Month: February 2019

Police in Chicago say a U.S. actor who claimed he was attacked and beaten by two masked men shouting racist and homophobic slurs staged the incident because he was because he was dissatisfied with his salary and wanted to promote his career.

Chicago police department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi issued a statement announcing the arrest of actor Jussie Smollett, charging him with felony disorderly conduct for making a false police report.

Police say he turned himself into police around 5 am local time.

The 36-year-old black openly gay actor on the U.S. television drama “Empire” created a social media storm last month when he told police on Jan. 29 that two apparent supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump had struck him, put a noose around his neck and poured bleach over him after he visited a Chicago sandwich shop.

Smollet received an outpouring of support from celebrities and even lawmakers, but police immediately found inconsistences in the actor’s story.

As part of an three-week investigation, police say they examined security cameras located throughout the area where the alleged attack occurred. Police brought in two brothers for questioning but they were released after two days, with police saying they were no longer suspects. Police said Smollett paid the brothers $3,500 to stage the attack.

At a news conference Thursday Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson told reporters its believed Smollet faked the attack as a publicity stunt because he was dissatisfied with his salary.

Johnson did not hide his contempt for Smollet’s alleged actions:

“This announcement today recognizes that Empire actor Jussie Smollett took advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career. I’m left hanging my head and asking Why?’ Why would anyone, especially an African American man, use the symbolism of a noose to make false accusations? How could someone look at the hate and suffering associated with that symbol and see and opportunity to manipulate that symbol to further his own profile? How can an individual who’s been embraced by the city of Chicago turn around and slap everyone in this city in the face by making these false claims?,” he said.

Johnson called the actor’s “publicity stunt” a scar that Chicago didn’t deserve.He said absolute justice would be for Smollet to admit what he did and apologize the city of Chicago.

Smollet has not yet entered a plea. The charge against him carries a penalty of up to three years in prison, though Former Cook County prosecutor Andrew Weisberg told the Associated press news agency judges rarely throw defendants in prison for making false reports, opting instead to place them on probation.
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Scenes from the Oscar-nominated film Green Book depict post-World War II America as a land of wide prosperity, big cars, nation-spanning highways, and easy travel. But this was the Jim Crow era, before civil rights reforms, and discriminatory laws of the time made it challenging, even dangerous, for black motorists to move around the country. They simply weren’t welcome in most restaurants, hotels or other businesses.

So, enterprising New York City mail carrier Victor Green began publishing a travel guide, listing businesses where black motorists were welcome. He called it The Negro Motorist Green Book. It was published annually, from 1936 until 1966. At first just listing restaurants, lodgings, night clubs, grocery stores and gas stations in the New York area, it gradually expanded to include as many as 10,000 sites in nearly every U.S. state and parts of Canada, Mexico and Bermuda.

“Usually segregation is thought of as a Southern thing, a Southern problem,” said Ginna Cannon, a historian with the Rutherford County, Tennessee, Chamber of Commerce. “Really it was a national issue, and one that we all need to understand and come to terms with and do better in the future.”

The 1964 Civil Rights Act, which outlawed discrimination in public accommodations, made the Green Book unnecessary almost overnight. Candacy Taylor, an author, photographer and cultural documentarian who has been researching Green Book sites, estimates that 20 percent are still standing, and about 3 percent are still in business.

Renewed interest in The Green Book and African-American history has prompted historians across the country to try to document the remaining sites in their states.

WATCH: Green Book Mapped a Safe Route Through Era of Discrimination

Documenting relics of discriminatory era

Working with architectural historians in Nashville and Chattanooga, the Center for Historic Preservation at Middle Tennessee State University recently surveyed Green Book sites statewide. 

Ginna Cannon was part of the research team. 

“Places matter,” she said. “To have a story not associated with a property, it loses some of its resonance and that is really important for us to remember as we go forward as a country,” she said.

Tiffany Momon, a Ph.D. candidate in history at Middle Tennessee State, agrees.

“So much of African-American history is about place-making,” she said. Claiming a land and a space of their own after emancipation, and if we lose these buildings we lose these stories.”

Standing on Jefferson Street in downtown Nashville, where most of the city’s Green Book listings were once located, Momon said, “Think about what that life meant that you needed to have a guidebook to tell you how to get around a country where you were supposed to be equal … to tell you which establishments were friendly to you, and just imagine what it was like to stop in a town that wasn’t in the Green Book.”

Jefferson Street remains at the heart of the city’s African-American community. But many Green Book sites were lost in 1957 when a federal highway was built through the heart of North Nashville. Others were lost to the gentrification of historically black neighborhoods. A handful have found new life. For example, a motel that once catered to black motorists is now a nail salon and day spa.

One of the few Nashville Green Book sites still in business is Jefferson Street’s R&R Liquor. Owner Kenneth Christman says he is pleased to be part of the Green Book heritage and legacy. 

