A Chicago man landed himself in jail when he thought slapping a 79-year-old Black judge twice and yelling “Rosa Parks, move” would get her out of his way. David Nicosia, 55, has been accused of committing a hate crime against Judge Arnette Hubbard for attacking her July 14, while she smoked outside the Daley Center in Chicago.

Nicosia, a business owner, was allegedly upset that the judge was smoking near him, authorities said. The two began arguing and Nicosia, who is white, stepped to her, yelled “Rosa Parks, move,” and spit on her. As he walked away, Hubbard followed him and called for assistance.

That didn’t stop Nicosia, who spit on Hubbard and slapped her for a second time. Law enforcement stepped in, arrested Nicosia, and charged him with
four counts of aggravated battery and a hate crime. Judge James Brown ordered Nicosia held on $90,000 bail Tuesday.

Friends of the judge are shocked at the incident. Like Rosa Parks, Hubbard has a long-standing reputation in the African-American community as an advocate for civil rights and women’s rights, said Delores Robinson, past president of the Cook County Bar Association. Hubbard served as the first female president of the National Bar Association and Cook County Bar Association, both groups that serve primarily Black lawyers.

“People of good common sense and decency, people of good hearts should be outraged by this,” Robinson told the Chicago Tribune. “Not just because of who she is but that this happened to anybody.”

The incident is a sad reminder to us all that the fight for civil rights and simple respect is not over.

Software giant Microsoft will lay off 18,000 employees, starting July 17. The number represents fifteen percent of its workforce. This layoff breaks the company’s biggest layoff record from 2009, where 5,800 employees were let go due to economic downturn.

In the latest round of cuts, those in the engineering, sales and marketing departments will be most affected. The majority of the cuts – 12,000 – will come from Nokia’s devices and services department. The company reported finding redundancies between the two companies’ professional and factory workers. The short lived Nokia X Android smartphone will also be axed.

Company CEO, Satya Nadella, stated how the brand needed a “culture change.” Microsoft’s competitors, Amazon, Google and Apple, have all beaten the company in sales and technological gains in the mobile and cloud industry.

Employees will have an opportunity to question Nadella about the cuts on Friday at a regular town hall meeting that was scheduled before the exact timing of the layoffs was known.

Despite its mass layoff, Microsoft are looking to hire in “strategic areas.”

Photo credit: Wall St Pr

Despite convicted criminals obtaining GEDs and vocational training while paying their debt to society, many felons have a hard time finding employment upon release. They are often excluded, even before an interview, as a result of the dreaded criminal history “yes or no” box on job applications. But more and more states are implementing “Ban the Box” rules, aimed at prohibiting questions about criminal background on employment applications.

The expanded Ban the Box rules will allow “applicants the opportunity to explain their criminal record, correct inaccuracies in the criminal record, and make the case that they are qualified for the position sought.” The new law still allows employers to perform background checks after a job is offered.

[Image: Shutterstock]

The legislation is currently in effect in 12 states, according to the National Employment Law Center. Lawmakers are also working on implementing the law into the private employment sector, subjecting privately owned businesses to uphold the rule.

But the law doesn’t apply to all jobs. Employment in child care is not subject to the Ban the Box rule.

Producer, writer, and filmmaker Tyler Perry will debut his second television drama on OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network. The series, titled “If Loving You Is Wrong” shines with a diverse cast and twisting story lines. The nighttime drama will follow a group of married couples, who on the surface, lead normal lives, but are actually suffering through heartbreak, lies, and deceit.

“If Loving You is Wrong,” premiering on September 9 at 9 p.m. EST, will debut concurrently, with the first two installments premiering back to back.

Perry is no stranger to OWN, exclusively partnering with Oprah for distribution. “The Haves and the Have Nots,” Perry’s highly successful drama was dubbed by Variety as “OWN’s most popular series to date.” The drama, starring Tika Sumpter, has received acclaim as “one of OWN’s biggest success stories with its weekly dose of soapy fun, filled with the typical betrayals, affairs, manipulations and a bitch slap or two.”

Madea’s alter ego also wrote and produced “Love Thy Neighbor,” a sitcom that premiered on OWN in May 2013. After the show’s hiatus in early April, it resumed airing on June 25.

Talk about having a fear of spiders. A Seattle man surely wishes that he would have found a shoe to kill a spider in his home, instead of trying to burn it with a lighter and can of spray paint. The rental tenant attempted to get rid of the unwanted house guest by setting it on fire with a makeshift torch July 15, a move that burned the entire house down.

A Seattle Fire Department spokesperson said the man couldn’t put out the fire himself, and firefighters originally fought the flames from a distance because there was speculation of ammunition inside the house, according to KIRO-TV.

The man and a second tenant, believed to be his mother, are now looking for a new home — preferably free of spiders — with the help of the American Red Cross. Hopefully the man had renter’s insurance for the $60,000 worth of damage he caused to the home.

[Image: Shutterstock]

Neighbors scrambled to keep the fire at bay by hosing down their homes. “I saw flames coming out of the side of the house and heard popping sounds,” a neighbor said. The fire was apparently huge enough to produce giant clouds of smoke that poured out of the windows, according to the neighbor.

Luckily no one was injured in the fire, but there’s no word on the condition of the spider.

I am a Black man, and as much as I love everything about my Blackness, it can become tiring to remain acutely aware of it in many daily public situations. What’s funny about this previous sentence is that as simple as it appears, it will probably be interpreted in two different ways by most (not all) Black and white people. Many African-Americans will look at that sentence and understand that the comment is referring to the sometimes obvious, yet often covert nature of prejudice that we face, from needing to code-switch in our office to mentally preparing ourselves to be followed around and treated like we’re casing a joint for a robbery whenever we walk into a high end store.

