Civil rights activist Lawrence Guyot passes away at 73. (Google Images)
The New York Times is reporting that civil rights activist Lawrence Guyot has died. Douglas Martin reports:
“Mr. Guyot (GHEE-ott) was repeatedly challenged, jailed and beaten as he helped lead fellow members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and student volunteers from around the nation in organizing Mississippi blacks to vote. In many of the state’s counties, no blacks were registered.
He further pressed the campaign for greater black participation in politics by serving as chairman of the integrated Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, formed to supplant the all-white state Democratic Party. It lost its challenge to the established Mississippi party at the Democratic National Convention in 1964, but its efforts are seen as paving the way for the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.”
Born in Pass Christian, Mississippi, Guyot is remembered not only for his work with SNCC and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, but also for a police beating he suffered when trying to bail out civil rights icon Fannie Lou Hamer in Winona, Miss. and for his imprisonment at the Mississippi penitentiary, Parchman Farm, one of the most brutal prisons in the country. He was beaten mercilessly, and went on a 17-day hunger strike, in which he lost 100 pounds. Both incidents occurred in 1963. Guyot was also instrumental in helping former Washington, DC mayor Marion Barry become the first African-American elected as mayor of the nation’s capital.
Mr. Guyot was a graduate of Tougaloo College in Tougaloo, Miss., where he first became involved with SNCC. He is survived by his wife of 47 years, the former Monica Klein; his son, Lawrence III; his daughter Julie Guyot-Diangone and four grandchildren. Mr. Guyot was 73 years-old.
Earvin “Magic” Johnson is flanked by members of Usher’s New Look Foundation after receiving the ‘Business Champion of the Year Award’ from the Urban League of Greater Atlanta. (Erin Kyle Photography)
by Christopher A. Daniel
(December 5, 2012 – Atlanta) On December 1, the retired Los Angeles Laker and business visionary Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson was awarded the Urban League of Greater Atlanta’s (ULGA) coveted “Business Champion of the Year” award. As part of the economic and community empowerment organization’s 51st Annual Equal Opportunity Day (EOD) Gala, the powerhouse NBA Hall of Famer, restaurateur, nutritionist, philanthropist, orator, media mogul and commentator hosted a mini-press conference in the Marriott Marquis’ lobby.
The chairman and CEO of his self-titled conglomerate makes it no secret that he will primarily invest time and resources into financial portfolios with bare minimums of $50 to $100 million in investments. Johnson accepted his award alongside Usher’s New Look Foundation, Macy’s, Wells Fargo, Herman J. Russell Family, R. Lawrence Ashe, Esq., Ludacris’ business partner Chaka Zulu and ULGA’s Young Professionals. Johnson is acutely aware that his stellar entrepreneurial ventures have raised the bar for American enterprise and urban development. “We’re looking to go back into urban America and create jobs,” Johnson says. “We’re always looking for opportunity. The good thing is we have the money. We have to do our homework and research in order to make a big impact.”
Johnson has leveraged all of his assets including his legendary relationship with Larry Bird, which hit the Broadway stage this year. He has stakes in sports franchises, a personalized credit card, scholarship funds, a 501c3 organization and various real estate holdings throughout America. Johnson says the objective is to create sustainable business models that will stimulate the economy and encourage self-sufficiency. “I’m willing to help out anyone trying to do something good. We can at least give expertise,” Johnson says. “We’ll provide you with the knowledge on how to do it even if we don’t invest in it.”
The one time late night talk show host acquired VIBE, Soul Train, UPTOWNMagazineand 25 radio stations. Johnson says New York’s WBLS is now the number two station in its market. He was set to bid on JET Magazine, but the deal fell through. “If it’s the right fit at the right price, then I’ll take a look at it,” Johnson says. “You got to have an exit strategy. I’m about making money. If you want to make money, you got to get with the big boys and make it nationwide.”
