Rev. Jamal Bryant says the Black Church has been too quiet

 

By Hazel Trice Edney

Pastors of dozens of congregations across the nation will not only preach the good news of a risen savior; but they will also call for their congregants to resurrect the movement for equality and justice in America by registering to vote. A million new voters is the goal.

“I really felt like I couldn’t see or hear where the Black church was becoming engaged in the national conversation relative to the politics of America,” said the Rev. Dr. Jamal-Harrison Bryant, pastor of the 8,000-member Empowerment Temple in Baltimore, who is leading the drive. “I couldn’t hear a voice. I really felt like there was a void and our generation was really listening to hear one. And out of that I called the churches together to see what we could do collectively, realizing that there is strength in numbers.”

He continues, “You can listen to Black Radio, Christian Radio or watch Black Christian television hours on end and not hear pastors say anything of social regard. And I think that this is a call for pastors and the people back to the front lines and to get off of the side lines.”

Bryant, former NAACP National Youth and College director,  has called on his pastoral colleagues to raise their prophetic voices through the vehicle of a new non-partisan organization – The Empowerment Movement. The initiative is being birthed amidst tenuous political and social circumstances, including national debates over issues such as same sex unions, President Obama’s health care initiative and the horrendous shooting of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Fla.

Bryant, who led a Justice for Trayvon rally in Sanford last month, was elected by pastors from at least 30 different denominations as president/CEO of the new organization. They have all agreed to use their pulpits this Sunday to preach both spiritual and political empowerment.

“‘Resurrect the movement’ is the name of this weekend,” Bryant says in a telephone interview. “Since the assassination of Dr. King we’ve seen a real slump in activism in consciousness in the Black church and moreover in the Black pulpit.”

Dr. King was assassinated April 4, 1968, 44 years ago this week. He was founder of the now 57-year-old Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization now getting its footing back after several years of turmoil in leadership.

“All of the churches had been making statements singularly, but not collectively,” says the 40-year-old Bryant. “And the Black church really has not moved in a collective arm on a national level since Dr. King’s SCLC initiative. So, I think when you do something positive many times the press doesn’t pick it up. But, I think that if all of us would come together and beat the drums somebody will hear it.”

On Sunday, pastors across the nation will not only appeal for voter registration, but people will also be instructed how they can register on their cell phones and lap tops. Facebook and Twitter will also be engaged in the movement with more information found at www.Empowermentmovement.org.

Still, convincing an apathetic people to register and then actually go to the polls and vote will be a major challenge that Bryant readily acknowledges:

“I think a lot of us African-Americans think they’ve arrived into equality with a Black President and with the beacon light of billionaires like Bob Johnson or Magic Johnson or Oprah Winfrey. It gives us a false sense of security. In instances like Trayvon Martin, our wake up call, we’ve still got miles to go.”

Among the 25-30 congregations participating in the drive are AME, CME, AME Zion, Baptist, Bible Way, Church of God in Christ, Full Gospel, Gospel Music Workshop of America, United Covenant Churches, Harvest Churches, Fellowship of international Word of Faith, Church of God, according to a release.

Bryant concludes, “It is my prayer that just as the religious right has been very strategic in lifting their voice and speaking to their issues and concerns that The Empowerment Movement will really be the epicenter of social-spiritual consciousness for this generation of African Americans.”

Settlement Provides Unprecedented Access for People with Disabilities to Go to the Movies 

 

CHICAGO, IL — Attorney General Lisa Madigan today announced a landmark settlement with Illinois’ largest movie theater operator that will provide unprecedented access for people with hearing and vision disabilities.

Madigan said the settlement with AMC Theatres, based in Kansas City, Mo., will provide personal captioning services and audio-description technology for movie-goers with hearing and vision disabilities at all of its theaters and its 460 movie screens.

“This technology will allow people with disabilities to enjoy a movie right alongside their friends and families unlike ever before,” Madigan said.

Madigan was joined today at AMC River East 21, 322 E. Illinois St., by AMC representatives and disability rights supporters to detail the settlement. By 2014, AMC movie theaters will be equipped with captioning services and audio-description devices. The technology will be available to movie-goers at nearly any movie at an AMC theater and at all of a film’s listed showings.

The Attorney General’s settlement is a significant development for people living with disabilities in Illinois. Prior to the agreement, Madigan said, only 21 out of 246 movie theaters in Illinois offered closed-captioning services and only 10 offered audio-description services. The settlement arose out of concerns brought to the Attorney General’s Office in 2010 by Equip for Equality, the federally funded advocacy agency for people with disabilities in Illinois. At the time, only a small fraction of movie theaters offered the technology for only a limited number of movies and usually at showings set at off hours.

