Thursday, September 30, 2010

Hill City's Jim Robinson Throws Out Two Gangsters from the Family Confectionery in the Hill District Section of Pittsburgh, PA

BLACK BUZZ NEWS SERVICE
James S. Robinson, Jr. Project
Pittsburgh PA
September 30, 2010

This is about the history of my dad, James S. Robinson Jr., my family, the famous Hill City Municipality, the Hill District and the City of Pittsburgh, PA. This vital important history about my family and the Hill District will not be relegated to a position of secondary consideration.
Blogger Black Buzz, whose real name is Ronald B. Saunders, recalls an incident that happened on July 9, 1950 in the afternoon at the family confectionery store located on Watt Street in the Hill District section of Pittsburgh, PA. We had previously purchased the store from Jim Shaw. Our store was directly across from Robert L. Vann Elementary School.
I was sitting at our soda-bar, eating a bag of Owl potato chips, and my dad James S. Robinson Jr. and my aunt "Bunchie" (Montrose Brooks Bradshaw) were working behind the counter, when two unsavory looking white men came into the store and proceeded to ask my dad a series of questions.
My dad said: "Ronnie, you and Bunchie go into the backroom and stay there until I tell you to come out." My aunt Bunchie asked: "Is everything alright Jimmie?" My dad replied: "Go into the backroom with Ronnie now Bunchie.
I couldn't hear everything that my dad and the white men were talking about, but the next thing I did hear was a very loud thump which I found out later that my dad had jumped over the counter and knocked both of the white men to the floor with Karate chops to their necks and dragged them out of our store into the street. By the time my aunt Bunchie and I came back into the main part of the store, I could see and hear my dad telling the white guys: "You tell Spinelli that if he ever attempts to do something like that again that Jim Robinson will pay him a personal visit."
My dad gave those thugs a beat down that they would never forget.
My dad informed Bunchie and me that those two thug Italians heralded from the Logan Street area of the Hill District which is in the vicinity of the present site of the Mellon Civic Arena. They (Italians) came into the store telling my dad that they wanted him to write numbers. My dad also stated that he asked the two men the following: "You guys don't know whom you are talking to?" The Italian thugs replied: "We don't give a damn who you are. We want you to write numbers."
The Italian gangsters obviously didn't know that my dad was an expert gymnast, an expert in Judo, and Aikido. He also was an expert with all law enforcement weapons of his time. He was always armed.
My dad also stated that Mr. Finney, who was a famous local boxing trainer had taught him how to throw a lethal left hook and a right cross long before he became a Master in Judo. Back in the 1970's, when I worked at the Kay's Boy's Club, located at 1908 Wylie Avenue in the Hill District, the same Mr. Finney was still training some of the best boxers in the City of Pittsburgh, PA.
My dad had a track scholarship to the University of Pittsburgh back in the late 20's and early 30's where he ran both hurdle events and was lightning quick and fast as a leopard going after its prey.
We also owned a Grocery/Chicken store on the famous Wylie Avenue section of the Hill District on the same side of the street as Mason's Bar, where today new apartment buildings have been built.
We had purchased this store from a Jewish lady named Lena, and we kept one of the her former employees named Jerry. My aunt Ruth, whom my dad called "Duck Butter" also worked in our Grocery-Chicken store. My mother and I would work in this store on the weekend along with Desert (my brother's and my nickname for our dad).
Our home was broken into on several occasions in Slippery Rock, PA. The rogues/thieves may have taken important documents that would have revealed the complete identity of Lena.
Once Spinelli found that his men had visited Jim Robinson's store on Watt Street, he basically apologized to my dad because he remembered that my dad had led the Black men from the Soho District and other parts of the Hill in defense of the Black residents in the East Liberty section of Pittsburgh back in the late 30' s who were being brutalized by whites in East Liberty. Spinelli wasn't about to start a racial war on the Hill. I suspect that many of the Ma and Pa businesses throughout the Hill District did write numbers for the Spinelli crowd as a means of survival rather than out of fear of the Italians. Many of the businesses were owned by Jews, Blacks and a few Italians. Those numbers-runners jobs provided employment for many Black men, women and teenagers who were discriminated against by the businesses in downtown Pittsburgh and throughout the City of Pittsburgh.
Some Black numbers racketeers may have been independent of the Logan street mob. Citizens all over the City of Pittsburgh played the illegal numbers with the knowledge and silent consent of Pittsburgh's Mayor, David L. Lawrence and Harvey Scott who was the Superintendent of the Pittsburgh Police Department.
Mayor Lawrence was also the Honorary Chairman of the Hill City Municipality for which my dad was employed. Mayor Lawrence knew that Jim Robinson wasn't for sale because of prior incidents in the Hill District.
My dad arrested a prominent white man from Fox Chapel who was attempting to solicit a 14 year old colored girl who was just standing outside of the Hour Glass Restaurant on Fifth Avenue. In the 1940's, Black police officers were not supposed to arrest white men or women for any crimes. So, after my dad's arrest of the big-wig from Fox Chapel, two fellow white cops from the Lawrenceville section of the City, after business hours, made a visit to Hill City located on Bedford Avenue in the Hill District to teach the Nigger a lesson for arresting a white man. According to my dad, the next day they found the two white police officers laying on the sidewalk outside of Hill City. They had been so soundly beaten that they were completely disabled and both men had to retire from the Pittsburgh Police Department due to permanent injuries. My dad said he could never prove it, but he felt that Superintendent of Police Scott, through Mayor Lawrence had sent those two cops up to Hill City to teach the nigger to stay in his place. My dad said he knew they were cops by the way they were attempting to fight him plus he thought he had seen them on patrol around 4oth and Butler streets which is in Lawrenceville.
The next day after the citizens found the two white police officers laying in the street on Bedford Avenue, the Honorable Mayor Lawrence called my dad into his office and said: "Robbie, you can have this office next to mine and you don't have to do anything." My dad said he looked at the Mayor and said 'no thanks' and walked out of the Mayor's office.
My aunt Lorraine, who is Mrs. Clifton Brown, also told me about the above incident on how Mayor Lawrence tried to buy my dad off by giving him an office and desk with no job responsibilities. Mrs. Brown presently lives in Mechanicsburg, PA with her son Sherman. She is the sister-in-law of the famous late Jazz Bassist Ray Brown. One of my aunt's sons, Raymond Brown is named after the famous jazz bassist. Raymond, whose nickname is Bummie, formerly worked as the assistant general counsel for AT& T. He is a graduate of the University of Chicago School of Law. He received his B.S. degree from the elite Johns Hopkins University located in Baltimore, Maryland. Raymond is presently self-employed along with his wife Marta in Real Estate Investments.
Mayor Lawrence found out that Jim Robinson wasn't for sale at any price.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Ask All Of The Fired Shuman Center Employees And The Good Citizens Of Allegheny County Whether Dan Onorato Can Put Pennsylvanians Back To Work

