Former Young and the Restless Star Victoria Rowell Sues CBS for Racial Discrimination

Victoria Rowell, who starred as Drucilla Winters on The Young and the Restless from 1990 to 2007, has sued CBS and Sony for racial discrimination, Deadline reports.

In a suit filed Wednesday, Rowell claims she has not been allowed back on The Young and the Restless or The Bold and the Beautiful because of her advocacy for greater diversity on soap operas. Rowell alleges that she was "impoverished and blackballed because she had chosen to speak out against the discrimination and injustice that she had endured and witnessed happen to other African Americans."

Read more: Former Young and the Restless Star Victoria Rowell Sues CBS and Sony for Racial Discrimination

USPS Releases Robert Robinson Taylor

The 38th stamp in the Black Heritage series honors architect and educator Robert Robinson Taylor (1868–1942). For more than three decades, Taylor supervised the design and construction of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama while also overseeing the school’s programs in industrial education and the building trades. He is believed to have been both the first black graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the country’s first academically trained black architect. Through his calm leadership and quiet dignity, he earned the admiration of colleagues and students alike while expanding opportunities for African Americans in fields that had largely been closed to them.

This stamp features a photograph of Taylor taken circa 1890, when he was around 22 years old and a student at MIT.

In 1892, after graduating from MIT, this young man from Wilmington, North Carolina, accepted an offer from educator and activist Booker T. Washington to teach at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, where he soon set about shaping the appearance of the burgeoning school. Over the course of nearly 40 years, Taylor designed dozens of essential buildings, including libraries, dormitories, lecture halls, industrial workshops, and a handsome chapel, transforming a makeshift campus on an abandoned plantation into a confident, state-of-the-art institution.

Taylor’s work as a teacher and administrator was equally vital to the Tuskegee mission. While overseeing programs to train skilled artisans, he also established a curriculum with a certificate to help graduates enter collegiate architecture programs or earn entry-level positions at firms. His work furthered Booker T. Washington’s dream of fostering not just African-American builders and carpenters, but architects who could plan the buildings as well.

Art director Derry Noyes designed this stamp.

The Robert Robinson Taylor stamp is being issued as a Forever® stamp. This Forever stamp will always be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail® one-ounce rate.

Buy this stamp: https://store.usps.com/store/browse/productDetailSingleSku.jsp?productId=S_472904

Report: High-School Graduation Gap Widened for Black Males

Recently, the Schott Foundation for Public Education released its latest report, Black Lives Matter: The Schott 50-State Report of Public Education and Black Males. Don’t expect good news. The black male national graduation rate increased from 51% in the 2009–2010 school year to 59% in 2012–2013. However, the gap between the rates of black, male high-school graduates and their white counterparts has widened from 19 percentage points to 21.

The report identifies several issues that the Schott Foundation has determined would more effectively address this problem, which has changed little in the decade that the foundation has been reporting on young black men.

When asked if he thought the problems were a result of neglect or of deliberate intent, John H. Jackson, Ph.D., president and CEO of the Schott Foundation, said, “It is a level of neglect that borders on intentionality.”

Read more: Report: High-School Graduation Gap Widened for Black Males

TIGER WOODS PLANS TO WORK ON HIS GAME AND PLAY AGAIN SOON

Tiger woods released the following statement about his immediate future after suffering another injury this past week.

The last two weeks have been very disappointing to me, especially Torrey, because I never want to withdraw. Unfortunately, lately injuries have made that happen too often.

This latest injury is not related to my previous surgery. I am having daily physical therapy and I am feeling better every day.

Right now, I need a lot of work on my game, and to still spend time with the people that are important to me. My play, and scores, are not acceptable for tournament golf. Like I've said, I enter a tournament to compete at the highest level, and when I think I'm ready, I'll be back. Next week I will practice at Medalist and at home getting ready for the rest of the year. I am committed to getting back to the pinnacle of my game. I'd like to play The Honda Classic -- it's a tournament in my hometown and it's important to me -- but I won't be there unless my game is tournament-ready. That's not fair to anyone. I do, however, expect to be playing again very soon. I want to thank the fans in Phoenix and San Diego. They were amazing. I greatly appreciate everyone's support.

