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Afrosphere

Hat tip to Runoko Rashidi and TheBlackList

ISTANBUL - The black population of Turkey has a message for U.S. President Barack Obama.

Mustafa Olpak, author, activist and president of the Africans’ Culture and Solidarity Foundation in Izmir and other foundation members crave a meeting with Obama Ğ even for just a few minutes. But with Obama’s schedule and the foundation’s lack of funds for the trip, the group realizes it will not happen. Still, Olpak told Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review they were excited about the visit. “The spirits of his African ancestors, who were enslaved and excluded from the white man’s world, are with Obama,” he said.

Black people were not being bought and sold only in Europe and America, but in the Ottoman Empire, too. The island of Crete in the Aegean Sea was the most important center for the slave trade. Olpak comes from a family whose members were sold as slaves on this island. Although the family chose to remain silent on the matter, Opak has broken the silence with his recent book “Kölekıyısı-Kenya’dan Istanbul’a” (Slave Shore Ğ from Kenya to Istanbul). The book, out on Punto Publishing, features photographs and documents. There was also an exhibit at the EU center in Ankara, which opened with the book’s release.

The exhibit, titled “The Blacks of Turkey,” will be reopened in Ankara on the occasion of Obama’s visit with additional photographs from Opak’s family album added. “Maybe Obama cannot visit the foundation to meet us but he should see the exhibit at least,” said Olpak.

AP Says It's Going To Sue Aggregators

Techdirt

Given some of the Associated Press's recent actions, this won't come as a surprise, but the AP has now announced that it will start suing any news aggregator that doesn't share its profits with the AP:

"We can no longer stand by and watch others walk off with our work under misguided legal theories."

I'm a bit curious what those "misguided theories" are... because copyright law and rules concerning fair use seem pretty clear, and search engines aggregating info and sending people to your site has been ruled fair use before. So, perhaps the AP chairman is talking about some other "misguided" legal theory? Another AP person claims: "This is not about defining fair use. There's a bigger economic issue at stake here that we're trying to tackle." But she neglects to say what that is, other than our old business model sucks, and we've got no freaking clue how to adapt to the changing market place, so this is the best we've got...

Whenua Fenua Enua Vanua: G20 Meltdown Solidarity

Whenua Fenua Enua Vanua: G20 Meltdown Solidarity: "Wednesday April 1st

12-12.30 pm

British Consulate
Melbourne
90 Collins Street


'People are in an incendiary mood,' says Bone. '1 April will see the biggest ructions on the street since the poll-tax riots and possibly even the Gordon riots of 1780. I don't think politicians realise quite how angry we are. In the past six months, this country has been turned upside-down. A deep recession has been created by a few greedy bankers and as a result, thousands have lost their homes and jobs. A dam of resentment has built up and 1 April is when all these pissed-off people march on the City to take what's theirs. Capitalism itself is on the ropes.'



http://www.g-20meltdown.org/
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/03/425026.html"

Attorney Chiquita Tate Murdered

Slain attorney Chiquita Tate was such a believer in the legal system that she had a tattoo of Lady Justice on her back, college friend T. J. Crawford recalled.

Chiquita Tate was in the midde of a high-profile murder trial when she was stabbed to death in her law office.

"She just had an attachment to justice and doing what's right by people. She was always very serious about that," said Crawford, a teacher and community organizer in Chicago, Illinois.
But Tate, described by colleagues as a tenacious defense attorney who fought for her clients, could not save herself.
Family members and friends in Chicago; Atlanta, Georgia, and Tate's adopted home -- tiny Baker, Louisiana -- are reeling from the grisly details of Tate's slaying, and police say it was at the hands of her husband, Greg Harris. They had been married about 14½ months.
Harris, 37, is in custody, accused of stabbing Tate to death. He is charged with second-degree murder and the illegal use of a dangerous weapon. A judge last week set his bond at $500,000.
In a phone interview with CNN, Harris' attorney, Lewis Unglesby, said police have the wrong man.

"Greg Harris by all accounts ... is innocent. I don't know anybody that thinks he did it, except the police," Uglesby said. "There's nothing in his background. He has cooperated completely with the police; he's signed everything they've asked him to sign. He's let them search his house, his car."
Tate, 34, had started her own law firm in downtown Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and was doing well, family and acquaintances said.

"She was up and coming," said Cpl. L'Jean McKneely, a police spokesman in Baton Rouge.
Tate was representing a defendant in a high-profile murder trial when, police say, she became a homicide victim herself. Her body was found inside her law office on February 20. Tate was stabbed 38 times, according to a police warrant for Harris' arrest obtained by CNN.
While questioning Harris about Tate's death, police discovered an outstanding warrant for him in connection with a battery-domestic violence case. It stemmed from a December 22, 2007, incident at the couple's home.

Harris was accused of using "force and violence" against Tate, according to Baker City Court records. The court said Harris entered a not guilty plea on March 6, 2008, but did not appear for a May 8 pretrial conference. A warrant was issued for his arrest for contempt of court.

Police Shooting in Pasadena - NAM

NAM

Black residents in Pasadena are furious with the Pasadena Police Department after the shooting death of Leroy Barnes, 38. Adena Cole, a friend of Barnes' family, is fearful for members of her community.

Barnes was riding in the backseat of a car driven by Ameka Edwards at 4:20 p.m. on February 19 when they were pulled over by the police. It is unclear exactly what led to the fatal shooting of Barnes because the Pasadena Police Department has put a hold on the autopsy results, written and taped reports, recorded interviews regarding the shooting and surveillance videos from the officers squad car.

The first report from the Pasadena Police Department was that Barnes stepped out of the car and fired upon the officers. But a report the next day from the police department said that Barnes did not step out of the car and that he did not fire a shot.

Barnes does have a criminal record, and there was a gun in the car, but according to Cole, he did not have the gun in his possession at the time of the shooting. She claims that when the car was pulled over Edwards told Barnes to put the gun into her purse because she is a security officer and has a license to carry a gun.

Aunt Linda Walker, R.I.P.

Today, my beautiful Aunt Linda passed away from this world. She was only 59 years old. She's remembered as a loving aunt.

May Aunt Linda be a peace and may God watch over her family.

Natasha Richardson, R.I.P.

Natasha Richardson 1963-2009

Award-winning actress Natasha Richardson, a member of Britain's Redgrave acting dynasty, died on Wednesday at age 45 after a suffering a severe brain injury in a skiing accident in Canada earlier this week.

Rest in peace, Natasha.