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February 17, 2005
National World
Bush marks black history month with appeal to end bigotry
By DEB RIECHMANN
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP)
— President George W.
Bush, whose relationship
with black lawmakers has
been strained over the
last four years, told black
leaders Tuesday that the
United States cannot
carry freedom abroad
while holding “the bag
gage of bigotury” at
home.
Bush welcomed black
leaders to the White
House to celebrate black
history month.
“Success of freedom on
the home front is critical
to its success in foreign
lands,” Bush said. “As |
said in my inaugural
National praise
MARGOT L. JORDAN
mfly ial to the N'IJPA
NEW YORK (NNPA) -
“Our Father, who art in heav
en, hallowed be thy name...”
So began the rich, command
ing voice of beloved actor and
activist Ossie Davis. It is fitting
that the actor spoke those
words at what was to be one of
his last New York area public
. Last week, while
';Pt(b&iion in Miami for the
film “Retirement,” actor Ossie
Davis took his last bow.
According to his son Guy,
Davis was found dead at his
Miami Beach hotel. Ar press
time, no cause of death had
been determined however, his
son stated that Mr. Davis
recently recovered from pneu
monia and had a history of
heart problems. On Monday,
Feb. 7 Spike Lee paid tribute
to Ossie Davis along with
Denzel Washington and other
notables at The Schomberg
Center.
Services were held Friday,
Feb. 11 at the Riverside
Church, 490 Riverside Drive,
also in Harlem. Rev. James
Forbes, pastor of Riverside
Church, and the Reverend
Calvin O. Buus 111, pastor of
Abyssinian Baptist Church,
where Mr. Davis was a mem
ber, presided over an ecumeni
cal service.
At the recent January 12th
Nonviolence urged to get L.A. police reforms
By KEVIN HERRERA
Special to the NNPA
LOS ANGELES (NNPA)
— Black clergy and commu
nity activists are calling on
African- Americans to
channel their rage into eco
nomic boycotts and other
forms of nonviolent protest,
in an effort to force Chief
William J. Bratton and the
Policc Commission to
immediately make reforms
and punish the officers
involved in the videotaped
beating of Stanley Miller
and the shocking shooting
death of 13-year-old Devin
Brown.
At a highly-emotional
community empowerment
summit held last week at
Bethel AME Church, reli
gious leaders from various
faiths came together to urge
address, we cannot carry
the message of freedom
and the baggage of big
otry at the same time.”
Bush noted legislation
he signed in 2003 to cre
ate the National Museum
of African American His
tory and Culture within
the Smithsonian Institu
tion. The president and
his wife, Laura, con
tributed an undisclosed
amount to construction
of the museum.
“It’'s important that our
children know that there
was a time in their
nation’s history when
olie ia every seven
human beings was the
property of another,” he
said.
{ l ‘
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Ossle Davis
festivities for Rev. Herbert
Dan‘lf,htry (at the Brooklyn
Academy of Music), Ossie
Davis' delivered the Lord’s
Prayer with reverence and
class. He introduced the actor
Delroy Lindo, who proudly
stated that “Ossie Davis was
the reason that I became an
actor.
Ossie Davis leaves us with a
lasting legacy that has inspired
many in all walks of life. His
first major role was that of
husbancf, lover, partner and
co-star with his dove, actress
Ruby Dee. As an actor Ossie
Davis made his mark on the
television, stage and screen. As
an activist.t?%;ie Davis used
his influence to challenge
racial injustice. From modest
beginnings in Cogdell, Geor
&mßajgni Chatman Davis
e known to the world as
Ossie Davis. Seems that his
infuriated members of the
community not to riot fol
lowing the death of Brown,
who was shot multiple
times by police early after
leading officers on a brief
car chase that ended near
83rd Street and Western
Avenue when Brown, an
eighth-grader and at
Audubon Middle School,
backed the car he was driv
ing into a police cruiser,
prompting officers to shoot.
