Recently added articles from Chicago Defender:

Bahamas celebrates its independence in D.C.

Jul 23, 2008; Brown, Oswald T ... WASHINGTON-Bahamians living in the Washington, D.C. area, U.S. government representatives and scores of dignitaries and diplomats from other countries joined Bahamas Ambassador to the United States, C.A. Smith, at a lavish reception recently to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Bahamas ...

Bud Billiken Royal Court

Jul 23, 2008; Anonymous ... Defender Staff Report The 2008 Chicago Defender Bud Billiken Parade King and Queen Contest has six lucky winners. The children won the contest based on an essay they wrote on "leadership" and the number of subscriptions to the Chicago Defender they sold. Jordan Norwood, a seventh ...

Knife found near alley where Mya Lyons found stabbed

Jul 23, 2008; Chaney, Kathy ... Chicago police are testing blood samples from a knife found by a cleaning crew Monday morning near the area where Mya Lyons was found brutally stabbed on July 14. Police are looking to see if the knife was used to kill the 9-year-old. While clearing weeds in a vacant lot near the ...

New libraries coming to South Side and Humboldt Park

Jul 23, 2008; Lee, Marissa ... The city is getting three new libraries, two of which will be on the South Side. The current Whitney Young branch will be torn down and replaced with a new one at 7901 S. King Drive. It should be completed by January 2011 and was allocated $14 million for construction. A new ...

NAACP protests mortgage discrimination, files lawsuit during 'National Day of Action'

Jul 23, 2008; Anonymous ... SEATTLE-The National NAACP declared a National Day of Action against mortgage discrimination earlier this month. Across the U.S. in over 15 major markets, local NAACP branches held press conferences on courthouse steps, in front of banks and in areas hard hit by trusted lending ...

City closes popular 'soul' restaurant

Jul 23, 2008; Hutson, Wendell ... Customers looking to eat at the popular Black-owned restaurant Soul Queen may have to wait another 45 days to do so. That's when the restaurant is scheduled to have an administrative hearing with the Chicago Department of Health to answer code violations that shut the soul food eatery ...

Where are Black sex offenders living?

Jul 23, 2008; Hutson, Wendell ... Nearly half of the 3,982 registered sex offenders in Chicago are not only Black, they also live in minority communities, a revelation that has community residents worried about their safety. As of July 14, state records indicate that within the 60628 ZIP code, which includes the Roseland ...

Minority journalists gather in Chicago for UNITY convention

Jul 23, 2008; Noelliste, Leila ... An estimated 10,000 minority journalists will descend on McCormick Place from July 23-27 for the 2008 UNITY convention. It is the nation's largest gathering of journalists of color and comes at a time when newspapers are hemorrhaging jobs through buy-outs and layoffs. The convention ...

Seventh Ward: Under new leadership

Jul 23, 2008; Chaney, Kathy ... A resident of the Seventh Ward for the last 15 years, Aid. Sandi Jackson saw economic development become too stagnant in the ward, and residents' requests ignored by her predecessors, former Aids. William Beavers and Darcel Beavers. Enough was enough, she said, and she waged a campaign ...

Harold Washington Cultural Center under audit by city

Jul 23, 2008; Chaney, Kathy ... If an audit of the Harold Washington Cultural Center by the city's budget department does not pass the test, the center's managing organization may have to repay a federal loan it received, risk losing ownership to the city or face foreclosure. The HWCC sits on the southeast corner of ...

New evidence collected in 1946 lynching

Jul 23, 2008; Muhammad, Jesse ... DALLAS-State and federal investigators have been gathering evidence in what has been called the last documented mass lynching in the United States: the slaying of four Black people that has remained unsolved for more than 60 years. Several items were collected on a property in rural ...

A single 'Black leader' is non-existent

Jul 23, 2008; Anonymous ... Editorial We present this as a public service announcement: Anyone who is seeking to speak to a "Black leader" should immediately cease and desist. We recognize that politicians, the mainstream media, and sometimes even Black people, go out searching for a "Black leader" to opine ...

Lighten up; it's politics

Jul 23, 2008; Jackson, Cheryle R ... Nothing cracks me up like politics. What I just said could be taken in a couple different ways, but cracking up laughing is actually what I meant. I don't know about you, but after months of listening to pundits, analysts and poll watchers dissect every rumor, every controversy-and ...

Q&A interview with Karen Siplin

Jul 23, 2008; Vaughn, Shamontiel L ... Avid readers of fiction author Karen Siplin know her signature style and proclivity for featuring multicultural characters in her books. The author of four books, Siplin talkel to the Defender about her works. CD: Your first book, His Insignificant Other, was a Borders Original ...

Riceland, Minute Rice sponsor culinary summer camps

Jul 23, 2008; Blackmon, David ... Chef D's Kitchen In the good old days, parents used to spend a lot of time teaching the basic skills of cooking to their chiljdren. But in this era of fast life, many parents are too busy with their scheduled tasks, so it seems that jthey don't have sufficient time to educate their kids ...

Chicago Human Rhythm Project kicks off its annual summer festival in the city

Jul 23, 2008; Anonymous ... Defender Staff Report Female hoofer Dianne "Lady Di" Walker comes to Chicago this summer as a featured tap dancer in the Chicago Human Rhythm Project Rhythm World. Chicago Human Rhythm Project is the world's first year-round presenter of American tap dance and percussive rhythmic ...

No thanks, Gov. Rod

Jul 23, 2008; Ransom, Lou ... Ransom Notes Back in April 1968, I lived through the deployment of National Guard troops in my neighborhood. The troops were called in during the riots following the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Parts of the city were in flames and looting and shooting were the order of ...

Gen. Russell Honore: Are you prepared for a disaster?

Jul 23, 2008; Chaney, Kathy ... The man credited with bringing the calm after the storm three years ago in New Orleans recently brought his command style to the Chicagoland area to "share some ideas" about preparing for a disaster. Retired Lt. General Russell Honore, the director of Hurricane Katrina's Joint Task Force ...

Faith institutions to step in when disaster strikes

Jul 23, 2008; Chaney, Kathy ... The 1918 flu pandemic, Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the Midwestern floods last month that saturated downstate Illinois, Iowa and its surrounding areas are all disasters that affected thousands. Relief is rushed to residents by local, state and government agencies but after the dust ...

Forget apologizing to Obama, Jackson should apologize to Black folks

Jul 23, 2008; Hutchinson, Earl Ofari ... On November 26, 2006 at a press conference in Los Angeles, guess who said this: "We will challenge and urge all artists and comics to stop using this (N-) word. What other group is subjected to such a degrading terminology?" And then guess who called for this action: We will go after TV ...