Gary, Indiana Mayor Rudy Clay addressed the crowd that came to see Presidential candidate Barack Obama as he campaigned in Gary, the city with the highest percentage of Blacks among large American cities, and predicted that the votes from Gary will be the difference in giving a May 6 Indiana primary victory to the senator from neighboring Illinois. 

Speaking just 30 minutes from his base in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois Obama told the crowd with thunderous approval, “people say ‘Black kids in Gary, that's not our problem.’ ‘Hispanic kids in south Texas, that's not our problem.’ ‘Poor white kids in Appalachia, that's not our problem.’ ‘Indian kids on a reservation, not our problem.’  "Let me tell you something, every child is our child."

Gary is the heart of Northwest Indiana, one the nation’s most racially segregated regions, and home of the historic 1972 National Black Political Convention.  Clinton also visited Northwest Indiana, but chose to rally in Gary’s surrounding majority White communities.  Jerry Davich, a reporter for one of Northwest Indiana’s daily newspapers, even asked readers of his column:  “will Northwest Indiana Whites enter Gary to see Obama rally?”  The answer:  They did.

While Obama has won each of the many voting blocs at least once, Clinton has failed to win the majority of Black voters in any state including that in which she represents in the Senate, New York, or where she served as First Lady, Arkansas.  (Obama won about 60% of the New York Black vote, more than 70% in Arkansas). 

Photo:  Obama in Gary, Indiana.  From the Post-Tribune.

The Carnegie Corporation of New York has named Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis professor Edward Curtis a Carnegie Scholar. The Corporation will provide Curtis with a grant of approximately $100,000 to study African American Muslim connections to foreign Muslims and Islamic institutions in Muslim - dominated countries. "When policymakers think of Black Muslims traveling and studying in Muslim countries," said Curtis, "they often conjure fearful images of a Black American in some terrorist training camp."

Curtis's project will counter the idea that foreign Muslims lead African Americans toward radicalism. "The typical African American Muslim abroad is going on pilgrimage to Mecca, studying Islamic piety in Senegal, and speaking out for women's rights in Indonesia," he said.

In exploring the influence of foreign Muslim ideas, traditions, and culture on Muslim African Americans, Curtis's Carnegie-funded research project will show how Muslim African Americans have transformed Islam into a genuinely American religion. "The project could not be more timely," he adds. "Some [Indiana residents] are worried about Andre Carson's Islamic faith [he recently became only the second Muslim in U.S. History to sit in Congress]  and are anxious about Barack Obama's father, who was Muslim.  This issue is at the center of our public life." 

Oneeki Design Studio, Francine Haskins Studio, and The Graham Collection presents The Sixth Black Doll Artist Doll Show and Exhibition, Saturday, April 26, 11a. to 7p, and Sunday, April 27, 11a to 7p.

This exhibit will feature one-of-a-kind dolls and works of Gwen Aqui, Betty Baines, Daisy Carr, Patricia Coleman-Cobb, Francine Haskins, Viola Leak, Carrie Lyles, Christopher Malone, Adrienne McDonald, Tonya Mitchell, Malinda Saunders, Elerie Thomas, Tamara Thomas, Paula Whaley and others.  

Oneeki Design Studio is located at 2103 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, in the historic Charles Village, five blocks from the Baltimore Penn Station.  The event is free.

Gospel greats Dorothy Norwood and Albertina Walker will grace the Lincoln Theater stage in a grand benefit concert for Us Helping Us, a leading HIV/AIDS services provider in Washington, D.C.  The concert takes place at the Lincoln Theater in Washington, D.C. Saturday, May 10 at 7:30p.   Tickets are $40, $35 if purchased before Wednesday, April 30.  For tickets, call Sterling Washington (202) 446-1100 x1123.  (See coverage of last year's great concert)

The performances are a part of Us Helping Us’ annual Mother’s Day Concert.  Explaining why the annual Mother’s Day Gala is important in its fight against AIDS, Us Helping Us President and CEO Dr. Ron Simmons said, “We remember the role that Black mothers played in the beginning of the AIDS epidemic.  For so many of us, who were living with AIDS, they were our only shelter in the storm.  They may not have been our biological mother.   They may have been an aunt, a grandmother, an adopted mother, or just a friend. But they helped us when no one else would.”

WIN one of two sets of tickets we are giving away by simply answering the following question:

The Entertainment section of the February - April 2008 issue featured a new straight to CD movie by Tariq Alexander staring Bryce Wilson, Alexander and others.  In which city was the movie The Stick Up Kids set?  

We will randomly select the winners from the entries with the correct answer.  If no entrant gives a correct answer, we will chose among the entrants with an incorrect or no answer, and announce the winners in the next issue of Snippets.  Click here to enter the contest.

Don’t miss the next print issue of Port of Harlem, which we release May 2.

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