BLACK BUZZ NEWS SERVICE
Wexford, PA
September 29, 2010

How many of the sagacious voters in Allegheny County remember Dan Onorato's poorly orchestrated discharge of eight very good long time employees of Shuman Center in 2009? The Arbitrator ruled that all of the discharged workers from said Shuman were wrongfully terminated without just cause, and entitled to be reinstated with back pay to their former positions.

Drink Tax Dan's gross ineptness was apparent in his clumsy handling of the discharged Shuman workers. Now we all know why Onorato, and his cohort William Jack Simmons, Director of Shuman Center are not practicing law with any of the prestigious law firms in downtown Pittsburgh.

Onorato has been politically pimping the voters of Allegheny County for the last eight years, and politics is just another hustle for Drink Tax Dan. So how can the voters of the great state of Pennsylvania think that Onorato could demonstrate sound rationale judgment, skill and knowledge to hire key cabinet level heads in a state that has a 50 Billion dollar budget with 84,777 state workers when he couldn't make the appropriate hire to efficiently run Shuman Center, which has less than 200 employees?






Tuesday, September 28, 2010

The Steelers Ben Roethlisberger and the New York Jets Santonio Holmes Have Been Seen Working out together In Pittsburgh and In New Jersey

BLACK BUZZ SPORTS NEWS SERVICE
Truth Or Consequences, New Mexico
September 28, 2010

It has been reported by a reliable news source in Piscataway New Jersey, that the Steelers Big Ben Roethlisberger, and the Jets flamboyant wide receiver Santonio Bad News Holmes have been secretly working out together in both New Jersey and in the Pittsburgh area.
Both Roethlisberger, and Holmes were given four game suspensions by NFL Commissioner Rodger Goodell for blatant violations of the NFL Conduct Rules for there off the field behavioral patterns.
These two men Roethlisberger, and Holmes are excellent role models for the youth of today.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

