ruled in a unanimous decision.

Her husband died in 1975. Shy and soft-spoken, Loving shunned publicity and in a rare interview with The Associated Press last June, insisted she never wanted to be a hero — just a bride. "It wasn't my doing," Loving said. "It was God's work."

Mildred Jeter was 11 when she and 17-year-old Richard began courting, according to Phyl Newbeck, a Vermont author who detailed the case in the 2004 book, "Virginia Hasn't Always Been for Lovers."

She became pregnant a few years later, she and Loving got married in Washington in 1958, when she was 18. Mildred told the AP she didn't realize it was illegal. "I think my husband knew," Mildred said. "I think he thought (if) we were married, they couldn't bother us."

But they were arrested a few weeks after they returned to Central Point, their hometown in rural Caroline County north of Richmond. They pleaded guilty to charges of "cohabiting as man and wife, against the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth," according to their indictments.

They avoided jail time by agreeing to leave Virginia — the only home they'd known — for 25 years. They moved to Washington for several years, then launched a legal challenge by writing to Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, who referred the case to the American Civil Liberties Union.

Attorneys later said the case came at the perfect time — just as lawmakers passed the Civil Rights Act, and as across the South, blacks were defying Jim Crow's hold.
"The law that threatened the Lovings with a year in jail was a vestige of a hateful, discriminatory past that could not stand in the face of the Lovings' quiet dignity," said Steven Shapiro, national legal director for the ACLU.

"We loved each other and got married," she told The Washington Evening Star in 1965, when the case was pending. "We are not marrying the state. The law should allow a person to marry anyone he wants."

After the Supreme Court ruled, the couple returned to Virginia, where they lived with their children, Donald, Peggy and Sidney. Each June 12, the anniversary of the ruling, Loving Day events around the country mark the advances of mixed-race couples.

Richard Loving died in a car accident that also injured his wife. "They said I had to leave the state once, and I left with my wife," he told the Star in 1965. "If necessary, I will leave Virginia again with my wife, but I am not going to divorce her."

You've been promoted Mrs. Loving. Job well done!

David Paterson To Become The Latest African American To Become Governor As Eliot Spitzer Faces Impeachment Unless He Resigns

Black History Spills Into March With Our (Soon-to-be) Four Governors

Now that New York Governor Eliot Spitzer is in talks with Lt. Governor David Paterson to transfer gubernatorial power to the legally blind, former Harlem state senator, we thought it was odd that the media kept saying that Paterson would be the fourth African American governor to serve.

We knew of Virginia's Douglas Wilder and Massachusetts' Deval Patrick, but who else was left?

Well, meet the first to serve with this distinctive title, Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback.

Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback (May 10, 1837 – December 21, 1921) was the first African American to become governor of a U.S. state. He was also the first non-white (biracial) governor of Louisiana. Pinchback, a Republican, served as the governor of Louisiana for thirty-five days, from December 9, 1872, to January 13, 1873.

Nicholas Lemann, in Redemption: The Last Battle of the Civil War, described Pinchback as "an outsized figure: newspaper publisher, gambler, orator, speculator, dandy, mountebank -- served for a few months as the state's governor and claimed seats in both houses of Congress following disputed elections but could not persuade the members of either to seat him."[1]

Pinchback was born in Macon, Georgia (Bibb County), to a white planter (William Pinchback) and his former slave, Eliza Stewart. Known as "Pinckney Benton Stewart," he was educated at the Gilmore High School in Cincinnati. After his father died in 1848, he left Cincinnati because he feared that his paternal relatives might try to force him into slavery. He worked as a hotel porter and barber in Terre Haute, Indiana.

In 1860, while in Indiana, Pinchback, 23, married then 16-year-old Nina Emily. They had two daughters and four sons.

During the Civil War, Pinchback traveled to Louisiana and became captain of the Union Army's Company A, 1st Louisiana Native Guards (later reformed as the 74th U. S. Colored Infantry Regiment).

After the war, he became active in the Republican Party and participated in Reconstruction state conventions. In 1868, Pinchback organized the Fourth Ward Republican Club in New Orleans. That same year, he was elected as a Louisiana state senator, where he became the state Senate president pro tempore. In 1871 he became acting lieutenant governor upon the death of Oscar Dunn, the first elected African American lieutenant governor of a U.S. state.

In 1872, the incumbent Republican governor Henry Clay Warmoth, was impeached and convicted, removing him from office. Pinchback, as lieutenant governor, succeeded as governor on December 9.

Also in 1872, at a national convention of African-American politicians, Pinchbank had a public disagreement with Jeremiah Haralson of Alabama. James T. Rapier (also of Alabama) submitted a motion that the convention condemn all Republicans who had opposed President Grant in that year's election.[2] Haralson supported the motion, but Pinchback opposed it because it would include Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, a lifelong anti-slavery fighter whom Pinchback felt African-Americans should laud.

After his brief governorship, Pinchback remained active in politics and public service. He was elected to both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, but both elections were contested, and his Democratic opponents were seated instead. Pinchback served on the Louisiana State Board of Education and was instrumental in establishing the predominantly black Southern University in New Orleans in 1880 (later relocated to Baton Rouge in 1914). He was a member of Southern University's board of trustees.

In 1882, Republican President Chester Alan Arthur named Pinchback as surveyor of customs in New Orleans. In 1885, he studied law at Straight University, (which was closed in 1934) in New Orleans. He was admitted to the bar in 1886, and later moved to New York City where he was a federal marshal, and then to Washington, D.C. where he practiced law.

Pinchback died in Washington in 1921 and was interred in Metairie Cemetery near New Orleans even though the cemetery at the time was segregated and deemed to be exclusively for whites.

The Old School Retro Show: Love To Love You Donna Summer (And Those To Die For Dancers)

(Why does Donna Summer's daughter Brooklyn look so familiar?)

Admit it, you were feeling some Donna Summer back in the day. Right? Well, YOU WON'T BELIEVE what the disco queen looks like today.

Okay Miss Donna, you're holding it down. But you have to watch the video. Trust us, you will NOT be disappointed!!!

Is it me, or is the white guy KILLING IT! LOL BIG TIME!!!!!

As for actress Brooklyn Sudano, Donna's daughter, she played Vanessa Scott on My Wife And Kids. The 25-year-old biracial West Coast native is quite right now, but we know she'll be back on the scene before the Last Dance!