Johnson’s latest venture, the Atlanta-based ASPiRE Network, is set to go under Time Warner Cable in the first quarter of 2013. The network started airing reruns of past shows but would like to include more original programming. Johnson takes cues from Black Entertainment Television’s younger demographic and TV One’s older target audience to determine his African American niche market. He adds that Time Warner will have ASPiRE in 20 million homes. “Content is important to us,” he says. “Our research shows that people want wholesome programming. We’re a family driven network trying to bring the family back to the television together.”
Just the night before, Johnson attended a Christmas tree lighting in Miami honoring individuals who succumbed to HIV/AIDS. Coincidentally on the same day as World AIDS Day, Johnson, reminding the press of his announcing that he was HIV+ 21 years ago, knows that he lives a prosperous and successful life beyond sports and a life threatening illness. “I don’t know where I would be without God’s blessings,” he says.
Christopher A. Daniel is a 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.
Like The Burton Wire on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter @TheBurtonWire.com.
Earvin “Magic” Johnson is flanked by members of Usher’s New Look Foundation after receiving the ‘Business Champion of the Year Award’ from the Urban League of Greater Atlanta. (Erin Kyle Photography)
by Christopher A. Daniel
(December 5, 2012 – Atlanta) On December 1, the retired Los Angeles Laker and business visionary Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson was awarded the Urban League of Greater Atlanta’s (ULGA) coveted “Business Champion of the Year” award. As part of the economic and community empowerment organization’s 51st Annual Equal Opportunity Day (EOD) Gala, the powerhouse NBA Hall of Famer, restaurateur, nutritionist, philanthropist, orator, media mogul and commentator hosted a mini-press conference in the Marriott Marquis’ lobby.
The chairman and CEO of his self-titled conglomerate makes it no secret that he will primarily invest time and resources into financial portfolios with bare minimums of $50 to $100 million in investments. Johnson accepted his award alongside Usher’s New Look Foundation, Macy’s, Wells Fargo, Herman J. Russell Family, R. Lawrence Ashe, Esq., Ludacris’ business partner Chaka Zulu and ULGA’s Young Professionals. Johnson is acutely aware that his stellar entrepreneurial ventures have raised the bar for American enterprise and urban development. “We’re looking to go back into urban America and create jobs,” Johnson says. “We’re always looking for opportunity. The good thing is we have the money. We have to do our homework and research in order to make a big impact.”
Johnson has leveraged all of his assets including his legendary relationship with Larry Bird, which hit the Broadway stage this year. He has stakes in sports franchises, a personalized credit card, scholarship funds, a 501c3 organization and various real estate holdings throughout America. Johnson says the objective is to create sustainable business models that will stimulate the economy and encourage self-sufficiency. “I’m willing to help out anyone trying to do something good. We can at least give expertise,” Johnson says. “We’ll provide you with the knowledge on how to do it even if we don’t invest in it.”
The one time late night talk show host acquired VIBE, Soul Train, UPTOWNMagazineand 25 radio stations. Johnson says New York’s WBLS is now the number two station in its market. He was set to bid on JET Magazine, but the deal fell through. “If it’s the right fit at the right price, then I’ll take a look at it,” Johnson says. “You got to have an exit strategy. I’m about making money. If you want to make money, you got to get with the big boys and make it nationwide.”
Johnson’s latest venture, the Atlanta-based ASPiRE Network, is set to go under Time Warner Cable in the first quarter of 2013. The network started airing reruns of past shows but would like to include more original programming. Johnson takes cues from Black Entertainment Television’s younger demographic and TV One’s older target audience to determine his African American niche market. He adds that Time Warner will have ASPiRE in 20 million homes. “Content is important to us,” he says. “Our research shows that people want wholesome programming. We’re a family driven network trying to bring the family back to the television together.”