DAWG TALK: GEORGIA GETS BEAT BY THE OTHER BULLDOGS, MISSISSIPPI STATE 24-12

BLACK BUZZ SPORTS NEWS SERVICE
Jewtown Georgia
September 26, 2010

Jewtown.. The University of Georgia Dawgs got beat in every aspects of the game against the tough upstart Mississippi State Bulldogs 24-12. The effort on the part of the Dawgs was poor and they played like they rather be out shopping at the Malls in Athens.
Poor preparation= poor coaching = poor execution. Richt was brought in to the Dawg Nation to win the National title, but how can you win the National title when most of your key players are constantly on the police blotter or involved in off the field scandals, and your coaches like the necessary skills and talents to propel the Dawgs into the elite ranks of college football?
Can I get a witness!

Saturday, September 25, 2010

A Tribute to the Heroes of Flight 93

Black Buzz News Service
Boyers, PA
September 25, 2010

A Tribute to the Heroes of Flight 93

My family and I had the great pleasure of attending the Flight 93 National Memorial Remembrance Ceremony held in Stoystown, PA on Saturday, September 11, 2010. All the speakers and choirs on the program did a superb job of setting the right tone for the sullen occasion.
Former first lady Laura Bush showed her Southern charm by giving a moving, passionate, compassionate, exhilarating tribute to the courageous passengers and flight crew aboard Flight 93.
The present first lady Michele Obama gave a captivating, inspirational and uplifting message to the Flight 93 families and others in attendance.
I was quite annoyed and highly perturbed at a handful of American citizens who chose to leave the area when first lady Michele Obama began to speak. This memorial ceremony was supposed to be the time when Americans of all political affiliations, classes, ethnicities, races, gender and age put aside their differences to honor the men and women of Flight 93. To walk out on the first lady of the United States of America was rude and disrespectful, un-American and showed a gross lack of class. I guess some people who call themselves Americans still can't get over the fact that a Black man is President and that the first lady is Black.
I also would like to commend the Slippery Rock University students who came all the way from northern Butler County to serve as volunteer traffic officers. The Slippery Rock University students and their advisers did an outstanding job of directing over 1000 motorists in and out of the parking lot in a timely orderly fashion.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

BLACK FARMERS RALLY ON Thursday September 23rd, at 12/NOON, at 1400 Independence Avenue SW/ Washinton D.C. 2050 (USDA Building)

BLACK BUZZ NEWS SERVICE
Washington D.C.
September 22, 2010


Washington D.C. Solomon Comissiong, who is an Educator, activist and author will be leading a delegation of students, faculty, and concerned citizens to Rally to Support the Black Farmers of this country. Solomon and his delegation with be leaving the University of Maryland's Nyumburu Center to catch the College Park Metro at 11:00 AM this Thursday September 23, 2010. If you can make it out please do. This is one of the critical issues of our time that has continually been suppressed by the Mainstream Corporate Media.
Farmers from Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and elsewhere in the South will be coming to Washington D.C.this week to shine a spotlight on the refusal of the U.S. Senate to approve 1.25 billion in funding for the Black farmers' antidiscrimination lawsuit against the USDA, funds promised in February by the Obama administration and passed by the House in May.
Black farmers have been denied loans and participation in other government programs for decades by the USDA and many have lost their land and been forced out of farming as a result. They won a class-action lawsuit in 1999 ( Pigford vs. Glickman) upholding their claims of discrimination. Today, they are fighting for additional funds in order to compensate thousands who were unjustly excluded from the first settlement.

BLACK FARMERS RALLY
1400 Independence Avenue SW/Washington, 2050 USDA Building
September 23rd, at 12/noon

* You think President Obama will step out of the Oval Office to greet the participants? I bet you ten to one that Obama will be out of town. President Obama may send out his insensitive flunky, Secretary Agriculture Tom Vilsack out to give more duplicitous lip service to the plight of the Black farmers. Will Al Sharpton and uncle Ben Jealous be in attendance supporting the Black farmers. I haven't heard Uncle Ben whisper a word in support of the Black farmers. Maybe the cat has uncle Ben's tongue or perhaps Wells Fargo and JP Morgan Chase have Ben in their hip pocket.
Either you are part of the problem or part of the solution.
With the Black unemployment rate in D.C. hovering around 18 per cent, and with thousands who are simply not looking for jobs that don't exist it would be a positive thing for all those folks not looking for jobs and the thousands of college students to rally support for the BLACK FARMERS tomorrow.
*Will the mental midget clan led by Sarah Palin, Glen high school drop out Beck, Newt should be in jail Gingrich, or the phony fake Mormon Mitt Romney, dabbling in Witchcraft Christine O'Donnell, be in attendance supporting the Black Farmers?
Perhaps O'Donnell will serve all of tomorrow's participants a cup of Witches Brew.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

