Legendary civil rights activist and comedian Dick Gregory died on Saturday. He was 84.
Friends, family and celebrities took to social media to honor the icon and innovator of the Black community.
“It is with enormous sadness that the Gregory family confirms that their father, comedic legend and civil rights activist Mr. Dick Gregory departed this earth tonight in Washington, DC,” said Christian Gregory, his son, in a statement posted on Facebook. “The family appreciates the outpouring of support and love and respectfully asks for their privacy as they grieve during this very difficult time.”
On Facebook, Roland Martin, a journalist and host of NewsOne on TV One said that he had enormous respect for Gregory.
“He was honest, truthful, unflinching, unapologetically Black. He challenged America at every turn. RIP,” wrote Martin.
"He was one of the sweetest, smartest, most loving people one could ever know,” said Steve Jaffe, Gregory’s publicist of 50 years, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Jaffe added, "I just hope that God is ready for some outrageously funny times."
Singer John Legend tweeted that, “Dick Gregory lived an amazing, revolutionary life. A groundbreaker in comedy and a voice for justice. RIP.”
Filmmaker Ava DuVernay tweeted that Gregory "taught us and loved us."
Quoting legendary entertainer Richard Pryor, sports writer Myron Medcalf tweeted, "Dick Gregory was the greatest, and he was the first. Somebody had to break down that door."
Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. the president and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, also paid homage to Gregory.
"We salute and honor the living legacy of freedom fighter Dick Gregory. RIP," Chavis wrote on Twitter.
Gregory had been in a Washington, D.C. area hospital battling an undisclosed illness. However, as late as Thursday, family members were said to have been upbeat about his recovery and he even had plans to appear at a show on Saturday in the nation’s capital.
Born Richard Claxton "Dick" Gregory in St. Louis, Missouri on Oct. 12, 1932, Gregory became a comedian and civil rights activist whose social satire changed the way Whites perceived African-American comedians, according to his biography.
Dick Gregory entered the national comedy scene in 1961 when Chicago's Playboy Club (as a direct request from publisher Hugh Hefner) booked him as a replacement for white comedian, "Professor" Irwin Corey. Until then Gregory had worked mostly at small clubs with predominantly Black audiences (he met his wife, Lillian Smith, at one such club), according to his biography.
“Such clubs paid comedians an average of five dollars per night; thus Gregory also held a day job as a postal employee. His tenure as a replacement for Corey was so successful — at one performance he won over an audience that included southern White convention goers — that the Playboy Club offered him a contract extension from several weeks to three years,” Gregory's biography said. “By 1962, Gregory had become a nationally known headline performer, selling out nightclubs, making numerous national television appearances, and recording popular comedy albums.”
Gregory’s biography continued: “It's important to note that no biography of Gregory would be complete without mentioning that he and his beloved wife, ‘Lil,’ had ten children, who have become highly respected members of the national community in a variety of fields. They are: Michele, Lynne, Pamela, Paula, Stephanie (a.k.a. Xenobia), Gregory, Christian, Miss, Ayanna and Yohance.”
While a student at Sumner High School in St. Louis he led a March protesting segregated schools. Later, inspired by the work of leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and organizations such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Gregory took part in the Civil Rights Movement and used his celebrity status to draw attention to such issues as segregation and disfranchisement, according to his biography.
“When local Mississippi governments stopped distributing Federal food surpluses to poor blacks in areas where SNCC was encouraging voter registration, Gregory chartered a plane to bring in several tons of food,” the biography said. “He participated in SNCC's voter registration drives and in sit-ins to protest segregation, most notably at a restaurant franchise in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. Only later did Gregory disclose that he held stock in the chain.”
Gregory's autobiography, “Nigger,” was published in 1963 and it became the number one best-selling book in America. Over the decades it has sold in excess of seven million copies. He explained his choice for the title in the foreword of the book, where Dick Gregory wrote a note to his mother, his biography explained.
“Whenever you hear the word 'Nigger'," he said, "you'll know their advertising my book."
Through the 1960s, Gregory spent more time on social issues and less time on performing, his biography noted. He participated in marches and parades to support a range of causes, including opposition to the Vietnam War, world hunger and drug abuse.
