May 2 – 8, 2010 | FREE
Volume 79 Number 27
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Whitewashing American History
Community rallies after rape of 7 year old
Texas textbooks threaten to rewrite ethnic contributions
By Nisa Islam Muhammad SPECIAL TO THE NNPA FROM THE FINAL CALL
TRENTON, N.J. (NNPA) - What was promoted as a “Stop the Violence” rally at the First Baptist Church of Pennington to respond to the alleged rape of a 7-year-old girl in a housing complex quickly became the largest recruitment of community men to join the Peace Keepers, a neighborhood watch program to protect women and children. “The reason we have the Peace Keepers is because there is a problem across America with crime and violence. But crime and violence is not everywhere. There’s no crime and violence in Crown Heights (a section of New York City). You won’t hear about a drive by or police coming to beat up Jews in Crown Heights,” Peace Keepers founder Dennis Muhammad told the standing room only crowd of several hundred people. “You can’t go into a community that loves itself and brutalize it. You can only do it in a community that doesn’t love itself.” After his rousing words, he quickly organized dozens of men from
By Aswad Walker DEFENDER
T
he State Board of Education recently took the first step toward ratifying changes in the Texas social studies curriculum that will radically alter public school textbooks with a decidedly conservative spin. Many are charging that the proposed changes will result in a whitewashing of Texas and American history by downplaying some, and outright ignoring other, historical contributions made by African Americans, Latinos and women. The NAACP, LULAC, Congressional Black Caucus and others are seeking to rally the public to take actions aimed at swaying the Board’s ratifying vote away from its current course of action. The final vote, scheduled for May 21, could enact curriculum changes like erasing nearly the entire Civil Rights Movement from classroom conversations that could do an incredible disservice to generations of Texas public school students Since January, a seven-member conservative bloc of Republicans on the 15-member Board have helped pass over 100 amendments to Texas’ curriculum standards, affecting history, sociology and economics courses from elementary to high school, and infecting these areas with an unapologeticallyconservative read of past events and present realities. Some of the changes that will affect children statewide include teaching children that gains by racial and ethnic minorities were the result of the good graces of whites rather than the heroic strug-
★RAPE, Page 7
Notre Dame’s first Black valedictorian Institute for Global Health on the mosquito that carries dengue and yellow fever. She is the co-author (NNPA) - Katie Washington, a of a research paper with David biological sciences Severson, professor of major from Gary, Ind., biological sciences. has been named valedicWashington directs torian of the 2010 the Voices of Faith University of Notre Gospel Choir at Notre Dame graduating class Dame, is a mentor/tutor and will present the for the Sister-to-Sister valedictory address durprogram at South Bend’s ing Commencement Washington High School and serves as the exercises on Sunday, Katie student coordinator of May 16, in Notre Dame Washington the Center for Social stadium. Concerns’ “Lives in the Balance: Washington, who earned a 4.0 Youth Violence and Society grade point average, has a minor Seminar.” in Catholic Social Teaching. She Upon graduation, Washington has conducted research on lung plans to pursue a joint M.D./Ph.D cancer at the Cold Spring Harbor program at Johns Hopkins labs and performed genetic studies in the University’s Eck University . SPECIAL TO THE NNPA FROM THE MISSISSIPPI LINK
★WHITEWASH, Page 7
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INTERVIEW
Omari Hardwick has arrived! By Kam Williams CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Born in Savannah, Georgia on January 9, 1974, Omari Hardwick was the second of four children, blessing the union of Clifford and Joyce Hardwick. The family moved to Decatur, where Omari excelled in athletics and established himself as a standout, eventually earning himself a college football scholarship. Although he had demonstrated a certain flair for the dramatic early in life, it wasn’t until his junior year at the University of Georgia that Omari began his formal training in acting. While there, he joined the Athens Theater Company and eventually starred in a number of plays, including
August Wilson’s “Fences.” Soon after graduation, a knee injury cut short his plans for a pro football career. Omari then decided to focus on acting fulltime and headed to New York City to hone his skills on the stage before making the move to Los Angeles. After years of perseverance, Omari finally landed a breakout role when Spike Lee cast him as Dante’ in “Sucker Free City.” Omari’s showbiz career has benefitted from a steady rise ever since, with the versatile thespian exhibiting an enviable acting range in such films as “Miracle at St. Anna,” “Next Day Air,” “The Gridiron Gang,” “The Guardian” and “Beauty Shop.” And among his upcoming offerings are “The A-Team,” “For Colored Girls,”
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“Bolden” and “I Will Follow.” Meanwhile, he’s also appeared on TV shows like “CSI: Miami,” “Crossing Jordan” and “Saved,” and he currently co-stars opposite Dylan McDermott on TNT’s gritty, cop series “Dark Blue.” Here, Omari talks about his controversial new movie, “Kick-Ass,” the adaptation of the Marvel Comics series, which opened up in the #1 spot at the box office. Kam Williams: Hey, Omari, nice to meet you, and thanks for the time. Omari Hardwick: Same here. KW: What interested you in doing “KickAss,” such a controversial film? OH: It was the controversy itself, which interested me. I already was a fan of ★HARDWICK, Page 2