DAWG TALK: The INCONSISTENT NCAA DENIES THE APPEAL OF GEORGIA WR A.J. Green

BLACK BUZZ SPORTS NEWS SERVICE
Athens, Georgia
September 18, 2010

Athens ( BBSNS) Unfortunately, the University of Georgia will have to play two more games minus its all world wide receiver A. J. Green.
The inconsistent NCAA turned down Green's appeal Friday evening thus letting stand the bias four game suspension Green received for selling an Independence Bowl jersey for $ 1,000 to an alleged agent.
Even though the NCAA Committee on Student-Athlete Reinstatement had testimony from Chris Hawkins, who is a former Tar Heel football player stating that he was not registered as a bona-fide agent and that he is a collector, the Committee chose not to believe Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Hawkins is the person who bought Mr. Green's Independence Bowl game jersey. Also, the NCAA could not show which players Mr. Hawkins previously represented acting as an agent. The fact remains that Mr. Hawkins is a collector, not a agent.
This same NCAA Committee on Student-Athlete Reinstatement ruled that Alabama end, Marcell Dareus should only receive a two game suspension for a far more egregious so-called violation of its antiquated and obsolete NCCA rules even though the dollar amount in this case was $ 1787.00. I do believe that the NCAA gave a more favorable ruling to Dareus because of the fact that Alabama won the bogus National title game and they fear coach Saban. Or was it because the Las Vegas line has Alabama repeating as the fake National champs? The NCAA has always applied its rules governing student-athletes in a highly discriminatory fashion, unfairly, inconsistently and subjectively based upon who the athlete is and the school they represent. Saban won the National title and Richt didn't. This same coach Saban was always in constant turmoil at LSU and the NCAA and LSU overlooked his actions and gave him a free pass to do as he pleased.
The NCAA will permit the bookstore at the famed University of Georgia to make thousands of dollars off the sale of A. J. Green's game jerseys whereby Mr. Green doesn't receive any portion of those funds made while using his said jersey. This same bookstore possibly has 8 types of A. J. Green jerseys for sale ranging from $75.00 to $150.00 or more.
Isn't this a type of modified modern day slavery? Will the NCAA or UGA pay for Mr. Green's medical bills if he is permanently injured while playing at Georgia?
By receiving this fraudulent four game suspension, Mr. Green could possibly be out of millions of dollars if he decides to come out early. Mr. Green will not receive the highly coveted Fred Biletnikoff Award this season which could possibly award him thousands of dollars more at the time of negotiating his NFL rookie contract. What will happen to Green and all the other similarly situated players eligible for 2012 draft with prospects of the NFL strike looming?
Hopefully Mr. Green will stay for another year, beat the odds and graduate plus improve his draft day stock for the 2012 NFL draft.
I really would like to see Green legally challenge the NCAA on its ruling. We need more litigation in the area of these NCCA rulings because they are so highly prejudicial and biased. Is there an attorney out there who would be willing to do pro-bono work in getting this lawsuit going against the NCAA?
It is ludicrous that each institution of higher learning has the latitude to exploit each student-athlete solely for its own self serving financial benefit and the student athlete only receives a free education with the remote prospects of a pro career. How much money did Matthew Stafford bring into the University of Georgia or Bo Jackson to Auburn or Pitt's Tony Dorsett to the Panthers?
A further review of the NCAA records has revealed that only 12 of the 120 Division 1-A teams made a net profit. One has to be cognizant of the fact that football funds most or all of the so-called minor sports on college campuses.
It is my position that (all) college football and basketball players should get a monthly cash stipend in Division 1A. Our backward thinking State Legislatures in all the 50 states have to be brought into the 21st century.
Yes it's true far too many football players think they are above the law but, their colleges are breaking the law and getting money to do so and there is absolutely no scrutiny by any legitimate body for the blatant violations of these member schools.
Even without A.J. Green, the Dawgs will prevail over the tough upstart Arkansas Razorbacks. Georgia has many top quality players that will step up to challenge such as Washun Ealey who may have his biggest game of his career against the likes of the Hogs.