Just the night before, Johnson attended a Christmas tree lighting in Miami honoring individuals who succumbed to HIV/AIDS. Coincidentally on the same day as World AIDS Day, Johnson, reminding the press of his announcing that he was HIV+ 21 years ago, knows that he lives a prosperous and successful life beyond sports and a life threatening illness. “I don’t know where I would be without God’s blessings,” he says.
Christopher A. Daniel is a 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.
Like The Burton Wire on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter @TheBurtonWire.com.
Legendary blues guitarist Buddy Guy receives a 2012 Kennedy Center Honor from President Barack Obama. (Google Images)
Legendary Blues guitarist and Chicago Blues pioneer George “Buddy” Guy was awarded for his lifetime achievement at the 2012 Kennedy Center Honors. Guy received the honor from President Barack Obama along with famed comedian and talk-show host David Letterman, iconic actor Dustin Hoffman, acclaimed ballerina Natalia Makarova and seminal rock group Led Zepplin.
Ashley Killough and Dan Merica of CNN report:
The festivities kicked off at a White House reception where Obama honored the award recipients and recounted highlights of their careers.” “Each of us can remember a moment when the people on this stage touched our lives. … Maybe they inspired us to see things in a new way, to hear things differently.” Obama said. “It is that unique power that makes the arts so important,” writes Killough and Merica.
Other celebrities and luminaries in attendance included actor Morgan Freeman, musician Lenny Kravitz and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.
Egyptian police have fired tear gas at opposition protesters demonstrating against Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi’s drive to hold a snap referendum on a controversial draft charter, as the country plunges deeper into crisis.
Live television footage showed that some protesters broke through police lines and got too close to the presidential palace.
Al Jazeera’s Rawya Rageh, reporting from Cairo said: “We saw thousand of people surrounding the palace on all four corners, outnumbering the police and getting close to the presidential walls.”
“Opposition has announced there’s going to be a sit-in outside the palace,” she said.
“The message coming out of here is that the president has failed to prove to Egyptians that he is the president of all of Egypt, as opposed to a leader in the Muslim Brotherhood group.”
She said “Morsi is preparing for the referendum, he is under a lot of pressure from the opposition, but he does not seemed to be phased by the protests”.
Thousands had taken to the streets waving Egyptian flags, chanting for the downfall of the president and denouncing the Muslim Brotherhood, from which Morsi emerged, for having “sold the revolution” that toppled Hosni Mubarak last year.
The strikes were part of a planned campaign of civil disobedience that could bring in other industries.
Boxing legend Hector ‘Macho’ Camacho dies at age 50. (Google Images)
The Associated Press is reporting that Hector “Macho” Camacho has died. The article reports that Camacho “was a brash fighter with a mean jab and an aggressive style, launching himself furiously against some of the biggest names in boxing. And his bad-boy persona was not entirely an act, with a history of legal scrapes that began in his teens and continued throughout his life.”
The man who once starred at the pinnacle of boxing, winning several world titles, died Saturday after being ambushed in a parking lot back in the Puerto Rican town of Bayamon where he was born. Packets of cocaine were found in the car in which he was shot.
Camacho, 50, left behind a reputation for flamboyance — leading fans in cheers of “It’s Macho time!” before fights — and for fearsome skills as one of the top fighters of his generation.
The fighter’s last title bout came in 1997 against welterweight champion Oscar De La Hoya, who won by unanimous decision. Camacho’s last fight was his defeat by Saul Duran in May 2010. He had a career record of 79-6-3.
Doctors pronounced Camacho dead on Saturday after he was removed from life support at his family’s direction. He never regained consciousness after at least one gunman crept up to the car in a darkened parking lot and opened fire.
No arrests have been made, and authorities have not revealed many details beyond the facts that police found cocaine in the car and that the boxer and his friend, who was killed at the scene, had no idea the attack was coming. “Apparently, this was a surprise,” said Alex Diaz, a police spokesman.
Survivors include his mother; three sisters, Raquel, Estrella and Ester; a brother, Felix; and four sons, Hector Jr., Taylor, Christian and Justin. He was 50-years-old.
