|
|
Vincent
Ford dies |
|
The man
credited with co-writing Bob Marley And The Wailers' No Woman, No Cry
has died. Vincent Ford passed away aged 68 in Jamaica on 28 December
2008, after complications from diabetes.
It's
thought that the song was actually written by Marley, but he donated co-writing
credit to his childhood friend Ford. The royalties allowed Ford to
continue to run a soup kitchen in Trenchtown, the ghetto of Kingston,
where Marley grew up.
No Woman,
No Cry originally appeared on Marley's 1974 album Natty Dread, but
it's the live version from 1975 (on the album Live!) that has become
known as the definitive performance.
Whoever
wrote it, it remains one of reggae's greatest songs. |
|
Music Radar.com |
|
Fury
as Ali centre faces KO |
|
Ali
inside the centre in its hayday
CRISIS
talks are being held today by campaigners who have fought for
decades to save an inner-city community centre, once opened by boxing
legend Muhammad Ali, which is now destined for demolition. The
decision by Birmingham City Council to bulldoze the Muhammad Ali
Centre in Icknield Street, Hockley, has sparked outrage among the
black community who have been trying for years to have the centre re-opened.
But
Coun Ray Hassall, Cabinet member for leisure, sport and culture, has
issued a public letter announcing the “only option
available” is to demolish the derelict building and clear the site.
He
said: “I am aware of a number of expressions of interest in the
use of the site for community purposes and I must emphasise that my
decision, which has not been taken lightly, does not rule out this
option for the future.
“It
merely seeks to ensure public safety. There will be further
opportunity to consider the future of the site.”
A
public meeting in response to this has been called by campaigners
tonight at 7pm at St George’s Post 16 Centre in Great Hampton
Row, Hockley.
Dolores
Pinkney, who along with her brother Hector, has campaigned for the
restoration of the centre, said: “The way this centre was
allowed to become a derelict shell has dishonoured and discredited
our whole community.
“So
many people remember the day in 1983 when Muhammad Ali came to
Birmingham to open our centre. It’s a slight on his name.
We’re urging as many people as possible to attend the meeting.”
Former
Handsworth police boss, Chief Supt David Webb came out of retirement
to try his hand at getting the centre up and running again.
He
was at the boxing legend’s side when he opened the centre 25
years ago and has remained in touch with Ali’s family in
Kentucky ever since.
He
said: “I was invited over there two years ago to witness the
opening of another Muhammad Ali centre. It made me feel ashamed when
I thought of how our centre had been allowed to go to wrack and ruin.” |
|
Poppy Brady - Mail |
|
|
NEWS
If
you would like to write in
with your own personal local or international news - please do so |
|
Woolworths
Civil Rights Connection |
|
The role
bankrupt store played in civil rights era. While thousands of
nostalgic Brits are still mourning the demise of the Woolworth’s
stores this month, among black Americans the name has other associations.
The
Woolworth’s name has particular connections with the Civil
Rights struggle in ‘60s America.
On
February 1, 1960, four African American students – Ezell A.
Blair Jr. David Richmond, Joseph McNeil, and Franklin sat at a
segregated lunch counter in the Greensboro, North Carolina
Woolworth's store.
This
lunch counter only had chairs/stools for whites, while blacks had to
stand and eat. Although they were refused service, they were allowed
to stay at the counter. The next day there was a total of 28 students
at the Woolworth lunch counter for the sit in. On the third day,
there were 300 activists, and later, around 1000.
This
protest sparked sit-ins and economic boycotts that became a hallmark
of the American Civil Rights movement.
According
to Franklin McCain, one of the four black teenagers who sat at the
‘whites only’ stools:
"Some
way through, an old white lady, who must have been 75 or 85, came
over and put her hands on my shoulders and said, 'Boys I am so proud
of you. You should have done this 10 years ago.'"
In just
two months the sit-in movement spread to 15 cities in 9 states. Other
Woolworth stores, such as the one in Atlanta, moved to desegregate.
The media
picked up this issue and covered it nationwide. The Greensboro
sit-ins played a large role in spreading the civil rights movement to
a larger audience.
The
Greensboro sit-ins inspired civil rights groups to take up this
tactic and use it to publicize segregation - beginning with lunch
counters and spreading to other forms of public accommodation,
including transport facilities, art galleries, beaches, parks,
swimming pools, libraries, and even museums around the South. The
Civil Rights Act of 1964 mandated desegregation in public accommodations.
In 1993,
a portion of the lunch counter was donated to the Smithsonian
Institution. The Greensboro Historical Museum contains four chairs
from the Woolworth counter along with photos of the original four protesters.
|
|
Voice-online.co.uk |
|
|
Jonathon
Hamilton sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Leon Francis |
|
Another
Senseless Death! Another Wrecked Life!
Leon
Nathaniel Francis was born on the 1st March 1983. His short life
ended tragically on the 27th December 2007. He was fatally
stabbed to death in his prime at the young age of 24. Yesterday
(Tuesday 12th August 2008), Jonathan Hamilton was sentenced for
Leon’s murder and will bemade to serve at least 13 years behind
bars. Leon’s senseless death and Jonathan’s prison sentence
are yet more evidence of the destructive paths that a worrying number
of our young people find themselves choosing in life. Statistics
about knife and knife enabled crime and violence resulting in the
death of Black young people belies the human tragedies, the burden
some pain and the wide reaching impact on parents, family members,
friends and an entire community. No punishment the courts could
have given to Jonathan could possibly relieve the pain and loss we
havesuffered and especially the fact that Leon’s daughter, born
after his death,will never know her father in the flesh.
Leon was
a young man with huge potential, despite the turn that his life took
as a result of the adverse prevailing social conditions around
him. Under very stringent MAPPA conditions Leon fought to
maintain his focus of rehabilitation. At the time of his death,
he was on the verge of beginning a new life outside Birmingham and
had secured a place on a BTEC Music Technology course, and was really
looking forward to starting college. He was ecstatic about his
fiancés pregnancy and the thought ofbecoming a father.
Leon wanted desperately to secure a better life and was really
looking forward to 2008 with increasing maturity.
His death
and Jonathon Hamilton’s conviction further reinforce the drastic
need for more preventative measures to tackle the increased
involvement of young black men in anti-social behaviour, including
gang and gun crime. Leon is yet another tragic victim of such crime
who can all too easily be forgotten as another statistic, as society
becomes more de-sensitised to a culture of murderous violence among
our youth. We have to ask why our bright, energetic children
get drawn into this; why school becomes so sour for some and why the
life chances that others take for granted are not apparent for our youth.
Leon
represents yet another young black man who thissystem distances more
and more from their roots and strips of their identityand sense of
direction as African people born in Britain. He is a product of
asystem that is unwilling to question the way the society has dealt
with blackmen for generations.
Our
entire family are totally devastated at Leon’s untimely death
and were dreading the pain of a long trial to get justice for Leon.
The unexpected guilty plea just minutes before the trial was a
blessing and a huge relief. We pray that Jonathon Hamilton and
his family get the support they need to come to terms with his
sentence. We have both lost our sons – one to the grave,
another to a prison cell.
We are
pleading with parents and families to work together to find solutions
and save our children. Additionally, it is imperative that sound
guidance and targeted support is given to those young people affected
by Leon’s death and by Jonathan’s sentence in managing the
irrelationships in the coming weeks and months. |
|
Leon's
Mother |
|
|
 |
|
Shirley Cooper - Council |
|