Later on today at 3:15 P.M.
Georgia lost this game to the Hogs because Georgia's defensive coordinator called a lousy game, the defense blew coverage assignments along with poor tackling and the Dawgs couldn't put any semblance of pressure on Arkansas's QB Mallet who simply picked the Dawgs apart all game. It also appeared as though Arkansas was the faster and tougher team today in Athens. Plus the Razorbacks sacked Georgia's QB Murray six times. Although the Dawgs fought back mightily they better come up with the defensive formula that can stop teams that pass the ball effectively or they will have a very long season with or without A.J. Green. Why didn't coach Richt throw a screen or flare pass to Ealey to pick up the first down on the last Georgia offensive drive? All the Dawgs needed was four or five yards and Richt had his QB Murray throwing the ball down field 15 to 20 yards ineffectively.
The Georgia hierarchy brought Richt to Athens to win the National title, but when will that happen? How much longer must the faithful Dawg Nation wait for Richt to get his act together?

Friday, September 17, 2010

BLACK HISTORY IS AMERICAN HISTORY: ETO VET Sues Railroad: Pretty ARC Worker Forced From Train

BLACK BUZZ NEWS SERVICE
Pittsburgh PA.
September 17, 2010

The article titled ETO Vet Sues Railroad: Pretty ARC Worker Forced From Train was taken from The Pittsburgh Courier dated Saturday, January 5, 1946, and is part of the James S. Robinson Jr. Project.

New York- Charging that she had been forcibly removed from a Louisiana to-New York train by two husky white military policemen upon the instigation of a belligerent conductor in Newport, Arkansas, Odette Harper, attractive Red Cross worker, home on furlough after more than a year overseas in France, Germany, and Italy, last week instructed her attorney, Harry G. Bragg, 409 Edgecombe Avenue to sue the Missouri Pacific Railroad in Federal Court for damages.
Miss Harper, a former director of publicity for the NAACP, said she was occupying a seat with four Negro returnees in the Jim-crow day coach, while white coaches were practically empty.
FOUND DOOR LOCKED
Said Miss Harper:
" I was riding in the Jim Crow coach because I had been unable to get Pullman reservations at Alexander, Louisiana. An Army nurse-a Lieutenant Martin-who had seen overseas service, heard that I was on the train and sent her Pullman porter up to invite me to visit her to exchange experiences. I accepted the invitation rather reluctantly because the walk necessitated passage through two white day day coaches. I remained with the nurse only a few minutes. When I attempted to return to my car I found the door of the adjoining day coach locked.
"The train conductor then came up and told me that he had locked the door to "keep you goddamn niggers in your coach." He also called me a yellow bitch' and ordered me to bring my ticket book to him. As he had already punched my ticket, I ignored his language and returned to my seat.
GIs OBJECT TO LANGUAGE
" Two hours later I was roughly awakened by the conductor, who seized my shoulder and profanely demanded the ticket. The Negro soldiers objected to his language and action, and he left the coach muttering, 'You'll be a long time getting to New York.'
" When the train stopped in Newport the conductor came back with two MPs. I was taken off the train and rushed to the City Hall where local officials aroused from bed, charged me with intoxication, disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace and using profane language.
I was cursed and reviled by these officials and manhandled on an alleged excuse for searching my person for weapons. I was kept in a small filthy cell until 4:30 A.M., and then released on bail after they took $25 and a $100 War Bond from my purse. The next morning when I appeared at court for a hearing the charges were dropped, the case dismissed, and my money and bond returned."

Black Buzz News Service reports that there is no further information about this egregious racist insult to Ms. Odette Harper, but our investigation will continue.
Black Americans have been subjected to millions of documented and undocumented examples of brutally racist oppressive acts similar to Ms. Harper's in the USA from the Jim Crow era to the present.
Note slavery is a separate period and has to be treated entirely different than any other era in American history.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

How civil rights movement overshadowed abuse of women

Black Buzz News Service
Nantucket, Rhode Island
September 9, 2010

Article from "the GRIO"

By Danielle L. McGuire
8:40 AM on 09/07/2010

In 2008, the Department of Justice received over $1 million to pursue racially-motivated crimes committed during the Civil Rights era. However, the bill, known as the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act, only allowed the Justice Department to investigate "crimes that resulted in a death." By limiting the scope of the bill, the Justice Department and other organizations focus almost exclusively on racial crimes committed against African-American men--a focus, the New York Times recently noted, that had not yielded significant prosecutions. Unfortunately, the crimes committed against black women during Jim Crow often remain unsolved and worse, unknown. Perhaps Congress should revise the bill and allow the Justice Department to investigate the flipside of lynching and racialized murder: the rape of black women.

