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Volume 123 No. 3
August 23, 2014 - August 23, 2014, The Afro-American A1 $1.00
AUGUST 23, 2014 - AUGUST 29, 2014
Civil Rights Leaders, Groups Issue Recommendations By Zenitha Prince Senior AFRO Correspondent On Aug. 19 a coalition of civil rights leaders and groups issued recommendations to address the fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and to prevent future use of excessive force by law enforcement against unarmed African Americans. Brown, 18, was unarmed when he was shot and killed Aug. 9
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by Darren Wilson, a White officer in the Ferguson Police Department. His death is part of a broader problem, the leaders said. “The death of Michael Brown is a pattern. He is the end of a long trail of abuses,” said the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. during a press call with reporters. “He is Trayvon [Martin]. He is Amadou Diallo. He is Abner Louima. He is Eric Garner. He is Ezell Ford,” Jackson added, citing a list of Black men and teens who have been the victims of extrajudicial violence. “The shooting and killing of Michael Brown is a grim reminder that there are two kinds of policing in America today: One for White communities, aimed at serving and protecting them, and one for communities of color, devised to criminalize and control them,” added Jennifer Bellamy, of the American Civil Liberties Union. “To serve and protect is not a suggestion, it is a mandate that law enforcement must apply equally to all communities, otherwise, there will be more Fergusons.” Since Brown’s shooting and the days of violence and pandemonium that have engulfed the majority-Black city, the civil rights leaders said they have been working Continued on A3
Photo courtesy of the St. Louis American
At a rally in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 19, young protestors speak out against police brutality.
Baltimore Continues to Stand in Solidarity with Ferguson By Roberto Alejandro Special to the AFRO Ferguson, Mo. remains a tinderbox almost two weeks after Michael Brown, an unarmed teenager, was confronted by police officer Darren Wilson for walking in the street rather than the sidewalk and subsequently shot and killed. Baltimore has already seen some solidarity responses to the Brown killing, and a
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because we have experienced our own set of tragedies at the hands of the police here in Baltimore,” said Witherspoon. He then invoked the deaths of Anthony Anderson in 2012, Tyrone West in 2013, and George King earlier this year, all at the hands of Baltimore City police officers, in expressing concern about a lack of accountability on the part of police where the killing of Black men
Continued on A3
N.J. Man ‘Rides to Conquer Cancer’ and Honor of Grandmother By Roberto Alejandro Special to the AFRO
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Photo courtesy of Naomi Haworth, Ride to Conquer spokeswoman
Christopher Warren with his grandmother and five-year breast cancer survivor Phyllis Isaacs.
Dunbar Brooks, 63, Leaves a Lifetime of Service By AFRO Staff
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number of community organizations and activists continue to organize events addressing the tragedy in Ferguson. Elder C.D. Witherspoon, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, has announced a solidarity march and rally to take place at City Hall in downtown Baltimore, 3 p.m., Aug. 23. “In Baltimore we can relate to the pain and anguish that the people in Ferguson are currently experiencing
Dunbar Brooks, the first African American president of the Baltimore County School board died Aug 17 at 63. Brooks also served as president of the Maryland State Board of Education from 2007-2008 and worked extensively with the Baltimore Metropolitan Council (BMC), where he rose from a planner to the Director
Continued on A3 Dunbar Brooks
Christopher Warren was sitting in the library at Florida Coastal School of Law in August 2009 when he received a call from his mother informing him that his grandmother would be going in for surgery after being diagnosed with breast cancer. Warren’s grandmother, Phyllis Isaacs is now a five year cancer survivor, and Warren is training for a 150 mile charity bike ride to raise funds for cancer research and treatment in her honor. This marks the first year the Ride to Conquer Cancer, a global fundraising initiative that has collected over $240 million for cancer research since 2008, will be held in the capital region, according to Naomi Haworth, communications coordinator for the event. Proceeds collected from this year’s ride, which will stretch from Baltimore
to D.C., will benefit the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, Sibley Memorial and Suburban Hospitals, going towards research and treatment. Nationally, cancer is second only to heart disease among causes of death for African Americans, according to the Center for Disease Control website. In the case of breast cancer, Black women are 10 percent less likely to be diagnosed with the disease than their White counterparts, but 40 percent more likely to die as a result, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health. Five years after surgery, Isaacs is cancer free, having defeated a disease that has devastated countless households. Warren, who took up cycling one year ago at the behest of his Alpha Phi Alpha brethren, is now working to collect the minimum $2500 Continued on A4
Tyrone West’s Sister Still Fighting for Justice By Lisa Snowden-McCray Special to the AFRO Last July, Tyrone West died while Baltimore City police were placing him under arrest. The officers involved in the incident were never charged. A joint investigation by the State’s Attorney’s Office, the Baltimore Police Department and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner concluded that officers used reasonable force and that West’s death
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was caused by underlying health factors. However, the story doesn’t end there. Since then, West’s sister, Tawanda Jones, has launched a campaign against police brutality. She says there is not a day that goes by that she does not think about her brother, and that two recent incidents making national headlines – the death of Eric Garner in New York and Michael Brown Continued on A4