Person of Year

President Obama has convened a cabinet meeting on Monday December 1, 2014 to discuss the tough lessons learned from the ongoing unrest in Ferguson, Missouri. The meeting also included young people from civil rights and activist groups based in Ferguson , mayors,  and law enforcement officials from and across the country.

The topic was how to address the deteriorating relations  between the police and the communities they serve, and how to ensure that the divide is bridged. 

His name is Rasheen Aldridge.  Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, the 20 years old  Aldridge  is a natural leader.  After graduating from High School, he enrolled at Forest Park Community College, while working minimum wage jobs, the lot of many Black youth in underpriviledged areas, such as East Saint Louis or Ferguson, Missouri. But that did not stop him.

Marie Bamutese, AfroAmerica Network Black Woman of Year 2014,  is a survivor. As a schoolgirl, Marie Bamutese survived two of the worst tragedies the World has even known:

Marion Barry, the prominent civil rights activist and self styled former mayor of Washington, D.C. has died. He was 78 years old.

"I’m proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me, " Apple CEO Tim Cook has said in a letter written for Bloomberg Businessweek,  while  publicly coming out as gay and declaring his support for equality.

Tim Cook, though the CEO of perhaps the most prominent company in the World today, has managed to  keep a low profile on his personal life. In the letter he  says that his decision to publicly acknowledge his sexuality was  intended to "bring comfort to anyone who feels alone" and to "inspire people to insist on their equality."

On Wednesday, October 29, 2014, Zambia’s Vice President, Guy Scott, has been appointed President of Zambia, hence becoming the first post independence African white head of state. He has replaced the late Zambian President Michael Chilufya Sata, following the death of the latter in London on October 28, 2014.

Although his appointment is temporary, the fact that he is white in an African democratic independent country make him a first. The only other white heads of state were either under apartheid in South Africa or during colonial times.

 August 25: Birthday of Athea Gibson, the first black to with a Grand Slam Title, the French Open.

Athea Gibson was born  on August 25, 1927, in Silver, South Carolina, from two cotton sharecropers parents.  She was an American tennis player and professional golfer. In 1956, she won the French Open, becoming the first black to win  a Grand Slam title and hence  cross the color line of international tennis. In both 1957 and 1958 , she won both the Wimbledon and the U.S. Nationals, the precursor of the U.S. Open. This won her the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year. During her career,  she won 11 Grand Slam tournaments, including six doubles titles. She was  inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame and the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame. In the early 1960s she also became the first black player to compete on the women's professional golf tour. She died on  September 28, 2003.

The director of the classic movie "Gandhi", Richard Attenborough has died in London at the age of 90.  Better known for directing  Gandhi, for which he won 2 Oscars,  he has also appeared in several feature films, as a leading or supporting actor. His better know movies include Brighton Rock, The Great Escape and Jurassic Park.

AfroAmerica Network
Person of the Year Series
December 15, 2013

Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete AfroAmerica Network Black Man of 2013 

Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, the President of the United
Republic of Tanzania is considered as one of the
most in?uential among the current African leaders. In
fact, along with Angolan President Jose Eduardo Dos
Santos and  South African President Jacob Zuma,
Jaya Kikwete is perhaps the most important president
of modern day Black Africa.  The three presidents
have become the wise people the international
community consults before any major action
regarding Central, Eastern and Southern Africa. In 2013, Jakaya Kiwete has become the center  of the World attention, and has left a mark on the continent and the international community.

12 Years A Slave: A Movie I invite Everyone to Watch; A Journey of Overcoming, Hope, and Optimism, and To Freedom

Today, I watched the movie “12 Years a Slave: The Extraordinary True Story of Solomon Northup”. I can’t find words to describe the experience of watching the movie, directed by Steve McQueen, which is based on the true story from the 1853 autobiography Twelve Years a Slave by Salomon Northup, a free black man who was kidnapped in Washington, D.C. in 1841 and sold into slavery. It is the first time that I watch a movie and hear so many moviegoers cry and sob. When the movie ended, I realized how many people in the