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Nine people, including one police officer, have died in the West African state of Guinea, the security ministry said Wednesday, following days of unrest after a tense weekend presidential election.
In a statement, the ministry pointed to shootings and stabbings in the capital Conakry and elsewhere in the country since Sunday's presidential vote.
"This strategy of chaos (was) orchestrated to jeopardise the elections of October 18, " the ministry said, adding that many people had been injured and property was damaged.
Clashes were ongoing in Conakry on Wednesday, where a security officer, Mamadou Keganan Doumbouya, told the press that at least three people had died.
And a local doctor, who declined to be named, said he had received two dead bodies, and nine injured people, at his clinic.
The violence follows the high-stakes election in which President Alpha Conde ran for a third term in a controversial bid that had already sparked mass protests.
With tensions already running high, Guinea's main opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo on Monday declared victory in the election -- before the announcement of the official results, which are expected this week.
Opposition supporters are deeply suspicious about the fairness of the poll, although the government insists that it was fair.
Much of the tension in Guinea centres on Conde's candidacy.
In March, the 82-year-old president pushed through a new constitution which he argued would modernise the country. It also allowed him to bypass a two-term limit for presidents, however.
Security forces repressed mass protests against the move from October last year, killing dozens of people.
On Wednesday, plumes of black smoke rose over an opposition stronghold in the capital Conakry, where protesters erected barricades and lit fires, an AFP journalist saw.
Youths in alleyways also hurled stones at police officers stationed along a main artery who fired back tear gas canisters.
The security ministry stated that "a police officer was lynched to death" in a Conakry suburb, without specifying when the attack occurred.
In a social media post earlier on Wednesday, Conde appealed for "calm and serenity while awaiting the outcome of the electoral process".
- Clashes and barricades -
Ten candidates are in the race besides alongside frontrunners Conde and Diallo, old political rivals who traded barbs in a bitter campaign.
Despite fears of violence after the pre-vote clashes, polling day was mostly calm.
Then Diallo's self-proclaimed election victory ratcheted up tensions, and celebrations by his supporters descended into violent clashes with security forces on Monday.
The opposition politician said that security forces killed three youngsters that night, although AFP was unable to confirm the details.
Security forces also barricaded Diallo inside his house, the politician said on Tuesday.
Monitors from the African Union and the 15-nation West African bloc ECOWAS both said that Guinea's election was mostly fair, despite insistence from Diallo's camp tha
Many people have been killed since clashes began on Monday. Scores too had been killed in the run up to the vote as protestors marched against Conde's bid for a third term.
In the summer and fall of 2014, the jihadist group Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, the most virulent militant organization in Egypt, intensified its anti-government activity with a series of brutal attacks on security troops. At least 20 were killed in July in western Egypt and more than 30 soldiers were killed in late October in the Sinai Peninsula. In response, the government evacuated residents and destroyed nearly 800 homes on the border with Gaza to rid the area of terrorist hotbeds and to create a buffer zone to stop the flow of weapons and fighters between Egypt and Palestinians. The Sinai-based Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, which translates to Supporters of Jerusalem, stepped up its attacks on police and security forces after the ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in August 2013. In November, the group pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the Sunni militant organization that has terrorized Iraq and Syria in its bid to implement an Islamic state.
In February 2015, a group of Libyan militants aligned with ISIS beheaded 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians who had been kidnapped from Sirte, Libya. Egypt responded by launching airstrikes on weapons Derna, a militant stronghold in eastern Libya.
Malawi’s Supreme Court confirmed Friday that last year’s presidential elections remain nullified and a fresh vote held in July.
The Supreme Court upheld an earlier ruling by the southern African nation’s Constitutional Court that President Peter Mutharika’s 2019 election was invalid because of widespread irregularities.
The Supreme Court also said it wanted the election to be held earlier but “reluctantly” agreed with the Constitutional Court’s initial time frame, so the date of the new vote remains July 2.
That puts into question President Mutharika’s decision to pick Atupele Muluzi, the son of former President Bakili Muluzi, as his running mate for any new elections this year.
Muluzi, who is leader of the opposition United Democratic Front, stood against Mutharika in last year’s elections although he was also a member of his cabinet.
