Page 20 - Florida Sentinel 2-28-17

National
Black Television News Channel To Be Launched At FAMU
Former U. S. Cong. J. C. Watts, Jr. Helps interim FAMU presi- dent, Larry Robinson cut the ribbon.
Houston Girl, 8, Shot In Road Rage Incident
DeMaree Adkins was fatally shot in a road rage incident Saturday.
HOUSTON, TX —- DeMa- ree Adkins, 8, is dead follow- ing an early morning collision Saturday, however it wasn’t the crash that killed her.
Adkins mom, Latoyia Thomas told the Houston Chronicle she was just min- utes from home after getting her hair braided around 2 AM Saturday, while her daughter DeMaree was asleep in the backseat. As she approached the light, a speeding Pontiac collided with her Black Honda Accord.
After the accident, Thomas says another car drove up. She saw a woman step out of the vehicle and start shooting a gun. The driver of the Pontiac got into the vehicle, a dark sedan and the car took off. Thomas says she wasn’t even aware her daughter had been struck by the gunfire until she attempted to take her out of the car and noticed blood on her jacket.
Between five and seven shots were fired at Thomas’ vehicle according to police. Police are still looking for the drivers of the white Pontiac which was left at the scene and the dark, four-door sedan.
Google Pledges $11.5M To Racial Justice Causes
Actress/activist Yara Shahidi speaks onstage during The Paley Center For Media & Google present 'Cracking the Code: Di- versity, Hollywood & STEM' at Google Headquarters (Getty Im- ages)
The Black Television News Channel is scheduled to be launched next February in its home inside the Florida A&M University School of Journal- ism & Graphic Communica- tion.
The BTNC is being touted as the first 4K Ultra HD newsgathering and produc- tion infrastructure of its kind. It is expected to include a multi-million-dollar, media- training center for aspiring journalists.
According to a study by the Florida State University Cen- ter for Economic Forecasting and Analysis, the BTNC will
generate more than 100 jobs in Tallahassee and more than $30 million annually in eco- nomic stimulus for the re- gion.
At a ribbon-cutting cere- mony Friday, FAMU alumnus and U.S. Rep. Al Lawson congratulated BTNC partners and owners, including former U. S. Congressman J. C. Watts, Jr. and former Tal- lahassee Mayor John Marks. Watts, who is cred- ited with being one of the vi- sionaries behind the network, expressed gratitude for the unwavering support and ad- vocacy of national leaders.
Google has pledged to in- vest $11.5 million in support of racial justice. The money will be split between 10 dif- ferent causes, $5 million will be donated to the Center for Policing Equality.
“CPE’s National Justice Database is the first in the na- tion to track national statis- tics on police behavior, including stops and use of force, and standardizes data collection across many of the country’s police depart- ments,” says Justin Steele,
a Google.org principal. According to Steele, there is no uniform method of data collection and this makes comparisons between statis- tics from one agency to an-
other, nearly impossible. USA Today has noted that this doubles the amount of money Google has donated to such causes. It is also part of the Google core belief that better data means solving problems that have stumped
us so far.
28 Injured When Driver Crashes Into Mardi Gras Crowd
Rachel Dolezal Out Of Work, Soon To Be Homeless
Rachel Dolezal’s brother and parents revealed she was not Black.
NEW ORLEANS, LA — A possibly intoxicated driver made for a scary scene during New Orleans’ annual Mardi Gras celebration where 28 people were injured he ca- reened through a crowd of Mardi Gras revelers.
According to New Orleans’ NOLA.com, the suspect wrecked a pickup truck into spectators at the Krewe of Endymion parade in Mid- City.
The victims included a po- lice officer and a child. Of the victims, five were in critical condition. The rest had non- life threatening injuries and several declined treatment.
The AP reports that thou-
sands lined the streets of Mid-City for the Krewe of Endymion parade on Satur- day.
According to CNN, the Krewe of Endymion holds the city’s largest Mardi Gras pa- rade with an annual budget of $7 million. It boasts 81 floats and 3,200 riders and many parents bring children to the family-friendly parade.
SPOKANE, WA —- Rachel Dolezal, the infamous white woman who for years passed herself off as African Ameri- can and rose to become head of an NAACP branch, is now jobless, on food stamps and expects to soon be homeless.
A defiant Dolezal, 39, re- counted her current plight to The Guardian. Dolezal said she’s only been offered jobs in reality television and porno flicks. A friend helped her come up with the money for February’s rent and she does- n’t know how she’s going to pay for March.
And she still says she’s not white. Dolezal was exposed in June 2015 when a local tel- evision crew asked her the simple question: “Are you
African American?” Pictures of a younger,
white-skinned and blonde- haired Dolezal soon sur- faced and her story exploded. The formerly successful leader of the Spokane NAACP chapter and a university pro- fessor, Dolezal – who once sued historically-black Howard University for racial discrimination, because she was white – now says she’s been turned down for 100 jobs and her memoir was re- jected by 30 publishers before finding a taker.
She’s also apparently begun ruffling feathers in the trans- gender community by claim- ing that race, like gender, is fluid.
PAGE 20 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2017