On September 3, 1944, a carload of white men abducted Recy Taylor, a slender, copper-colored twenty-four-year-old mother and sharecropper as she walked home from church in Abbeville, Alabama. The six men drove her to a lonely wooded area outside of town and gang-raped her at gunpoint. When they finished, someone blindfolded her and shoved her back into the car. Back on the highway, the men stopped and ordered Taylor out of the car. "Don't move until we get away from here," one of them yelled. Taylor heard the car disappear into the night. She pulled off the blindfold, got her bearings, and began the long walk home.

That night she told her husband, her father, and the local sheriff what happened. A few days later, a telephone rang at the NAACP branch office in Montgomery, Alabama. E.D. Nixon, the local president, promised to send his best investigator to Abbeville. Her name was Rosa Parks.

Parks met with Taylor shortly after the attack, and with black activists in Montgomery, Birmingham, and New York, organized the "Committee for Equal Justice for Mrs. Recy Taylor." Together, they launched what the Chicago Defender called the "strongest campaign to be seen in a decade."

Despite garnering national and international attention for nearly a year, Taylor's assailants were never punished for what they did. Two all-white, all-male juries refused to indict the men despite the fact that they admitted to kidnapping and having sex with Taylor. Their admissions are part of a trove of evidence sitting in a box in the Alabama Department of Archives and History, yet there has been no movement to reopen Taylor's case or any old racially-motivated rape cases.

The kidnapping and rape of Recy Taylor was not unusual in the segregated South. The sexual exploitation of black women by white men had its roots in slavery, but continued, often unpunished, through the better part of the twentieth century. White men lured black women and girls away from home with promises of steady work and better wages; attacked them on the job; abducted them at gun-point while traveling to or from home, work or church; raped them as a form of retribution or to enforce rules of racial and economic hierarchy; sexually humiliated and assaulted them on streetcars and buses, in taxi cabs and trains, and other public spaces.

African-American women reclaimed their bodies and their humanity by testifying about their assaults. Their testimonies spilled out in letters to the Justice Department and appeared on the front pages of the nation's leading black newspapers. By deploying their voices as weapons in the wars against white supremacy, whether in the church, the courtroom, or in congressional hearings, African-American women loudly resisted what Martin Luther King, Jr. called the "thingification" of their humanity.

Decades before radical feminists in the Women's Movement urged rape survivors to "speak out," African-American women's public protests galvanized local, national and even international outrage and sparked larger campaigns for racial justice and human dignity. Yet analyses of rape and sexualized violence play little or no role in most histories of the civil rights movement, presenting it as a struggle between black and white men--the heroic leadership of Martin Luther King confronting intransigent white supremacists like "Bull" Connor".

However, the civil rights movement is also rooted in African-American women's long struggle against sexual violence. The stories of black women who fought for bodily integrity and personal dignity hold profound truths about the sexualized violence that marked racial politics and African-American lives during the modern civil rights movement. If we understand the role rape and sexual violence played in African Americans' daily lives and within the larger freedom struggle, we have to reinterpret, if not rewrite, the history of the civil rights movement.

In addition to solving decades-old racially motivated murders, the Justice Department and other organizations committed to prosecuting Civil Rights-era crimes should consider reopening Recy Taylor's and other black women's cases that have languished all these years. After all, there is no statute of limitation for rape in many states and these brave women, a number of whom are still alive, deserve equal justice.

At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance--A New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power (Knopf, September 2010) by Danielle L. McGuire is a groundbreaking new work of history that reinterprets the Civil Rights Movement in terms of the sexualized violence and rape that marked race relations in America for centuries.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Map Plans to Reorganize Activities of Hill City Municipality: Director Outlines Program

BLACK BUZZ NEWS SERVICE
Saunders & Robinson Archives
The James S. Robinson Jr. Project
Pittsburgh PA.
September 8, 2010

The article titled Map Plans to Reorganize Activities if Hill City Municipality, Director Outlines Program appeared in The Pittsburgh Courier on Saturday, January 5, 1946.

