Black

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- What happened to Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom, a young Knoxville couple out on an ordinary Saturday night date, was undeniably brutal. They were carjacked, kidnapped, raped and finally killed in January. But whether the attack was a racial hate crime worthy of national media attention is another question, one that has now ignited a fierce dispute over the definition of hate crimes and how the news media choose to cover America's most disturbing interracial attacks.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- When he read that the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department was looking for recruits with rugby player physiques, Emile Engelbrecht knew he fit the bill at 6-foot-4, 230 pounds. But it was another trait explicitly sought by the department's brass that made him apply to be an officer: white skin. "Maybe I am the perfect candidate at this stage," said the 31-year-old. "They saw they made a mistake, and they need us white guys to help do the work." Having gone from a white-dominated force to a black-dominated one in the 13 years since apartheid's demise, the Johannesburg police force now says the pendulum has swung too far. Much of the change occurred in the 1990s as whites left in droves, often for private security jobs, and hiring black officers became a top priority.

TORONTO -- When Conrad M. Black pleaded not guilty to criminal fraud charges in December 2005, a federal court in Chicago granted his request that he be defended by Edward L. Greenspan, one of the most famous criminal defense lawyers in Canada, where he is known by the nickname Fast Eddie. But the court made Black sign a waiver acknowledging that he understood that his lawyer, for all his renown in Canada, does not know American law. If he loses, Black, who faces more than 90 years in jail if convicted, cannot appeal on the grounds that it was his lawyer's fault.

A 14-year-old black girl from tiny Paris, Texas, was sent to a youth prison for up to seven years for shoving a hall monitor at her high school. The same judge sentenced a 14-year-old white girl to probation for burning down her family's house. Bigger offense, lighter sentence, lighter skin: the ingredients of injustice. That's how it sounded to my friend and colleague Howard Witt, the Chicago Tribune's Houston-based Southwest bureau chief. He heard about the girl from Gary Bledsoe, an Austin, Texas, attorney who is president of the Texas branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

BRYANS ROAD -- South Hampton is a pristine development with an all-American vibe: The townhouses and single-family homes have tidy green lawns and blossoming trees out front; there are a tennis court and a playground, and the black and white families who live here look after each other. So it was a shock when residents awoke one day last August to find that cars, homes and a mailbox had been defiled with racist graffiti. Vandals had spray-painted whole sides of cars, shattered car windows and written "KKK" on houses.

An Anne Arundel County councilman will receive one of the local black community's top awards next week, capping a tumultuous two months in his personal life. At the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Awards Dinner, Daryl Jones will receive the 2007 Morris H. Blum Humanitarian Award, which honors pioneers who have helped open doors to the black community. In November, the Glen Burnie Democrat became the first black male to win a council seat, a victory that came shortly after his mother died.

LOS ANGELES -- It took political officials nearly a month to respond to the slaying of Cheryl Green. Since then, the 14-year-old African-American girl has become the face of brown-on-black violence in this city. The FBI has joined the Los Angeles Police Department in cracking down on gangs. The police department, breaking with tradition, has publicly named the city's worst 11 gangs. And a city-sponsored report has called for an anti-gang "Marshall Plan," a reference to the post-World War II tactic of making massive investments to win the peace in former enemy territory.

From shotgun marriages to adulterous affairs, illnesses to drug abuse, every family has its secrets. So when, if ever, should the proverbial family beans be spilled?In these confessional times, when TV shows like Jerry Springer and Jenny Jones seem to have little trouble coaxing their guests to blithely reveal the most sordid details of their lives, the answer would seem to be: whenever.But Evan Imber-Black, a New York-based family therapist who has made family secrets her life's work, says people who see public confession as an all-healing process are making a major mistake.

ON THE FIRST EARTH Day 29 years ago this month, Wisconsin Sen. Gaylord Nelson, originator of the idea, proclaimed environmentalism must be about social justice as well as ensuring a healthy natural world for the more affluent.The American environment, he said, "is also rats in the ghetto congested, polluted urban areas that are inhuman traps for millions of people."How far have we come since then?Jump to 1991, when environmentalists where I live were informed that wetlands were threatened by a long-sought bypass to take Ocean City traffic around the growing congestion of U.S. 50 through Salisbury.

At last night's Annapolis city council meeting, several black residents took the podium to rail against what they called the oppression of people of color, criticize police officers for perceived racial slights and invoke the name of God to protest a proposed anti-loitering bill.The council did not vote on the bill last night.The bill, which Ward 5 Republican Alderman Herbert H. McMillan introduced in the spring, redefines "public space" to include private areas accessible to the public.It would give police the power to force loiterers suspected of drug-related activity to leave privately owned areas such as supermarket parking lots and sidewalks in public housing communities or face arrest.

A white supremacist accused of beating a 76-year-old black fisherman goes by the nickname "Hitler" and has a tattoo of the Nazi leader on his stomach that also reads "He lives," according to police and court records. Court documents released Wednesday show that the victim, James Privott, suffered a fractured eye socket and lost two teeth in the South Baltimore attack, which suspect Calvin E. Lockner told police "wouldn't have happened if he was a white man." Lockner, who faces 19 criminal charges including attempted first-degree murder, was ordered held without bond as new details about his criminal past emerged.

Donald Reid didn't join the Baltimore Police Department in 1973 to make a political or social statement in the lingering aftermath of the race riots of 1968. The young African-American cop simply wanted to "fight crime and save lives." And so at the age of 23, he didn't hesitate when his sergeant handed him a "blue card" - which was used to record information on stops of blacks who dared venture up Park Heights Avenue above Northern Parkway, the traditional dividing line between black and white in Northwest Baltimore.

Hundreds of years ago, pirates and privateers docked their ships at Fells Point - when they weren't out looking for plunder. Today, machine-gun-wielding Somali pirates are terrorizing trade along the African coastline. But do these rogues deserve to be called pirates? Semi-professional pirate re-enactor Charles Waldron doesn't think so. "I wouldn't call them pirates," he said. "They're just a bunch of hoodlum-looking characters in a little boat with automatic weapons. They're just thugs on the water."

Chazz Palminteri and his bus-driver dad, Lorenzo, became expert at keeping secrets. They could be gregarious, even expansive, but they knew when to shut their traps. For instance, Lorenzo Palminteri withheld crucial information about a murder that his then-9-year-old son witnessed from the family's Bronx front stoop in 1961. "At the time, I thought those men were fighting over the parking space in front of my building," says Palminteri, an Academy Award-nominated actor who specializes in playing thugs.

Couples - mostly middle-class, middle-aged and almost entirely black - gather at Washington's Lincoln Theatre for a night of adventurous soul music, the kind seldom heard on today's commercial urban radio. Of the night's acts, Baltimore's Fertile Ground is the most musically daring. The septet crafts a sound that slips in and out of jazz, R&B, Brazilian samba and African roots music. James Collins, a lanky man with unruly dreads who founded the band with lead singer Navasha Daya, addresses the crowd from his keyboards.

When a college football player first scores a touchdown before the home fans, it should be a moment of unfettered joy, of promise fulfilled. For Darryl Hill, who integrated the U.S. Naval Academy's football program, then became the ACC's first black football player, it was more complicated. After he caught his first touchdown pass at the University of Maryland's Byrd Stadium, the traditional cannon shot sounded. Hill threw up his arms and discarded the ball in fright. He had been told by school officials that someone had threatened to shoot him from the top of the stands.

Dear Chris Rock: I apologize in advance for the language that will shortly follow. And yes, there is a certain irony there, given that you are one of the most profane men on the planet. Also one of the funniest. That's why I eagerly anticipated your new HBO special, Kill the Messenger, even though I knew there would inevitably come a moment that made me embarrassed for you. And sure enough, it came. During your routine, you noted how, last year, the NAACP held a symbolic "burial" of the N-word.

J.L. CHESTNUT JR., 77 Civil rights lawyer in Alabama J.L. Chestnut Jr., the first black lawyer in Selma, Ala., and a prominent attorney in civil rights cases across a half-century, died Tuesday morning at a Birmingham hospital of an infection after an operation. A Selma native who earned his law degree at Howard University, Mr. Chestnut returned to his hometown in 1958 and became a key legal figure in the civil rights battles in Selma. Later he defended blacks in major voter fraud prosecutions and helped black farmers make financial claims against the U.S. Agriculture Department.

black blak (adjective) 1: of the color black; 2: of or relating to the African-American people; 3: dirty, soiled; 4: thoroughly sinister or evil; 5: connected with the supernatural and especially the devil - adapted from Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary Last year, Sen. Joe Biden made a comment some people considered racially insensitive toward Sen. Barack Obama. Mr. Obama's response was a mild one - he called Mr. Biden's remark "historically inaccurate." This earned him a harsh rebuke from one of my readers.

On September 9, 2008, SARAH V. BLACK. On Monday, friends may call Vaughn C. Greene Funeral Services (East), 4905 York Road, where the family will receive friends form 3 to 8 P.M. On Tuesday, family will receive friends from 11:30 A.M to 12 P.M., with services to follow. Inquiries to (410) 433-7500.