“Rescue Squad 17, we have four people trapped on the second floor of an apartment fire in the 2500 block of Southern Avenue (S.E. Washington, D.C.),” the emergency dispatcher announced.  Squad 17 responding, I replied.

In a burst of adrenaline, I suited up, grabbed my gear and with sirens blaring, I headed for the call.  I was driving Engine 17 that day, February 1, 1993.  Row houses streamed by in a blur as I maneuvered Engine 17 around parked cars, traffic and pedestrians; in our business, time means lives.  I pressed on.  Yet, without warning, as I headed across an intersection, a drunk driver slammed into the side of the fire truck with such force that my apparatus spun around, struck a tree and burst into flames.  Upon impact, I was knocked unconscious.  I lied slumped over the steering wheel while Engine 17 became engulfed in flames.  Due to the quick thinking of two bystanders, they managed to pull me from the wreckage and carry me to a safe distance; seconds later, the Engine exploded with a blast that literally shook the neighborhood. 

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Leaders of the NAACP testified in front of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland. They described how a wide range of new legislation threatens to prevent millions of Americans, particularly people of color, from exercising their right to vote. Panelists included:

Benjamin Todd Jealous, NAACP President and CEO: “We are here today because in the past 12 months more US states have passed more laws pushing more US citizens out of the ballot box than in any year in the past century.  Historically, when people have come after our right to vote, they have done so to make it easier to come after so many of our other rights that we hold dear.”

And

Former POH cover model Kemba Smith Pradia, author and advocate for the rights of formerly incarcerated people: “I struggle with the fact that as of today I cannot vote in Virginia because this is where my offense occurred. But in other states, I wouldn’t have to deal with this issue. It is as if other states understand the need for forgiveness and the right of citizens to not be isolated from the rest of the population because they have been denied this human right.”

• Obama Basketball Challenge

About 12,000 inmates, many of them Black, will be soon heading home because of the Fair Sentencing Act that Congress passed and the President signed that lowers the sentencing for crack-cocaine crimes.  The previous law in effect was racially biased.

Note:  As an inclusive, diverse, Pan-African publication, POH interacts with those who society has incarcerated, unconditionally.  T. Michael Colbert, who is incarcerated for life, is one of our most popular contributors.

Are you traveling to New York City this summer?  Besides taking in the sights and sounds of Harlem, an evening in Chelsea along the High Line can be a wonderful side adventure

The High Line is a public park built on an historic freight rail line elevated above the streets on Manhattan’s West Side.  On the south end of the High Line is the Chelsea Market Concourse, a center of small, mid to upscale boutiques including coffee shops and bakeries.