Dorothy Leavell, chairman of the NNPA and publisher of the Crusader Newspaper Group said that this was a sad moment and a great loss to America, especially Black America.
This is a sad moment and a great loss to America and especially Black America.
“Dick Gregory was a personal friend, but also a voice for Black America which has now been stilled,” said Leavell. “Dick was also a close friend to the Black Press and the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA).”
Leavell continued: “While we mourn this loss we are grateful for the many contributions he made that have helped us all.”
Chavis agreed.
“Dick Gregory epitomized the rare combination of being an intellectual genius and one of our greatest social visionaries,” Chavis said. “The National Newspapers Publishers Association deeply mourns the passing of freedom fighter Dick Gregory.”
A 4th grade experience was a career-defining moment for Attorney Ben Crump.
Growing up in Lumberton, North Carolina, he was bused to attend the town’s first integrated middle school in 1978. The sprawling building contained new books, new furniture, and the latest in technological equipment, along with many affluent white children.
One day in the cafeteria, as he stood in line with other low-income black youth to receive a free pre-packaged meal, he watched as wealthy white youngsters paid money to buy the food of their choice.
But a little white girl pulled out a $100 bill and offered to purchase lunch for the blacks.
“She said it was her weekly allowance. I remember being blown away by that and thinking that my mother would have to work a week to bring home $100,” recalled Crump, who wondered at the time, “Man, how can some people have it so good and people on my side of town have it so challenging?”
Still he remained excited about the new school and his mother and teachers explained that the integrated facility was due to the efforts of the then-attorney and later U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall, who won the landmark 1955 case of Brown vs. Board of Education that outlawed segregated schools.
At that moment, Crump decided, “I want to be like Thurgood Marshall so I can make it better for my community and for people who live like me and look like me. From that day to this one, that’s what I still try to do. I go in court and fight like hell to try to make it better for us, our community, people who look like us.”
Crump has stayed true to that commitment as demonstrated by his representation of the families of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Tamir Rice. His relentless work on their behalf has elevated the national conversation surrounding social justice and the killings of unarmed African Americans by law enforcement personnel.
Admittedly, few officers have been convicted to date, despite visual evidence depicting questionable police behavior, but Crump is not easing up on the pressure to hold officials accountable for their actions. His recent cases include lawsuits against the Tulsa, Oklahoma PD for the fatal police shooting of Terence Crutcher, an unarmed black man, and against the LAPD for the death of Alesia Thomas, an African American woman who died while in police custody.
While police killings of unarmed people of color appear to occur with increasing frequency, Crump insisted the incidents are not something new.
“I think it (attacks) were always going on for decades. All throughout American history people have said that police and the government were abusing us, using excessive force and doing all manner of things against us,” he said.
“With the advent of technology, you get to see it with your own eyes. Whenever black and brown people said, ‘The police brutalized me,’ nobody would believe them. They always took the cop’s word for it. But now with cell phone videos, surveillance videos, dash cam videos, we see it wasn’t the little black and brown people lying on police, it was the police lying on little black and brown people. It’s coming to the forefront, but America it still not trying to hold people accountable...and that is the battle.”
As he continues the fight for social justice, Crump issued a call to all citizens to participate in the campaign by refusing to remain silent about inequalities, exercising the right to vote, serving on juries and demanding diversity in police departments.
“You just can’t depend just on the court to fight for justice. It starts in the community,” he said.
To further his social justice advocacy, Crump just opened a new firm, Ben Crump Law, that will focus on civil rights, employment law, personal injury, workers’ compensation, medical malpractice and wrongful death cases, as well as mass torts and class actions.
The business, which has offices in Los Angeles, Washington DC and Tallahassee, Florida, has affiliated with the Morgan & Morgan law firm to allow it to employ top lawyers to handle cases throughout the U.S.
“Tapping into a nationwide team of talent gives us the scale to help individuals across the country and the ability to bring class actions and mass tort cases that can spur the progress toward real change,” said Crump.