Melody Barnes was chosen by then President-elect Barack Obama to serve as the Director of Domestic Policy Council shortly after the presidential election in 2008, a position she held until her resignation at the end of 2011. Born in Richmond, Virginia to Charles and Mary Frances Barnes in 1964, Barnes obtained her Bachelor’s Degree from the University of North Carolina, with Honors in History, in 1986. She then earned her law degree from the University of Michigan in 1989. Barnes is a member of the state bar of New York and the District of Columbia Bar Association.
Barnes began her legal career in New York, working at the home office of Shearman and Sterling, LLP, an international law firm, from 1989-92. Thereafter, she served as assistant counsel to the United States House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. Notable legislative achievements of the subcommittee include the passage of the Voting Rights Improvement Act of 1992.
In 1994, she served as Director for Legislative Affairs for the Equal Opportunity Commission, leaving in 1995 to assume the position of chief counsel to Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, a position she held until 2003.
From 2004-08, Ms. Barnes was the Executive Vice President for Policy at the Center for American Progress, though she served stints as a principal and lobbyist at the Raban Group, a public policy advocacy group, in 2003 and again in 2008. She has also served as a board member for several organizations, including Emily’s List, The Constitution Project, and the Maya Angelou Public Charter School.
Ms. Barnes was the senior domestic policy advisor to Obama for America, the organization primarily responsible for the successful 2008 presidential campaign of Senator Barack Obama. In this role, she was a key advisor in shaping the campaign’s education and health care agenda.
Upon election of President-elect Obama, his transition office announced leaders of its agency review team to examine the inner workings of more than
James M. Evans, a politician and business owner, was the first African American chairman of the Utah Republican Party. He was born to Robert and Beatrice Evans in Orangeburg, South Carolina, in 1962. He graduated from Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School in 1981 as the class president and attended Tuskegee University in Alabama the following year. He graduated in 1985 with a bachelor’s of science in chemical engineering. During this time, his interest in politics took shape as he became a member of Tuskegee’s Young Republicans Club.
After graduating, Evans enlisted in the United States Air Force, where he worked as a navigator. After his service was completed, Evans relocated to Salt Lake City, Utah, and later started a small business in 1994. He started a payday loan franchise, Chekline, which eventually prospered and ranked him among the more successful black business owners in the city.
In 2001 Evans ran for Utah state senator in District 1. The first district was a traditional Democratic stronghold. It had been thirty years since a Republican had held the office at the time that Evans was in the running. The George H. Bush White House gained interest in the race and sent local advisors originating from the area to assist with the campaign. Evans won by capturing the votes of workers and racial minority who normally don’t vote for GOP candidates. His victory was considered one of the most significant Republican wins in the election season. Evans held office from 2002 to 2004 and also worked on the Utah Republican Bylaws Committee.
After his term finished, Evans focused on city level politics. In 2005 at the Salt Lake County Republican Convention, delegates chose Evans to become the new Salt Lake County Republican Party chairman. He was re-elected in 2007 for another two years and hit the two-term limit for the position. Republican success in the county had dipped at this time, highlighted by losing control of a traditionally GOP County Council. As the outgoing council chair in 2009, Evans was hopeful the
John F. Kennedy defeated Richard Nixon in the presidential election.
On July 17, 2014, Eric Garner died in Staten Island, New York City, after a New York City Police Department (NYPD) officer put him in what has been described as a chokehold for about 15 to 19 seconds while arresting him. The New York City Medical Examiners Office attributed Garners death to a combination of a chokehold, compression of his chest, and poor health. NYPD policy prohibits the use of chokeholds.
NYPD officers approached Garner on suspicion of selling loosies (single cigarettes) from packs without tax stamps. After Garner told the police that he was tired of being harassed and that he was not selling cigarettes, the officers went to arrest Garner. When officer Daniel Pantaleo tried to take Garners wrist behind his back, Garner pulled his arms away. Pantaleo then put his arm around Garners neck and took him down onto the ground. After Pantaleo removed his arm from Garners neck, he pushed the side of Garners face into the ground while four officers moved to restrain Garner, who repeated I cant breathe eleven times while lying facedown on the sidewalk. After Garner lost consciousness, officers turned him onto his side to ease his breathing. Garner remained lying on the sidewalk for seven minutes while the officers waited for an ambulance to arrive. The officers and EMTs did not perform CPR on Garner at the scene; according to a spokesman for the PBA, this was because they believed that Garner was breathing and that it would be improper to perform CPR on someone who was still breathing. He was pronounced dead at the hospital approximately one hour later.