Yet, many white people will read that first comment and think that the problem is inherently with how we CHOOSE to see the world, NOT with how things actually are. They will tell us to stop “playing the race card”, or they will instruct us to “not see skin color”, as if refusing to acknowledge and appreciate each others differences is a sign of post-racial unity. But this simple misunderstanding is proof of why minorities need to tell their own stories, and why ignorant white reporters like Sean Bergin need to keep their bullshit opinions to themselves.

Bergin, a News 12 New Jersey reporter, has recently made waves by going on air and collectively blasting Black males for having negative views about the police.

Police officer named Melvin Santiago, a 23 year old rookie on the force, was murdered in front of a Walgreens by a Black man who apparently planned the murder in advance. Lawrence Campbell allegedly stole a security officer’s gun and waited for police to arrive, reportedly telling a witness that he was ‘going to be famous.’ When Santiago arrived, Lawrence gunned him down and then was subsequently shot by other officers right after.

During News 12′s report, they covered the story with a familiar classlessness that marks many major media outlets – they focused on the shooter, more so than the officer. But not to tell a story of mental health, or to gain a look into the mind of a man who decided to murder an officer knowing that he would probably die in the process too, but rather to present his community’s sorrow as tacit approval of his actions and to use the statements of his wife, Angelique Campbell (“He should have taken more with him…If they were going to stand over my husband and shoot him like a f***ing dog, he should have taken all those motherf***ers out.”) as low hanging fruit to help further demonize the killer. But it doesn’t end there. As bad as reading the statement was, deciding to interview her in front of her late-husband’s make shift memorial shortly after his murder was far worse. She emphatically doubled-down on her wish that he murdered more officers and that is when shit went out of control.

After that pathetic segment aired, the station was inundated with calls from police officers who were ENRAGED at the fact that the shooter’s wife was not only interviewed and recorded, but actually had her statements included in the segment. Instead of interviewing fellow officers to get an idea of Melvin’s humanity, or interviewing his family so they could express their grief, the station decided to do what it ALWAYS does in the face of a tragedy involving poor Black people – find either the loudest or the most ignorant and hopefully attempt to capture them in the middle of emotionally-driven, stereotypical antics. They hadn’t even spent one night analyzing the killer’s motives, but they rushed to push the mic in front of his wife – and they got EXACTLY what they were looking for. So when you take her comments and combine them with the backlash from the angry and emotionally distraught police officers, it created the perfect storm for Bergin to believe that a hyperbolic, bullshit comment on the Black community at large would be acceptable:

“We decided to air it because it’s important to shine a light on the anti-cop mentality that has so contaminated America’s inner cities. It has made the police officer’s job impossible and it has got to stop.

The underlying cause of all of this, of course: Young black men growing up without fathers.

Unfortunately, no one in the news media has the courage to touch that subject.”

Bergin was suspended – and later quit – following the statements. Still, it is enraging to hear a middle-class, middle-aged white male putting ALL the blame of the tension between Black folks and police officer’s squarely on Black men, as if decades of targeted brutality, racial profiling and corruption hasn’t contributed to Black folks pain. As if Black people just decided to hate police once we gained our freedom because we couldn’t ‘get over that whole slavery thing.’ Which was then followed up by a priceless correlation with absentee fathers, followed by probably the most ignorant assertion of his entire rant, that NO ONE in the news media has the courage to touch that subject.

Apparently Bergin just appeared on this planet through a fucking time machine that helped him skip the promulgation of the absent Black father all over major media for the past three decades. But more than anything else, it just proves why more white women and men need to be educated about the historical and current Black experience with police in America, because presenting comments without context is dangerous and stupid.

Here’s a story that no major media outlet has had the courage to touch: The fact that the police force in the United States was built on racism and continues to practice prejudice right up to today. Here are FACTS about policing and the Black community:

The birth and development of the American police can be traced to a multitude of historical, legal and political-economic conditions. The institution of slavery and the control of minorities, however, were two of the more formidable historic features of American society shaping early policing. Slave patrols and Night Watches, which later became modern police departments, were both designed to control the behaviors of minorities.

The use of patrols to capture runaway slaves was one of the precursors of formal police forces, especially in the South. This disastrous legacy persisted as an element of the police role even after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In some cases, police harassment simply meant people of African descent were more likely to be stopped and questioned by the police, while at the other extreme, they have suffered beatings, and even murder, at the hands of White police. Questions still arise today about the disproportionately high numbers of people of African descent killed, beaten, and arrested by police in major urban cities of America.

While I don’t want to appear to cosign the actions of absentee fathers, how could one look past that reality and believe that there is NO reason for Blacks to feel ANY animus towards the police? And that is only the start. We can discuss the countless police assaults on Martin Luther King Jr. and his fellow protestors which resulted in his “I Have a Dream” speech, that specifically addressed police brutality. We can talk about how the Black Panther Party was formed with the main intent of protecting the Black community from being unjustly arrested and murdered in their own communities, and how COINTELPRO was enacted as a response to their creation and used illegal and heavy-handed measures to quell their message.

It’s important to note the historical context between Blacks and the police, because it’s important to note the tension that young African-Americans are BORN in, and police officers are inserted into. Young Black boys and girls don’t need fathers in their lives to TELL them about what the police are, because they LEARN FIRST-HAND, and sometimes at a very early age. Black kids aren’t being TAUGHT to hate the police, as much as they are simply existing in an unfair and unjust system which continues today. Former NYPD police commissioner Ray Kelly publicly condoned racially profiling Black and brown people in 2013, and much of the same behavior continues today. Black people are still being victimized every day by the police and the entire justice system and that’s where this hatred is coming from.

