AFRO HEADLINES IN 2008

Compiled by Alan King and Barbara Darko

Obama Makes History

Barack Obama, the son of a Black man from Kenya and a White woman from Kansas, was elected president of the United States, a country whose Constitution had to be amended nearly 200 years ago in order for African Americans to vote.

Obama won a lopsided victory in the Electoral College on Nov. 4 (and certified Dec. 15), defeating an older and more experienced John McCain by a 2-to-1 margin en route to becoming the first Democrat to win a majority of the popular vote since 1976. Obama became president-elect by winning 95 percent of the Black vote, 68 percent of Latino ballots and 59 percent of voters 18 to 34 years old.

“I had to pinch myself,” said U.S. Rep Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), a national co-chairman of the Obama campaign. “When we started this race, people laughed at us. Now, we see Barack Obama, a man of color, become the president of the United States.”

Obama won as large a share of the White vote as any Democrat in the past two decades – 43 percent, compared to John F. Kerry, who won 41 percent in 2004, and Al Gore, who captured 42 percent in 2000.

Obama’s lead came when Pennsylvania was called for the Democratic candidate by a 10-percentage point margin. Ohio, Florida, Nevada, New Mexico, Virginia, North Carolina, Indiana and other states won by President Bush in 2004 were added to the Obama column, making McCain’s defeat inevitable.

Before and since his victory – from namesakes, to a stimulus package for a group of entrepreneurs, to the red carpet rolled out at restaurants in the nation’s capital -- Obama’s historic election as the 44^th president of the United States has sent a wave of “Obamamania” sweeping the nation.

A month before his inauguration, Americans chose Obama as the man they admire most in the world, according to a new USA Today Gallup Poll. It’s the first time a president-elect has topped the annual survey in more than half-century.

And as the nation’s capital braces for what some officials estimate will be a crowd of at least 4 million people, President-elect Obama’s inauguration is shaping up to be a four-day, first-class affair that will include top entertainers, wall-to-wall parties, traditional balls and service projects.

  40th Anniversary of King’s Death
The nation commemorated the 40th anniversary of the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. King’s death in Memphis, Tenn., on April 4, 1968, sparked riots across the nation. Four decades later, some neighborhoods still bear the scars of the rebellion.

Black Children Have Highest Drowning Rate in U.S.
Black children drown at a rate nearly three times the overall rate and nearly 60 percent of Black children can’t swim, according to a USA Swimming survey. In addition, less than 2 percent of USA Swimming’s 252,000 competitive year-round participants are Black.

Angry Reaction to Sean Bell Verdict
Reaction to the May acquittal of three New York detectives in the shooting death of Sean Bell was widespread. Bell was killed in a hail of 50 police bullets outside a club where he had held his bachelor party. Following protest marches, Rev. Al Sharpton of the National Network called on Black congressional leaders to investigate.

DNA Releases Black Man from Jail
After 23 years, DNA testing revealed that Thomas McGowan, 49, could not have raped a Texas woman who incorrectly identified him in a police lineup. Said McGowan: “I’ve been living a life of hell and my nightmare is finally over with.”

NAACP Chooses Ben Jealous as New President
The nation’s oldest civil rights organization selected Benjamin Todd Jealous as its new president. At 35, Jealous is the youngest chief executive in the 99-year history of the NAACP. He was president of the Rosenberg Foundation and former executive director of the National Newspaper Publishers Association.

Morehouse Names First White Valedictorian
Joshua Packwood, was named class valedictorian at the prestigious all-male Morehouse College, a historically Black university in Atlanta. The 22-year-old White student earning a degree in economics had a perfect 4.0 grade average.

 

Florida A&M #1 Producer of Black Undergrads
Florida A&M was ranked the number one producer of Black bachelor degree holders by Diverse Issues in Higher Education. Two years earlier, FAMU was named the top university for Black students by Black Enterprise magazine.

Miss. Slain Civil Rights Workers Remembered
Community leaders held memorial service for three civil rights workers killed more than four decades ago near Philadelphia, Miss. James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner were murdered by the Ku Klux Klan for trying to register Blacks to vote on the night of June 21, 1964.

Texas Dragging Death Still Shocks Community
Residents of Jasper, Tex., observed the 10th anniversary of the gruesome murder of James Byrd Jr. in one of the most shocking racial hate crimes in several decades. Byrd was stripped naked and dragged for miles by three White men.

