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Friday Apr 10, 2015
Friday Apr 10, 2015
Free Your Mind! It’s for Your—and Our—Own Good!
What a week we’ve had! But we’ve survived it—hopefully unscathed, or with only a few minor scrapes and scratches.
Now, take an analytical look at what we’ve come through and help us make sense of it. Give us your take on the insanities and absurdities we experienced this week. Or, take us someplace else entirely, introducing issues and ideas worthy of serious consideration and continuing debate.
This is the purpose of “Free Your Mind Friday” on Leid Stories. It’s how we help each other keep a grip on reality while not going stark-raving mad.
Make your contribution to our collective mental health. Call in (888-874-4888; it’s free!) and share your unique insights with a hardy, well-mannered lot who appreciate sincerity of effort and independence of thought.
That done, you can then take comfort in knowing you’ve done your bit save the world.
Thursday Apr 09, 2015
Thursday Apr 09, 2015
Dr. Yosef A. A. ben-Jochannan: Requiem for A Seeker and Teacher of Truth
Internationally renowned scholar Dr. Yosef Alfredo Antonio ben-Jochannan, affectionately known as “Dr. Ben,” lies in state today at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem; a funeral service will be held at the church tomorrow at 9:30 a.m.
Dr. Ben died on March 19 at the age of 97, and new funeral arrangements had to be made to accommodate large contingents of mourners and dignitaries from across the nation and the world wanting to pay their respects.
A noted Egyptologist and specialist in ancient Nile Valley cultures and histories, Dr. Ben belonged to a revered group of African, African American and Caribbean scholars whose pioneering research and published works validated the centrality of Africa to world civilizations.
Leid Stories pays tribute to Dr. Ben today. Dr. Arthur Lewis, a Harlem physician and community activist who was a close associate of Dr. Ben for more than 40 years, shares personal recollections of the scholar’s singleminded mission to advance and expand knowledge of Africa’s contributions to the world.
Wednesday Apr 08, 2015
Wednesday Apr 08, 2015
Post-Runoff Blues: Chi-Town the Day After
Rahm Emanuel’s Win Points Up Nagging Problem of Leadership
The day after The Great Runoff finds Chicagoans taking the outcome—Rahm Emanuel’s return to City Hall for a second term—in stride, and political gurus mining the numbers for hidden clues about the race.
Emanuel’s win, with 56 percent of the vote, came the hard way, and with a repeat of the message that he’s not nearly the gift he thinks he is to Chicago. Challenger and first-time mayoral contender Jesús “Chuy” García, a Cook County commissioner who helped block Emanuel from winning a majority of the votes in the Feb. 24 election (which forced the runoff), got 44 percent of the vote.
Leid Stories listener-correspondent Gardis H. Watts, a native Chicagoan who filed a report about the race on Monday, the eve of the election, describes the day-after mood in Chi-Town.
Host Utrice Leid follows with a blistering commentary: “Why Rahm Emanuel Should Have Been Defeated.”
Tuesday Apr 07, 2015
Tuesday Apr 07, 2015
Nigeria’s Muhammadu Buhari: Really A ‘Fresh Start?
Badges, Bullets & Bodies: Police Killings at All-Time High
Former military strongman Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria’s president-elect, rode the crest of popular support for his campaign promise to rout both Boko Haram terrorists and rampant government corruption from the continent’s most populous nation. But as he forms his transition team and selects key members of his administration, which officially begins May 29, Buhari is already warning his countrymen not to expect “miracles.”
Buhari’s political triumph is being hailed as a “new start,” not only for Nigeria, but also for the region and the continent as a whole. Is there reason to believe that the former major-general who led a coup in 1983 that brought him to power and whose regime racked up more than a fair share of human rights abuses is now a born-again democrat?
Dr. Chika Onyeani, the Nigerian publisher and editor in chief of the New York-based African Sun-Times, gives his analysis of Buhari’s return to power and its potential impact on the war-ravaged region.
In March alone, 111 people—most of them unarmed and men of color—were killed by police, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Two weeks ago, the U.S. Department of Justice said that Philadelphia police had shot and killed 400 people in seven years, 80 percent of them African Americans. These and other statistics confirm an extremely disturbing pattern.
Michael Greys, cofounder of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care and cohost of “Community Cop” on the Manhattan Neighborhood Network, says the race-based patterns of police killings long have been established. The issue, he says, is that they continue despite claims of systemic “reforms.”
Monday Apr 06, 2015
Monday Apr 06, 2015
Winds of Change in Chicago?: Rahm and "Chuy" Race to A Historic Finish
It's the eve of a historic election in Chicago, the first time an incumbent mayor has been forced into a runoff since the city adopted nonpartisan elections 20 years ago. The Windy City bristles with anticipation about the outcome.
Even as Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his challenger, Cook County Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" García, make last-ditch forays for votes, they're homing in on two key blocs that will determine who next occupies City Hall--undecided voters, and African American and Latino voters.
A weekend poll by Ogden & Fry was showing Emanuel with an appreciable lead over García going into Tuesday. But the poll also showed large numbers of uncommitted voters, and noted that Latinos were underrepresented in its data.
