South Africa’s capital city of Pretoria. (Photo Credit: Google Images)
Matthew Hay Brown of The Baltimore-Sun is reporting that former Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III, was among a group of visitors from the U.S. robbed at gunpoint in Pretoria over the weekend. Bealefeld was serving as a chaperone on a trip with a group of students from Stevenson University when the robbery occurred. The group of 30 students and five chaperones were on a bus traveling in Pretoria, when the bus was surrounded by men on motorcycles. The men boarded the bus, threatened the group and demanded money. Brown writes:
“No one was injured in the incident, which occurred about 1 p.m. local time in the South African capital, spokeswoman Glenda LeGendre said. College officials said Monday that the students and chaperones will be returning home by the end of the week. The university made the decision to cut the five-week tour short to ensure their well-being.’The students are for the most part reluctant to come back,’ LeGendre said Monday. ‘But we don’t know how they’ll be reacting to this later.'”
The Knowles-Carter clan during happier times. (Photo Credit: Vibe.com)
It seems all is not necessarily well in the Knowles-Carter clan. TMZ is reporting that Solange Knowles attacked Sean ‘Jay-Z’ Carter in an elevator after the Met gala last week. There is video of the altercation, where Solange lunges at Carter, hitting and kicking him. Mrs. Knowles did not respond initially and eventually shielded her husband from her sister, whom bodyguards pulled away.
China will build an East African railway connecting several countries including Kenya, Rwanda and South Sudan. (Photo Credit: Google Images)
BBC News Africa is reporting that formal agreements for plans to build a new railway line in East Africa with Chinese help have been signed in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi. The railway will run from Mombasa to Nairobi and will extend eventually to Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan.
In Kenya, the line is to replace a narrow-gauge track built more than 100 years ago during British colonial rule.
China is to finance 90% of the first stage, which will cost $3.8 billion US, with the work being carried out by a Chinese firm.
Construction is slated to begin in October of this year and concluded by 2018. Passenger and freight trains will travel along this railway.
For more information on this story, visit BBC Africa.
Marcus Books. (Photo Credit: Denisesullivan.files.wordpress.com)
The Root is reporting that Marcus Books, the nation’s oldest black-owned bookstores, is closing after 44 years of operating. Lynette Holloway of The Root writes:
“The nation’s oldest black book store played host to scores of writers and speakers’ events, including James Baldwin, Dave Chappelle, Malcolm X, Alice Walker, Willie Brown, Jackie Robinson, Angela Davis, Barry White, Wesley Snipes and dozens of others, according to Bay City News.
But the doors were shuttered Tuesday after the owners fell behind in rent payments, the report says.
‘The current property owner has changed the locks to the door of 1712 Fillmore St.,’ the store’s co-owners Karen and Greg Johnson wrote in an open letter that appeared at the store and on its social media pages.
‘With the numerous speeches of San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee stating his commitment to righting the wrongs of the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency’s slaughter of the thriving African American Fillmore District, we at Marcus Books believed the City would take some affirmative action on our behalf, since Marcus Books is the only surviving Black Business since the Redevelopment devastation,’ the letter states, referring to the area’s redevelopment that began in the late 1960s and resulted in the obliteration of the once-thriving community, the report states.
The Johnsons, along with their supporters, tried to fight the eviction, including submitting an application for historical landmark status and hosting a drive to raise money to repurchase the Victorian building where it has been housed since 1981, the report states. The first store opened in 1960 at another location.”
Southern hip hop producing legend Mannie Fresh. (Photo Credit: DJ Blak Magic)
In the late 1990s when mainstream hip hop culture was becoming more commercially viable and making a coastal migration below the Mason-Dixon Line, Mannie Fresh established himself as a Southern hip hop force to be reckoned with. The New Orleans native from 7th Ward was Cash Money Records’ resident producer and instrumental in turning local talent Juvenile, B.G. and Grammy winner Lil Wayne into million-selling acts.
