White S. African pleads guilty of shooting Black kids. A White South African teen pleaded guilty Monday to shooting and killing four Blacks during a shocking shooting spree earlier this year, reports The Associated Press. Johan Nel, 18, appeared for the start of his trial in a court in Mmabatho, which is 185 miles away from Johannesburg. The courtroom was full of the victims’ family members. Prosecutors were set to present their case this week. Nel fired on children in deprived Black neighborhood back in January, according to witnesses.  After shooting relentlessly, he even stopped at one point to ask a farmer for more ammunition. When the farmer refused to provide him with any, he shot and killed his ostrich. A 3-month-old baby (who was being carried on his mom’s back), a 10-year-old boy, a 31-year-old mother and a 35-year-old man died from the attack.  

Black teens are less likely to smoke than Whites. During their teen years, Blacks are much less likely to smoke than Whites, a new study says. However, most of this advantage disappears by mid-adulthood, researchers say. There is a puzzle here in that usually the health disadvantages in African Americans show up early in life and get worse as they get older,” says Fred Pampel, Ph.D., a sociology professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder. “For cigarette-smoking, African Americans tend to act in a more healthy way during their teens, but that advantage goes away by middle age.” The study appears in the December issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior. Pampel used data from two surveys to look at groups of White and Black teens to see how their cigarette-smoking patterns changed as they aged. “Resources, such as higher income, more education, better access to medical care and greater use of nicotine replacement products, help Whites quit at a faster rate,” Pampel said. But C. Tracy Orleans, Ph.D., of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, said the study did not factor in possible socio-demographic differences in exposure to higher tobacco prices and taxes, which “deter youth onset and promote quitting, especially among low-income smokers, and protection by worksite and comprehensive smoke-free airs laws, which affect adult cessation more than youth initiation.”

 Celebrities stand up to diabetes. Several celebrities are talking about their battles with diabetes during National Diabetes Month. To see what they have to say, go to BET.com/Body & Soul.

Trying youths as adults causes mental stress. Young people who are tried as adults, which continues to be a growing trend, suffer stress that results in mental disease, new research shows. Juveniles who are transferred to adult court, known as “transferred youths,” are a growing population. Between 1983 and 1998, the number of transferred youths in the United States almost quadrupled. But as much as two-thirds(68 percent) of the transferred youths were found to have psychiatric problems, and nearly half had one or more types of disorders, says the study in Septembers issue of Psychiatric Services. For the study, Jason J. Washburn of Chicago’s Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and colleagues examined the cases of 1,715 youths, aged 13 to 18, who were processed in the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center in Chicago. Of the youths, 275 were transferred to adult court. Another finding was that Black and Hispanic males were more likely than non-Hispanic Whites to be transferred, even when the researchers controlled for violent crime. What’s more, there is also evidence that males from minority groups are among the least likely to receive mental health treatment, either in the community or in prison.

Black students are more likely to get HIV test. When it comes to HIV testing, Black college students make the grade. Blacks in college are much more likely to get tested for HIV than are White students, according to a cross-sectional survey. The survey also found that college students are less knowledgeable about HIV testing than about the disease itself. Overall, 61 percent of Blacks and 18 percent of Whites said they had been tested for the virus , according to the study by the University of Georgia researchers.  Even at that, Black students were nearly seven times more likely to have been tested than non-minority students. And although the students were generally knowledgeable about HIV/AIDS, both races scored lower on questions specific to testing. “Misconceptions regarding testing results could lead to students underestimating their risk or the importance of testing and retesting, or having false assurance from the negative test result,” said Su-I Hou, the study’s lead researcher. The studies authors suggest that HIV prevention messages to heterosexual and White students should be strengthened to encourage them to get tested.

Many youths tried as adults suffer from mental disorders.
Trying youths as adults causes mental stress. Young people who are tried as adults, which continues to be a growing trend, suffer stress that results in mental disease, new research shows. Juveniles who are transferred to adult court, known as “transferred youths,” are a growing population. Between 1983 and 1998, the number of transferred youths in the United States almost quadrupled. But as much as two-thirds(68 percent) of the transferred youths were found to have psychiatric problems, and nearly half had one or more types of disorders, says the study in Septembers issue of Psychiatric Services. For the study, Jason J. Washburn of Chicago’s Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and colleagues examined the cases of 1,715 youths, aged 13 to 18, who were processed in the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center in Chicago. Of the youths, 275 were transferred to adult court. Another finding was that Black and Hispanic males were more likely than non-Hispanic Whites to be transferred, even when the researchers controlled for violent crime. What’s more, there is also evidence that males from minority groups are among the least likely to receive mental health treatment, either in the community or in prison.