Director Outlines Program

Launching a new eight-point program designed to intensify the fight against crime and juvenile delinquency and raise the standard of living in the slum areas of the Hill District, James S. Robinson, director of Hill City Municipality, made a plea for public support and cooperation this week. According to official reports, the Board of Directors and administration staff of the organization have been laying the foundation for such a reorganization movement for the past two years.
The present building has been renovated and equipped adequately and according to the director, Hill City is now prepared to tackle the job of crime prevention on a much larger scale. Although the agency is sponsored through the Friendly Service Bureau, Pittsburgh Department of Public Safety, the varied program of activities is supported through private and group donations.

Program Outlines

The new eight point program has been outlined as follows :
(1) To reorganize Hill City with all its departments and bureaus. (2) To organize crime prevention and good conduct clubs throughout the community, such clubs to be supervised by by parents of the members.
(3) To sponsor inter-neighborhood affairs for the purpose of creating better understanding among the people in the community.
(4) To hold regular meetings of the leaders of these groups for the purpose of improving the neighborhood programs.(5) To cooperate with other agencies in increasing supervised recreational activities in the community.
(6) To encourage self government among youth. (7) To meet individual needs, so far as may be possible, by referring these persons to the agency which can supply the need. (8) To establish and conduct a program for rehabilitation of borderline delinquents.
The director has indicated that in order to promote this expanding program it will be necessary to hire two part-time workers, one home visitor and an instructor for arts and crafts. Other activities may be conducted through volunteer assistants, Mr. Robinson pointed out.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

WAHOO BUZZ : Two Distinguished Graduates of the Univerisity Of Virginia, James Farrior and Heath Miller Are Named Co-Captains of the Steelers

BLACK BUZZ SPORTS NEWS
Running Deer, Virginia
September 7, 2010

WAHOO BUZZ

For the seventh consecutive season, University of Virginia graduate James Farrior was named as the sole captain of the famous Pittsburgh Steelers defense.
Another UVA graduate, Heath Miller was chosen as one of the offensive captains of the Steelers along with the University of Georgia grad Hines Ward. The former Dawg, Hines Ward will enter his sixth consecutive captaincy of the men from the Steel City.
Farrior and Miller have been class acts both on and off the field while playing for the historic Pittsburgh Steeler franchise. These two men are also excellent role models for our youth and are invaluable assets to the entire University of Virginia community and their respective families.
Linebacker Keyaron Fox was voted by his teammates as Captain of the Steelers' special teams.

Congratulations are extended to head UVA football coach, Mike London/staff and his Virginia Cavaliers in defeating the University of Richmond Spiders by a score of 34-13.
Hopefully this Cavalier victory over the tough Richmond team is the start of a new beginning in resurrecting the legendary University of Virginia football program.

WAHOO ! WAHOO ! WAHOO !

Monday, September 6, 2010

The hard lesson about bullying

Black Buzz News Service
Marblehead, Massachusetts
September 6, 2010

BOSTON Herald

Schools alone can’t stop it

By James Alan Fox
Wednesday, September 1, 2010 - Added 6 days ago

With the start of the school year upon us, bullying will undoubtedly resurface as a troubling issue for students as well as parents, teachers and administrators. The concern is no longer just whether Johnny can read, but whether Johnny can do so without ridicule.

Of course, the state has taken legislative action, requiring that all schools become pro-active in teaching students to be civil to one another and to respect diversity and difference. But there is no MCAS on that.

Aspects of the new state regulations do make sense. School personnel, from principals to food preparers, need to be trained in how better to recognize and respond to troublesome behavior. And schools should be required to develop and implement clear protocols for reporting possible abuses.

However, civility and respectfulness cannot just be imposed by administrative decree. Nor can they be achieved merely through classroom instruction. The school climate must be amenable to changing norms surrounding intimidation. Respect for others must be practiced by school personnel, not preached as part of the curriculum. As always, actions speak loudest.

Regardless of the approach, it remains extremely challenging to convince bullies that their actions may be disadvantageous for them. Too often bullies benefit from their use of power over weaker classmates. Not only do they acquire some tangible outcome, such as their victim’s lunch money or personal property, but they are typically admired for their strength and supremacy.

