February 02, 2017

Aries 

March 21 – April 19 

You've been looking not only for the deeper meaning of life but also the deeper meaning within your relationships. Any conclusions you draw can be liberating but might also encourage you to look out for other possibilities within your closest bonds. There might be more options than you realize. Venus, your planet of relating, moves into Aries this week, which could set you thinking about why one particular connection is so special to you. The answer may not be what you expect.

  

Taurus 

May 21 - Jun 20 

You're moving through a phase now in which your focus may be turned inward toward your thoughts, emotions, and dreams. At the same time, the Sun is in the topmost sector of your chart, which puts you in the spotlight. If you feel a little uncomfortable, it could be because you're aware that you've changed over recent months and you're still adjusting to your new identity. Over the coming weeks, fresh insights can reaffirm the direction you've chosen.

 

Gemini 

May 21 - Jun 20 

With Mercury closely aligned with Pluto's transformative energies in an intense sector of your chart, the week's start could encourage a decision. Even if it isn't the right one, the fact that you've chosen can bring a sense of relief. But your friends may have something to say about your choice. You'll need to be strong and positive enough to drown out their voices and stick to your guns. At the same time, the present lively social scene can be very uplifting.

 

Cancer 

Jun 21 - Jul 22 

A skill that you acquired in childhood could be required as part of your job or for a business idea. Don't worry if you haven't used it in a while. Once you get going, you may find you're an expert. With Mars powering through your career sector, you could be more determined than ever when it comes to finding work or securing a contract. Desire can encourage you to go to great lengths. A little charm goes a long way, too.

 

Leo 

Jul 23 - Aug 22 

It could seem like you've emerged from a darkened cave into the sunlight this week as the shift in the planetary picture brings optimism and hope. You might be tempted by new opportunities, but you'll also be eager to see new sights and enjoy being a tourist in another culture. If you haven't booked your next travel adventure, you may do so this week, even if it's at another's insistence. And if you must delegate to get it done, it's worth it.

 

Virgo 

Aug 23 - Sep 22 

With Mars in a transformative sector of your chart, you may find that it stirs up your inner landscape of patterns and compulsions, perhaps compelling you to take certain actions. Would it be wise to give in to them? It might not if they sabotage your recent hard work. The other way to deal with them is to observe them and allow such desires to pass through you and out. By doing this daily, you could be free of them for good.

 

Libra 

Sep 23 - Oct 22 

You could be quite excited by an encounter that seems a little bit out of the ordinary. If this person has magnetism and charisma, you may not be able to resist - and why should you? You could find that going with the flow and working toward a deeper connection is very exciting. It can be even better if you share certain experiences or interests in common. If you do, this might be very special and even have soul-mate potential.

 

Scorpio 

Oct 23 - Nov 21 

You may be ready to embrace the more serious side of the new year now, which could involve committing time and energy to making your goals a reality. However, as Venus, your planet of relating, enters a more practical sector of your chart today, you might want to involve others in your plans. Get your buddies to buy gym memberships and share the joy of getting fit together. Pool info on the healthiest eating places or best yoga classes and enjoy the support.

 

Sagittarius 

Nov 22 - Dec 21 

Competitive sport or hearty aerobic exercise can be really good for you now and in the coming weeks. If you've felt the frustration of handling a great deal of responsibility lately, this can be a great way to let off steam and feel more upbeat. Jupiter, your personal planet, turns retrograde in your social sector at the end of the week, so you might need to push yourself to move in new circles, but it could be worth it.

 

Capricorn 

Dec 22 - Jan 19 

The presence of Mars in your home zone can be a call to make some overdue changes. The likelihood is that you'll feel very positive about tackling them. What seemed rather daunting earlier could seem like a piece of cake now, and you might get done in no time at all. Later, Jupiter turns retrograde in the topmost sector of your chart, so your efforts toward achieving a goal may not bear fruit quickly, but they will if given enough time.

 

Aquarius 

Jan 20 - Feb 18 

At times, it can seem like you're the one supporting your friends and at others that they're supporting you, which is how it should be. But this week as Jupiter, your social planet, turns retrograde, you might prefer to strike out on your own and enjoy a few solo adventures. Perhaps there are experiences that you wouldn't have if you were in a crowd or even with one other person. It could be very rewarding if you go down this route.