But the reality in America is that white people simply can’t understand the racial tension between Blacks and police because they are statistically targeted and punished far less than Blacks and brown people. Black men are more than twice as likely as white men to face charges that carry a minimum mandatory sentence, and we are face charges that are 7-10% more severe than white people get for committing the same crime with the same criminal history. What black people do you know who’ve used the “affluenza” defense during a murder trial? Yet far too many white people feel the need to EDUCATE us on our own experiences which they are lucky to not have to go through.

The reality is that killing cops is wrong and advocating murder is wrong because not all cops are alike. But since not all Black people share the same views on the police, it’s ignorant as shit for an out-of-touch white male to believe he can dissect an entire complex community in one seriously flawed sentence. We are human beings just like you – not lions roaming the Serengeti who must be analyzed from afar to be understood. We have the ability to vocalize exactly why we feel the way we do towards the police, but the real question is, “do you care to listen AND believe what we say?”

LAB

Lincoln Anthony Blades blogs daily on his site ThisIsYourConscience.com, he’s an author of the book “You’re Not A Victim, You’re A Volunteer” and a weekly contributor for UPTOWN Magazine. He can be reached via Twitter @lincolnablades and on Facebook at This Is Your Conscience.

The 2014 VMA nominations has been revealed, and pop superstar Beyoncé leads all categories with eight nominations. Detroit rapper Eminem and newcomer Iggy Azalea are tied with seven nominations.

MTV has nominated at least three songs and videos from Beyoncé’s surprise, self-titled visual album, including the first single, “Drunk in Love” for Video of the Year. The black and white video, co-starring husband Jay Z, will compete against Pharrell‘s super catchy radio hit “Happy,” “Wrecking Ball” by Miley Cyrus, and Iggy Azalea‘s “Fancy,” which topped the Billboard charts for seven weeks.

Bey’s sultry “Partition” video has been nominated for Best Female Video and Cinematography, while her socially-conscious video “Pretty Hurts,” which shines a light on women’s insecurities and self-esteem issues, is nominated for Best Video Direction and Editing with a Social Message. She and best friend Kelly Rowland will compete in that category. Beyoncé and Jay Z are nominated for Best Collaboration for “Drunk in Love.”

For a complete list of nominations, click to page two.

The 2014 MTV Video Music Awards nominations

Video of the Year
» Beyoncé ft. Jay Z, “Drunk In Love”
» Iggy Azalea ft. Charli XCX, “Fancy”
» Miley Cyrus, “Wrecking Ball”
» Pharrell Williams, “Happy”
» Sia, “Chandelier”

Best Hip-Hop Video
» Childish Gambino, “3005″
» Drake ft. Majid Jordan, “Hold On (We’re Going Home)”
» Eminem, “Berzerk”
» Kanye West, “Black Skinhead”
» Wiz Khalifa, “We Dem Boyz”

Best Male Video
» Ed Sheeran ft. Pharrell Williams, “Sing”
» Eminem ft. Rihanna, “The Monster”
» John Legend, “All of Me”
» Pharrell Williams, “Happy”
» Sam Smith, “Stay With Me”

Best Female Video
» Ariana Grande ft. Iggy Azalea, “Problem”
» Beyoncé, “Partition”
» Iggy Azalea ft. Charli XCX, “Fancy”
» Katy Perry ft. Juicy J, “Dark Horse”
» Lorde, “Royals”

Best Pop Video
» Ariana Grande ft. Iggy Azalea, “Problem”
» Avicii ft. Aloe Blacc, “Wake Me Up”
» Iggy Azalea ft. Charli XCX, “Fancy”
» Jason Derulo ft. 2 Chainz, “Talk Dirty”
» Pharrell Williams, “Happy”

Best Rock Video
» Arctic Monkeys, “Do I Wanna Know?”
» Black Keys, “Fever”
» Imagine Dragons, “Demons”
» Linkin Park, “Until It’s Gone”
» Lorde, “Royals”

Artist to Watch, Presented by Taco Bell
» 5 Seconds of Summer, “She Looks So Perfect”
» Charli XCX, “Boom Clap”
» Fifth Harmony, “Miss Movin’ On”
» Sam Smith, “Stay With Me”
» Schoolboy Q, “Man of the Year”

Best Collaboration
» Ariana Grande ft. Iggy Azalea, “Problem”
» Beyoncé ft. Jay Z, “Drunk In Love”
» Chris Brown ft. Lil Wayne and Tyga, “Loyal”
» Eminem ft. Rihanna, “The Monster”
» Katy Perry ft. Juicy J, “Dark Horse”
» Pitbull ft. Kesha, “Timber”

MTV Clubland Award
» Calvin Harris, “Summer”
» Disclosure, “Grab Her!”
» DJ Snake & Lil Jon, “Turn Down For What”
» Martin Garrix, “Animals”
» Zedd ft. Hayley Williams, “Stay the Night”

Best Video With A Social Message
» Angel Haze ft. Sia, “Battle Cry”
» Avicii ft. Dan Tyminski, “Hey Brother”
» Beyoncé, “Pretty Hurts”
» David Guetta, “One Voice”
» J. Cole, “Crooked Smile”
» Kelly Rowland, “Dirty Laundry”

Best Cinematography
» 30 Seconds to Mars, “City of Angels”
» Arcade Fire, “Afterlife”
» Beyoncé, “Pretty Hurts”
» Gesaffelstein, “Hate Or Glory”
» Lana Del Rey, “West Coast”