Most of the students needed more information about testing.
Black students are more likely to get HIV test. When it comes to HIV testing, Black college students make the grade. Blacks in college are much more likely to get tested for HIV than are White students, according to a cross-sectional survey. The survey also found that college students are less knowledgeable about HIV testing than about the disease itself. Overall, 61 percent of Blacks and 18 percent of Whites said they had been tested for the virus , according to the study by the University of Georgia researchers.  Even at that, Black students were nearly seven times more likely to have been tested than non-minority students. And although the students were generally knowledgeable about HIV/AIDS, both races scored lower on questions specific to testing. “Misconceptions regarding testing results could lead to students underestimating their risk or the importance of testing and retesting, or having false assurance from the negative test result,” said Su-I Hou, the study’s lead researcher. The studies authors suggest that HIV prevention messages to heterosexual and White students should be strengthened to encourage them to get tested.

Many youths tried as adults suffer from mental disorders.
Trying youths as adults causes mental stress. Young people who are tried as adults, which continues to be a growing trend, suffer stress that results in mental disease, new research shows. Juveniles who are transferred to adult court, known as “transferred youths,” are a growing population. Between 1983 and 1998, the number of transferred youths in the United States almost quadrupled. But as much as two-thirds(68 percent) of the transferred youths were found to have psychiatric problems, and nearly half had one or more types of disorders, says the study in Septembers issue of Psychiatric Services. For the study, Jason J. Washburn of Chicago’s Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and colleagues examined the cases of 1,715 youths, aged 13 to 18, who were processed in the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center in Chicago, reports HealthDay. Of the youths, 275 were transferred to adult court. Another finding was that Black and Hispanic males were more likely than non-Hispanic Whites to be transferred, even when the researchers controlled for violent crime. What’s more, there is also evidence that males from minority groups are among the least likely to receive mental health treatment, either in the community or in prison.

Most of the students needed more information about testing.
Black students are more likely to get HIV test. When it comes to HIV testing, Black college students make the grade. Blacks in college are much more likely to get tested for HIV than are White students, according to a cross-sectional survey. The survey also found that college students are less knowledgeable about HIV testing than about the disease itself. Overall, 61 percent of Blacks and 18 percent of Whites said they had been tested for the virus , according to the study by the University of Georgia researchers.  Even at that, Black students were nearly seven times more likely to have been tested than non-minority students. And although the students were generally knowledgeable about HIV/AIDS, both races scored lower on questions specific to testing. “Misconceptions regarding testing results could lead to students underestimating their risk or the importance of testing and retesting, or having false assurance from the negative test result,” said Su-I Hou, the study’s lead researcher. The studies authors suggest that HIV prevention messages to heterosexual and White students should be strengthened to encourage them to get tested.

The neighbors say they were shocked by the discovery.
Historic D.C.-area church is defaced. Members of the First Baptist Church of Chesterbrook got the word last Sunday – the “N”-word, spray-painted in bold, block letters right next to the front door. “It was a very upsetting time,” Andre Johnson, a longtime member of the historic African-American church, told The Washington Post, adding that many of the congregants are concerned. “It was very disturbing to the membership” and “to me,” said James R. King, chairman of the board of deacons at the church, which traces its history to the Civil War era, when the neighborhood was known as Lincolnville. “That you would deface a house of worship . . . shocked us more than anything,” King said. It was the first racist incident he could recall in about 30 years – when somebody burned a cross on the front lawn of the edifice. The community has been very supportive, he said. “It’s a sick person who did that, [and] not an indication of what the community around us is like.”

White man files $6 million discrimination suit. Kevin Stevens, a 46-year-old air-conditioning maintenance worker, is suing the school board in Annapolis for $6 million, saying he’s been getting passed over for manager posts because he’s White. Stevens, who has been with the county school system for the past 28 years, says that he has been trying to move up for the past year and a half. “The hiring authority won’t allow me to advance,” Stevens told The Capital newspaper. “You work so hard, and you attain all these licenses and advanced education, and when no one will allow you to move, it’s very frustrating.” Stevens fixes heating and air-conditioning systems in county schools, but a year ago, he sought a post as night quality-control manager, according to his lawsuit. In that capacity, he would have been in charge of supervising night housekeeping crews in the schools. The Black man promoted instead worked under him for the past several years, says Stevens, noting that he has received high ratings on his evaluations and “has more letters of recommendation and more experience than the man who got the job,” the Capital reports. The supervisor of the operations division is also African American, which Stevens says is the reason he was not promoted.