As the beat drops, Fresh utters his stage surname mimicking scratching on a turntable. He takes the Big Easy’s danceable bounce music and tops it off with hypnotic polyrhythmic drum cadences, a hint of bass, choppy keyboard riffs, a few ad-libs and catchy hooks. The son of a DJ, Fresh, an extroverted turntablist born Byron Thomas, prefers to use vintage Moog synthesizers, SP1200 drum machines and live musicians to craft his sound.
When Fresh left Cash Money in 2005, the spirited beatmaker kept the momentum going. He created his own imprint, Chubby Boy Productions. The sought after producer also laid down tracks for T.I., The Notorious B.I.G., Toni Braxton, Kanye West, Bun B., Trina, Gucci Mane, Noreaga, Chamillionaire, Young Jeezy, Rick Ross, T-Pain, 2 Chainz and Yasiin Bey (Mos Def). Even though the bulk of Fresh’s production work is with hip hop artists, he says having good business ethics are essential regardless of the artists or genre. “Don’t practice homeboy business. It’s the first thing that’s gonna get you in trouble,” he says.
Fresh adds, “Music is a little part of it. What comes after is the big part. That’s most of the battle. Your professionalism and mannerism have to be intact,” he says. He recently curated BMI’s Beat Summit in Atlanta along with fellow beatminers DJ Toomp and KLC. Positioned stage left at Terminal West behind mixers and turntables, Fresh was flanked by a massive crowd of onlookers and smoke clouds. If he wasn’t joking around with his “competing” producers, Fresh was steadily cranking out some of his bangers before the euphoric packed house. T.I., who collaborated with all three producers, performed his Fresh-produced singles, “Top Back” and “Big Things Poppin’ (Do It).”
These days, Fresh has gone back to his roots of being a DJ. He notices that his audiences are primarily composed of young white kids that love hip hop. During Beat Summit’s pre-show meet-and-greet, Fresh expresses how proud he is to have longevity as hip hop’s audiences and climate constantly change. “Just to see this generation embrace Mannie Fresh and some of them wasn’t even born tells me I’m something special,” says Fresh. “They embrace the music. They know all the lyrics to the songs I’m playing. They know my bio and my background. They paying attention and shining on me.”
Fresh goes on to say that transitioning between the recording console and the turntables is the best method for him to stay connected to his consumers. Spinning records fuels Fresh’s creativity. “I had to get in people’s face again to make them remember,” says Fresh. “It’s where I started from. It gives me a chance to interact with what’s going on in the club and what people like. Then, I can hit the studio again.”
Fresh remains easy going and passionate about using music to make people dance, nod their heads and smile. Onstage, he makes it a priority to rework the bulk of his Cash Money productions so the crowd can recite the lyrics even when the music fades out.
Right before Fresh hits the stage and rocks the house, he says he wants his production and spinning records at parties and clubs to do one thing. “I just want my music to heal the world. That’s where I’m at,” says Fresh.
This post was written by Christopher A. Daniel, pop cultural critic and music editor for The Burton Wire. He is also a contributing writer for Urban Lux Magazine and Blues & Soul Magazine. Follow Christopher @Journalistorian on Twitter.
Protesters call for action for missing Nigerian girls in front of Nigerian Embassy in Washington, DC. (Photo Credit: Google Images)
Nearly four weeks into the kidnappings of 276 girls in Borno State, Nigeria, feelings of frustration with Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan’s lack of action, anger at extremist group Boko Haram, and anxiety about the fates of the young girls by the international community have boiled over. Offers of assistance from abroad pour in amid the possibility that the girls have been separated and carted off to neighboring countries.
According to a CNN report, former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the U.N.’s special envoy for global education, believes that the search must now cross into Chad, Niger and Cameroon. As such Britain, the U.S., China and France have all extended their hands to assist in bringing the girls home.
The kidnappings have garnered global sympathy, yet Nigerian expatriates especially await with baited breath the outcome of the latest Nigerian debacle. Numerous proud Nigerian communities exist across Europe, Canada and the U.S. – yet reports of deviousness often elicit little more than spirited parlor conversation. Desensitized by rampant corruption, many conclude that Nigeria’s problems are too weighty to solve from abroad. This time, however, something is different. This time, Nigerian expats lean in as an evil force has rounded up their children and threatens to upset the balance of Africa’s largest economy. This time, Nigerians are ready to act.
