|
Bush and Baby vs. Obama and Baby
“In a selfish attempt to fill their campaign coffers, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) is shamelessly distorting state initiatives to end widespread voter fraud by comparing them to Jim Crow laws in a recent fundraising letter. Not only is this extreme rhetoric offensive and unwarranted, it also underscores the lengths to which the DNC will go to scare their supporters into donating to the party.
- Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Reince Priebus
The NAACP, in collaboration with Brave New Foundation, released a documentary short chronicling the modern-day attack on voting rights and the fight to defend the right to vote. The film exposes the significantly negative impact that voter photo ID laws will have on our ability to cast a ballot. View the film, We Will Stand.
Department of Justice Blocks South Carolina’s Discriminatory Voter ID Law
On the eve of Christmas eve, The U.S. Department of Justice blocked South Carolina’s voter identification law from going into effect, helping ensure thousands of eligible voters will be able to exercise their right to vote. The law would have required voters to show a government-issued photo ID in order to cast a ballot. Thousands of voters mostly the elderly, students, minorities and low-income voters would have been disenfranchised as a result of the law. The Department of Justice found the law discriminatory.
Voter Suppression - Poem By Danny Queen
To stop Barack Obama
And turn back the clock
The far-right have created
A congressional grid-lock.
Full Poem |
|
Black Memphis, Giving Visible Testament
By Ida E. Jones
 Until recently, the term “urban center” (vis-a-viz a city) usually implies poverty and immorality covered in black, brown and tan colored skins. African Americans, immigrants and the working class poor bear the brunt of this narrowly defined population of America. Since the 1960s and more recently the last 10 years, most cities have transformed into modern housing with richer and whiter residents.
 Longtime city residents query if renewal really means removal.
Florence, Alabama native Miriam DeCosta-Willis’ new book Black Memphis Landmarks (Grant House, $20.00) explores the rich pre-renewal condition of Memphis, Tennessee, known worldwide as the birthplace of the blues and civil rights history work.
The neo-native of Memphis fell in love with her future husband, attorney Archie Walter Willis, Jr., and the city’s greater history. Her love extended to the historic personalities that contributed to Memphis such as journalist Ida B. Wells, clergyman Charles H. Mason, musician W.C. Handy and community worker Alcine Arnett.
This passion evolved from privately collecting the names, photographs and institutional histories of African Americans for several years into this significant work. DeCosta-Willis writes “that the work was difficult and time-consuming, because so much [Memphis] history has been lost or thrown away.”
As a result, this book is a visible testament to the silenced history lived by Black Memphians through their photographs, recollections and archival documents.
The book is divided into nine chapters covering an array of cultural life from sports/entertainment to churches, media outlets, neighborhoods, hospitals and historic sites. Accompanied by a time line, bibliography, photographs and index, she allows the reader a virtual tour of Black Memphis.
Black Memphis Landmarks is more than a traveler’s guide, the book provides a formula for other gentrifying communities to invest in the future by collecting stories, creating archival collections and remembering the “who” in the community that used to be.
|
The Gambia
Port Of Harlem is making final preparations for its annual trip to Metro Banjul, The Gambia via Dakar, Senegal. Here, Michael M. Dean, the son of Oklahoma native Chris Dean, chases a crocodile at the Kachikally Crocodile pool near his home in Bakau, The Gambia. |
|
The New Amsterdam News reports that the 95-year-old Doctor Yosef ben-Jochannan is doing well, but is temporarily being taken care for at the:
Bay Park Center for Nursing and Rehab
801 CO-OP City Blvd.
Bronx, NY 01475
718-239-6444
|
The articles that I have submitted to Port of Harlem have been usually snapshots of some little-known aspect of African American history. For this issue, it occurred to me that it might be interesting to readers to know how I develop these snapshots.
The International Criminal Court named 