Grocery Chain Settles Discrimination Suit
The Kroger grocery story chain agreed to pay $16 million to settle a race discrimination lawsuit brought by 12 current and former Black employees who claimed that Kroger blocked their promotions and paid them less than Whites.

AKAs Celebrate Centennial
Members of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, founded on the campus of Howard University, convened in Washington, D.C., to celebrate 100 years as the nation’s first Black sorority. More than 25,000 attended the convention which inducted first lady-to-be- Michelle Obama as an honorary member.

45th Anniversary of March on Washington
Americans commemorated the historic Aug. 28, 1963 March on Washington where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have A Dream” speech. The historic march for economic and racial equality became a landmark moment in the Civil Rights Movement.

Only 36 Black Delegates at Republican Convention
Four years after Black participation at the Republican National Convention hit a high note, it spiraled down to only 36 Black delegates, a 78.4 percent decline and its lowest point in 40 years, according to the Joint Center for Political Economic Studies. At the convention in St. Paul, Minn., African Americans comprised only 1.5 percent of the total number of GOP delegates compared to the 167 Black delegates at the 2004 GOP convention.

Police Chief Calls Sagging Pants ‘Immoral Self-expression’
Calling the sagging pants style popularized by hip-hop artists an “immoral self-expression,” the new police chief of Flint, Mich., said such expression “rises to the crime of indecent exposure/disorderly persons.” He called for the arrest of anyone with exposed buttocks on a misdemeanor charge punishable by up to a $500 fine and three months in jail.

U.S. Supreme Court Overturns Washington, D.C. Gun Ban
The U.S. Supreme Court declared Washington, D.C.’s decades-old gun ban unconstitutional. The decision forced the city to publish regulations to establish a process for registering handguns and an amnesty period for people who have unregistered handguns to register them without criminal liability.

Black Caucus Members Reject, then Support Bailout
Most members of the Congressional Black Caucus at first voted against the bailout that provided $700 billion to stabilize Wall Street. Later, at the urging of Democratic leaders, including President-elect Obama, most CBC members reversed their decision.

U.S. Apologizes for Slavery, Jim Crow
In a building partly built by slaves, the U.S. House of Representatives, in an unprecedented move, apologized for African-American enslavement and the injustices of Jim Crow laws. The non-binding resolution, passed by a voice vote, signaled the first time the federal government had made a formal apology for America’s history of almost 400 years of oppression of Blacks

HIV Epidemic ‘Worse Than Previously Known’
The number of people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is 40 percent higher than the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had reported each year. The new figures were reported during an international conference on HIV/AIDS in Mexico City.

Xavier Leads U.S. in Physics Degrees to Blacks
Xavier University in Louisiana leads the nation in awarding bachelor’s degrees in physics to Black students, according to a report from the American Institute of Physics. Xavier, a historically Black institution, awarded an average of 16 bachelor’s degrees in physics per year, starting in 2004.

Daniel Cowart (AP Photo)

Paul Schlessman (Photo: news.lalate.com)

Hudson Family Slaying Detainee to Remain in Custody
Jennifer Hudson welcomed the arrest of her estranged brother-in-law for the murders of her mother, Darnell Donerson; brother Jason Hudson; and nephew Julian King. William Balfour was first detained Oct. 24 in Chicago for questioning the day the victims were found shot to death; he is the estranged husband of Hudson’s sister, Julia, and the stepfather of Julian. The family has opened a fund to assist families of crime victims.

Supreme Court Rejects Case Challenging Obama’s Eligibility
Legal experts predicted other eligibility suits challenging Barack Obama’s eligibility to be president would not prevail. The U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 8 rejected a lawsuit filed by a New Jersey attorney questioning Obama’s eligibility, saying “The application for stay addressed to Justice [Clarence] Thomas and referred to the court is denied.”

Racism Persists Despite Election of First Black President
While the election of President-elect Obma has generated euphoria among African Americans, amid the post-election glow of racial harmony lurks a sobering fact: racial disparities persist in just about every measurable form. Civil rights leaders have denounced a spike in the number of hate crimes being reported almost daily – from noose hangings to vandalism to assaults

NAACP Investigating Death of Miss. Student as a Hate Crime
Pieces are still being put together in the puzzle surrounding the case of Billey Joe Johnson Jr., the Mississippi high school football star whose death is being investigated by the local NAACP as a hate crime. Johnson’s family has asked the NAACP to step in and investigate their son’s death which occurred on Dec. 8 under mysterious circumstances after Johnson was stopped by police for an alleged traffic violation