  

Pisces 

Feb 19 - Mar 20 

As Venus enters your sector of values and self-esteem, consider investing in yourself in whatever way seems best to you. It may be that you'd feel great with new clothes or a new hairstyle. Whatever you do for yourself can help boost your confidence at a time when you may be a little worn down by all your recent hard work. And if you haven't received much in the way of thanks, it's certainly time to give something back to yourself!

February 02, 2017 

By Brittany K. Jackson 

Contributing Writer 

When the average person today considers American History, very little of us understand the deep and constant inequalities faced by African Americans and people of color throughout modern civilization. 

 

Recently, a private screening of filmmaker Ava DuVernay’s Oscar-nominated Netflix documentary, “13th” was held at the historic Nate Holden Performing Arts Center in Los Angeles, where a slew of African American scholars, families and industry professionals gathered to examine the proverbial smoke and mirrors of Black history. Sponsored by Blackwood Alliance and The California Endowment, the screening was perfectly positioned in a Black community to conduct a more effective dialogue about the tides of colorism.

 

In the film, chilling truths are revealed about the systematic oppression of Black and Latino people, and the hidden agendas built into America’s political regime. The documentary is centered around a major loophole found in the United States Constitution’s 13th Amendment which according to the Library of Congress states: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

 

So, except where one is convicted of a crime, perhaps even falsely convicted, slavery is absolutely acceptable, who knew? DuVernay’s unapologetic brilliancy in uncovering huge pockets of political deceit takes a closer look at key policy initiatives strategically designed to deepen racial and economic divides among the American people. 

 

The issues become more complex, when after watching the film one may realize that “staying woke” reaches far beyond what the naked eye can see.  Furthermore, there exists a heart-wrenching revelation that people of color in America have simply graduated from slavery to mass incarceration in striking numbers, disintegrating the Black family structure while giving corporate and political interests the advantage over human life.

 

In an exclusive panel discussion addressing the implications of the 13th Amendment, key subject matters, including Ava DuVernay, spoke out following the 100 minute theatre screening. Panelists included rapper, social activist and business owner Nipsey Hussle, Black Lives Matter Co-Founder and educator Dr. Melina Abdullah, Los Angeles Police Commissioner Cynthia McClain-Hill, Esq., and award-winning civil rights attorney, host and moderator for the evening, Areva Martin.

 

In the grand scheme of what constitutes the “prison industrial complex”, “13th” attests that an overarching 2.3 million people are imprisoned in the United States, a large percentage of which are Black and Latino inmates. As the film travels through the U.S. presidencies of Nixon, Reagan, Bush I, and Clinton, it becomes clearer how the laws they implemented used health issues as criminal issues, and progressive civil rights activism as a threat to daily living for the “innocent” White person.

 

In turn, mass incarceration became the hot-ticket item for “tough on crime” politicians, leading to the development of billion dollar facilities used to house these “criminals”. It also led to the in-prison production and distribution of countless American goods and services, some of which include Idaho potatoes and plane parts. Essentially, “13th” uncovers the “War on Drugs” narrative, 3-Strikes rule, mandatory minimums, and mandatary sentencing policies as mere tools to help build the U.S. economy. 

 

From fostering conversation about private prisons, to becoming educated about what not to buy, viewers of “13th” are steadily becoming more aware of how to drive social change by understanding their economic rights. For DuVernay, she hopes that the piece will encourage viewers to do the research and take action. “I can’t tell you what to do,” she said. “Some people see it and get upset about ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) and want to organize against ALEC, some people see it, and want to know more about history, some people want to go to Black Lives Matter meetings every other week,” DuVernay proclaimed.

 

“Whatever little thing in here moves your spirit, hopefully something moved you enough to say, I’m going to walk out here and do something differently that contributes to a solution, because this is not a one answer problem. It’s a deeply layered, systemic, generations-old insidious disease that is not gonna’ be fixed with Band-Aids and need surgery, so what part will you play?” DuVernay affirmed.  

 

Newly appointed police commissioner McClain-Hill said that as a mother of sons who look like Trayvon Martin, it was Martin’s death that opened her eyes to the plight of many Black families and the stagnancy older generations had become accustomed to concerning social activism.

 

“We’re not going to be in alignment every second of the day in terms of how we do what we do, but we can give each other space to move forward,” McClain-Hill stated. “From my perspective, the most encouraging thing I’ve seen in a very long time, is the way that young people have stepped up and stepped out, and are just disrupting, demanding, and moving us all forward,” she continued.