Best Editing
» Beyoncé, “Pretty Hurts”
» Eminem, “Rap God”
» Fitz and the Tantrums, “The Walker”
» MGMT, “Your Life is a Lie”
» Zedd ft. Hayley Williams, “Stay the Night”

Best Choreography
» Beyoncé, “Partition”
» Jason Derulo ft. 2 Chainz, “Talk Dirty”
» Kiesza, “Hideaway”
» Michael Jackson ft. Justin Timberlake, “Love Never Felt So Good”
» Sia, “Chandelier”
» Usher, “Good Kisser”

Best Direction
» Beyoncé, “Pretty Hurts”
» DJ Snake & Lil Jon, “Turn Down For What”
» Eminem ft. Rihanna, “The Monster”
» Miley Cyrus, “Wrecking Ball”
» OK Go, “The Writing’s On The Wall”

Best Art Direction
» Arcade Fire, “Reflektor”
» DJ Snake & Lil Jon, “Turn Down For What”
» Eminem, “Rap God”
» Iggy Azalea ft. Charli XCX, “Fancy”
» Tyler, the Creator, “Tamale”

Best Visual Effects
» Disclosure, “Grab Her!”
» DJ Snake & Lil Jon, “Turn Down For What”
» Eminem, “Rap God”
» Jack White, “Lazaretto”
» OK Go, “The Writing’s On The Wall”

The 2014 MTV Video Music Awards air live on Sunday, August 24, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on MTV!

When celebrities share their opinions, they either keep us laughing or shaking our heads — in either disapproval or agreement. This week in celebrity quotes is no different. Waka Flocka tweets support of #FreePalestine, Vanessa Williams reveals childhood molestation, and Andre Johnson explains why his Johnson had to be amputated! Plus, Lil Mo tells the “real tea” behind her Prince fiasco during Essence Festival, while disrespecting Jesus! AND I QUOTE …

“This not blasphemous, if Jesus was walking through I would grab the hem of his garment and said Lord I know you died for our sins but I gotta pee especially when I have an all access pass.”

Lil Mo proves she has a difficult time letting things go, like her encounter with security before Prince’s performance at Essence Festival, in a sit-down with Bossip.

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“I cut it off because that was the root of all my problems. My solution to the problem was the realization that sex is for mortals, and I am a god. Those kinds of activities got me into trouble, and I came here to be a god.”

Andre Johnson, a Wu-Tang Clan affiliate, explaining why he severed his penis in a botched suicide attempt, via an exclusive with “E! News.”

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“We get it. You think my ass is fake, you think looking like spongebob is better. Understand this your man Loves it. My DM’s will hurt your feelings. Now carry on miserable. Go to sleep ugly and wake up ugly. Salute to my real chicks. I love y’all support!”

K. Michelle reading thirsty enemies about their jealously and mediocre looks, via Instagram.

“She told me to lie down on the floor. She took my bottoms off and she said, ‘Be quiet. She went down on me.”

Vanessa Williams revealing that an early childhood molestation led to a sexually promiscuous adulthood, on OWN’s “Oprah Master Class.”

Continue reading on UPTOWN

“#HELPTHEHELPLESS I’m getting texts saying don’t choose sides on social media #IchosePeace #HELPTHEHELPLESS #Wrongiswrong #Rightisright stop letting these children suffer… At the end of the day F-CK YOU MY OPINION COUNT #HELPTHEHELPLESS”

Waka Flocka speaking out in support of Palestinians under attack from Israel, via Twitter.

”I thought that was Ving Rhames ya’ll said so why are we talking about Wendy?”

Porsha Williams throwing mean shade at Wendy Williams’ bathing suit picture, via “The Rickey Smiley Show” and “Dish Nation.”

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“On The Run” is an epic show because Beyoncé and Jay Z really have no equals. As individuals, they’re impressive. But together, they’re unstoppable.”

Beyoncé re-posting a quote from a newspaper about her fabulous talent  and throwing some subliminal shade to competitors, via Instagram.

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated opens its arms to the entertainment industry this year with two new honorary members.

R&B singer and actress Brandy was inducted into the sorority as an honorary member this week at the 66th AKA Boule in Charlotte, North Carolina. She joins her mother Sonja Norwood, who is already a member of the sorority. “The Game” star shared her excitement of becoming an honorary Alpha Kappa Alpha soror on Instagram by posting the below photo with the caption: “Today was a very special day. My mom’s legacy as an #AKA continues.”

Earlier this month, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.’s International President Carolyn House Stewart formally inducted filmmaker Ava DuVernay into the sorority as an honorary member. DuVernay is an award-winning writer, producer, director, and distributor of independent films. She has earned the highest industry awards, including the Best Director Award at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.

Among some of the best of DuVernay’s films are Middle of Nowhere and This is the Life. She also directed an episode of ABC’s top-rated drama series, “Scandal.” Her upcoming film, SELMA, will debut December 25.

“We are honored and proud to have Ava DuVernay join our illustrious sisterhood,” said Stewart. “Her devotion to directing award-winning films, which portray positive images and convey uplifting messages, embodies the qualities of the Alpha Kappa Alpha woman. She will make a great addition to our Sorority and we look forward to supporting and embracing her.”

Congratulations to both ladies!

After going “Back and Forth,” “Rocking the Boat,” and sending “Four Page Letter” emails, the Lifetime Aaliyah biopic has cast a new lead actress.

Friday morning, Wendy Williams announced on her show that Wendy Williams Productions is joining Debra Martin Chase as an executive producer on the film.

Production begins later this month with Alexandra Shipp playing Aaliyah. Shipp, who just turned 23 this week, is best known for roles in Alvin and the Chipmunks, Awkward, and Ray Donovan.