That incident, along with
District Attorney Steve
Cooley’s decision not to
prosecute the officer who
beat Miller with a flashlight
during an arrest, and last
month’s $1.6 million jury
award to former Inglewood
officer Jeremy Morse, have
triggered disgust in the
Black community for law
enforcement, which some
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President George Bush
He added that bigotry
and discrimination did
not end with slavery.
for Ossie Davis
mother’s pronunciation of his
initials “R.C.” was mistaken as
Ossie. Mr. Davis was attracted
to reading Shakespeare while
growing up. Inspired to be a
writer, he attended Howard
University before joining
Harlem’s Rose McClendon
Players as an actor. He conun
ued to perfect his writing
while handling all manners of
chores with this theater group.
By 1946 Broadway became
a reality; as Davis' made his
debut in “Jeb.” This produc
tion also marked the Broad
way debut of his co-star actress
Ruby Dee. The couple often
worked together on various
productions including “On
Strivers Row, “ in 1940. Wed
ding bells rang for Ossie &
Ruby in 1948. They tied the
knot; in New Jersey during the
play The Smile of the World.
This dynamic couple eventu
ally made their home in New
Rochelle, NY. Cognizant of
racial inequalities, Davis and
Dee championed relationships
with Dr. E. B. Dußois and
actor/ singer Paul Robeson, A
Philip Randolph and Jackie
Robinson. Mr. Davis por
trayed . According to the book
This Life,” Malcolm X was a
friend and a brother to the
couple. A prior engagement
pulfzd them away from
attending the Audubon Ball
room rally where Malcolm
lost his life. In Spike Lee's film,
say surpasses the level of
frustration and despair felt
after the Rodney King ver
dict that lead to the 1992
civil unrest.
The sense of hopelessness
and anger led many black
leaders to fear that a riot
could break out in South
Los Angeles at any
moment, even as Bratton
moved quickly to release a
new policy on officers
shooting into moving vehi
cles, which he plans to pres
ent to the Police Commis
sion.
“We have been sent a
message that we cannot get
justice,” said Minister Tony
Muhammad, western repre
sentative for the Nation of
Islam. “It is a messed up
message to young people
who are going to start tak
ing justice into their own
“Americans were still
barred by law from
hotels and restaurants,
Malcolm X; the distinctive
voiceover by Ossie Davis
echoes his moving eulogy. It
was a case of art imitating life
as Davis gave this now famous
eulogy more than two decades
before. Sadly, Ossie Davis
would have to give the eulogy
for another slain civil rights
leader; Dr Martin Luther
King, Jr.
According to activist Elombe
Brath; it speaks volumes
that Ossie’ Pavi§ was “not
afraid to “say that he was a
believer in the teachings of
Malcolm X as well as Rev.
Dr. Martin Luther, King, Jr.
Brath also recalled Ossie’s
guest appearance on a two
part Like It Is TV srccial on
Liberia. Brath related to
host Gil Noble that Ossie
Davis had served World
War Il as a medical techni
cian in Liberia. Viewers
witnessed Ossie Davis as a
politically astute guest on
the then heated situation in
Liberia. He was a regular
guest on New York radio
too, taking time to speak
with listeners of 98.7 Kiss
FM’s Jeff Foxx and Bob
Slade or radio legend
Imhotep Gary ByrcF of
WBLS FM. Never waiting
for a phone call from Holly
woocf or Broadway “to go to
work.” Ossie Davis stayed
See Davis, page 7A
hands. We are now going to
have a problem between the
black community and the
police, where there is
already tension. We could
have an all out war
“I say they shouldn’t do
that,” Muhammad added.
“What we need to do, is
rally and come together to
show the world that here is
a democratic society that
prides itself on giving others
human rights, but not here
at home. We go and beat up
dictators all around the
world, but we can't get jus
tice here in America.”