His additional projects include hosting TV One’s “Evidence of Innocence,” which is based on wrongfully convicted citizens who have been exonerated by clear and convincing evidence, leading the investigation on A&E’s documentary series “Who Killed Tupac?” and a cameo in the film, “Marshall” set for release on October 13.
Even with a full plate of activities, social justice will remain his passion, said Crump. “Standing on the shoulders of the legal giants of the past, we have to continue to use all of our blessings and influence to try to make a difference. God has blessed me with this influence and our people need it more than ever now, especially in the age of Trump.”
Super-vocalist powerhouse AliyahMoulden has one big goal in mind and that is to become an EGOT.
EGOT is an acronym for those rare talents that have earned an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and a Tony award. 
It’s a small group of artists who hold this distinction, including James Earl Jones, Whoopi Goldberg and Rita Moreno.
Afro-Latina (African American and Mexican) Aliyah turns sweet-16 on August 14th and with ever step, she’s walking toward the path to reach her EGOT goal.
Training since the age of four, she considers “passion and discipline” as two of the vital qualities to reach her artistic goals.
It’s that drive that helped her stand out while a contestant on “The Voice” (2017) turning industry veterans heads with her voice and over all stage presence being compared to Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston and Adele. While on the top rated NBC show, “The Voice”, country singer Blake Shelton was her personal coach and she achieved the top 3 status.
The young artist spends most of her time in training and on the road, and has already opened for Beyoncé protégés Chole X Hale, performed at the BET Experience LA Live (2016), Disney’s Channel’s “Shake It Up” after party opener for platinum singer Jesse McCarney and participated in a national summer tour with Michael Deleasa with continuous collaborations with Alessia Cara, Miley Cyrus, Alicia Keys, Gwen Stefani, Zedd, Adam Levine and Jennifer Hudson.
On her own, she just completed her first EP which features the song “We Own the World” written by Multi-Platinum producer Drew Lane (“Hannah Montana” and “High School Musical”). She was also a part of the National Official Stand Up Tour 2015, conducted by Peggy Lafrate Senior Director of Sales at “Teen Life” and President at Strega Entertainment Group. Ms. Lafrate was previously Radio Disney’s Northeastern regional manager. As an ambassador for the tour, Aliyah recorded the theme song for the Tour with American Idol Finalists Robbie Rosenlive, in collaboration with up and coming band The House on Cliff, and other artists.
The big news for AliyahMoulden and one that move her closer to her EGOT goal is booking the leading role in the Netflix original feature film “Anastasia: Once Upon A Time”—retelling of the Anastasia Romanov story which marks the second production between Swen Group, the Latin American giant that recently established a U.S. distribution arm, and conglomerate—the Florida-based production company behind Walt Before Mickey and the upcoming Little Mermaid.
In “Anastasia: Once Upon A Time” the story begins, in 1917 as the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II flees Lenin’s troops through a time portal, emerging in 1988 when she befriends a young American girl.
AliyahMoulden will write and perform original songs and Blake Harris directs, as he did on “Little Mermaid.”
Catching up with AliyahMoulden was a challenge but when we connected, in route to another vocal session, she was all giggles anticipating her upcoming birthday and what it will take to earn her EGOT.
L.A. Watts Times (LAWT): You’ve been cast in Anatasia Romanov story “Anastasia: Once Upon A Time” which is set in 1917. Can you tell us more about your role in this project?
AliyahMoulden (AM): The name of the movie is “Anastasia: Once Upon a Time,” and it’s about a girl named Anastasia, who travels from 1917 to 1988. While she’s soaking up the eighties she meets my character, Bliss, a pop artist of the 1980’s.
LAWT: 1988, you are just turning 16 on August 14th. You are not a child of the 80’s? Can you identify?
AM: Absolutely. I can definitely identify with [the character] Bless because she and I both have a love for music. For this character, I also get to work with the amazing music producer Jeremy Rubolino for the music for the film. I am really excited about the opportunity and I look forward to working with such a talented cast and crew.
LAWT: This sounds amazing, congratulations, it seems you are one step closer to earning your EGOT! How did you get cast in this project?