This news comes just weeks after Disney star Zendaya Coleman backed out of playing the role of Aaliyah. Her casting in the role was not well received, causing many Aaliyah fans to express their frustration on social media. Some argued that Zendaya was not “Black enough,” while others argued that she was not notable enough to play such an important role. Coleman had previously expressed excitement for landing the role and how much of an honor it was to play her idol.

Even more drama popped off after the late singer’s family decided they did not want Lifetime to have the rights to Aaliyah’s music. They went a step further to say they wanted a huge feature film for the singer and an A-list celebrity to play her.

So, is actress Shipp that somebody? We’ll have to stay tuned to see what they have to say about Shipp stepping in to play the role.

Most of us can’t recall where we were or how old we may have been when we first learned of Nelson Mandela’s life and struggle. But few of us will ever forget where we were on December 5, 2013, the day of his death. I was stuck in New York City traffic, inwardly cursing the driver, and mere inches—yet another half an hour in NYC traffic—from my hotel room in Times Square. My cell rang, and my friend broke the news that South Africa’s tireless freedom fighter had been called home to rest.Coincidentally, I was headed to South Africa the next day.

In Johannesburg, two days after his passing, the mourners flooded the streets, hotel lobbies and retail stores. Photos of him filled the newspapers. Documentaries and news interviews of him looped endlessly on television channels. The hysteria continued until he was finally buried December 15. Acquaintances from all walks of life, from dignitaries to domestics, reflected on his impact at major berths around the nation.

In Nelson Mandela Square, hundreds queued up and patiently waited to snap a pic with the nearly 20-foot statue in his likeness and piled flowers near its feet. Close to 100 world leaders attended his public memorial in Soweto on a rainy day, sharing their thoughts and memories of Mandela with tens of thousands of South Africans braving the rain, a sign of a life well lived. At Table Mountain in Cape Town, the ticker, positioned where visitors board the train, displayed tweets of love and sadness for the beloved Madiba. Countless people waited hours to view his body in Pretoria, with many being turned away on the final day.

Related: Life Lessons From Nelson Mandela, 1918 – 2013

It’s nearly impossible to articulate what Nelson Mandela meant to his country. “When a man has done what he considers to be his duty to his people and his country, he can rest in peace,” he said 10 years prior to his passing when accepting an honorary doctorate of laws at the National University of Ireland in Galway. And Mandela definitely earned this right.

“I was not a messiah, but an ordinary man who had become a leader because of extraordinary circumstances,” he wrote in his 1994 autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom. His fight against the institutionalized segregation and brutality of apartheid transformed him into a leader among leaders. In his native language of Xhosa, Rolihlahla, the name his father gave him when he was born July 18, 1918, means, “pulling the branch of a tree” or, more colloquially, “troublemaker.” And did he ever live up to his name.

In the 1940s, Mandela discovered kindred spirits at the African National Congress, launched just three years after this country’s NAACP, from which it was largely modeled. By the time the ANC’s Defiance Campaign, which mirrored the tactics the civil rights movement used to topple America’s apartheid (Jim Crow), launched in 1952, Mandela had become a lawyer, even opening South Africa’s first black law firm with Oliver Tambo that same year.

Like Martin Luther King, Jr., he rallied the troops with his thunderous oratory. He also walked the walk. He defied “whites only” signs, publicly mingled with white and Indian South Africans and marched without permits. As a result, he shuffled in and out of jail. More like Malcolm X, however, he was dedicated to achieving freedom “by any means necessary.” When the South African government banned the ANC in response to world outrage over the Sharpeville Massacre on March 21, 1960, in which police fired on thousands of peaceful demonstrators, leaving 69 dead and nearly 200 others seriously injured, he went underground and engaged in actions some deemed “terroristic” and others found were “justified.”

During the historic Rivonia Trial in 1964, Mandela, along with the nine other captured ANC leaders, surely facing death, stood in the courtroom and reiterated his unwavering commitment to “the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities.” Although he firmly stated that, “It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve,” he also let it be known, “But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.” Instead, he spent 27 years imprisoned— away from his wife Winnie and his children—mostly at the notorious Robben Island. As he patiently served, his supporters in South Africa and around the world demonstrated for his freedom in the streets, on college campuses and in government halls, calling for an end to apartheid through boycotts and other means.

His release from prison February 11, 1990 was celebrated all over the world, with him touring Africa and beyond, including several U.S. cities, but his mission was hardly completed. Working with the racist South African government, through political moderate, and South Africa’s President, F.W. de Klerk, he helped end apartheid, and both men shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. The world watched as the formerly oppressive country held its first democratic free elections in 1994, and, in poetic justice, selected the former prisoner to serve as its first black president.

Instead of enacting revenge, Mandela, in true Christian teaching, forgave and embraced his captors, from government officials to the guards who tormented him for nearly three decades. “People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite,” Mandela often said. Even after stepping down as president in 1999, he remained active on the world stage. That work played a significant role in South Africa hosting the World Cup in 2010.

“We will never see the likes of Nelson Mandela again,” President Obama said at his public memorial. “What a magnificent soul it was,” he proclaimed. “We will miss him deeply.”

Police in Long Island, New York are investigating after human body parts were scattered on lawns around one small town. Hempstead police say a woman’s severed head was found Thursday evening in the bushes outside of a Long Island home. The head was close to where two arms were found dumped last week.

Police are trying to determine if the body parts are linked to the disappearance of Brooklyn woman, Chinelle Latoya Brown. The 27-year-old mother of four was reported missing on July 5.

