Voices In Color

Today's Black Fact

On this day in 1983, two African American women, Alice Walker and Gloria Naylor, win American Book Awards for fiction.

Bell's Fiancee: 'They Killed Sean All Over Again'

A day after three New York police detectives were acquitted on all counts in the case of Sean Bell -- an unarmed man killed in a hail of 50 police gunshots -- his fiancee told supporters that the justice system let her down.

"On April 25, 2008, they killed Sean all over again," Nicole Paultre Bell told supporters at a rally organized by the Rev. Al Sharpton.

"That's what it felt like to us," she said Saturday. "Yesterday, they -- the justice system -- let me down. I gave them the benefit of the doubt. I'm still praying for justice, because it's not over. It's far from over."

Bell spoke after Sharpton criticized the judge who acquitted the three officers, saying the case should have been heard by a jury.

"If people are on the public payroll, doing their public duty, they should be required to face a public jury," Sharpton said at the National Action Network headquarters.

The officers chose to have a judge decide the case instead of a jury.

Read more: CNN.com

Sharpton Vows To 'Close This City' After Officer Acquittals

Hundreds of angry people marched through Harlem on Saturday after the Rev. Al Sharpton promised to "close this city down" to protest the acquittals of three police detectives in the 50-shot barrage that killed a groom on his wedding day and wounded two friends.

"We strategically know how to stop the city so people stand still and realize that you do not have the right to shoot down unarmed, innocent civilians," Sharpton told an overflow crowd of several hundred people at his National Action Network office in the historically black Manhattan neighborhood. "This city is going to deal with the blood of Sean Bell."

Sharpton was joined by the family of 23-year-old Sean Bell — a black man — and a friend of Bell who was wounded in the 2006 shooting outside a Queens strip club. Two of the three officers charged were also black.

The rally at Sharpton's office was followed by a 20-block march down Malcolm X Boulevard and then across 125th Street, Harlem's main business thoroughfare, where some bystanders yelled out "Kill the police!"

Fifty of the marchers carried white placards bearing big black numbers for each of the police bullets fired at Bell and his friends.

Sharpton urged people to return for a meeting this coming week "to plan the day that we will close this city down" with the kind of "massive civil disobedience" once led by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Read more: The Associated Press

Obama Pastor: I Had Death Threats

Racial divisions loomed over the Democratic race last night as Senator Barack Obama's controversial pastor Reverend Jeremiah Wright admitted his church has received bomb threats.

Wright, whose fiery sermons on America and race relations have stirred anger among some critics, has re-emerged into the headlines just as Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton kick off 10 days of campaigning in Indiana.

In his first interview since videos of Wright preaching began a storm of recrimination, Wright was asked by PBS journalist Bill Moyers if he had received death threats. 'Yes ... and bomb threats at the church,' Wright replied. 'What have we gotten into here? People ... telling us how they are going to wipe us off the face of the earth in the name of Jesus.' He also described how journalists had been harassing church members, including one who was dying in a hospice.

In the lengthy interview, Wright defended his criticisms of America, which included saying: 'Not God Bless America, God damn America.' He said his remarks had been misinterpreted by the media and defended his church's record in helping Chicago's poor.

Wright has undoubtedly been the biggest thorn in Obama's side during his campaign to be America's first black president. The controversy derailed Obama's plans to run a 'post-racial' campaign and forced him into a landmark speech on race in America. That was aimed at settling the issue, but since then the contest has become increasingly racially polarised.

Read more: Guardian.co.uk

Black Is Finally In Fashion At Vogue

It's an open secret in the fashion industry: black models rarely get jobs on catwalks, in magazines and on billboards. According to executives, they do not inspire women to spend money.

Apart from Naomi Campbell in one Louis Vuitton advertisement this season, it would be difficult to find a single black model in a prominent position in a magazine. Carole White of the Premier Model Agency says she has received casting briefs requesting "no ethnics" and adds: "According to magazines, black models don't sell."

The leading British photographer Nick Knight says: "The fashion industry and the advertising industry are steeped in racism. You just have to look around at the number of black girls you see in ads – virtually nil. Among the main fashion brands, they are completely under-represented. It's shocking and atrocious."