Boxing legend Hector ‘Macho’ Camacho dies at age 50. (Google Images)
The Associated Press is reporting that Hector “Macho” Camacho has died. The article reports that Camacho “was a brash fighter with a mean jab and an aggressive style, launching himself furiously against some of the biggest names in boxing. And his bad-boy persona was not entirely an act, with a history of legal scrapes that began in his teens and continued throughout his life.”
The man who once starred at the pinnacle of boxing, winning several world titles, died Saturday after being ambushed in a parking lot back in the Puerto Rican town of Bayamon where he was born. Packets of cocaine were found in the car in which he was shot.
Camacho, 50, left behind a reputation for flamboyance — leading fans in cheers of “It’s Macho time!” before fights — and for fearsome skills as one of the top fighters of his generation.
The fighter’s last title bout came in 1997 against welterweight champion Oscar De La Hoya, who won by unanimous decision. Camacho’s last fight was his defeat by Saul Duran in May 2010. He had a career record of 79-6-3.
Doctors pronounced Camacho dead on Saturday after he was removed from life support at his family’s direction. He never regained consciousness after at least one gunman crept up to the car in a darkened parking lot and opened fire.
No arrests have been made, and authorities have not revealed many details beyond the facts that police found cocaine in the car and that the boxer and his friend, who was killed at the scene, had no idea the attack was coming. “Apparently, this was a surprise,” said Alex Diaz, a police spokesman.
Survivors include his mother; three sisters, Raquel, Estrella and Ester; a brother, Felix; and four sons, Hector Jr., Taylor, Christian and Justin. He was 50-years-old.
“Our party needs a lot of work to do if we expect to be competitive in the near future.”
During all this Republican self-examination (Republicans on Hispanic voters, on young voters, on Asians voters, on Women voters, on Gay voters), there is very little mention of black voters. Despite the fact that Blacks make up about 36 million of the U.S. population and have the highest voter turnout of all ethnic minorities and even with a Black man in the White House, we continue to be the “blind spot” in American politics. It’s ironic considering it was the Republican Party’s Southern Strategy, the widespread stoking of racial resentment between southern whites and blacks, which set them on this path. It’s unfortunate for those of us who feel we have been forced to choose between the lesser of two evils: The Democratic Party who has taken our vote for granted and the Republicans who have consciously and consistently waged these ethnic wars using us as scapegoat and boogieman.
Alternative for the N-Word
In this recently released video below, the infamous Republican strategist Lee Atwater described how the Republican Party could code racism in a way that it would not hurt them politically. Instead of screaming the N-word, he told them to use phrases like forced bussing, states’ rights, or cutting taxes. That lexicon has evolved to include affirmative action, crime, entitlements, takers and a host of other code words.
http://youtu.be/X_8E3ENrKrQ
As Republicans try to reinvent themselves, they are questioning the efficacy of the “Southern Strategy” with a 21st century electorate. Unfortunately, it’s not because anyone has said “No” to the continued demonization of black voters. It’s simply because they have suddenly discovered the concept of “Math,” meaning the “us against them” rhetoric is only being questioned because there are simply too many of “them” and not enough of “us” in the equation.
Marginalizing the black vote: the Democrats
It’s silly to argue race is not a part of politics, and it’s naïve to assume only one party uses it to control votes. While Republicans use it to motivate Southern white voters, Democrats have also used it. They use it by creating this narrative that we need them to protect us from racist Republicans, and more broadly racist white folks – who without the protection of good white Democrats would trample upon our rights.
Sure, that’s offensive. What annoys me is the constant “handling of blacks” that appears more pervasive among Democrats. What worries me is leverage. More to the point, it’s the fact that a monolithic black electorate has no political leverage. Politics is not, nor has it ever been, an exercise in altruism. And politicians sure as hell aren’t altruistic. Until black voters demand more out of the political process and politicians, issues affecting us like an institutionally racist criminal justice system, unfair drug sentencing, affirmative action, the lack of urban economic policy solutions and near utter failure of urban K-12 schools will continue to be ignored. Only in America does having a black man in the White House not immediately advance but somehow complicate the cause of Black people.