Last week, a Hempstead resident found a human arm with women’s clothing attached to it in his front yard, according to the New York Daily News. The next day, another resident found a human arm in their yard about a half mile away from the first one.

Police are looking into whether the arms are linked to the discovery of a partially dismembered body in a public parking lot. A tattoo found on the body matched one Brown had.

The head was removed to the Nassau County Medical Examiner’s office for further examination.

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People often forget that comic books aren’t just for kids. They frequently slide in adult topics between the colorful images and larger than life characters. Sometimes when those characters meet their death, like the humans they so often protect, fans are outraged and heartbroken. It often brings to mind the question of whether a series will continue without its main character or find a suitable replacement. With all the recent changes on the American landscape (i.e. gay marriage, increasingly multi-cultural populations) comic book creators are taking notice and finding ways to weave the American landscape into their fictitious worlds.

2014 ushers in the first Black Captain America

Marvel Comics announced they have replaced Captain America Steve Rogers with Falcon, the high-flying African-American hero from Harlem. The new Captain America will make his first appearance in an all new series “All-New Captain America,” set to be released in November.

“It’s about time,” says Marvel executive editor Tom Brevoort of the change. Brevoort acknowledged that the move shouldn’t be seen as revolutionary (after all it is 2014) “but it still feels exciting.” Falcon was portrayed as Anthony Mackie in the latest Marvel movie and has openly talked about how game-changing the hero has been for the African-American community. After all, people of color are looking for comic characters that resemble themselves- a fact noticed by Marvel creators who take their position seriously.

Archie Andrews meets his fate saving gay friend

America’s beloved red-haired Archie Andrews met his fate on Wednesday by taking a bullet to protect his gay best friend. In the recently released installment of Life with Archie, the comic book hero attempts to stop an assassination attempt on Kevin Keller, a married military veteran turned senator. Keller was introduced in 2010 in the Archie spin-off series Veronica as the first openly gay character. Although Archie isn’t a comic book hero per se, protecting his gay best friend definitely makes him just as courageous as any other comic book character. “He dies heroically. He dies selflessly. He dies in the manner that epitomizes not only the best of Riverdale but the best of all of us,” Archie Comics publisher and co-CEO Jon Goldwater said.

Thor gets a sex change

The Mighty Thor will be getting a sex change this fall in a new Marvel comic book series that will introduce a woman now holding the Mjölnir, or mighty hammer. “For the first time in history, that hammer is being held by a woman. That’s right. Thor is a woman,” The View co-host Whoopi Goldberg said in an announcement arranged by Marvel Comics. The introduction on The View will surely usher in a new era of fan girls, who are often the only females in their crew.

“The new Thor continues Marvel’s proud tradition of strong female characters like Captain Marvel, Storm, Black Widow and more. And this new Thor isn’t a temporary female substitute – she’s now the one and only Thor, and she is worthy!” said Marvel editor Wil Moss in a press release.

DC Comics introduces Bunker, openly gay Hispanic teen

Miguel Jose Barragan, a gay fictional comic book character of Mexican descent, debuted in DC Comics series Teen Titans #3 as Bunker. The teen superhero comes from a background accepting of his sexuality, which allows him to be one of the more flamboyant characters of all the fictional comic book worlds. Bunker dons a purple costume and has the ability to create small force fields that look like bricks.

Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm in Fantastic Four

In February 2014, Michael B. Jordan was cast to play Johnny Storm a.k.a the Human Torch in the 2015 reboot of Fantastic Four. The character has always been a Caucasian male in the comic book series. The movie is currently filming in Louisiana.

Jordan revealed to MTV.com yesterday, “It’s not your typical superhero film, you know, we aren’t looking at this as like, being superheroes. We’re more or less a bunch of kids that had an accident and we have disabilities now that we have to cope with, and try to find a life afterwards – try to be as normal as we can.”

First Black Spider-Man, Miles Morales

Back in 2011, the popular comic lead was replaced with half-black, half-Hispanic American teenager Miles Morales who fights crime in Manhattan after Peter Parker is killed by the Green Goblin.

Lesbian Runaways couple Xavin and Karolina navigate the nuances of gender and sexuality

In Volume 7, gender-shifting alien Xavin decided to assume the form of a black female to continue the relationship with lesbian girlfriend Karolina.

An Arizona charter high school is under fire for using materials that detail the “benefits of slavery.”

The 5,000 Year Leap and The Making of America, both authored by Cleon Skousen, are reading requirements for 12th graders at Heritage Academy in Mesa, Arizona. Skousen is a conservative author who is best known for his faith based political theories.

Non-profit organization, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, filed a complaint to the state’s school board against Heritage Academy for using books that taught debunked “Christian nation” history. The complaint also described the required reading materials to have “sexist, racist and anti-Semitic messages.”

Garrett Epps, law professor at the University of Baltimore, spoke out against the use of Skousen’s books in the classroom. He described Skousen’s  major textbook, ‘The Making of America,’ as a long description of slavery, claiming that the slavery was beneficial to African Americans and that Southern racism was caused by the ‘intrusion’ of northern abolitionists and advocates of equality for the freed slaves.

The schools principal and founder, Earl Taylor, doesn’t think there is anything wrong with using the books.

“Our purpose is not to convert students to different religious views,” Taylor told The Arizona Republic. “It is to show them that religion influenced what the Founders did.”

You may have heard about the upcoming N.W.A. biopic, Straight Outta Compton, set to be released next year. Per usual, a casting call circulates media outlets and agencies but the descriptions on Universal Pictures‘ latest casting call raised a few eyebrows and caused quite a stir amongst social media, prompting an apology from Universal.