“AMC is committed to providing the best possible moviegoing experience for all of our guests, which includes the conversion to digital presentation,” said Noel MacDonald, vice president of Operations at AMC Theatres. “For the past several years we’ve worked with suppliers to develop digital assistive technologies that can be implemented on a broad scale. We’re excited that this technology allows everyone to join us at an AMC theatre. “

“Our clients are thrilled with the comprehensive agreement reached by the Illinois Attorney General and AMC,” said Amy Peterson, senior attorney for Equip for Equality. “Under the agreement, people who are deaf, hard of hearing, and blind will now be able to fully enjoy going to the movies, like all other citizens of Illinois.”

This case was handled by Madigan’s Disability Rights Bureau Chief Nicki Bazer. Madigan’s Disability Rights Bureau enforces state and federal laws that protect the rights of people with disabilities to equal access to places of public accommodation, housing, and local government programs and services.

Washington, DC - Links, Incorporated issues official statement:

 

The Links, Incorporated joins hands and hearts with the Martin family and with those who are concerned about the shooting death of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin. As an organization with a membership of more than 12,000 professional African-American women and women of African descent, in existence for 65 years, this sad occasion demands our attention. We have therefore voiced our concerns in a letter to the Attorney General of the United States, Eric Holder; the Governor of Florida, Rick Scott; the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dean Cannon; and the Florida State Attorney, Norm Wilfinger.

“Grave questions have been raised by this killing and by the legal and judicial response to the loss of life. This, in a climate where at least one national figure has cited the wearing of a hoodie by young men of color as dangerous and provocative acts,” said Margot James Copeland, national president.

Specifically, The Links position is that we are relieved that the investigation into the shooting death is no longer in the hands of local law enforcement but we are troubled that public outrage was required to ensure a constitutionally guaranteed thorough review. As troubling are police arrest videos that raise questions about assertions that Trayvon injured his assailant, prompting a self-defense; and reports that media leaks of the teen’s school records and other details of the child’s life may have emanated from the very police force that conducted that initial swift investigation.

We also note the disturbing media reports of a possible racial utterance by the shooter, said to have been captured on his 911 call, before that tragic moment. We are grateful that the United States Department of Justice is also looking at possible civil rights violations and that a Seminole County grand jury will convene April 10.

Our concerns also include whether the “Stand Your Ground” law is being applied correctly in the Martin case, when the Republican state representative who wrote the law says the legislative intent of the “Castle Doctrine,” was to protect a person in their home.

More generally, we are concerned about police and prosecutors’ interpretations of “Stand Your Ground” laws across the nation. We believe it is time for a national re-examination of whether this doctrine, ignited by the ever present issues of race and vigilantism, constitute a flawed policy to curb crime that will continue to lead to unintended consequences – and will surely lead to even more needless deaths.

We join with those who seek justice, and with the African-American community, in this national dialogue on the safety of our children and on a number of other pressing issues surrounding youth, the justice system and racial bias. In doing so, we urge our membership to add their names to the NAACP’s online letter to Florida Prosecutor Angela Corey, and to urge their friends, family, co-workers, neighbors and church members to support this call for justice as well.

The letter is at http://action.naacp.org/page/s/trayvon-letter. A link to that letter will be provided on the official Facebook page of The Links, Incorporated.

RLJ Acquisition, Inc. agrees to acquire Image Entertainment, Inc. and Acorn Media Group, Inc. to form one of the largest independent distributors of video content globally

 

The New Company will be Called RLJ Entertainment, Inc.

 

Bethesda, MD (BlackNews.com) — Robert L. Johnson, Chairman of The RLJ Companies and founder of Black Entertainment Television (BET), announced that RLJ Acquisition, Inc. (OTCQB: RLJAU; RLJA; RLJAW) (the “Company”) has entered into agreements to acquire each of Image Entertainment, Inc. (OTCQB:DISK) and Acorn Media Group, Inc., two highly complementary media businesses to create one of the largest independent distributors of digital and video content globally. The new combined company will be named RLJ Entertainment, Inc. Shares of the new company are expected to trade on the NASDAQ Stock Market. RLJ Entertainment, where Johnson will serve as Executive Chairman, and will leverage his substantial expertise in media, consumer branding, and strategic relationships to accelerate growth and drive value creation.

