(Black Enterprise) – Aklia Chinn is a jewelry designer who is a vet in the business, with more than 15 years catering to celebrity clients including Blair Underwood, Lisa Bonet, James Pickens and Lawrence Fishburne. Developing a hobby into a lifetime career, Chinn’s pieces have been worn in films including Spike Lee’s Crooklyn and TV shows includingLiving Single and A Different [...]

Who are the Versailles models of 1973? Pat Cleveland, Bethann Hardison, Billie Blair, Jennifer Brice, Alva Chinn, Norma Jean Darden, Charlene Dash, Barbara Jackson, China Machado, Ramona Saunders, and Amina Warsuma. These eleven models took part in the legendary Grand Divertissement à Versailles fashion show held in 1973 at the Palace of Versailles. The show [...]

(WSFA) – The Equal Justice Initiative says it has filed a civil rights lawsuit claiming that District Attorney Douglas Valeska  illegally excluded qualified African Americans from serving on juries in Houston and Henry counties. The lawsuit alleges that for decades District Attorney Douglas Valeska blocked African Americans from serving as jurors on serious felony cases, including [...]

(LA Times) — Samsung and Google introduced the Galaxy Nexus smartphone and offered a preview of the Android 4.0 operating system, also known as Ice Cream Sandwich, on Tuesday night (Pacific time) in Hong Kong. The Galaxy Nexus — which will hit stores this November in Asia, Europe and the U.S. — will be the first [...]

Libya celebrates

(CNN) — Seven Republican presidential candidates engaged in a sometimes contentious debate Tuesday in Las Vegas, Nevada, as bad blood boiled between front-runners and the surging Herman Cain found his opponents taking aim at his tax plan. Here are five things we learned from the debate: Why 9-9-9 was No. 1: A rise in the polls [...]

I undertake today’s topic with more than a little trepidation, since it is by its nature emotionally and, not infrequently, racially charged.  The title is deliberately chosen but somewhat rhetorical, since the answer ultimately depends on one’s definition. Most urban thinkers agree that the massive abandonment and resulting disinvestment of large areas of our cities [...]

(AP) – NBA players and owners spent a marathon 16 hours meeting with a federal mediator and planned to return early Wednesday to continue the talks.  They didn’t emerge with the deal Commissioner David Stern wanted Tuesday, but things went well enough that owners decided to alter their plans after previously saying they weren’t available Wednesday. The sides [...]

(BET) — It’s rare that a week goes by where I don’t catch an old episode of “The Cosby Show.” I talk about the Huxtables a lot. During “The Cosby Show’s” eight-year run, it was one of the most-watched shows on television, breaking stereotypes as it introduced America to the black, educated, upper-middle class. I used to [...]

(Washington Post) — The call by some members of the black media for African Americans to support President Obama in racial solidarity is a terrible idea. Just as terrible as women supporting women only because of their sex, or any other group viewing the world solely through the narrow prism of their own experience. If [...]