May 29th, 2009
Nigerian Soccer Fan Runs Over Rival’s Fans Local police say a Manchester United football fan in Nigeria killed four people when he plowed his minibus into a group of Barcelona fans following his team’s loss, reports the BBC. There were also 10 people wounded in the tragedy. “The driver passed the crowd, then made a U-turn and ran into them,” a police spokesman told Reuters. United lost the European Champion League Final to Barcelona 2-0. Bitterness over the loss is a likely motive. “The man confessed to doing it on purpose. He now says he doesn’t know why he did it, but it was an intentional act,” a police spokeswoman told the BBC. European soccer teams are popular in the west African nation, and the league often snags Africa’s best players.
Haitian Activist Dies Father Gerard Jean-Juste, a Haitian Roman Catholic priest and activist, died in a Miami hospital Wednesday following a stroke. He was 62. After leaving his native Haiti for the United States, Father Jean-Juste founded the Haitian Refugee Center in the late 1970s. When Haitians were being deported from the country, he tried to make sure they at least were properly considered for asylum. After returning to Haiti in the 1990s, he became a supporter of former leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who is now exiled
TAGS: activist, Father Gerard Jean-Juste, haiti, Manchester United, nigeria, soccer
August 15th, 2008
Darren “Bo” Taylor gave up his life with the Crips to foster harmony
Darren “Bo” Taylor, a one-time gang-banger who survived the mean streets of Los Angeles to bring about peace between rival gangs following the 1992 L.A. riots, lost a battle with cancer on Monday. He was 42. The former Crips member was perhaps the most unlikely peace activist. “Through his UNITY One organization, Taylor worked painstakingly to reduce street violence and to teach life skills to inmates. You don’t find many in the gang-intervention world who can be effective in the street, effective in the courtroom, effective at City Hall and effective in the prisons,” civil rights attorney Connie Rice told The Associated Press. “He could calm everyone down and make us work together.” Survivors include his wife, Marlene Oglesby-Taylor, and mother, Charlene Taylor. (Photo/ Los Angeles Times).
Don’t count on Jesse or Colin in Denver.
Secretary of State Colin Powell downplayed reports that he’d be standing next to Sen. Barack Obama at the Democratic Convention in Denver later this month. During the primaries, Powell had kind words for Obama, stoking speculation that the first African-American secretary of State might throw his support behind potentially the first African-American president. Go to BET.com/News for more..
Second noose is found on Tennessee construction site. For the second time this month construction workers at the BlueCross BlueShield building site in Tennessee Thursday found a noose at the worksite in Cameron Hill. It was constructed of plastic building material, FBI Agent in Charge Ed Galloway told The Chattanooga Times Free Press. He said his office is investigating. Skanska, the company in charge of the construction project, is offering diversity and sensitivity training, the newspaper reports. “We’ve added a tremendous amount of security at the site,” John Reyhan, general manager for the project, Reyhan said. “And at our job-wide meeting every morning we are encouraging anyone to come forward with any reports of intimidation.” The first noose was found last week.
TAGS: activist, bo, colin, construction, convention, darren, dead, democratic, Denver, gang-banger, jesse, noose, peace, second, site, taylor, tennessee