Ferguson, Missouri

The U.S. Justice Department has concluded that the police and city courts in , Missouri, routinely engaged in a pattern and practice of discrimination against African Americans. Despite comprising about 66 percent of the local population, African Americans accounted for 93 percent of arrests, 88 percent of incidents where force was used, 90 percent of citations and 85 percent of traffic stops. The Justice Department, which launched its report after the police killing of Michael Brown, also uncovered at least three municipal Ferguson emails containing racist language or images. "The report does not give me hope. What gives me hope is that people across America are finally waking up," says Michelle Alexander, author of the best-selling book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. "There is a system of racial and social control in communities of color across America. … What we see now is that we do have the power to make things change. The question is are we going to transition from protest politics to long-term, strategic movement building?”

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Pressure Points

Pressure points are vital points or weak points of the body where a blood vessel or a nerve is very close to the skin. Pressure on these points can cause pain, injury or even death if an atemi (blow) is applied. Only some martial arts as Hapkido, Aikido, Jujutsu, Karate, Kyusho Jutsu, and certain styles of Kung Fu include pressure points in their teachings. There are about 300 pressure points on the human body, but very few are used in martial arts. http:// www.martialartsdo.org/ articles/humanbody/ pressurepoints.php

PHYLLIS LINDA HYMAN (July 6, 1949 – June 30, 1995)

Phyllis Hyman was born in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , and grew up in St. Clair Village , the South Hills section of Pittsburgh . Born to an Italian mother, (Louise), and African-American father, (Phillip), Hyman was the eldest of seven children. Through her paternal great-grandparents Ishmael and Cassandra (Cross) Hyman, she was also the first cousin once removed of actor Earle Hyman (best known for his recurring role on The Cosby Show as Cliff's father, Russell Huxtable). After leaving Pittsburgh, her music training started at a music school. On graduation, she performed on a national tour with the group New Direction in 1971. After the group disbanded, she joined All the People and worked with another local group, The Hondo Beat. At this time, she appeared in the film Lenny (1974). She also did a two-year stint leading a band called "Phyllis Hyman and the P/H Factor". She was discovered in 1975 by...

Elizabeth Key Grinstead (b. 1630 - d. c. after 1665)

Elizabeth Grimstead was one of the first women of African ancestry in the North American colonies to sue for her freedom from slavery and win. Elizabeth Key won her freedom and that of her infant son John Grinstead on July 21, 1656 in the colony of Virginia. She sued based on the fact that her father was an Englishman and that she was a baptized Christian . Based on these two factors, her English attorney and common-law husband William Grinstead argued successfully that she should be freed. The lawsuit in 1655 was one of the earliest " freedom suits " by a person of African ancestry in the English colonies. In response to Key's suit and other challenges, in 1662 the Virginia House of Burgesses passed a law that the status of children born in the colony would follow the status of the mother, "bond or free", rather than the father, as had been the precedent in English common law and was the case in England. This was the...

Enlightened Free Thinking Nubian Kings And Queens

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