Tiger Woods

Little League Strips Jackie Robinson West of US Title

Little League Baseball has stripped the U.S. championship from the Chicago-based Jackie Robinson West team and has suspended the coach for violating a rule prohibiting the use of players who live outside the geographic area that the team represents, it was announced Wednesday.

The Jackie Robinson West team, the first all-African-American team to win the championship, must vacate wins from the 2014 Little League Baseball International Tournament -- including its Great Lakes Regional and United States championships.

The team's manager, Darold Butler, has been suspended from Little League activity, and Illinois District 4 Administrator Michael Kelly has been removed from his position.

Read more: Little League Strips Jackie Robinson West of US Title

NYPD officer who killed Akai Gurley indicted.

A rookie cop who shot and killed an unarmed Brooklyn man in an unlit housing project staircase was indicted for manslaughter Tuesday, the Daily News has learned.

In a blockbuster grand jury decision, Peter Liang will face criminal charges that can send him to prison for up to 15 years for the death of Akai Gurley on Nov. 20, a source said.

The secret panel started hearing the case on Feb 4. A spokeswoman for the Brooklyn District Attorney declined to comment.

A source said Liang, 27, was indicted for a top count second-degree manslaughter, which means he acted recklessly. He was also charged with reckless endangerment, second-degree assault and official misconduct, another source said.

Read more: Cop involved in fatal shooting of Akai Gurley has been indicted on manslaughter charges: source

U.S. Little League Champs Under Investigation

Little League Baseball has met to review facts surrounding the eligibility of the Chicago-based team (Jackie Robinson West Little League) that won the 2014 U.S. championship, amid allegations that the much-celebrated squad violated a rule prohibiting the use of players who live outside the geographic area that the team represents. The team could be stripped of it's championship if found to be in violation of the rule.

The Walking Dead's add one black man kill one black man rule.

Now let me first state that I love AMC's The Walking Dead, it's my favorite TV show. It's also one of the most diverse, well written, and acted shows on television. But I have noticed one troublesome trend, being the old black male character when a new black male character shows up is the equivalent of being a "red shirt" on Star Trek. I like to call it the add a black man kill a black man rule.

Think about it. Yeah T-Dog didn't actually do shit but he was doing okay until Tyreese showed up and then what happened? T-Dog died, although heroically while saving Carol. For a minute Oscar a former prisoner was with the group but he too kicked the bucket not too long after the character of Tyreese was introduced. Then Later Bob shows up but since there were only two black guys everything seemed cool. But as luck would have it Noah and Father Gabriel showed up. Four black guys at one time! Ah, hell naw! So not to long after Bob becomes barbecue. A little latter in one of the best Walking Dead episodes ever Tyreese dies after having one hell of a fever dream and getting bit by a kid walker. Really? I mean the TV version of the character pissed me off more often than not but he could have went out better than that. Am I the only one noticing a pattern here?

And no I did not forget Shumpert, the black guy that was one of the Governor's henchman who never spoke, but he wasn't a major character. (But don't worry he's dead too.) Also the Morgan character is more of a guest star who only shows up for more than two minutes when the writers/directors decide to produce classic episodes so I didn't include him either when it comes to this rule.

Now one could attribute the number of deaths of black male characters to the large African-American population in the Atlanta area and the writers trying to be realistic. It could also be something a little more sinister and I'm tempted to alert Al Sharpton about this situation. LOL. So do you think there's anything to my theory?

George L. Cook III, AfricanAmericanReports.com.

Roland Martin to Co-Host Black Republican Luncheon

[SOURCE] TV One's liberal political commentator Roland Martin will co-host the Republican National Committee's Black Republican Trailblazer Award Luncheon on Wednesday in Washington D.C.

Buzzfeed reports that several Black Republican congresspeople, including newbies Rep. Will Hurd (R-TX) and Rep. Mia Love (R-UT) will be recognized at the event, which will pay tribute to Sen. Edward Brooke, III, who died last month. Additionally, 2016 presidential hopeful Dr. Ben Carson will be in attendance.

RNC chair Reince Preibus hopes that the event will help with outreach out to African-American voters and repair the relationship between Blacks and the GOP.