Black weekly ceases printing amid money woes. After 16 years, The Bay View has bottled up the ink. From now on, according to founder Mary Ratcliff, the Oakland-based African-American weekly will be available online only. “This is not a goodbye to you, our beloved readers, though,” she promised her readers. “As the headline suggests, the Bay View’s not dead; we’ll see you on the Web! We’re pouring all our energy into improving our Web site, www.sfbayview.com, which has already recovered from a bad hacking enough to draw over a million hits a month.” She said that the printed version of the newspaper has been “a labor of love and the love,” but she and husband Willie Ratcliff were never able to make it profitable – or even sustainable. “Now we’ve had to face the reality that we’re flat out of funds or any source to tap.”

The Maryland teen was found dead in his cell in Prince George’s County, Md.

A month and a half has passed since a 19-year-old Black suspect was found murdered in his cell at a southern Maryland jail, and NAACP officials are angry over the pace of the investigation. On June 29, Ronnie L. White, was found strangled in his cell, less than two days after he was charged with killing a veteran Prince George’s County, Md., police officer by hitting him with his car. Go to BET.com/News to find out what the NAACP says should be done in the case.

There are about a quarter-million hate-group members nationwide.

Conventional wisdom suggests that racists are tossing and turning at night over the prospect of a Black man in the White house. But, word is, White supremacists are looking forward to a Barack Obama presidency, The Associated Press reports. Take Louisiana Klansman David Duke, who came within inches of being a U.S. senator in 1990. He describes Obama as a “visual aid” that other White supremacists can rally around. And the brands of White supremacists are many. In addition to a number of KKK subspecies (the United White Knights, Church of the American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Imperial Klans of America Knights of the White Kamelia, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, etc.), there’s the Aryan Nation, the Nazi Party, the Skinheads, the Nationalist Movement and the average, run-of-the-mill racist who believes that Blacks are inferior. Organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League, which make a living keeping their eye on White supremacy activity, estimate that there are roughly a quarter-million active hate-group members nationwide. One of those haters, 65-year-old Richard Barrett, a member of the Nationalist Movement, believes that Obama is just the catalyst needed to get White folks to unite. “Instead of this so-called civil rights bill, for example, that says you have to give preferences to minorities, I think the American people are going — once they see the ‘Obamanation’ — they’re going to demand a tweaking of that and say, ‘You have to put the majority into office,’” Barrett told The Associated Press. Duke, in a recent essay posted on his Web site, titled, “Obama Wins Demo Nomination: A Black Flag for White America,” wrote that “Obama is a visual aid for White Americans who just don’t get it yet that we have lost control of our country, and unless we get it back we are heading for complete annihilation as a people.”

Latinos, Blacks squeezed hard in tight job market.

As the nation’s job market grows tighter, Latinos and Black workers are suffering disproportionately, according to employment specialists and figures from the Department of Labor. While employment shrank by 51,000 jobs in July and nationwide joblessness rose to a four-year high of 5.7 percent, Latino unemployment was 7.4 percent last month, according to the Labor Department. Black joblessness was 9.7 percent in July. It was 9.2 percent in June. The overall teen jobless rate was 20.3 percent in July. It was 27.3 percent for Latino teens and 32 percent for Black teens. Analysts attribute much of the Latino job loss to ongoing contraction in the construction industry. A Labor Department report said the construction industry “has shed 557,000 jobs since its September 2006 employment peak, with nearly three-quarters of the decline occurring since October 2007.” A Pew report and other studies have found that for Black workers and their families, the picture is especially bleak. An Aug. 1 report by the Joint Economic Committee of Congress said that one in four Blacks lived in poverty in 2006. Black lost 55,000 jobs since December and wage growth continued its stall. “During the 2000s’ economic recovery, African American workers’ inflation-adjusted wages grew at an annual rate of only 0.2 percent, after having grown four times as much (0.8 percent) per year during the 1990s recovery,” the congressional committee reported. Between 2000 and 2006, median Black family income fell by 2.9 percent to $39,367, according to federal statistics.