The racist casting call, posted by Sande Allesi Casting, obviously perpetuated racial stereotypes with its vivid offensive descriptions.

The call sheet shows the search for four different types of women, ranked from A to D, based on their level of attractiveness, body type and ethnicity:

“A GIRLS: These are the hottest of the hottest. Models. MUST have real hair – no extensions, very classy looking, great bodies. You can be black, white, asian, hispanic, mid eastern, or mixed race too. Age 18-30.

B GIRLS: These are fine girls, long natural hair, really nice bodies. Small waists, nice hips. You should be light-skinned. Beyonce is a prototype here. Age 18-30.

C GIRLS: These are African American girls, medium to light skinned with a weave. Age 18-30.

D GIRLS: These are African American girls. Poor, not in good shape. Medium to dark skin tone. Character types. Age 18-30.”

The post has been removed from Sande’s Facebook page after sparking controversy. Universal released a public apology, saying, “The filmmakers … did not approve and do not condone the information in this casting notice. We regret and sincerely apologize for being in any way associated with the descriptions it contained.”

F. Gary Gray is directing the biopic that follows the life of hardcore rap group N.W.A. — O’Shea Jackson Jr., Corey Hawkins, and Jason Mitchell are set to play the group’s members Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and the late Eazy-E.

The movie is set for an August 15, 2015 release.

On Wednesday, a federal court judge banned the California death penalty, citing the system’s extreme delay in executing its prisoners. The state has placed hundreds of felons on death row, but none have been executed since 2006.

Judge Cormac J. Carney of the United States District Court said that the sense of uncertainty and delay “violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.” Approximately 40 percent of California’s 748 death row inmates have been imprisoned for more than 19 years. Judge Carney’s decision is expected to inspire similar arguments in death penalty appeals around the country.

Judge Carney made his decision based on California’s improper administration of capital punishment, citing the flaws stemmed mainly from state deficiencies and should not abuse the prisoners.

He concluded, the death penalty system in California “serves no penological purpose.”

“Such a system,” he said, “is unconstitutional.”

In the 2012 election, California voters approved the death penalty, but only by a narrow margin. A close 48 percent preferred life in prison without parole over death sentencing.

Shipping company FedEx was indicted on Wednesday for shipping drugs for illegal online pharmacies. The second largest shipping company was warned by the Drug Enforcement Administration and other federal agencies that their services were used to illegally distribute drugs, like oxycodone and hydrocodone, for nearly a decade.

The indictment described fearful FedEx’s couriers in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia, who told senior FedEx managers that they worried for their safety. Delivery addresses for the pills included schools, abandoned homes, and parking lots, where carloads of people would be idly sitting, awaiting their packages.

Patrick Fitzgerald, senior vice president for marketing and communications, denied all allegations in a written statement, saying it was unreasonable to expect FedEx to take responsibility for the contents of the 10 million packages it delivers each day.

“We are a transportation company — we are not law enforcement,” he said.

According to the indictment, FedEx knowingly shipped drugs for two illegal Internet pharmacies, the Chhabra-Smoley Organization and Superior Drugs. They were warned at least six times that online illegal pharmacies used the global shipper to deliver drugs.

FedEx said they would fight all charges.

Omarion kicked off the weekend in a not-so-good way. The MMG singer was arrested and jailed Friday for failing to appear in court on a prior traffic ticket.

Law enforcement sources say the star was pulled over in San Fernando Valley after running through a stop sign. When an officer ran Omarion’s license, it was discovered the singer had a warrant out for his arrest.

“Our unit did a warrant check and saw he had a ticket he didn’t pay that went to warrant,” Lt. Dan Thompson told New York Daily News. The star was released that afternoon at around 3:30 p.m.

TMZ caught up with Omarion as he left the jailhouse, but the “Touch” singer had little to say.

“It’s not a big deal,” he said, while declining to comment on any further questions.

Omarion is gearing up for the debut of his latest album “Sex Playlist,” although a release date has yet to be announced. He is also preparing for fatherhood with girlfriend Apryl Jones, who is nine months pregnant.

Photo courtesy of Earl Gibson III/Getty Images North America

Check out TMZ’s footage of Omarion leaving the Los Angeles jail below.

A Florida father left a man bloodied, bruised and motionless after walking in on him sexually abusing his 11-year-old son, authorities said.

According to The Daytona Beach News-Journal, police arrived to the home just after 1 a.m. on Friday after the 35-year-old unidentified father called to tell authorities Raymond Frolander, 18, was unconscious in his living room following the beating. The father told a dispatcher the suspect was sexually battering his son.

“I just walked in on a grown man molesting … And I got him in a bloody puddle for you officer,” the father said, noting that he only used his foot and fist to fight Frolander.

“I didn’t proceed to ask him any questions sir,” he continued. “He is nice and knocked out on the floor for you. I drug him out to the living room. [...] Send an ambulance. He is going to need one.”

An arrest report states Frolander had several knots on his face and was bleeding from the mouth. Daytona Beach police Chief Mike Chitwood said the suspect lives next door and was almost like a member of the family.

The father was not charged in the beating. Chitwood said he was doing what any protective parent would do in that situation.

“Dad was acting like a dad. I don’t see anything we should charge the dad with,” Chitwood said. “You have an 18-year-old who has clearly picked his target, groomed his target and had sex with the victim multiple times.”

Photo courtesy of Volusia County Sheriff’s Office

Frolander’s arrest affidavit says he admitted to sexually battering the child and said, “I’m guilty.” He has been charged with sexual battery by an 18-year-old on a victim under 12 and is being held without bail.

