The AC Phoenix
January 2006
Page 19
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WILLIE GUESS
Sales Consultant
140 S. Stratford Rd
Winston-Salem
Phone 760-7000
Fax 760-7021
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People nnd Places
Black-Owned Gas Distributor Files
Discrimination Suit
Black-owned and operated DAG Petroleum Companies, based in
Washington, D.C., has recently filed a racial discrimination lawsuit
against the United Kingdom’s largest oil company, British Petroleum
(BP). DAG decided to pursue the lawsuit citing the fact that in 1999, a
BP CEO admitted his company’s long history of discriminatory prac
tices against various races. However, since that time, BP has grown to
over 14,000 gas stations in the U.S., predominantly in Black neighbor
hoods with 181 in Washington, D.C. alone, but has yet to enter into any
automotive fuel distributorship agreements with Blacks, nor has there
been any advancement for Blacks within BP management positions.
The lawsuit is seeking monetary damages and a mandate requiring BP
to create and adhere to diversity policies.
• •••••••••••••••
More Black Families Home Schooling
According to the Home School Legal Defense Association, a nation
al advocacy group, the percentage of Black home-schooling families
has been on the rise in the past 10 years, due to parents’ desires to
guide their children’s morals, inadequate teaching of Black history in
schools and the stigmatizing of Black youth, particularly boys. The
advocacy group also stated that the number of Black home-schooled
children is still low compared to a national scale of approximately 1 mil
lion, because many Black families don’t have the time or financial back
ing to conduct home school.
• •••••••••••••••
Artist Pays Tribute To Hurricanes’
Children
lndia,Arie, Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter and UNICEF
Ambassador, recently performed her new song “What About the Child”
on television mogul Tyra Banks new talk show. The Tyra Banks Show,
Dec. 7. Proceeds from the song will go to the children affected by hur
ricanes Katrina and Rita through UNICEF and the live performance is
available for download as an audio track at www.tyrashow.com.
• • ••••••••••••••
Annual Music Festival Sets Sights On
Houston
The 2006 Essence Music Festival is reportedly to take place in
Houston, Texas July 1-3 at Reliant Park, while the city of New Orleans,
LA continues rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina. Festival representa
tives say the move is temporary, and a portion of the event will be aimed
at helping the hurricane victims.
That’s ‘Officer Shaq’ To You!
Miami Heat’s star basketball player Shaquille O’Neal was recently
sworn in as a reserve police officer in Miami Beach, FL after training for
a year and will make a reported annual salary of $1. Mr. O’Neal also
served as a reserve officer in Los Angeles, while he played for the
Lakers team. As a reserve officer, which is a volunteer position, he can
still carry a gun, wear a badge and make arrests, and has expressed a
desire to work with the special victims detective unit to help stop crimes
against children.
For ourselves and anyone else who
thinks to follow the
example of Martin Luther King a
reminder:
HE BEGAN AT CHURCH