Contrary to the common stereotype that bullies are unhappy, unsuccessful misfits attempting to compensate with their fists, those who rule the hallways are typically seen as cool and accomplished. Based on responses from nearly 400 middle school students, researchers at the University of Virginia observed that bullies were overwhelmingly considered to be the more popular students in class.

The popularity of bullies was particularly pronounced among female students - the “Mean Girl” phenomenon. No matter what we say, the benefits that some youngsters derive from harassing weaker and more vulnerable classmates can sometimes be too gratifying to be so easily discouraged.

Moreover, the personal gratification experienced by bullies may not just be social, but appears to have a biological basis as well. A University of Chicago study compared brain scans from teenage boys with aggressive conduct disorders along with a group of non-aggressive adolescents as they watched a video of someone inflicting pain upon another person. The aggressive subjects responded with increased activity in the pleasure-sensing portion of the brain; the comparison group showed no such reaction.

The problem of bullying and its solution goes well beyond the walls of little red schoolhouses. In our competitive culture, bullies frequently win. We worship athletes (from pee wee to pro) who taunt their opponents. In the workplace, managers are often rewarded for manipulating subordinates. And many of our politicians capture votes by bullying (“challenging”) their rivals with tough-sounding, “bring it on” rhetoric.

Efforts to combat school bullying will be feeble so long as we admire aggressors and pity pushovers. Sure, schools need to change, but so does society.

James Alan Fox is a criminologist at Northeastern University and author of “Violence and Security on Campus: From Preschool through College.”

U.Va. Computer Scientist One of World’s Top Young Innovators, According to MIT Technology Review

Black Buzz News Service
Charlottesville, Virginia
September 6, 2010

UVa Today
August 27, 2010 — Kim Hazelwood, assistant professor of computer science at the University of Virginia's School of Engineering and Applied Science, has been recognized by Technology Review magazine as one of the world’s top innovators under the age of 35.

The magazine, based at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, cited her work in developing a run-time adaptation tool that allows computers to rewrite software programs while they're running.

A panel of expert judges and the editorial staff of Technology Review selected Hazelwood from more than 300 nominees. The annual "TR35" list includes young researchers who are changing the world through medicine, computing, communications, nanotechnology and more.

Hazelwood's research in run-time adaptation will help to ensure that personal computers' speed and reliability improvements continue into the foreseeable future. While these consumer benefits are on the more distant horizon, computer scientists are already heavily using Hazelwood's research and software tools.

In collaboration with Intel Corp. and a team of researchers, Hazelwood helped to develop "Pin," the name of her software tool. The project has an active online community, and the tool has been downloaded more than 45,000 times by researchers, teachers and students. The research paper behind Pin has been cited more than 600 times in related academic research.

"People are using this work as the starting point for their own research in the field," Hazelwood said. "They're using it for applications ranging from cyber security to computer architecture to program analysis. Basically, anything you can imagine you'd ever like to do to a program, you can accomplish with this tool."

Traditionally, researchers looked at computers' various application and hardware layers in isolation. In contrast, run-time adaptation facilitates communication between the layers. For example, the tool allows a computer's underlying hardware layer, which is much better at detecting an overheating problem, to communicate with the operating system, which is a much better place to solve the problem.

"Each year, Technology Review selects 35 innovators under the age of 35 who we believe are transforming technology," editor-in-chief and publisher Jason Pontin said. "Discovering these amazing young men and women is one of the highlights of the year for us. We celebrate their success and look forward to their continued advancement of technology in their respective fields."

Hazelwood and the other TR35 winners for 2010 will be featured in the September/October issue of Technology Review and online at www.technologyreview.com/tr35/. In addition, the EmTech@MIT 2010 Conference, to be held Sept. 21-23 at MIT, will honor the winners with an awards ceremony and in a series of "Meet the TR35" presentations.

"Pin is one of the most widely used software tools for instrumenting and understanding the performance of complex software applications," U.Va. computer science professor Jack Davidson said. "Kim and the group at Intel should be applauded for making this extremely useful tool available for use by the computer science research community."

"In addition to being a high-achieving young faculty member, Kim is a great role model for women graduate students in computer science," said Mary Lou Soffa, professor and chair of the Department of Computer Science. "Her research strengthens our department and U.Va. and helps to inspire other young women who would like to follow a similar path."

Past TR35 honorees at U.Va. include Shayn Peirce-Cottler, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, and Richard Kent, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering.

Additional information about past and present TR35 winners and judges is available at www.technologyreview.com/tr35/.