Jason Collins Joins Black Male Sports Trail Blazers
In 1936, Jesse Owens competed for the United States in the Berlin Summer Olympics. Adolf Hitler used the games to show the world a resurgent Nazi Germany. Nazi propaganda promoted concepts of "Aryan racial superiority" and depicted ethnic Africans as inferior. Owens countered by winning four gold medals.
 11 years later, Jackie Robinson became the first African-American to play in Major League Baseball in the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when the Brooklyn Dodgers started him at first base on April 15, 1947. Brooklyn became the first major league team to play a Black man since the 1880s.
More than 67 years later, on April 29, 2013, Jason Collins became the first active male professional athlete in a major North American team sport to come out publicly as gay. He remained a free agent until February 23, 2014, when he signed a 10 day contract with the Brooklyn Nets - - and Brooklyn again became the center of inclusion. He entered a game against the Los Angeles Lakers that night, becoming the NBA's first openly gay player.
Brooklyn has schools named for Owens and Robinson. Collins may be next.
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World Celebrates Lupita Nyong'o Oscar Win
"We all had hoped of course that she would win. Everybody feels a sudden attachment to her, she's a Kenyan woman," said Wanjira Maathai — the daughter of the late Kenyan Nobel Prize winner Wangari Maathai about Academy Award winner for Best Supporting Actress Lupita Nyong'o. Nyong’o, 31, was born in Mexico to Kenyan parents but was mostly raised in Kenya. A graduate of the Yale School of Drama, Nyong'o had starred in several productions in Kenya before landing her breakout role alongside Brad Pitt.
Everybody likes a winner and besides Kenyans, Brooklynites are claiming the Oscar award winner. “Last night, Brooklyn celebrates the Oscars won by three of its very own, including actress Lupita Nyong'o," said Brooklyn Borough President Adams.
In her acceptance speech, Nyong’o said, “I want to thank my family, for your training, and the Yale School of Drama as well, for your training.” And James Bundy, dean of the Yale School of Drama, reciprocated, “I am thrilled for Lupita, and filled with admiration, both because her performance was so remarkable, and because she has so graciously and eloquently expressed the importance of ‘12 Years a Slave’ by representing the film throughout this awards season.”
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Activities
Washington, DC
Play: Your Majesty – The Kingdom of Beulah
Wosem
2130 24th Place, NE
Sat, Mar 8, 7p, donations
Your Inner Fish:
Environmental Film Festival
National Academy of Sciences
2101 Constitution Ave NW
Tue, Mar 18, 7p- 9p, free
Harriet Tubman
MLK,Jr. Library
9th & G Sts NW
CR Gibbs & Others
Tue, Mar 11, 7p, free
New African Films Festival
AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center
8633 Colesville Road
Silver Spring, MD
Mar 13-Mar 20, $
Washington –Coming
National Black Memorabilia & Collectible Show
Montgomery County Fairgrounds
16 Chestnut Street
Gaithersburg, Maryland.
Sat, Apr 26, 10a-7p,
Sun, Apr 27. 10a-5p, $7, students free
Baltimore
Play: Your Majesty – The Kingdom of Beulah
Christ Throne Ministries
1730 Whitehead Road
Gywnn Oak, MD
Fri, Mar 7, 7p, donations
2014 CAA Men’s Basketball Championship
Baltimore Arena
Fri, Mar 7- Mon, Mar 10, $
Hampton, VA
Hampton Restaurant Week
Through Mar 9, $
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POHGEP Facebook Friends
“I want to interact with them socially and culturally,” said Awa Bojang, student at Kotu Secondary High School in Kotu, The Gambia, West Africa. “I want to learn from them and they can learn from us,” added her classmate Isatou Dibbasey. Bojang and Dibbasey are both members of the Port of Harlem Gambian Education Partnership Facebook Friends (POHGEP Facebook Friends) group.
POHGEP Facebook Friends is a project of the Port Of Harlem Gambian Education Partnership (POHGEP). POHGEP has been connecting people since 2002 and proud that this project connects students at Kotu with students at Cultural Leadership in Saint Louis, Missouri USA. The project provides both groups the opportunity to experience a different culture using contemporary technology.
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NAACP to Return to United Nations for U.S. ICCPR Review
Then NAACP will return to the United Nations for the U.S. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) review to highlight voting rights and criminal justice concerns including felony disenfranchisement laws.
The delegation for the NAACP will be at the United Nations in Geneva for the review from March 9-15. Included in the delegation is Kemba Smith-Pradia of the Kemba Smith Foundation, who once graced our cover.
The (ICCPR) is a multilateral treaty adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 16, 1966, and in force from March 23, 1976. It commits its parties to respect the civil and political rights of individuals, including the right to life, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, electoral rights and rights to due process and a fair trial.
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The Most Popular Links from the Last Snippets
Most Popular Page and Searched Word
on the Website for June, to Date
394 Likes, 6 More to Go! 1. Go to our Facebook page
2. And from our Facebook page, INVITE people to LIKE our page.
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