AM: Thank you so much! My agent and [the film’s producer] Armando Guiterrez had been talking about me while I was still on “The Voice.”
The very day after I finished [“The Voice”]. I met with [producer] Armando Guiterrez and the director, Blake Harris via SKYPE. They thought I was [exactly] the person for their project [“Anastasia: Once Upon a Time,”] and here I am ready to film soon. I am so thankful for the opportunity.
LAWT: Perfect. What do you love about being a songstress?
AM: I love connecting with people through music. I feel that music is such a personal thing and when you’re singing; it creates an indescribable feeling.
LAWT: What advice would you give to young performers? How do you keep your disciplined life matched with your professional obligations?
AM: The advice that I would give, to young performers is to stay focused, and to be ready to work very hard to achieve their dreams. I keep my disciplined life matched with my professional obligations by keeping daily, weekly, and monthly schedules.
LAWT: Where do you call home now? Also, please tell me your top 3 favorite haunts?
AM: I was born in Annapolis, Maryland, and we moved to California when I as one year old. I now call Los Habra, California my home. I really love to just hang out at home, the mall, or Disneyland.
LAWT: Please share with us your top three favorite artists?
AM: My top three artists are all tied in my heart: Chance the Rapper, Frank Ocean, and Rihanna [they] are all EVERYTHING!
LAWT: Where do you want your career to go as you move toward being an EGOT?
AM: My goal is to try to master my craft as much as I can. I want to grow as an artist, and to use my abilities to make a better world.
Website: www: aliyahmoulde.com
Twitter: @aliyahmoulden
Instagram: @aliyahmoulden
Emmy-award winning journalist Shaun Robinson will host a free event raising awareness on human sex trafficking at the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center on August 12, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Last year Robinson started the S.H.A.U.N. Foundation for Girls, which makes grants for grassroot nonprofits that work in five areas of girls’ issues. The foundation promotes girls’ knowledge and exposure to STEM, Health, Arts, Unity and Neighborhoods.
“The first grant we gave was to an organization in my home town of Detroit, called Alternatives for Girls and one thing they do is help rescue girls and young women from trafficking,” said Robinson. “We had an audience of over 200 girls and young women and it was so successful that we are doing two more events, one in Los Angeles and one in Atlanta.”
Human sex trafficking is a form of modern day slavery. Oftentimes, it happens when a young girl is kidnapped and manipulated into engaging in sexual acts against their will. Many people are nervous about being trafficked when visiting foreign countries, but human trafficking is a growing issue here, in the United States. Last year, there were over 5,000 reported victims in California. It has become a billion-dollar industry and is ranked right under drug trafficking in world crime.
“Drug traffickers are moving out of drugs and into sex trafficking because it’s harder to get caught in sex trafficking and a lot of times, the women won’t testify,” said Robinson. “There are stories of traffickers getting a million dollars a year with four women.”
Girls, as young as nine years old, are being lured into human trafficking in many different ways. Sometimes it’s through their social media pages or in online chat rooms. Girls are also lured into trafficking in person at the shopping mall or on their school's campus. Young women are even being trafficked by boyfriends and men that they trust.
Some of the signs of a girl being trafficked include being disassociated from their family, not being able to clarify their address and being inconsistent with their story. Another sign is a girl having material items that she couldn't afford before. 
A girl being fearful, anxious and nervous can also be a sign as well as being malnourished or having physical bruises.
“We have to get out of our heads that sex trafficking only happens in other countries,” said Robinson. “Number one is awareness, number two is knowing not only who your child’s friends are but who their friends’ friends are. Number three is making sure you have an open line of communication.”
The event on Aug. 12 will feature celebrity guest, Garcelle Beauvais, who will be in a movie about sex trafficking. There will also be experts and panel discussions on some of the signs that a girl is being trafficked as well as tips to keep your loved-ones safe. Two survivors will also share their stories and a grant will be given to Saving Innocence, a nonprofit organization that helps survivors.
The event is free and open to the public. No reservation is needed. For more information on how to get involved with the S.H.A.U.N. Foundation for Girls, visit shaunfoundationforgirls.org.