It was a week completely absorbed by a number of geopolitical crises facing the Obama administration – and leaving the rest of us skittish about riding planes.  Within the span of 24 hours, all hell broke loose as if the apocalypse lit up: pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine got trigger happy and mistakenly blew up a commercial air flight and a few thousand miles away. Israel, figuring Western civilization would be distracted by crisis in Central Europe, got busy commencing a ground invasion against Hamas in the Gaza strip. And, always wanting a spotlight, North Korea couldn’t help but escalate new rounds of missile tests, a move that’s making its neighbors jumpy all over again.

That it has not been a good year for Malaysia Airlines is a severe understatement.  First the mysterious ghoul-like disappearance of Flight 370, now a Boeing 777 tagged as Flight 17 … lots of sevens.  How the airline will remain solvent or exist will more than likely depend on the Malaysian government since it’s the flagship carrier for the country.  But, important and rather simple questions arise in the wake of Flight 17’s tragic misfortune.  What was it doing over a conflict zone in the first place? 

Common sense would dictate going around that spot – the one where pro-Russian separatists are busily blasting Ukrainian military aircraft out of the sky.  For some reason, Malaysia Airlines, along with Air France, British Airways and Russian airliner Aeroflot were all flying over eastern Ukrainian airspace as if nothing was going on down below. So now, according to the aviation tracking news site FlightRadar24, everyone gets it, time to move away from the yellow tape (see below):

Ukrainian aviation officials didn’t necessarily make it a no-fly zone, despite the obvious presence of surface-to-air missiles, but they did say airlines could fly over so long as it was more than 23,000 feet.  The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration was smart enough to advise American airlines to stay away.  Either these other airlines were hard pressed to save a buck on gas or Europeans and select Asian airlines are just that impervious to risk, who knows.  The question will come up in litigation.

Some now feel the world’s on fire.  The cat who pulled that trigger, from what’s been reported, could be wishing he could go back in time … if he was able to stay alive in what was surely one of the most intense geopolitical plays at “Cover Your Ass” ever attempted. Word went out about the shoot down over the wire while at a recent conference on an unrelated subject, attendees looking at each other with wide-open eyes and round scary faces all casting for Van Gogh’s The Scream.  There was a collective, but silent “oh shit. So what happens next?”

In terms of foreign policy, it may seem like the Obama administration is under siege and unable to manage a gushing open fire hydrant of one crisis after another – and there’s no one there to shut it down.  While navigating this maelstrom of bad headlines, he’s also struggling to apply his signature calm-in-the-storm model critics are always quick to ping him on.  Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) believes Obama has gone AWOL and former Rep. Allen West (R-FL), never shying away from an opportunity to put his foot in his mouth, compares the president to pre-World War II British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain acquiescing Europe to Hitler.

Handpicked foreign affairs go-to-guy Fareed Zakaria is slightly sanguine about it all, cautioning us not to get too jittery and that the world – contrary to the same tragic headline on a constant loop – is really not blowing up anytime soon.  “For all the problems, let’s keep in mind that we live today in a world with considerably fewer dangers,” writes Zakaria. “Nuclear war is unimaginable. The Russian-American nuclear arsenals are down to one-fifth their size in 1973 and at a much lower level of readiness. In 1973, Freedom House published its first annual account of political rights around the world. At the time, countries listed as “not free” outnumbered “free” countries. Today that is inverted, with the number of “free” countries having doubled. Open markets, trade and travel have boomed, allowing hundreds of millions to escape poverty and live better lives.”

He might be right.  As this Center for Systemic Peace graph shows, global conflicts have been on a downward trend since the end of the Cold War:

Much of that has to do with the fact that various conflict players have fewer sources of state-sponsored military-backed assets to tap into.  Thus, a rise in terrorism in the next graph below (courtesy of The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and the Response to Terrorism at the University of Maryland) during years following the Cold War is no coincidence, merely the result of violent actors resorting to less conventional or “assymetrical” warfare without any imperial benefactors to help them out.  So, you get messy:

One wonders how this changes things.  Bloggers Robert Beckhusen & Matthew Gault over at War is Boring suggest that it might actually calm things down in eastern Ukraine. “Shooting down a civilian airliner is an international crisis more serious than anything since Russia’s invasion of Crimea in February. Destroying a civilian airliner is a big deal,” adds Beckhusen and Gault. Basically, that mistake just cost a lot of global trade.

However, if it doesn’t then what next? Could crisis in the Ukraine heat up or a revival of an Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip suddenly change this comparitively “peaceful” global conflict dynamic?  Clearly, the U.S. is looking to eliminate as many major regional or global competitors as it can in a bid to find some balance – as it’s presently doing with Iran now.  But, depending on how President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin navigate tensions, we may see a re-escalation of the Cold War or we might not.  Obama, for his part, will play it cool and let it all flesh out nicely.

You could tell, however, that this is a president not anxious to jump into any new volatile military commitments.  And, who can blame him after more than a decade of World War III, right? His goal, we can tell, is to simply avoid World War IV.  There’s no amount of Congressional fury or taunts from Republicans that can change his mind.  So, there’s a bit of “you do you” from this president as far as folks in Central Europe and the Middle East. That said, he keeps a close, wary eye on the situation while using very invasive and effective slow-bleed financial sanctions tools at his disposal.  Don’t think those work?  Refer to exhibit A and you’ll find Iran already crying uncle at the table.  Still, recent events could tip the scales back in the wrong direction.

CHARLES D. ELLISON is a veteran political strategist and Chief Political Correspondent for UPTOWN Magazine.  He is Washington Correspondent for the Philadelphia Tribune and a frequent contributor to The Root.  He can be reached @charlesdellison.