Under the terms of the agreements, the holders of common stock of Image Entertainment will receive from RLJ Entertainment 2,139,000 shares of common stock of RLJ Entertainment and the holders of preferred stock of Image Entertainment will receive aggregate consideration of $22,600,000, which will be paid in cash and in the form of promissory notes to the holders of preferred stock of Image Entertainment. The shareholders of Acorn Media Group will receive $105 million in cash, 1,000,000 shares of common stock of RLJ Entertainment and warrants to purchase 1,000,000 shares of common stock of RLJ Entertainment. After the completion of the business combination, the current stockholders of Image Entertainment and Acorn Media Group will own approximately 11% and 5% of RLJ Entertainment, respectively, assuming no redemptions. The current stockholders of the Company will own approximately 74% of RLJ Entertainment, assuming no redemptions.

The business combination is subject to approval of the Company’s and Image Entertainment’s respective stockholders, as well as regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions. Assuming these conditions are met, the business combination is expected to be completed by the end of the second quarter of this year.

“As Executive Chairman of RLJ Entertainment, I am looking forward to this unique business combination of Image Entertainment and Acorn Media Group,” said Johnson. “RLJ Entertainment will have a broad strategy for financial growth by providing content to all media platforms including broadcast and cable, DVD and Blu-Ray, digital downloads, and digital streaming. Image Entertainment is a leader in the urban, independent film, comedy, and horror genres and Acorn Media Group, founded by Peter Edwards, who will serve as Vice Chairman of RLJ Entertainment, is a dynamic, brand-oriented company that provides engaging British drama, such as the Agatha Christie library, to its target audiences. I am excited to work with the management team to run a company that will increase the opportunity for independent and urban-oriented producers to reach a broader audience across the expanding number of media outlets. In a growing demand for global content, RLJ Entertainment will be well positioned by having a presence in the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom,” Johnson concluded.

Image Entertainment is an integrated home entertainment company which primarily acquires and distributes entertainment programming across all media channels including digital, and is a leading independent licensee and distributor of entertainment in North America. Acorn Media Group is a leading independent distributor of British television programming to consumers in North America, and distributes in Australia and the U.K.

“I believe combining Acorn Media Group with Image Entertainment under the RLJ Entertainment brand and with Bob Johnson as Executive Chairman provides us with a more robust content library and a larger platform for continued growth,” said Ted Green, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Image Entertainment, who will serve as the Chief Executive Officer of RLJ Entertainment after the completion of the business combination.

“I am thrilled that Acorn Media Group, a company founded with a vision for British programming and a direct to consumer channel, will become part of RLJ Entertainment,” said Miguel Penella, Chief Executive Officer of Acorn Media Group. “We expect to greatly benefit from Bob Johnson’s vision as we continue to acquire library content and build Acorn TV,” he concluded.

Disclaimer

This communication shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which the offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. No offering of securities shall be made except by means of a prospectus meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

 

Says George Zimmerman must be arrested now for the sake of our democracy

   

 

Washington, DC – The National Black Church Initiative (NBCI), a faith-based coalition of 34,000 churches comprised of 15 denominations and 15.7 million African Americans morally pleads with Attorney General Eric Holder to bring justice to this egregious, racially motivated crime. The Black Church calls on those in power to recognize that a threat to American democracy is at hand unless George Zimmerman is arrested and prosecuted for murder. To not arrest George Zimmerman is to undermine the rule of law and to call Lady Justice a moral liar. Is justice blind or not?  

  “America has to make a decision here – whether it is going to embrace justice and fight to erase the racial tensions that continue to divide our nation.” says Rev Anthony Evans, President of NBCI. “The government must decide or whether it will idly stand by while African Americans continue to be the targets of unjustified violence and profiling. Bring justice to Trayvon and his family.”

 The Black community has risen up in outrage over the killing of Trayvon Martin, an innocent child who was shot down because he was simply a young black man in a hooded sweatshirt. Trayvon Martin was racially profiled, but no one saw or understood the righteousness of his soul. Trayvon Martin has exposed the dirty secret that we are not in a post racial America simply because we have elected Barack Obama to the presidency. Trayvon Martin is all of our 17 year old boys, whether black, white, Latino or other.   

  

The legal community has not moved with alacrity to find justice for Trayvon Martin. George Zimmerman represents the worst of the American soul because he arbitrarily took a life when he had no authority to do so, thus undermining God’s intention for Trayvon Martin’s life, and lighting a powder keg of racial division not seen since the ’60’s. He thought that he would be hailed as a hero for killing a young black thug, thus realizing his wicked and a sick notion of himself. There has never been a time in recent American history where our cities can go up in flames so easily because of the evil actions of one man where there is no presence of justice. The Black church condemns all violence to all people at any time, but we may be helpless if racial tensions all in this country erupt. As one of the greatest Black preachers – Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King said “Justice delayed is justice denied.” George Zimmerman is lying.

The law eloquently talks about getting down to the truth and honoring the rule of law. In this case and many others, the truth is obvious, but the will of those in power to pursue it is not. Holder claims that swift action will be taken. NBCI hopes that this is the truth, and will react with the full moral force of its 34,000 member churches if justice is not brought to Trayvon and his family soon.    

 

About NBCI

  

The National Black Church Initiative (NBCI) is a coalition of 34,000 African American and Latino churches working to eradicate racial disparities in healthcare, technology, education, housing, and the environment. NBCI’s mission is to provide critical wellness information to all of its members, congregants, churches and the public. NBCI offers faith-based, out-of-the box and cutting edge solutions to stubborn economic and social issues. NBCI’s programs are governed by credible statistical analysis, science based strategies and techniques, and methods that work. Visit our website at www.naltblackchurch.com.

CHICAGO, IL – The Women’s Business Development Center (WBDC), a nationally and internationally recognized women’s business assistance center providing services and programs that support and accelerate women’s business ownership and strengthen the impact of women on the economy, announces workshops/events for April. 

Thursday, April 12, 4:00 – 6:00 p.m., How to Get on a GSA Schedule: A Tool to Win Government Contracts (Part 1)

Description: If you want to sell to the federal government, getting on the GSA Schedule is key as it is the preferred purchasing method for many federal agencies.  This two-part workshop series will take the mystery out of the application process and provide guidelines to help you start or complete your GSA Schedule application. 

Location: Women’s Business Development Center (WBDC), 8 South Michigan Avenue, 4th Floor, Chicago, IL 60603

Cost: $25.00

Wednesday, April 18, 2:00 – 4:00 p.m., Webinar: Joint Business Counseling – How to Write Winning Proposals

Description: This dynamic session will help you determine if you should go for an RFP, what to do before writing a proposal and how to make an engaging response.  Providing real life examples, this webinar takes you from before responding to after you win!

Location: Online

Cost: Free

Tuesday, April 24, 9:00 – 11:00 a.m., Media & Marketing Strategies to Grow Your Business

Description:  TV and radio personality and entrepreneur Monique Caradine will reveal why a media and marketing strategy is the most important aspect of your business and the basics of how you can position yourself as a trusted media source and expert in your field.

Location: Women’s Business Development Center (WBDC), 8 South Michigan, 4^th Floor, Chicago, IL 60603

Cost: $30.00

For further information about these or other WBDC workshops, visit http://www.WBDC.org or call (312) 853-3477. The WBDC is headquartered at 8 S. Michigan Avenue, 4^th Floor, Chicago, Illinois 60603.

TimeLine Theatre Company, named one of the nation’s top 10 emerging professional theatres by the American Theatre Wing, founder of the Tony Awards®, presents the world premiere of My Kind of Town by John Conroy, directed by Nick Bowling, May 11 – July 29, 2012 (previews May 1 – 10) at TimeLine Theatre, 615 W. Wellington Ave., Chicago.

My Kind of Town puts a human face on the police torture scandal that has plagued Chicago for more than three decades. Veteran investigative journalist John Conroy covered the story, challenging public indifference to become one of the leading voices drawing attention to the charges. My Kind of Town is his passionate, groundbreaking new drama revolving around one imprisoned man’s fight for justice, inspired by the stories of numerous victims, police officers, prosecutors and families whose lives have been poisoned by the allegations. With interlocking storylines that humanize the play’s issues of corruption and responsibility, My Kind of Town sets the stage for a new conversation about today’s culture of law and order.

My Kind of Town is John Conroy’s first play. The script previously was developed with assistance from Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Northwestern University’s School of Law, 16th Street Theatre, Writer’s Bloc, and film and theatre director John Hancock. Early readings and development were reported on by the Chicago Reader, Time Out Chicago and The New York Times, which wrote: “In the tradition of history and morality plays … Mr. Conroy turned to theater as a means of provocation and catharsis.”

The cast of My Kind of Town features Ora Jones, A.C. Smith, Chris Boykin, Charles Gardner, Carolyn Hoerdemann, Maggie Kettering, Danica Monroe, Trinity P. Murdock and TimeLine Company Member David Parkes. Beginning June 22, TimeLine Associate Artist Mildred Marie Langford will replace Ora Jones.

“As a journalist, I’ve learned the hard way that what serves the page often doesn’t serve the stage,” Conroy said. “But I am pleased to have the opportunity to present this story in a new way, a way that might reach, provoke, and inspire audiences to examine their consciences and consider their responsibilities.”

“It has been an honor to collaborate with John Conroy over the last two years developing My Kind of Town,” Artistic Director PJ Powers said. “As a reporter John has uncovered so many painful truths about our beloved city, and he has beautifully used those stories as inspiration for a bold new play. What I admire most is that he has illuminated very complex issues of law enforcement in a way that should make every citizen question our beliefs, convictions and, ultimately, our complicity.”

My Kind of Town is supported in part by The Pauls Foundation. Additional support is provided by The Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation.

To purchase tickets or for more information, call the TimeLine Theatre Box Office at 773.281.8463 x6 or visit timelinetheatre.com.

 

By Chinta Strausberg

 

Father Michael L. Pfleger will be in Memphis Wednesday to receive the coveted “I Am A Man” award at the 12^th annual commemorative April 4^th awards banquet for his continued efforts to keep Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream alive through direct social and economic non-violence actions.

According to the April 4^th Foundation, the “I Am A Man” award is presented to those individuals who continue to strive to keep Dr. Martin Luther King’s “dream’ alive who continue to strive to keep Dr. Martin Luther King’s “dream alive and to bring it into being.”

”I am honored to be in the company of such great people who have received this award,” Pfleger. “Dr. King is the reason I am in ministry today. He has been my mentor and inspiration as to the role that church must play in transforming the world. I am humbled to be in Memphis on April 4^th the last place Dr. King spoke and stood for justice and to continue his cry for justice and equality,” said Pfleger.

“This will be a very difficult and very emotional day for me,” Pfleger told his congregation on Palm Sunday. “Dr. King is my mentor in ministry. To be walking on the same place where” King lost his life is an honor, he said.

On Wednesday, April 4^, 2012, 44-years after the assassination of Dr. King while he was standing outside of Room 306 on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, TN, Father Pfleger will receive the “I AM A MAN” award at the Cook Convention Center for his work in civil rights and for carrying on the dream and legacy of Dr. King who is his mentor. It will also be a day of some serious reflections by Pfleger that as a teenager shaped his life and his career path for the rest of his life.

August 5, 1966 was a hot and sultry day and so was the tension that hovered over Marquette Park where African Americans were not welcomed and couldn’t live. Dr. King came to Chicago to fight for open housing knowing he would be met with strong resistance from white residents of that South Side community.  He and his supporters came anyway.

While marching in that community, a rock was thrown and hit Dr. King in his head causing him to fall on one knee but though whites protesting his appearance in their neighborhood, spat on him, threw bottles, cursed him and carried signs like “King would look good with a knife in his back,” and “Keep White Neighborhoods White,” King continued his peaceful anti-housing discrimination march.

One of those watching was Pfleger, then 17 who was on his bike. What he witnessed was mindboggling. He was mesmerized by King’s resilience, his unwavering courage and his non-violence techniques in the face of extreme adversity and racial hatred.

Young Pfleger thought he knew his neighbors and friends and was shocked and ashamed at their negative and racist behavior. The scene of King marching through his all-white neighborhood and being attacked and his courage to keep marching, fighting for open housing sent Pfleger scurrying to the library to read up on everything King had done. “Who was this man”? He had asked.

After researching Dr. King, Pfleger said he put King’s pictures all over his bedroom walls, bought every record and book and became infatuated with this man of peace who always remained calm in he midst of chaos.

It was Dr. King who motivated Pfleger to become a priest and today he tries to live and teach King’s non-violent principles every day as pastor of the mostly African American Saint Sabina church and to his students at the Saint Sabina Academy.

April 4^th will be the day Pfleger will be awarded for catching and developing one piece of Dr. King’s broken dream. It will also be a day when the nation will take a trip down memory lane and remember the days of rage when blacks and whites literally put their lives on the line to fight for civil rights and social justice for African Americans not just to vote but for equal public accommodations as well.

While the nation remembers Viola Gregg Liuzzo, a white Detroit suburban housewife who was killed by the KKK while transporting marchers along a Selma highway in 1965, others will remember Jimmie Lee Jackson, a 25-year-old African American deacon who was killed by a state trooper in Marion, Alabama trying to protect his mother who was attacked by white police for marching for the right to vote.

Marion, Alabama is where Sheriff Jim Clark had arrested 700 children for marching for the right to vote, beat activist C.T. Vivian and arrested a civil rights leader charging him with contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

April 4^th will be a day when the nation remembers the three civil rights workers who were kidnapped and killed by the KKK in Philadelphia, Mississippi. James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, two Jews and a Black were murdered and buried. The town honored the code of silence until the U.S. Justice Department and the FBI stepped in offering a $30,000 reward. A tipster told them where to find their bodies.

April 4^th will be a day when the nation remembers the deaths of the four little girls, Addie Mae Collins Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley and Carol Robertson, who were killed in the bombing of the 16^th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham Alabama.  The KKK was involved in that incident.

April 4^th will remind America about the assassination of Medgar Evers, the first NAACP field secretary in Jackson Mississippi. Few will know of William Moore, a white man who held a one-man march against segregation in Attalla, Alabama. He had protested segregated move theaters in Baltimore. He walked from Chattanooga, TN to Jackson, MS to protest segregation and to ask Gov. Ross Barnett to accept integration.  He never got to Jackson because a white storeowner, who earlier had befriended Moore, shot him at close range. He was never arrested.

And, April 4^th will also be a day when few may know about the deaths of three black men, Samuel Ephesians Hammond, Delano Herman Middleton and Henry Ezekial Smith. They were students who protested segregation at a bowling alley. They wee shot down in the back by white police as they try to flee the gunfire.

And, April 4^th will remind the world of the tragic case of the unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin who was killed last February by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watchman who was told by police not to follow the youth who had been visiting his father in a gated community in Sanford, Florida and was only carrying a bag of Skittles and a can of ice tea. Today, the FBI is officially heading its own investigation. Zimmerman, who has a criminal record, has yet to be arrested. Two-weeks ago, Pfleger held worship service wearing a gray-colored hoodie in support of Martin’s family’s cry for justice.

Pfleger has called on President Barack Obama to provide assistance in reducing the violence in Chicago he equates to the genocide that went on in Darfur and Rwanda. Pfleger also denounced critics who blamed Martin’s death on his wearing a hoodie. He wants everyone to be just as outraged over black-on-black violence as they are about Trayvon Martin’s death.

Wednesday, Pfleger will recall a lot of scenes from America’s past but especially the one he witnessed when he was 17-years old—the attack on Dr. King in his own neighborhood by people he thought he knew. Pfleger has vowed to continue to carry out Dr. King’s social and economic agenda until the day he dies and challenges others to follow suit.

Pfleger is proud to take King’s messages throughout the nation especially to Howard University when he frequently speaks and other colleges around the nation.  Pfleger even takes King’s non-violence principles to the gangs that are wreaking havoc on the community when he meets with them face-to-face. He offers them the alternatives of peace and jobs rather than their bullets and murder.

In the spirit of Dr. King, Pfleger has even asked the Chicago Board of Education to teach conflict-resolution courses. To Pfleger, that is one of Dr. King’s initiatives and one that could help stem the rise of violence in the black community.

In getting the “I Am A Man” award, Father Pfleger will be joining past recipients like his friend, actor Harry Belafonte and others like: Judge Joe Brown, former President William “Bill” Clinton, Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), former Rep. Harold Ford, Sr. (D-TN), Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), former Southern Christian Leadership Council (SCLC) President Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery; William “Bill: Lucy with the American Federal Sate County Municipal Employees (AFSCME) union, Rep. Bobby L. Rush (D-1^st), Congresswoman Maxine Water (D-CA), and Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Chinta Strausberg is a Journalist of more than 33-years, a former political reporter and a current PCC Network talk show host. You can e-mail Strausberg at: Chintabernie@aol.com.

CHICAGO, IL – For this holiday weekend of Easter and Passover, Chicago Detours is offering extra opportunities for families to get together downtown and engage with the city. The “Inside the Loop” interior architectural tour has an extra tour scheduled for Saturday at 1:30pm and this weekend marks the launch of the new Good Times Historic Bar Tour. 

The “Inside the Loop” architectural walking tour appeals to guests all of ages with its interactive dynamic, shared use of iPads, and lively tour guides. This tour, which is offered year-round, works great with Chicago’s unexpected weather conditions as the majority of the tour takes place in the comfort of the indoors.