Moses Onitilo, an IT professional, lives in Miami, Florida and has watched the events unfold from both sides of the Atlantic. He was in Nigeria when the kidnappings occurred, and noted a general sense of “business as usual”.
“This news broke in Nigeria about three weeks ago when I got there,” Moses recalled. “Everyone was just carrying on life as usual…we [Nigerians] will adapt to any situation that comes in front of us,” he explained.
Moses’ brother Taiwo, who arrived in the U.S. for school last week, agreed, saying that those not in the immediate area of the kidnappings seemed to be less affected initially.
“People really feel it so much, because it’s children,” said Taiwo. “But it has changed nothing, because normal people on the road will say ‘will that change the price of tomatoes in the market’”?
Moses sees the abductions as a result of other ills in Nigeria, which he believes can be addressed through the power of voting. Three weeks ago, he and a group of other visionaries launched a multiethnic initiative, 1 Million Votes for Change Nigeria, with the goal of registering one million new voters and encouraging registered voters to cast ballots by 2019.
While some expats plan to take their issues to the polls, others have taken to the streets. New Yorkers Debo Folorunsho and Nkechi Ogbodo both planned separate rallies to attention to and action on the abductions.
Folorunsho, publisher of Applause Africa Magazine, believes that Nigerians in the diaspora can no longer remain silent. Thus, he helped organize the May 3 rally in New York’s Union Square.
“I’m just touched by the story, and we are calling on all other organizations to say ‘this is enough, this is enough.’”
Ogbodo identifies with the situation for different reasons. She is the founder of Kechie’s Project, an NGO focused on empowerment, education and leadership training for girls in Harlem, New York and Nigeria. Her mother was also abducted and released in Nigeria three years ago. Both of these make the kidnappings especially painful for her.
“When I heard about the news, it felt like I was reliving the situation all over again,” said Ogbodo. “These are girls, young girls, they are innocent. They couldn’t fight back.”
With Kechie’s Project at the helm, a march from Harlem to the Nigerian Consulate will take place on May 10, with prominent figures such as Reverend Al Sharpton and former New York governor David Paterson slated to speak.
The role of extreme Islam in the kidnappings has been mentioned repeatedly in media reports. Alhaji Olatunji Olarinde is a resident of Miami and the president of the National Council of Nigerian Muslim Organizations U.S. and Canada (NCNMO) He expressed anger over Boko Haram’s interpretation of Islam.
“We as Nigerian Muslims regard Western education as Boko Halal (Western education is permitted), in God’s name,” said Olarinde. “We also know that the Western education is not only permissible, but there is no conflict in our religion with modernity. We are grateful for what President Obama is doing to help the Nigerian Government.”
The NCNMO and several other Muslim organizations held a joint press conference in Washington DC on May 8, condemning the actions of Boko Haram and demanding the safe release of the abducted girls.
As with all movements, change takes time, and many Nigerians living in the U.S. are willing to the work to make it happen. While Moses Onitilo thinks that the Nigerian government has been the largest roadblock in the investigation, he remains hopeful.
“If those of us abroad get together…it [Nigeria] can be safe, we can have the basic necessities of life.”
This post was written by Dr. Chetachi A. Egwu, Assistant Professor of Humanities at Nova Southeastern University. Her scholarship focuses on Black Internet Usage and the African image in film, with an emphasis in documentary. The Howard University alumna is the owner of Conscious Thoughts Media. Dr. Egwu is a regular contributor to The Grio and The Burton Wire. Follow her on Twitter @Tachiada.
Jet magazine will cease publication of its print edition. (Photo Credit: Jet Magazine)
Patrice Peck of BET.com is reporting that print publication Jet will exit the print business and go digital-only after 63 years in existence. She writes:
Johnson Publishing Company announced on Wednesday that the digest-size publication will transition to a digital weekly magazine app at the end of June. According to a statement released on Jet’s digital sister publication, EBONY.com, JPC is aiming to adapt Jet to the changing needs of its readers as their desire to access information quickly and easily increases.