Tape of beating leads to charges against Philadelphia officers

Police in a patrol car chase down a man on a scooter. The car stops, and two officers get out and beat the man with their fists and batons. His orbital bone fractures and he suffers lacerations on his head, yet he is the one who is charged with aggravated assault.

This week, the tables turned when a surveillance video from a nearby store led to charges of aggravated assault, criminal conspiracy and filing false reports against Philadelphia police officers Sean McKnight and Kevin Robinson. Watch this story below:

Carl Heastie: First African American Assembly Speaker in New York.

Feb. 4, New York Assemblyman Carl Heastie of the Bronx became the first African-American Assembly speaker in the state’s history. While calling for a desire to create a “government as good as its people,” Heastie has a long road ahead to earn the trust of voters who have seen Albany mired in corruption for years.

Heastie told those in attendance in Albany that he hoped to created an office of ethics compliance to clean up the under-the-table dealings that have defined New York government in the recent past. Heastie, after all, is taking over for Sheldon Silver, who’s been charged with taking close to $4 million in kickbacks, and the new speaker was close to the disgraced Silver, who still maintains his Assembly position while dealing with his legal issues.

Read more: Carl Heastie elected new Assembly Speaker

South Florida twins to attend West Point

Like many sets of twins, Celine Gunderman and Whitney Gunderman are just inseparable. Like many sets of twins, the Gundermans are choosing to attend the same college. Maybe more accurately in the case of these Cypress Bay High School seniors, one of the nation's most selective institutions, West Point, chose both of them.

Origins of Black History Month

National African American History Month had its origins in 1915 when historian and author Dr. Carter G. Woodson founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. This organization is now known as the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (“ASALH”). Through this organization Dr. Woodson initiated the first Negro History Week in February 1926. Dr. Woodson selected the week in February that included the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, two key figures in the history of African Americans.

In 1975, President Ford issued a Message on the Observance of Black History Week urging all Americans to "recognize the important contribution made to our nation's life and culture by black citizens." In 1976 this commemoration of black history in the United States was expanded by ASALH to Black History Month, also known as African American History Month, and President Ford issued the first Message on the Observance of Black History Month that year. In subsequent years, Presidents Carter and Reagan continued to issue Messages honoring African American History Month.

In 1986 Congress passed Public Law 99-244 (PDF, 142KB) which designated February 1986 as "National Black (Afro-American) History Month.” This law noted that February 1, 1986 would “mark the beginning of the sixtieth annual public and private salute to Black History.” The law further called upon to President to issue a proclamation calling on the people of the United States to observe February 1986 as Black History Month with the appropriate ceremonies and activities. President Reagan issued Presidential Proclamation 5443 which proclaimed that “the foremost purpose of Black History Month is to make all Americans aware of this struggle for freedom and equal opportunity.” This proclamation stated further that this month was a time “to celebrate the many achievements of African Americans in every field from science and the arts to politics and religion."

In January 1996, President Clinton issued Presidential Proclamation 6863 for “National African American History Month." The proclamation emphasized the theme for that year, the achievements of black women from Sojourner Truth to Mary McLeod Bethune and Toni Morrison. In February 1996 the Senate passed Senate Resolution 229 commemorating Black History Month and the contributions of African American U.S. Senators.

Since 1996, Presidents have issued annual proclamations for National African American History Month. On February 1, 2011 President Obama issued a Proclamation reflecting on this year’s theme of “African Americans and the Civil War” as we commemorate the sesquicentennial of the beginning of the Civil War.

HIV deaths among African-Americans drop 18%

[ SOURCE] More African-Americans diagnosed with HIV are living.

A report released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found an 18% drop in the number of deaths among African-Americans infected with HIV from 2008 to 2012.

That is a consistent and promising decline, and yet it still means 8,165 African-American HIV patients lost their lives in 2012, a marked disparity that accounts for nearly half of the 17,166 teens and adults with HIV who died in total that year.

Most black HIV patients who died were men who contracted the virus through sexual contact with other men.