Devona Walker is Politics Editor for The Burton Wire.
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Pope Benedict XVI appoints Archbishop John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan of Abuja, Nigeria and Archbishop Ruben Salazar Gomez of Bogota, Colombia as Cardinals. (Google Images)
Rome (CNN) — CNN is reporting that Pope Benedict XVI appointed six new cardinals in a special ceremony at St. Peter’s Basilica on Saturday, all of them from countries outside Europe.
One of those elevated to the College of Cardinals was American Archbishop James M. Harvey, who currently serves as prefect of the papal household, according to Vatican Radio.
The others were Bechara Boutros Rai, a Maronite patriarch from Lebanon; Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal, an Indian archbishop and head of the Syro-Malankara Church; Archbishop John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan of Abuja, Nigeria; Archbishop Ruben Salazar Gomez of Bogota, Colombia; and Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila, Philippines.
During the ceremony each received the traditional red hat, or “biretta,” gold ring and a document with the name of the cardinal’s titular church in Rome.
Jazz drummer Teri Lyne Carrington works with students in the community and as a professor at Berklee College of Music in Boston. (Jina Wilson/Joni Heart Photography)
Terri Lyne Carrington takes getting involved and seizing full advantage of all opportunities quite seriously.
The Grammy Award-winning drummer, composer and producer – famous for her all-female concept album, The Mosaic Project— reveals she didn’t realize how powerful her talents were at one point in her career. “I was playing at seven and a professional by age 10, and I didn’t really appreciate the experience,” she says. “Playing with Dizzy [Gillespie] and Ella [Fitzgerald] gives me more gratitude now. Appreciate all of your experiences – especially your teachers and mentors.”
Carrington currently serves as a professor at Berklee College of Music, her alma mater in her native, Boston, where she received a full scholarship at age 11. Carrington shares Duke Ellington’s philosophy that jazz is “freedom of expression.” She adds that jazz musicians have to be disciplined and focused. “You definitely gotta have a certain set of vocabulary and a certain skill level to play it. Once you have that, it’s freedom. Jazz means freedom,” she says.
At the close of the town hall-styled clinic, Carrington performed with another young drummer. As Carrington performs her improvised set, she talks directly to the student and gives her full eye contact. The performer believes her experience serves as effective advice for the young students. “We have to give back or the music won’t continue,” Carrington says. “I’ve been there and done that. No one explained it to me. It’s trial and error especially when you’re dealing with the old school jazz cats. You just watch and listen. I tend to try and explain as much as I can just to see if I can help them a little quicker to their destination. I won’t say skip a beat but skip a step and maybe cut some of their journey a little bit shorter if they listen.”
The Arsenio Hall Show’s former house drummer later performed as part of Jazz Roots’ “Ladies of Jazz” series, where she opens for Grammy-winning bassist Esperanza Spalding. Along with pianist Geri Allen, the jazz instrumentalists play in a trio, Allen Carrington Spalding (ACS). Carrington believes she and Spalding are kindred spirits. “We both think the same things are hip,” she says. “I always say we’re like minded. We tend to break up the time in similar ways. When we play together, I feel very much at home immediately. That’s a hard thing especially with a bass player. It’s kinda magical.”
Carrington sets a fine example to young performers. It marks yet another instance in which jazz musicians believe it is their duty to use their wisdom and gifts to guide the next generation into a brighter future. “Do whatever you can to really have a voice,” she says. “Try to be a part of your community. Try to be a part of your political scene. Do your share. We all enjoy and reap the benefits of work that so many other people have done, so it’s up to us to do something.”
Christopher A. Daniel is a 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.
Like The Burton Wire on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter @TheBurtonWire.com.