Local media, also reporting a double-digit lead by Emanuel, nonetheless are hesitant to call the race because of García's upset the first go-round on Feb. 24 that forced the runoff.
Leid Stories listener Gardis H. Watts, a native Chicagoan who has been following the contentious race, provides perspective on the significance of the Emanuel-García faceoff and how it's resonating at ground level in his home town.
Friday Apr 03, 2015
Friday Apr 03, 2015
Mumia Abu-Jamal: A Progress Report
Your Own Pressure Valve—“Free Your Mind Friday” on Leid Stories!
Keith Cook, the brother of political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal, gives a progress report on efforts to safeguard Mumia’s health and demand accountability by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections for his deteriorated condition.
Last Monday (March 30), Mumia was found passed out from diabetic shock and almost in a comatose state. It has since been determined that he had been diabetic for quite some time in incarceration, but was neither diagnosed nor treated for the disease. In recent months, Mumia’s health has deteriorated significantly, leading his family and supporters to contend that it’s a deliberate attempt by the state to hasten his death through negligence.
Judging from the news headlines, the world is going mad. But you don’t have to. You can plug into a growing community of sane people who help each other make sense of what’s happening in the world by simply sharing their insights, opinions and analyses of what’s behind the headlines—and a lot more besides.
Don’t let them distort your reality. But do take advantage of the best reality check ever—“Free Your Mind Friday” on Leid Stories. It’s where the best minds gather for conversations that really matter.
Call in on 888-874-4888 and add your own unique perspective to the simmering pot. It’ll do you—and the rest of us—a whole lotta good!
Thursday Apr 02, 2015
Thursday Apr 02, 2015
Q’s Life Still Matters: A Family’s Quest for Justice In A Police Killing (Part 4)
L’Sana DJahspora has been describing the heart-wrenching anguish and utter frustration his family has been experiencing since the night of Nov. 6, 2014. It was when he learned that his son, 20-year-old Cinque "Q" DJahspora, was shot dead by a police officer in Jackson, Tennessee, near the condominium complex where L'Sana and his son lived.
Q was shot in the back. A single bullet wound indicated that the bullet's trajectory was downward; it pierced Q's body while he was prone on the ground. The medical examiner ruled his death a homicide.
The family's repeated efforts to get information and official documents from the police department and the prosecutor's office about the circumstances of Q's death -- which L'Sana calls an "execution" -- were met t silence, noncooperation and indifference, the father said. And both a preliminary investigation and an "open-and-shut" grand jury probe likewise were unknown and off-limits to them, L'Sana said. They learned of the grand jury proceeding only after District Attorney Jerry Woodall announced March 4 that Officer Raymond Dewayne Bond would not be indicted.
L'Sana concludes his four-part interview today with more details about the family's continuing pursuit of justice, his accusation of official misconduct and a coverup, and the activist work he's more determined than ever to do to stop the rising tide of police killings across the country.
Wednesday Apr 01, 2015
Wednesday Apr 01, 2015
Talk It Out Some More: It’s “Free Your Mind” Wednesday!
More making up for lost time on Leid Stories today, with “Free Your Mind Wednesday.”
Here’s your chance to get your two cents in about major issues or something that wasn’t even on the radar screen. Be part of the most scintillating community conversation in the world, where peer education is at its best!
Call 888-874-4888 and give us something to think about!
Tuesday Mar 31, 2015
Tuesday Mar 31, 2015
Talking Things Out: It’s “Free Your Mind” Tuesday!
Well, we’re making up for “Free Your Mind Fridays” that didn’t happen while PRN’s technological innards were being unscrambled, reassembled and installed. So, welcome to “Free Your Mind Tuesday!”
Different day of the week, yes, but the same vibe. Bring your best ideas and opinions to the best open forum on the planet. You’re in the driver’s seat, taking the conversation where you want it to go. Give us you take on the issues of the day or something else entirely that is worthy of further discussion and debate.
We eagerly await your intellectual offering. Call 888-874-4888 and free your mind—and ours, too!
Monday Mar 30, 2015
Monday Mar 30, 2015
School Daze in Detroit: Gov. Snyder Hefts Fiscal Ax on Public Schools
He succeeded at imposing an emergency manager on Detroit—forcing it into bankruptcy and usurping all local authority in order to pave the way for its comeback as a “re-imagined” city, preferably for “new’ Detroiters. Now, almost five months after a federal judge approved the city’s onerous restructuring plan, Gov. Rick Snyder takes aim at Detroit’s public schools.
In the same way that Kevyn Orr, a partner in a politically connected private law firm, was given full decision-making authority over the city, a “citizens group,” the Detroit Coalition for the Future of Detroit Schoolchildren, is the stalking-horse “advisory” group Snyder will rely on to recommend what to do about Detroit’s public schools.
A big clue as to how this will turn out: None of the people actually elected to the Detroit Public Schools board, which serves the largest school district in the state, has been included.
Elena Herrada, a self-described “member-in-exile” of the Detroit School Board and an activist with Detroiters Resisting Emergency Management, discusses Snyder’s plans for public-school education in Detroit and the intense grassroots battle against it.