“We were not able to deliver and to print a weekly magazine that was cost-effective,” JPC CEO Desiree Rogers told the Chicago Tribune.
“Over the past few years we tried to figure out, how do we get back to the Jet that everyone had growing up, where they got information more readily. We made the decision that this was a great opportunity to move Jet to a digital platform.”
In addition to being available on all tablet devices and mobile platforms, the new weekly app will leverage multimedia content, such as video interviews, enhanced maps and 3D charts. A special print edition will also be published annually.
Protesters carry signs that read “Bring Back Our Girls” to raise awareness of the abducted school girls in Nigeria. (Photo Credit: Turner.com)
Al Jazeera is reporting that First Lady Patience Jonathan has accused ‘Bring Back Our Girls’ protest leaders of fabricating some of the abductions of the 234 schoolgirls in Chibok last month. The First Lady allegedly ordered the arrest of one leader Naomi Mutah Nyadar in particular. The ‘Bring Back Our Girls’ Protest was formed to raise awareness about the missing school girls (actual numbers have fluctuated and been disputed) kidnapped and sold into sexual slavery by the Islamist Fundamentalist group Boko Haram. The ‘Bring Back Our Girls’ protest movement has spread across the world. If the movement is working, then why is one of the leaders being arrested?
Al Jazeera reports:
“Saratu Angus Ndirpaya of Chibok where the kidnappings took place, said state security service agents drove her and protest leader Naomi Mutah Nyadar to a police station on Monday after an all-night meeting at the presidential villa in Abuja, the capital. She said police immediately released her but that Nyadar remains in detention.”
Ndirpaya and Nyadar had met with First Lady Jonathan during the meeting at the presidential villa. The Guardian is reporting that Nyadar was arrested because of “impersonation.” Apparently, the First Lady and others were under the impression that Nyadar had lost two children during the Boko Haram abductions, but apparently Nyadar does not have any children. Supporters of Nyadar insist it is a misunderstanding and that the First Lady is misconstruing the meaning of “Bring Back Our Girls,” which is not literal, but rather figurative, so Nyadar should be allowed to protest.
This ‘Bring Back Our Girls’ meme has gone viral over the internet with celebrities and civic organizations appropriating the image to increase awareness.
(Photo Credit: Facebook)
‘Bring Back Our Girls Alive’ protesters in Abuja.
(Photo Credit: Google Images)
Nigeria’s first lady Patience Jonathan has allegedly ordered the arrest of a ‘Bring Back Our Girls’ protest leader.
(Photo credit: Google Images)
‘Bring Back Our Girls’ Protesters in Chibok.
(Photo Credit: Google Images)
Protesters carry signs that read “Bring Back Our Girls” to raise awareness of the abducted school girls in Nigeria.
(Photo Credit: Turner.com)
U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama holds up ‘Bring Back Our Girls’ sign.
(Photo Credit: Google Images)
With all of the people changing their social media profile photos to ‘Bring Back Our Girls,’ it seems that there must be something else at work. There’s even a photo of United States First Lady Michelle Obama holding up a sign that says, “Bring Back Our Girls” so is First Lady Jonathan also calling for her arrest? Celebrity Mary J. Blige is spreading the word about the crisis and she has no children. Should she be arrested as well?
The Burton Wire hopes that The First Lady isn’t elevating this issue because of the embarrassment of failing to control Boko Haram or starting a search for the girls two weeks after they were taken. You would think the government would appreciate any help they could get, especially since the protest leaders are only raising awareness, not money.
Whatever the case, the Nigerian government needs to focus more on finding the girls and less on harassing women who are helping to raise awareness about the abduction of the girls. Had the protesters not raised hell and brought worldwide attention to this issue, would the Nigerian government or other countries like the United States be doing anything to find these girls?
This post was written by Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D., founder & editor-in-chief of the award-winning news site, The Burton Wire. Follow her on Twitter @Ntellectual.
