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The Afro-American, April 13, 2013 - April 19, 2013
NATION & WORLD
Wesley Snipes Released from Pa. Prison
Wesley Snipes was recently released from a federal prison in Pennsylvania where he was serving a three-year sentence after being convicted on federal tax charges. According to the Associated Press, the Blade actor was released April 2 and placed under home confinement. Officials told the AP that he will be overseen by the New York Community Corrections Office until July 19. Snipes was a member of a group that challenged the government’s right to collect taxes. It was revealed that the actor hadn’t filed taxes in over a decade and owed
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millions of dollars in back taxes.
Federal Judge Compared Blacks to Animals; Sets Retirement Date
A federal judge in Montana who faced an investigation after forwarding an e-mail containing racist jokes about President Obama will Wikimedia Commons retire next month. Wesley Snipes U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull in February 2012 forwarded an e-mail from his chambers that compared African Americans to animals and implied that the president’s mother had engaged in bestiality. After the electronic missive was obtained and published by The Great Falls Tribune, Cebull sent a letter of apology to President Obama. At the time, Cebull stepped down as chief circuit judge of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, took a reduced caseload and Wikimedia Commons initiated an investigation U.S. District Judge into his actions. Richard Cebull Cebull has decided to retire effective May 3, according to a statement posted by Chief Judge Alex Kozinski on the court’s website April 2. Cebull’s resignation letter, dated March 29, was submitted soon after the appellate court’s Judicial Council issued a March 15 order on the investigation into Cebull’s actions.
Fraternity Raises Awareness About Sex Trafficking
When hundreds of members and supports of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity meet in Las Vegas on April 11 for the first day of their 2013 Leadership Conference, awareness will be brought to a situation rarely addressed in the Black community: sex trafficking. The San Diego chapter of Phi Beta Sigma has recently partnered with San Diego-based non-profit Nu(me)r.a.l.s. to launch a new campaign, “Gentlemen Don’t John,” pushing men of color to speak about the realities of sex trafficking. “John” is a commonly used term to identify men who solicit prostitutes. During the first day of the four-day conference, the two organizations will sponsor a town hall meeting on sex trafficking and its impact on the Black community. Panelists include Khalifa King, CEO and founder of Harmonious Solutions, a nonprofit that provides therapy and general counsel to minority communities, and Black sex trafficking survivor and advocate Leah Albright-Bryd.
Bluesman ‘Mr. Johnnie’ Billington Dies at 77
Mississippi bluesman Johnnie “Mr. Johnnie” Billington, a celebrated musician who launched a program to help children learn how to play the blues, died April 1 at a Clarksdale hospital. He was 77. According to the Associated Press, Billington died from complications of www.arts.state.ms.us a heart attack. Johnnie “Mr. Johnnie” Billington, a reputable Billington musician, played in clubs across the country. In 1977, he and a friend launched an after school blues program that taught children how to play the blues. Shortly thereafter, Billington’s young musicians were invited to play at various venues across the country.
Ala. Legislature Votes to Pardon Scottsboro Boys
Alabama lawmakers voted April 4 to issue posthumous pardons to the “Scottsboro Boys,” a group
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Wikimedia Commons
The Scottsboro Boys, with attorney Samuel Leibowitz, under guard by the state militia, 1932
of black teenagers who were wrongly convicted of raping two White women over eight decades ago. According to the Associated Press, nearly every member of the group was sent to death row following a conviction from an all-white jury. All of the young men were eventually freed without executions. The last member of the group died in 1989. The nine teens from Georgia and Tennessee were accused of raping two White women aboard a freight train in Alabama in 1931. The House approved legislation to issue the pardons in a 103-0 vote. The measure had previously passed in the Senate in a 29-0 vote. The bill has to be signed by Gov. Robert Bentley to become law.