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London commemorates Paul Robeson
LONDON - Paul Robeson, the deep-voiced American
singer and pioneering civil rights activist, was honored last
week at the north London home where he lived from 1929 to
J 1930.
> The singer Dame Cleo Laine unveiled a blue plaque from
the preservation group English Heritage which has been
attacnea 10 ine nouse in orancn mil,
Hampstead.
Robeson, who was one of the first
I black performers to gain international
renown, is probably best known for his
rendition of the haunting "OI' Man
River" from the musical'"Showboat."
His success, at a time when racial seg
Iregation was still legal in the United
States, gave him a platform to introduce
the world to serious black music and his
civil rights agenda.
Through his performances and rally
i W&es&sk
Robeson
ing broadcasts, Robeson became a lead
J ing figure in campaigns against fascism, colonialism and
racism.
?' He picketed the White House, started a crusade against the
! lynching of blacks and protested against segregation in concert
J halls. Blacklisted during the McCarthy era for his political
? beliefs, he died in 1976.
"Paul Robeson's name should be lauded in America and the
world, as is Dr. Martin Luther King's," Laine said.
Robeson's son, Paul Jr.. welcomed the honor, saying it was
"an appropriate symbolic recognition of a significant period of
my father's artistic and political growth in London.
Original Black Panthers may sue imitation
group to protect their name and legacy
A handful of the remaining members from the original
Black Panther Party - in an effort to preserve thgir legacy -
have retained a trademark lawyer to stop the use of their name
by the New Black Panther Party.
Bobby Seale, David Hilliard, Elaine Brown and Huey P.
Newton's widow, Fredrika, claim that the New Black Panther
Party tarnishes their controversial legacy. They condemn the
new group as a racist and anti-Semitic nuisance.
"They have hijacked our name and are
mjacKing our nisiory. oeaie ioiu
reporters. "We have to claim it back."
The Southern Poverty Law Center, a
civil rights organization, includes the New
Black Panther Party along with the Ku
Klux Klan and Neo-Nazis in its annual list
of hate groups in the United States.
New Black Panther Party chairman
Malik Zulu Shabazz has publicly made
anti-Semitic comments on television. The
United States and Israel are "the number -
one and two terrorists right now on the
planet," Shabazz has said. "The European
Seale
Jews have America under control - lock, stock and barrel - the
media, foreign policy."
While the original Black Panther Party had a controversial
and extremist past, it also was involved in community service
campaigns. The party served 200,000 hot breakfasts daily for
schoolchildren, provided 1 million tests for sickle-cell anemia
and printed weekly newspapers with a 200,000 circulation.
It is unclear what community service activities the New
Black Panther Party engages in.
Shabazz said his organization is not racist or anti-Semitic
and claims that Seale and Hilliard are being manipulated into
| pursuing the suit.
Dick Gregory and others are arrested for
fighting for access at Churchill Downs
i
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Comedian and civil rights activist
Dick Gregory was among five people charged with trespassing
during a protest last Thursday at Churchill Downs.
ine justice Resource denier anu a
Churchill Downs official said the protest
stemmed from a disagreement over levels
of minority hiring for a construction proj
ect at the track.
The track is in the midst of a $26 mil
lion first phase of a massive renovation
The entire project is expected to cost
$121 million.
The five arrested included the Rev.
Louis Coleman, director of the Justice
Resource Center. Racetrack officials
? I ? Ml
Gregory
canea ponce arter me protest moved onto
I the track's property and the demonstrators refused to leave an
area near the track's offices.
April Cooper, an administrative assistant with the Justice
Resource Center, a civil-rights group, said the protest was over
"a lack of African-American contractors" on Churchill's con
struction site.
John Asher, a Churchill Downs spokesman, said of $18.5
million in contracts that have been let for the project, contracts
totaling $2.9 million have gone to minority contractors.
"A goal of ours from the start has been to get the highest
possible participation by minority contactors, vendors and sup
pliers," Asher said. "We're pretty pleased."
A small group of protesters has been demonstrating across
from Churchill Downs almost daily for about a week.
Asher said police were called last Thursday after the group
attempted to force its way into the track's offices.
Alicia Smiley, a police spokeswoman, said the protesters
were arrested without incident. Gregory. Coleman and three
others - Mattie Jones, Mattie Mathis and Roosevelt Roberts -
were all released on their own recognizance last Thursday.
- Compiled from stuff and wire reports
1 I
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Brothers memorialized; questions linger
BY PAULWILBORN
THE ASSOC IATED PRESS,
LOS ANGELES - Former
NBA player Bison Dele and his
brother were memorialized Sat
urday by friends and family
members, as investigators strug
gled to discover what happened
on their ill-fated sailing trip last
July in the South Pacific.
Authorities in French Polyne
sia have gathered most of the
clues they expect to find about
the deaths of Dele, 33. and two
sailing companions.
Only one person survived the
voyage - Dele's 36-year-old
brother Miles Dabord, whom
French authorities have implicat
ed in the deaths.
Dabord, however, died in a
San Diego-area hospital Sept. 25,
;a day after he was disconnected
from life support. He had been
found unconscious days earlier in
Tijuana.
His mother. Patricia Phillips,
said he slipped into a coma after
overdosing on insulin and failing
to take his asthma medicine.
"They left us in such an
untimely, mysterious and unex
plainable manner," said the Rev.
Eugene Marzette of Trinity Bap
tist Church. "The fact of the mat
ter is, only God knows the truth."
Dele changed his name from
Brian Williams. to honor his
Native American herilage. He
played for several teams in the
NBA, including the Chicago
Bulls' 1996-97 championship
team, and walked away from a
$35 million contract with the
Detroit Pistons in 1999.
Authorities in French Polyne
r*. ibtmI?^ i
Photo hv Hons Walker/KRT
Bison Dele drives by Washington's Terry Davis in 1999 dur
ing his days as a Detroit Piston.
sia believe that Dele, his girl
friend. Serena Karlan, and the
boat's skipper, Bertrand Saldo,
were killed July 7 off a tiny,
remote island in the South Pacif
ic. But details of the incident
remain a mystery.
Pictures of Dele and his
brother, previously known as
Kevin Williams, flanked the altar
at the church. Matching tables
draped in black were adorned
with white lilies and held photos
of the brothers growing up.
A program distributed at the
service featured a picture of the
two brothers together as young
sters, with the words "TVo broth
ers. Ttoo loved. Two missed."
"They were brothers in life
and brothers in death, different as
two sides of a coin," said family
friend Lewis Merrick.
Phillips asked mourners to
hold on to the happy memories of
her sons.
"We live in such a dark time.
My sons are dead because we live
in such a dark time," she said.
The service was attended by
about 250 people, with no
notable NBA players in atten
dance. Other speakers described
the two brothers as intelligent and
athletic and discounted media
references of jealously between
them.
"It's a memorial for family
and friends to remember both of
their lives," said Fred Turner, a
cousin of the two men.
Simmons rallies for Senate hopeful Kirk
BY APRIL CASTRO
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DALLAS - Hip-hop
impresario Russell Simmons
wants to see Ron Kirk in the
U.S. Senate.
So on Saturday, the godfa
ther of hip-hop culture used
his imposing power to encour
age the hip-hop community to
vote for Kirk in the Nov. 5
election.
Simmons, a New York
native who founded Def Jam
Records, chose Dallas for his
third Hip-Hop Summit, large
ly in an effort to support
Kirk's bid for U.S. Senate.
'"It's a race we can win and
it's one of the most important
races coming up now," Sim
mons said after addressing a
throng of young would-be
musicians for a get-out-the
vote rally. "And it's a hell of a
statement for the whole coun
try."
Attendants listened eager
ly to the
messages
of Sim
m o n s ,
U.S.
Rep.
Eddie
B e r n i c e
Johnson,
D - Da 1 -
las, Dal
las-based
Kirk
rapper
D.O.C. and the Rev. Benjamin
F. Muhammad before rushing
to Simmons and his entourage
with samples of their own
music, clamoring for a Def
Jam record deal.
A local radio station
pumped Ludacris, Nelly and
Lil' Flip tunes through the
auditorium.
"He's a brother that I
know can make a difference in
this state and for this state,"
Simmons
said.
New
York and
Los
Angeles
hosted
the two
previous
summits.
"The
fact that
you have
Simmons
-ft:.. ...u,.
pcujjic in uiiicc wiiu, even
though we may not under
stand everything that's said on
those hip-hop records, at least
we know what hip-hop is and
at least we're going to answer
the phone when you call,"
Kicit said to the crowd.
"Your vote is powerful,
your vote is your voice, and
your vote can make a differ
ence in this election," he said.
Kirk, who would become
the first black elected to the
Senate from Texas, pleaded
for the vote of the young vot
ers attending the summit.
"For the first time in a
long time next January, we'll
have a U.S. Senate without
Jesse Helms without Strom
Thurmond and without Phil
Gramm," Kirk said. "This is a
once-in-a-lifetime opportuni
? ty for us. 1 need your help 1
am asking for your help."
The Hip-Hop Summit
Action Network is a nonprof
it, nonpartisan, national coali
tion of hip-hop artists, enter
tainment executives, civil
rights and community leaders,
youth and grass-roots
activists, policy-makers,
researchers and business lead
ers.
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