“R&R serves as one of the last bastions of black business in this area, particularly now that gentrification is taking place,” he said. “We (African-American business owners) as a group have not had the privilege of having as many businesses survive, so it’s of particular importance in the community.”

Persevering and surviving

Tiffany Momon says documenting Green Book sites in Tennessee and elsewhere is about more than locations on a map.

“Black businesses that through the Jim Crow era, through the era when the Green Book was published, persevered and survived and paved the way. So the preservation of these sites is important so that we can continue to tell those types of stories,” she said.

Especially when those stories come at a time when the country is again wrestling with racial discord.
…

Scenes from the Oscar-nominated film Green Book depict post-World War II America as a land of wide prosperity, big cars, nation-spanning highways, and easy travel. But this was the Jim Crow era, before civil rights reforms, and discriminatory laws of the time made it challenging, even dangerous, for black motorists to move around the country. They simply weren’t welcome in most restaurants, hotels or other businesses.

So, enterprising New York City mail carrier Victor Green began publishing a travel guide, listing businesses where black motorists were welcome. He called it The Negro Motorist Green Book. It was published annually, from 1936 until 1966. At first just listing restaurants, lodgings, night clubs, grocery stores and gas stations in the New York area, it gradually expanded to include as many as 10,000 sites in nearly every U.S. state and parts of Canada, Mexico and Bermuda.

“Usually segregation is thought of as a Southern thing, a Southern problem,” said Ginna Cannon, a historian with the Rutherford County, Tennessee, Chamber of Commerce. “Really it was a national issue, and one that we all need to understand and come to terms with and do better in the future.”

The 1964 Civil Rights Act, which outlawed discrimination in public accommodations, made the Green Book unnecessary almost overnight. Candacy Taylor, an author, photographer and cultural documentarian who has been researching Green Book sites, estimates that 20 percent are still standing, and about 3 percent are still in business.

Renewed interest in The Green Book and African-American history has prompted historians across the country to try to document the remaining sites in their states.

WATCH: Green Book Mapped a Safe Route Through Era of Discrimination

Documenting relics of discriminatory era

Working with architectural historians in Nashville and Chattanooga, the Center for Historic Preservation at Middle Tennessee State University recently surveyed Green Book sites statewide. 

Ginna Cannon was part of the research team. 

“Places matter,” she said. “To have a story not associated with a property, it loses some of its resonance and that is really important for us to remember as we go forward as a country,” she said.

Tiffany Momon, a Ph.D. candidate in history at Middle Tennessee State, agrees.

“So much of African-American history is about place-making,” she said. Claiming a land and a space of their own after emancipation, and if we lose these buildings we lose these stories.”

Standing on Jefferson Street in downtown Nashville, where most of the city’s Green Book listings were once located, Momon said, “Think about what that life meant that you needed to have a guidebook to tell you how to get around a country where you were supposed to be equal … to tell you which establishments were friendly to you, and just imagine what it was like to stop in a town that wasn’t in the Green Book.”

Jefferson Street remains at the heart of the city’s African-American community. But many Green Book sites were lost in 1957 when a federal highway was built through the heart of North Nashville. Others were lost to the gentrification of historically black neighborhoods. A handful have found new life. For example, a motel that once catered to black motorists is now a nail salon and day spa.

One of the few Nashville Green Book sites still in business is Jefferson Street’s R&R Liquor. Owner Kenneth Christman says he is pleased to be part of the Green Book heritage and legacy. 

“R&R serves as one of the last bastions of black business in this area, particularly now that gentrification is taking place,” he said. “We (African-American business owners) as a group have not had the privilege of having as many businesses survive, so it’s of particular importance in the community.”

Persevering and surviving

Tiffany Momon says documenting Green Book sites in Tennessee and elsewhere is about more than locations on a map.

“Black businesses that through the Jim Crow era, through the era when the Green Book was published, persevered and survived and paved the way. So the preservation of these sites is important so that we can continue to tell those types of stories,” she said.

Especially when those stories come at a time when the country is again wrestling with racial discord.
…

The film “Green Book,” starring Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen is nominated for five Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor. The story, set in the early 1960s, centers on an interracial friendship. But it also shows the discrimination African-Americans faced while traveling across the country during the Jim Crow era, before civil rights reforms. Reporter Mike Osborne reports on an effort underway to document businesses that welcomed those travelers.
…

The film “Green Book,” starring Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen is nominated for five Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor. The story, set in the early 1960s, centers on an interracial friendship. But it also shows the discrimination African-Americans faced while traveling across the country during the Jim Crow era, before civil rights reforms. Reporter Mike Osborne reports on an effort underway to document businesses that welcomed those travelers.
…

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has nominated 8 movies in the category of Best Picture. What are the elements that make a movie the best picture of the year? VOA’s Penelope Poulou spoke with award winning playwright and director Murray Horwitz about the chances of some of this year’s nominees making history at the 91st Academy Awards.
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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has nominated 8 movies in the category of Best Picture. What are the elements that make a movie the best picture of the year? VOA’s Penelope Poulou spoke with award winning playwright and director Murray Horwitz about the chances of some of this year’s nominees making history at the 91st Academy Awards.
…

Meghan Markle has been spotted at several swanky venues in New York City, cradling her baby bump as she visited friends for what is rumored to be a baby shower. .

Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, was seen Tuesday entering The Mark hotel on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, at a restaurant on the ground floor of The Met Breuer and at The Surrey Hotel.

The Duchess, who’s 37, wore sunglasses, a dark gray coat and neutral high heels with a matching bag.

As photographers waited outside the Mark, a high-end boxed crib and pink flowers were delivered.

Abigail Spencer, a co-star on Markle’s former TV show “Suits,” was spotted at one of the Markle gatherings.

Markle and her husband Prince Harry announced the pregnancy in October.
…

Meghan Markle has been spotted at several swanky venues in New York City, cradling her baby bump as she visited friends for what is rumored to be a baby shower. .

Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, was seen Tuesday entering The Mark hotel on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, at a restaurant on the ground floor of The Met Breuer and at The Surrey Hotel.

The Duchess, who’s 37, wore sunglasses, a dark gray coat and neutral high heels with a matching bag.

As photographers waited outside the Mark, a high-end boxed crib and pink flowers were delivered.

Abigail Spencer, a co-star on Markle’s former TV show “Suits,” was spotted at one of the Markle gatherings.

Markle and her husband Prince Harry announced the pregnancy in October.
…

Former President Barack Obama and Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry told a roomful of minority boys on Tuesday that they matter and urged them to make the world a better place.

Obama was in Oakland, California, to mark the fifth anniversary of My Brother’s Keeper, an initiative he launched after the 2012 shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. The death of the African-American teen sparked protests over racial profiling.

The initiative was a call to communities to close opportunity gaps for minority boys, especially African-American, Latino and Native American boys, Obama said to roughly 100 boys attending the alliance’s first national gathering. The My Brother’s Keeper Alliance is part of the Obama Foundation.

“We had to be able to say to them, ‘You matter, we care about you, we believe in you and we are going to make sure that you have the opportunities and chances to move forward just like everybody else,”‘ Obama said.

Obama, who left office in 2017, was joined by basketball star Curry. The men spoke for about an hour, answering questions from the audience and joking around. They talked about lacking confidence or being aimless as teens.

Obama praised single mothers, including his own. He advised the boys to look for a mentor, and to find opportunities to guide others.

Curry joined the former president in praising the value of teamwork.

“What we do on the court and the joy that comes out of that is second to none,” he said, “because nothing great is done by yourself.”

The former president cracked up the audience, and Curry, when asked a question about being a man. He said that being a man is about being a good person, someone who is responsible, reliable, hard-working and compassionate. Being a man, he said, is not about life as portrayed in some rap or hip-hop music.

“If you are very confident about your sexuality, you don’t have to have eight women around you twerking,” he said to applause. “‘Cause I’ve got one woman who I’m very happy with. And she’s a strong woman.”
…

Former President Barack Obama and Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry told a roomful of minority boys on Tuesday that they matter and urged them to make the world a better place.

Obama was in Oakland, California, to mark the fifth anniversary of My Brother’s Keeper, an initiative he launched after the 2012 shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. The death of the African-American teen sparked protests over racial profiling.

The initiative was a call to communities to close opportunity gaps for minority boys, especially African-American, Latino and Native American boys, Obama said to roughly 100 boys attending the alliance’s first national gathering. The My Brother’s Keeper Alliance is part of the Obama Foundation.

“We had to be able to say to them, ‘You matter, we care about you, we believe in you and we are going to make sure that you have the opportunities and chances to move forward just like everybody else,”‘ Obama said.

Obama, who left office in 2017, was joined by basketball star Curry. The men spoke for about an hour, answering questions from the audience and joking around. They talked about lacking confidence or being aimless as teens.

Obama praised single mothers, including his own. He advised the boys to look for a mentor, and to find opportunities to guide others.

Curry joined the former president in praising the value of teamwork.

“What we do on the court and the joy that comes out of that is second to none,” he said, “because nothing great is done by yourself.”

The former president cracked up the audience, and Curry, when asked a question about being a man. He said that being a man is about being a good person, someone who is responsible, reliable, hard-working and compassionate. Being a man, he said, is not about life as portrayed in some rap or hip-hop music.

“If you are very confident about your sexuality, you don’t have to have eight women around you twerking,” he said to applause. “‘Cause I’ve got one woman who I’m very happy with. And she’s a strong woman.”
…