Mr Knight blames business people at the top of the industry. A common attitude among them, he says, is that black models are "not aspirational" or "don't sell in Asia". He goes on: "I have tried to redress the balance. It is enormously important to use black models and models of different ethnic backgrounds."

Now a counterattack to the racism of the fashion industry is coming from an unlikely source: Vogue Italia. The July issue of the fearsomely cutting-edge quarterly will feature black models almost exclusively, shot by the photographer Steven Meisel.

Franca Sozzani, editor-in-chief of Vogue Italia, told The Independent on Sunday: "We are using a lot of black models, like Iman, not only the models of today – a lot of different girls." Asked why she had decided to do this, she said: "Because nobody is using black girls. I see so many beautiful girls and they were complaining that they are not used enough."

Read more: The Independent

Today's Black Fact

On this day in 1918, Ella Fitzgerald, the "First Lady of Song," is born.

3 Detectives Acquitted in Bell Shooting

Three detectives were found not guilty Friday morning on all charges in the shooting death of Sean Bell, who died in a hail of 50 police bullets outside a club in Jamaica, Queens.

Justice Arthur J. Cooperman, who delivered the verdict in State Supreme Court, said many of the prosecution’s witnesses, including Mr. Bell’s friends and the two wounded victims, were simply not believable. “At times, the testimony of those witnesses just didn’t make sense,” he said.

While his decision prompted several supporters of Mr. Bell to storm out of the courtroom, and there were a few small scuffles outside the courthouse, by early afternoon there were no suggestions of any broader unrest around the city. Mr. Bell’s family members made no comment as they left, and they immediately drove to visit his grave at the Nassau Knolls Cemetery and Memorial Park in Port Washington.

The verdict comes 17 months to the day since the Nov. 25, 2006, shooting of Mr. Bell, 23, and his friends, Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield, outside the Club Kalua in Jamaica, Queens, hours before Mr. Bell was to be married.

Read more:  The New York Times

North Carolina TV blocks Anti-Obama Attack Ad

US television stations have refused to run a controversial Republican ad attacking Democratic candidate Barack Obama and those who support him.

The ad has been running in North Carolina, which votes along with Indiana on May 7 (Australian time) in the next contests in the marathon Democratic presidential nomination contest.

It features excerpts of the sermon by Senator Obama's former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, which exploded onto the campaign agenda last month after it appeared on the internet.  Rev. Wright is shown saying "God damn America".

The ad criticises local Democrats for endorsing Senator Obama, who it says is "just too extreme for North Carolina".  Republican nominee John McCain has distanced himself from the ad, but the state branch of the party has vowed not to pull it.

However some TV bosses have decided the ad is "offensive" - and possibly even racist, according to a report in the Charlotte Observer.

Read more:  news.com.au

Fox News Holdout Obama To Appear On Sunday Show

"Obama Watch" is coming to a close.

After several weeks of counting the days since Barack Obama promised Chris Wallace that he would appear on "Fox News Sunday" -- 772 -- the campaign agreed Thursday to an exclusive appearance this weekend.

It will be Obama's only appearance on a public affairs show, and comes five days after his defeat in the Pennsylvania primary. Wallace said Obama will be the only guest on the show, which will probably also have a segment with the regular panel.

Wallace, whose show airs on Fox Broadcasting stations coast to coast as well as Fox News Channel, started the feature in early March after multiple tries to get the Illinois senator on the program. But 772 days refers to how much time had elapsed since the 2006 Gridiron Dinner, when Obama first told Wallace that he would appear on the show. The "Obama Watch" had rankled the campaign, but Wallace said it wasn't just that that brought the candidate to the program.

"They realized they've got a problem after Pennsylvania," Wallace told the Hollywood Reporter. "In the end, they do it for their own reasons, not ours. But they realized he needs to be able to reach out to working-class, blue-collar Democrats, moderate to conservative, and that's our target audience."

Hillary Clinton has appeared on the program twice.

Read more:  Reuters Canada

Today's Black Fact

On this day in 1950, the United Negro College Fund was founded.