"We cannot drop our guard," Dr. Eugene McCray, director of the CDC's division of HIV/AIDS prevention, said in a statement. "HIV is still a serious crisis in our communities. Even though we represent only 12% of the population, more than a third of people living with HIV in the United States are black. And new infections among young, gay black men are increasing at an alarming rate."

While HIV testing is increasing among African-Americans, new infections are still diagnosed less frequently in blacks compared with whites, the CDC said.

The agency also said black HIV patients are less likely to be linked to medical care than any other race. McCray said providing that care and treatment could do more than anything else to keep HIV patients alive and prevent new infections.

The report comes just two days before National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, on February 7, which aims to reduce new infections by encouraging HIV testing.

Rosa Parks' archive opening to public at Library of Congress

[SOURCE] Rosa Parks, who refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus, reflected later on how it felt to be treated less than equal and once feistily wrote of how tired she was of being "pushed around" — parts of her history long hidden away.

Beginning Wednesday at the Library of Congress, researchers and the public will have full access to Parks' archive of letters, writings, personal notes and photographs for the first time. The collection will provide what experts call a more complex view of a woman long recalled in history for one iconic image — that of a nonviolent seamstress who inspired others to act at the dawning of the civil rights era.

A protracted legal battle between her heirs and friends had kept the collection from public view for years. But in 2014, philanthropist Howard Buffett bought the collection and placed it on long-term loan at the national library.

"I think it's one of the first times we're actually able to read her voice, and it just totally goes against this image of the quiet seamstress," said Margaret McAleer, an archivist at the library. "Her writings are phenomenally powerful."

"I had been pushed around all my life and felt at this moment that I couldn't take it anymore," she wrote. "When I asked the policeman why we had to be pushed around, he said he didn't know. 'The law is the law. You are under arrest.' I didn't resist."

Parks' archive provides scholars and the public with a fuller sense of her life and faith, her personality and her pain, said library historian Adrienne Cannon.

"It's important because we see Rosa Parks in a kind of almost frozen, iconic image — a hero that is not really real flesh and blood," Cannon said. "Here we get a sense of a woman that is really full flesh and blood."

The collection may surprise people by revealing Parks had an aggressive edge and supported more radical actions seeking equality over the years, archivists said. She used her symbolic status to support Malcolm X, Black Panther gatherings and the Wilmington 10 in North Carolina.

The library now holds about 7,500 manuscript items and 2,500 photographs from Parks, including the Bible she kept in her pocket, letters from admirers and her Presidential Medal of Freedom. A small exhibit is planned for March. All the items will be digitized and posted online.

Artifacts such as Parks' clothing, furniture and a pillbox hat she may have worn on the Montgomery bus, will find homes elsewhere. The library plans to place them with other museums or institutions that can conserve and display Parks' belongings. The library already is in talks with the Smithsonian's National Museum of African-American History and Culture, now under construction on the National Mall, to possibly house some items.

Why Black History Month Matters

Rutgers Today talked to Khadijah White about why Black History Month is important as the university plans a series of events in observance. White, an assistant professor of journalism and media studies in the School of Communication and Information, researches race, gender and politics in media. She has written about race, social movements, media, and politics for The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Root, Huffington Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Los Angeles Times, Quartz and other publications. White is also a regular contributor to the online magazine, Role/Reboot.

Why is Black History Month relevant?

There has long been a contention among student and teacher activists that educators in this country, who are predominantly white, would not teach about black history at all if it weren’t for people explicitly setting aside space and time for it. Now, at least for this month, students can learn about how African Americans quite literally built this society and provided its foundation in so many ways. American history has been shaped around the marginalization and exclusion of African Americans in many arenas. As a result, there are lots of obstacles that have kept African Americans from being fully integrated or recognized in American history. Their accomplishments have often been occluded. Take technological invention, for instance. Black inventors often didn’t get credit for their inventions, and when they did manage to get patents, white inventors often tried to steal them. Granville Woods, for instance, an engineer and inventor with more than 50 patents to his name, often had to fight off attempts by white inventors to steal his patents. Woods is often called “the black Edison,” which I think is really a shame.

What are the most important issues Americans should be discussing during Black History Month?

