Connecticut Ponders Slavery Apology

Lawmakers in Connecticut are considering following the footsteps of five other states by apologizing for its role in the slave trade and other government-sanctioned racist policies of the past. On Monday, a legislative committee pondered a resolution that would issue a formal, general apology and express the General Assembly’s “profound contrition” for the official acts that sanctioned and perpetuated slavery hundreds of years ago. Read the rest.

A Renowned “Modern-day Griot” Dies William H. Smith, lauded by admirers as a “modern-day griot” for the way he handed down to future generations essential cultural elements, has died of heart failure. He was 88. Smith, a painter, sculptor, and advertising professional, passed away at Silver Lake Center, a nursing home in Bristol, Pa., a suburb of Philadelphia. It was as a teen that Smith first gained notoriety, having painted a series of murals on African-American history at Frederick Douglass High School in Baltimore, from which he graduated in 1939, Philly.com reports. Smith’s acrylic, oil, pastel and pencil works had been exhibited at the U.S. embassy in Oman, the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Pennsylvania, according to his daughter, Claire, a former sports columnist for The Inquirer and the New York Times. “He was a modern-day griot,” she said, “an African storyteller, historian and entertainer.” His sculpture of Harriet Tubman, commissioned by the African American Historical and Cultural Society of Bucks County, stands in Bristol Lions Park, Philly.com reports.

Prudential Names First Black CEO West Africa native Tidjane Thiam is the first Black CEO ever to run a FTSE 100 company after he was named to head Prudential. Read more.

A Georgia boy dies after being shot by a little girl. A Georgia teen died Saturday after being accidentally shot in the head by a 12-year-old girl late Friday. Police said that 17-year-old Trevayne R. Cozart was pronounced dead at the Gwinnet Medical Center in suburban Atlanta. He had been playing with a friend when the friend’s little sister fired a weapon. Although the girl’s mother was home at the time, she was not in the room where the shooting to place, police said. No charges have been filed against the parents or the child.

NAACP will protest police actions in Conn. town.

The Stamford, Conn., branch of the NAACP, saying that police are “mentally abusing” Black youths, will hold a protest against local law enforcement on Aug. 31. The mass action will mark the first demonstration under NAACP President Jack Bryant, who took over the helm of the chapter five years ago. “I feel this plan of action is necessary as the need to begin policing our police department,” Bryant told Mayor Dannel Malloy and Public Safety Director William Callion in an e-mail a week ago. The mayor responded that he was willing to meet with Bryant, who told The Advocate newspaper that the “the time for meetings is over. This issue has been exhausted with meetings between the police department and the community. I think it’s time for action now.” Bryant says that the complaints from the African-American community have been pouring in. He says that he even witnessed one “disturbing” incident earlier this month but declined to offer details, The Advocate reported. “I approached the officers and they said it’s an investigation and they couldn’t give me any details,” he said. The incident didn’t involve a beat-down, but it was troubling, he added. “It wasn’t physical police brutality but I think mentally it was police brutality … I don’t want this to seem like we’re singling out the whole police department. I’m sure there are a lot of good police officers on the force. There’s just a few who make it seem bad for those whole police force.”