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan. (Photo Credit: Google Images)
Al Jazeera is reporting that Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan is reaching out to the international community to help find the missing school girls, allegedly kidnapped by Boko Haram three weeks ago. Al Jazeera reports:
“[President] Goodluck Jonathan said on Sunday that he had sought help from the US President Barack Obama, and also approached other world powers including Britain, France and China for help on security issues.
‘This is a trying time for this country… it is painful,’ he said, and pleaded for the cooperation of parents, guardians and the local communities in the rescue efforts.
‘We will get over our [security] challenge,’ he stated, adding that Nigerians were ‘justified if they expressed their anger against government’ over the perceived slowness in rescuing the girls who were kidnapped from their hostel in Chibok town, in northeast Borno state, on April 14. “
On Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry promised help for Nigeria in finding the missing girls.
Former New York Times journalist Jayson Blair, whose career ended due to plagiarism. (Photo Credit: Gush Productions)
A Fragile Trust: Plagiarism, Power and Jayson Blair at the New York Timesis the 75-minute feature documentary directed by Samantha Grant that recounts one of the most notorious scandals in the history of American journalism. African American columnist Jayson Blair resigned from the New York Timesin 2003 and experienced a backlash of humiliation. He was exposed in countless headlines for serial plagiarism, manipulating his editorial superiors and concocting a series of fraudulent published narratives.
A Fragile Trust starts out portraying Blair as an inquisitive Maryland native who was the product of a middle class, well-educated background. Like many of his pre-digital reporting contemporaries, Blair was an exceptional talent who demonstrated great work ethic, undying passion and the focus to “educate, inform and make life better.” The University of Maryland, College Park alumnus-turned-Times intern left quite an impression on his peers as an extroverted team player with an expanding list of bylines.
However, Blair’s professionalism became synonymous with countless grammatical errors, questionable information that was often retracted and habitually missed meetings. Profiled either working from behind his laptop or through close-up shots throughout the film, Blair, who appears on-screen scruffy yet with obvious remorse, talks openly since the controversy went viral in 2003 about fabricating stories, not traveling on his beats to complete assignments and missing numerous deadlines for the source known domestically and abroad for featuring “All the News That’s Fit to Print.”
A Fragile Trust integrates sketches, tear sheets, magic eye-styled news print, never-before-seen home movies of Blair and archived broadcast footage. Grant’s razor sharp investigative reporting and melodramatic story provide cohesive details into Blair’s downfall. The Stanford University Knight Fellow and UC Berkeley lecturer exposes Blair’s self-deprecating pressure to live up to the newspaper’s image, drug abuse, bouts of depression and his bipolar disorder.
Commentaries from various New York Times staff members, Washington Post editors, media scholars and cultural critics contextualize how the consequences of Blair’s actions trickled down to ongoing ridicule across communities. Because Blair was a young black male, debates from primarily conservative broadcasters and brow-raising political commentators distorted and assumed that his position at the Times was a product of race and affirmative action. Considering the “Blair Affair” occurred prior to numerous syndicated newspapers transitioning over to the web, the controversy was the catalyst for newspaper staffs to realign their infrastructure and meticulously research coverage before it airs
The main problem with Blair, a life coach and public speaker, currently is that he still doesn’t provide an answer for sabotaging his career or why he manipulated so many people. On the other hand, A Fragile Trust, an official selection at many film festivals nationwide, is a multidisciplinary portrait that appeals to not just aspiring media professionals but also other disciplines such as ethics, psychology, race relations and mental health.
The film is a stellar cautionary tale and morality play that will hopefully inspire future generations of journalists, bloggers and opinion leaders to be accountable for their editorial discretion and how they will distribute information to their audiences.
A Fragile Trust: Plagiarism, Power and Jayson Blair at the New York Times makes it television premiere on Mon., May. 5 at 10:00 p.m. on PBS as part of the Independent Lens series. Check local listings for channel information.
This post was written by Christopher A. Daniel, pop cultural critic and music editor for The Burton Wire. He is also a contributing writer for Urban Lux Magazine and Blues & Soul Magazine. Follow Christopher @Journalistorian on Twitter.