We should reflect on how far we’ve come – and we’re really good at that – but also on how short we’ve fallen. One of the reasons for the recent popularity of the movie Selma, one of the reasons it strikes a chord with so many Americans, is that it reminds us that the issues that people were fighting for back in 1965 are still relevant now – voting rights, in particular. Some parts of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 have been cut back, and the “voter ID” laws being proposed and passed in many states are a new way to make it more difficult for people to vote. Incarceration is another – there are now more black men in prison today than were enslaved in 1850. And the decline of public education, another major issue during the civil rights movement, has turned these sacred institutions into school-to-prison pipelines.

What’s the most important thing African Americans are saying that the rest of America should hear?

I think lots of African Americans are saying, look, it’s good that we have a black president, and, yes, we have come a long way. But African Americans are falling behind and discriminated against in all kinds of measures – housing, employment, health care, the justice system, education, police killings of black citizens. The decline of public education in this country disproportionately affects African Americans and people are fighting for access to water in Detroit. People should really check out what’s happening with #BlackLivesMatter, which has been trending on social media in recent months. People born after the sixties so often say they wish they were born at a time when a movement was rising up, and here’s a movement that’s happening right now.

HBO Acquires ‘3 1/2 Minutes’ Doc on Jordan Davis Shooting

[SOURCE] HBO has licensed U.S. television rights to director Marc Silver’s “3 1/2 Minutes,” following its premiere in documentary competition at the Sundance Film Festival.

The film centers on the 2012 shooting death of black teenager Jordan Davis at a Florida gas station and the subsequent trial of his killer, Michael Dunn.

HBO will air the film in the fall after its theatrical release.

“3 1/2″ Minutes” is a production of the Filmmaker Fund / Motto Pictures, in association with Lakehouse Films and Actual Films. Producers are Carolyn Hepburn and Minette Nelson. Executive producers are Orlando Bagwell, Bonni Cohen, Julie Goldman and Participant Media’s Jeff Skoll and Diane Weyermann.

Watch the trailer below.

Marissa Alexander freed!

Marissa Alexander, a Florida woman who says she fired a warning shot at her abusive husband was released from a Jacksonville jail on Tuesday under a plea deal that capped her sentence to the three years she had already served.

Marissa Alexander, 34, was initially sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2012 but her conviction was later overturned. She faced another trial on charges that could have put her behind bars for 60 years before she agreed to a plea deal in November.

Her case helped to inspire a new state law permitting warning shots in some circumstances.

Leaving the courthouse, Alexander cried as she thanked her supporters, sharing plans to continue her education in order to work as a paralegal.

Read more: Marissa Alexander, Woman Jailed In 'Warning Shot' Case, Released

Would free community college hurt HBCUs?

Black college educators and supporters are sharply split over whether President Obama’s proposal to offer a free two-year community college education to students making progress toward earning an associate or bachelor’s degree would hurt are harm Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

Lezli Baskerville, president and CEO of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO), a nonprofit network of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Predominantly Black Institutions (PBIs), including community colleges, said that for students who have a gap in funding or choose to go to a two-year institution and don’t have adequate funding, America’s College Promise would create another opportunity for them.

“We are trying to make sure that students that want to go and get a technical certification or some training to get their foot in the door, can do that,” said Baskerville. “We also want to incentivize and facilitate students who want to get a four-year degree doing that, especially low-income students for whom options are very, very limited.”

Baskerville said that the jury is still out on whether a student would opt to go to a two-year college for free instead of going to an HBCU. “If they’re going to a two-year institution, they’re going to get a certificate or a two-year degree, something to get them market-ready or entrepreneurship-ready,” explained Baskerville.

“If they’re going to a four-year HBCU they’re going because they appreciate the ethos of historic Black colleges that are built on the traditions of the African American community of family, faith, fellowship, service and social justice.”

However, Lester C. Newman, president of Jarvis Christian College in Hawkins, Texas, believes HBCUs will pay a price.

Read more: HBCUs Divided Over Free Community College Plan

Uzo Aduba Wins First SAG Award, Makes History

Uzo Aduba, more famously known as Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren on Orange is the New Black, won her first ever SAG Award Sunday night. The first-time SAG winner also made history as the first African-American woman to snag the award. Watch her acceptance speech below: