www.afro.comJanuary 11, 2014 - January 11, 2014,
Volume 122 No. 23
The Afro-American A1 $1.00
JANUARY 11, 2014 - JANUARY 17, 2014
Nobel Peace Prize Vindicated Martin Luther King Jr. for Stand on Non-Violence Nation to Celebrate MLK’s 85th Birthday Jan. 20 By Zachary Lester AFRO Staff Writer When Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 at age 35, he was the youngest person to ever be presented the prestigious honor. He was the third Black recipient and the second African American, following Ralph Bunche, the famed political scientist and diplomat who was honored for his mediation work in Palestine. Besides the personal honor, though, historians said the award gave credence to his approach of meeting violence with peaceful resistance.
In a story that ran on the front page of the AFRO on Oct. 24, 1964, King called the award “vindication” for his work. The story was written by reporter James D. Williams after he interviewed King in an Atlanta hospital where he had checked in for a
physical and rest. “This has given me new courage to carry on and I am convinced that is more than an honor to me personally, but a great tribute to the colored people,” King told Williams.” He was 35 when he received the prize in a ceremony in December 1964 at Oslo University in Norway. According to a UPI story that ran on the front page of the AFRO on Dec. 19, 1964, he was selected “for championing the principle of non-violence in the struggle to achieve racial equality.” King was presented a diploma, a gold medal and a check for $54,600. In his acceptance speech, King called the award “profound recognition that nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral question of our time—the need for man to overcome oppression 12-12-64 and violence without AFRO resorting to violence and oppression.”
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Correctional Officer Sentenced in Jail Racketeering Conspiracy
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Morgan State University Winter Commencement
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Failed Miracles
African Walk on Water Failure – A Myth That Won’t Die By Zenitha Prince AFRO Senior Correspondent Heard the story about the West African pastor who drowned while trying to recreate Jesus’ miracle of walking on water before his congregation? If you haven’t, you may be the only one. Since the story of the alleged physics-defying attempt was posted Dec. 28 by MJ Celebrity Magazine it has gone viral, eliciting more than 100,000 shares, likes
Increased HBCU Funding, etc. By Zenitha Prince Senior AFRO Correspondent
INSIDE
• Walmart
Legis. Black Caucus Agenda:
and comments across the social media spectrum. For example, according to Topsy. com, a social media analytics tool, the subject was tweeted over 600 times in the past seven days. Still, repetition cannot transform a lie into a truth, as President Roosevelt realized, and this “news story” has been uncovered as a tenacious Internet hoax, The Christian Post alleges. The details of the much Continued on A4
Bishop Douglas Miles, after a whirlwind European trip last month, is part of a fresh attack on street violence. In addition to battling for gun control laws, he wants to use 21st century technology to control guns. Through electronic devices, internet commands and even integrated chips that can be embedded into humans, Miles found in a tour of European gun makers, handguns and rifles can become as harmless as paperweights. That’s what Miles, pastor of the Koinonia Baptist Church, said he is going to tell Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake
“A lot of bills will be introduced not to get them passed, but…to make a statement.”
– Paul Herrnson
looking to make statements of their own. “Because this is the last of a four-year term, a lot of people are going to be a lot bolder,” she said. “You’re going to see a lot of courage because a lot of people aren’t coming back.” In the next three months, lawmakers will draft, introduce, hold hearings on, revise and vote on hundreds of pieces of legislation. In Continued on A3
First Black Baltimore Police Commissioner Dies at 86 By AFRO Staff
Bishop Miles Wants Mayor to Help Bring ‘Smart Guns’ to Baltimore By Blair Adams AFRO Staff Writer
Raising Maryland’s minimum wage will headline a long list of issues to be debated during the 2014 session of the Maryland General Assembly. For 90 days, beginning Jan. 8, Maryland state lawmakers, officials, special interest groups, lobbyists and other stakeholders will gather for the annual conclave at the state capital in Annapolis “It will be very hectic,” said Maryland political expert Paul Herrnson, former director of the University of Maryland’s Center for American Politics and Citizenship. And with the midterm elections drawing near, this session’s political overtones will bear sharper edges, several political experts agreed. For example, Democratic contenders in the heated three-way tug-o-war for the governor’s seat—Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, Attorney General Douglas Gansler and Del. Heather Mizeur—all plan to be heavily involved in the session, offering or supporting competing bills to advance their own agendas and raise their profiles. “The big thing here is
[that] it is an election year and members of the legislature would be looking to take popular positions to look good in front of their constituents,” Herrnson said. “A lot of bills will be introduced not to get them passed, but for political reasons,…to make a statement.” Baltimore Democrat Sen. Lisa Gladden agreed, but added that those lawmakers who are retiring will be
in a private meeting Jan. 9. Miles said that he is convinced that hardware he saw during his recent tour of European gun makers can reduce or eliminate accidental use and misuse of guns by children and teens, as well as reducing accidental discharges or the use of a gun against the owner if it is stolen or taken away. He is referring to devices such the MagnaTrigger system for K- through N-frame size Smith and Wesson revolvers that prevents the trigger from coming back far enough to fire unless a magnetic ring worn by the user repels the magnetic blocking device installed inside the grip. Another device, developed by a Mossberg
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Baltimore’s first African-American police commissioner, Bishop Robinson, died Jan. 6 at the age of 86 of Alzheimer’s Disease and dementia at a hospice in Towson, Md. The downtown police headquarters building bears his name, as does the criminal justice institute at Coppin State University. Additionally, he served as Secretary of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services and Secretary of the Maryland Department of Juvenile Justice. A founding member of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, Robinson made his mark in law enforcement in this area and beyond even though Baltimore didn’t name a Black police chief until the mid-1980s. His promotion through the ranks came as racial barriers were tumbling in Baltimore. “This is a man whose life should be celebrated for tearing down barriers by climbing his way to the top of an organization that historically treated African-Americans with disrespect and derision,” Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said in a statement. “But Commissioner Robinson’s palpable presence made him a force to be reckoned with. The trail he cut for so many that came after him Bishop Robinson Continued on A4
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