 

When asked what Nipsey Hussle would say to millennials about social activism “Crenshaw & Slauson” denizen says “13th”  gave a “vocabulary” to what young people felt, but weren’t necessarily able to express. “It gave an in-depth background to something we felt and understand viscerally, we ain’t naturally have the historical or the factual breakdown of it, but we felt this has gotta’ be set-up, this can’t just all be a coincidence, this gotta’ be by somebody design,” Hussle stated. Hussle went on to state that he feels more confident in his position, and that more young people should too, growing to understand the facts behind strategic lobbyist, groups like ALEC, and other social constructs specifically designed to entice failure amongst Black and Latino communities.

 

For Dr. Melina Abdullah, Professor and Chair of Pan-African Studies at California State University, Los Angeles, she sees it important to recognize the structural intent behind slavery and the prison system to follow. “We need to understand that the over-criminalization, the mass criminalization of Black people, is directly connected with the murder of our folks at the hands of the police,” Abdullah stated.

 

“We need to understand that when Trump is talking about a national stop-and-frisk policy, what he’s talking about is not only filling the jails, not only building more prisons, not only funding police at the expense of the things that actually make communities safe like good jobs, education, mental health resources, arts programs, he’s talking about giving increased permission to police to assault and assail our folks in ways that create increased deaths in our community,” Abdullah added.

 

Blackwood Alliance founders Nicholas Maye and Steven E. Belhumeur say they created the coalition to connect active organizers with tools like “13th”. “Myself being a Los Angeles Native, my sister Ava DuVernay as well being a Compton native, we thought it was important to do something that was in our own community, in our own setting and for our culture,” Maye said. “We want to build a network to get those messages directly to the people who would be inspired to actually make an action,” Belhumeur added.

 

 

 

January 26, 2017 

By Stacy M. Brown 

The Washington Informer 

NNPA Member 

Bill Cosby continued his vigorous defense of his innocence and his famous brand last Thursday as the iconic, but troubled, comedian’s legal team argued that public statements in his defense are not defamatory.

 

Cosby’s lawyer, Angela C. Argusa, filed an opening appellate brief in the ongoing case against reality television personality and former model Janice Dickinson.

 

The brief asks the California Court of Appeals to consider whether a person – or his lawyer – should be allowed to proclaim his innocence publicly when faced with serious allegations of misconduct in the international press.

 

“[Dickinson’s] outrageous public persona could not have suffered from being called a liar,” Argusa said in court filings.

 

In November 2014, as Cosby faced an onslaught of decades-old, but what his team called “unverified” accusations of sexual assault, Dickinson went on national television and claimed for the first time that in 1982 she was assaulted by the legend.

 

Cosby’s team pointed out that in Dickinson’s own 2002 autobiography and in an interview with the “New York Observer,” she described that alleged encounter very differently.

 

Dickinson said Cosby invited her to sleep with him, and when she refused, he turned cold and slammed a door in her face, Cosby’s lawyers argued.

 

It was only after other women came forward against Cosby in 2014 that Dickinson changed her story in a series of public appearances, claiming she was “raped,” his lawyers said.

 

A lawyer representing the “I-Spy” star at the time issued statements to the press, calling out Dickinson for “her self-serving” change of story.

 

She then sued Cosby for defamation, a claim that was initially thrown out by the Superior Court. However, the court ultimately allowed the lawsuit proceed.

 

Cosby said the erred and should have dismissed the entire case.

 

In Thursday’s filing, he makes three arguments that his attorneys called compelling, including citing a decision of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, which just a few weeks ago struck down a similar defamation claim brought against Cosby by former actress Renita Hill.

 

“First, when someone says that an accusation is a lie and then gives the reasons for that opinion, that is not defamation. That is exactly what Mr. Cosby’s prior lawyer did,” the star’s attorneys argued.

 

“Second, the law permits people to speak out to defend themselves against accusations without risk of being sued for defamation.  Courts recognize that it is common sense that a person be able to profess his innocence. 

 

“Third, because Ms. Dickinson has cultivated an outrageous public persona, with documented admissions that she has lied in the past, she will have a very tough time showing that her reputation was harmed when his lawyer questioned the truth of her new accusations.

 

The brief emphasizes that “because the failure to vehemently deny accusations may later be construed, interpreted as, or deemed an admission of those allegations,” the statement “is purely opinionated speech articulated by Mr. Cosby’s attorney, intended to convey the message that Mr. Cosby denies the allegations made against him.”

 

Cosby’s attorney argued: “Such a public denial of an equally public allegation is protected speech under the First Amendment.”

 

Attempts to reach Dickinson’s team for comment were unsuccessful.