Los Angeles Urban League
President John Mack, who
served on Mayor James. K
Hahn’s committee on the
Miller arrest, said he knows
there are a lot of “mad peo
ple out there who are hurt,”
but violence is not the
made to drink from sepa
rate water fountains,
forced to sit in the back
of a bus -all because of
the color of their skin,”
he said. “We need to
teach them about the
heroes of the civil rights
movement, who by their
courage and dignity
forced America to con
front the central defect
of our founding.”
Those who attended
the event included
Dorothy Height, 92,
who spent 30 years as the
president of the National
Council of Negro
Women; members of the
original Tuskegee Air
men, a group of minority
pilots who excelled in
Lerone Bennett
retires from Ebony
Special to the NNPA
from the Chicago Defender
CHICAGO (NNPA) -
Lerone Bennett, the longtime
executive editor of Ebony Mag
azine, has retired and been
named executive editor emeri
tus, company officials say.
Bennett, who has worked in a
variety of positions at Jbeny for
52 years, will continue to write
several artdes a year for the
nation’s largest black magazine.
A company spokeswoman
said Bennett is on a Black His
tory Month tour and will be
unavailable for comment untl
later this week.
The release stated that "Ebony
managing editors Lynn Nor
ment and Walter Leavy have
assumed responsibility for day
to-day operations.”
This is Bennett's second time
retiring, In September, Bennett,
75, announced that he was
stepping down from the posi
tion, but after discussions with
Ebony founder John H. John
son Jr., he chose to continue as
executive editor.
In his career at Ebony, the
Clarksdale, Miss., native has
covered some of the biggest sto
ries of the 20th century, indud
ing the March on Washington
and the bus boycott in Mont
gomery, Ala. He started at
answer.
“I know it’s hard, but in
this business of justice, we
have to be marathon run
ners,” he said. “I am cau
tiously optimistic that we
have an enlightened leader
in Bratton, and while it’s
tough, considering the
struggle historically with
the LAPD and its history of
racism and brutality, we are
beginning to see some
progress, in particular the
new flashlight policy that
was a direct result of our
work around the Miller
incident.”
Charles Steele Jr., presi
dent of the Southern Chris
tian Leadership Confer
ence, who was visiting Los
Angeles, showed support
and pledged to organize
marches and “do whatever
is necessary” to bring jus
World War II; and
actress Cicely Tyson.
Bush’s relations with
the black community
have been strained the
past four years. Eleven
percent of black voters
cast ballots for Bush in
the 2004 election _ up
from about seven percent
in 2000. He met with
the Congressional Black
Caucus only twice dur
ing his first term.
Last month, Bush met
with the black caucus for
a third time, and the
lawmakers, all members
of the opposition Demo
cratic Party, used its
meeting to ask Bush to
adopt its agenda for clos
ing racial disparities.
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Lerone Bennett
Johnson Publishing Company
as an associate editor at Jer
Magazine, later becoming an
associate editor and senior edi
tor at Ebony. He was named
executive editor in 1987.
Considered one of the
nation’s top historians, Bennett
authored Before The Mayflower:
A History of Black America, one
of the most celebrated black
books in history; Forced Into
Glory: Abraham Lincoln's White
Dream, What Manner of Man:
A Biography of Martin Luther
King, Jr, Wade in the Water,
The Shaping of Black America
and several others.
He graduated Phi Beta
Kappa from Morchouse Col
lege in 1949 and did graduate
work at Adanta University.
tice. Supporting the eco
nomic boycott, Steele said
the SCLC will not hold its
annual convention in Los
Angeles until justice is
served.
“We are here to help you
take care of business,” he
said during the empower
ment summit at Bethel,
pledging the SCLC’s sup
port in organizing marches
and rallies in the coming .
weeks. “You can't expect a
system that enslaves you to
save you.”
Ministers and members
of the community were
expected to meet yesterday
to discuss the details of the
economic boycotts.
Rev. James Lawson, Ji'rcctor
of the local branch of the
SCLC, said murders like
Brown’s occur four times a
week in this country, “proof
Sec Police, page 10A