Widow of slain Atlanta judge gets $5 million settlement. The widow of the Atlanta judge who was allegedly shot to death by a defendant during a daring escape from a courtroom three years ago will be paid more than $5.2 million by Fulton County. Under a settlement made public Thursday, Claudia Barnes, the wife of slain judge Rowland Barnes, the county will $5 million to settle lawsuits against itself and Sheriff Myron Freeman. The county will also pay a one-time annuity of $246,000 in a separate benefits case filed by Barnes, a former Fulton County employee. “I miss my husband every day, and this won’t take that away,” Barnes said Thursday. “I’ve had so many irons in the fire. This just closes another chapter of things I have to do.” Rowland Barnes was shot in March 2005 as he presided over a hearing involving convicted rapist Brian Nichols. The defendant allegedly wrested a sidearm from a deputy and shot to death the judge, a court reporter, a sheriff’s sergeant and, later, a federal agent. Nichols’ capital trial for the three deaths has been delayed several times. “Now I can focus all my attention on the criminal trial,” Barnes said.

Even the Klan ads didn’t help the Black challenger win. A nasty Democratic primary came to a close in Tennessee Thursday as the White incumbent congressman had a runaway win against his African-American challenger in a majority-Black district. Rep. Steve Cohen took an astounding 79 percent of the vote, compared with 19 percent for Nikki Turner, a Black lawyer, who throughout the campaign tried to convince voters that they should stick with their own race. In a particularly controversial campaign moment, Tinker ran an ad linking Cohen, a Jew, to the Ku Klux Klan. Sen. Barack Obama even entered the mix on that one, condemning the ad, which juxtaposed Cohen’s picture with that of a hooded Klansman. Cohen has long civil rights record. Just last month, he introduced a resolution to get Congress to issue an apology to African Americans for this nation’s imposition of slavery and Jim Crow.

Trial for Civil Rights Era suspect is delayed. James Bonard Fowler, the White Alabama trooper who will stand trial for killing a Black man at a civil rights rally a half century ago must wait another month or so before facing his accusers. The trial, originally scheduled for Sept. 11, will be held on Oct 20. Fowler allegedly shot Jimmie Lee Jackson in cold blood in Marion, Ala., in 1965 following civil rights demonstration. Fowler, who was indicted last year, says the shooting was self-defense.

Abercrombie is sued over a Muslim head scarf. Arguing that Abercrombie & Fitch violated the civil rights of a Muslim job applicant by denying her application because of her head scarf, a Muslim civil rights group has sued the popular clothing outlet. According to the lawsuit, filed at the Oklahoma City branch of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the district manager for the clothing store at Woodland Hills Mall told a young woman in late June that her hijab, a head scarf worn observant Muslim women, did not fit the Abercrombie image. “Employers have a clear legal duty to accommodate the religious practices of their workers,” said Razi Hashmi, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations-Oklahoma, which helped the girl file the complaint. “To deny someone employment because of apparent religious bias goes against long-standing American traditions of tolerance and inclusion.” The council declined to release the name of the plaintiff; she is younger than 18. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 stipulates that employers must attempt to accommodate the religious practices of an employee unless doing so would create an undue hardship for the employer.

Two cops are accused of cruising Harlem with a Black doll head on their antenna.

A prominent New York state Senator is wondering why New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg hasn’t spoken out against two White cops who rode around Harlem with the head of a human-sized Black doll impaled on their antenna. New Yorkers “deserve to hear from their mayor,” State Sen. Bill Perkins, a Democrat who represents Harlem, said outside the 25th Precinct station, where the officers were assigned. “The deafening silence speaks volumes.” Witnesses told authorities that they approached the officers and asked why they had the doll’s head on their antenna, but they merely laughed and threw it in the trunk. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly says there is an investigation underway. Earlier, he said the officers were unaware that the head was there. Bloomberg has mentioned the investigation but called any conversations about the matter are counterproductive until all the facts are in. “I think we’re doing the right thing and stirring things up doesn’t add a heck of a lot,” Bloomberg said at City Hall. “We take any kind of racial slur very seriously.” Activists are demanding that police release any surveillance footage that may show how the doll head ended up on the car. Clarence Jones, a 27-year-old Black man, was arrested Sunday after trying to take pictures of the doll head with his camera phone. He was with Perkins during the protest. “I called them racist and they pointed at the doll head and laughed,” said Jones. Police alleged that they arrested him for driving away in an illegally parked car while he was being ticketed. His tooth was broken and arm was hurt during his arrest, he said. “This isn’t about a traffic ticket; this is about a baby doll head,” Jones’ attorney, Roger Wareham, said.

She is an advocate for missing and exploited children
Kristen White, a 27-year-old Atlanta woman who works to raise awareness about exploited children, is the new Miss Black USA. White became the 21st African-American young woman to hold the honor when she was crowned Monday night in Las Vegas. Her reward includes $20,000 in scholarship money, a walk-on role in Tyler Perry’s sitcom “House of Payne” and a weeklong trip for two to the Bahamas. White is a national spokeswoman for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.