The medical examiner concluded that Garner was killed by compression of neck (choke hold), compression of chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police. No damage to Garners windpipe or neck bones was found. The medical examiner ruled Garners death a homicide. According to the medical examiners definition, a homicide is a death caused by the intentional actions of another person or persons, which is not necessarily an
The Tanzanian government's tepid response to COVID-19 and seeming lack of transparency over coronavirus cases is fuelling concern that it is covering up the true extent of the pandemic, according to doctors and health experts in the East African country.
Since Tanzania's first known case of COVID-19 was detected in the northern city of Arusha in March, the government has officially registered 509 positive cases and 21 deaths.
President John Magufuli is chairman of the regional Southern African Development Community bloc, yet it was South Africa that called a SADC meeting this month to discuss COVID-19, and Tanzania did not participate.
The alleged politicisation of the response is reminiscent of the government's approach to Ebola last year, when it withheld information from the World Health Organisation over potential cases in the country.
The unusual COVID-19 response, which makes Tanzania something of a regional outlier, has led to much speculation, even the idea that the government could be attempting a herd immunity strategy.
On Friday, Judge Hans Fabricius handed down judgment in favour of the family of Collins Khosa who had launched an urgent application after he was beaten to death allegedly by members of the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) in Alexandra, Johannesburg, in March.
The court ordered the minister of defence, secretary for defence, chief of the SANDF and minister of police to command their members to adhere to the absolute prohibition on torture and cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment, and to apply only the minimum force that was reasonable to enforce the law.
The court also ordered the ministers of defence and police to ensure that investigations into the treatment of Khosa and any other person whose rights might have been infringed during the national state of disaster at the hands of members of the SANDF, police and any metro police departments be completed and the reports handed to the court before 4 June.
Frabricius ordered the ministers of defence and police to develop and public a code of conduct and operational procedures regulating the conduct of members of the SANDF, police and metro police departments in giving effect to the declaration of the national state of disaster.
An order was also handed down to establish a freely accessible mechanism for civilians to report allegations of torture or cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment, committed by members of the SANDF, police and metro police during of the national state of disaster.
Princess Alia Al Senussi speaks to Inspire Middle East
\tAl Senussi is now an advisor to Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Culture which was established in 2018.
Al Senussi believes that other good examples of emerging art hubs in the region include Dubai, Sharjah and the UAE capital, which is home to institutions like the Louvre Abu Dhabi.
Princess Alia Al Senussi gives a talk at Art Basel Conversations – COURTESY: Art Basel
\tThe royal unstintingly supports emerging and socially disadvantaged artists in the Middle East region.
This isn’t the case, says Al Senussi, who adds that historic events and societal shifts do, inevitably, provide context for many art works.
“Many of the Lebanese artists growing up in the civil war, for example – or artists that are growing up in a rapidly changing context, like here in the UAE, in Saudi Arabia etc – they’re going to be talking about those subjects,” says Al Senussi.
The period of Reconstruction took place in the southern United States from the end of the Civil War in 1865 until 1877. The era was marked by intense controversies, which included the impeachment of a president, outbreaks of racial violence, and the passage of Constitutional amendments.
Even the end of Reconstruction was controversial, as it was marked by a presidential election which many, to the present day, contend was stolen.
The main issue of Reconstruction was how to bring the nation back together after the rebellion of the slave states had been ended. And, at the end of the Civil War fundamental issues facing the nation included what role former Confederates might play in the US government, and what role freed slaves would play in American society.
And beyond the political and social issues was the matter of physical destruction. Much of the Civil War had been waged in the South, and cities, towns, and even farmlands, were in runs. The infrastructure of the South also had to be rebuilt.
The issue of how to bring the rebellious states back into the Union consumed much of the think of President Abraham Lincoln as the Civil War came to an end. In his second inaugural address he spoke of reconciliation. But when he was assassinated in April 1865 much changed.
The new president, Andrew Johnson, declared that he would follow Lincolns intended policies toward Reconstruction.
But the ruling party in Congress, the Radical Republicans, believed Johnson was being far too lenient and was allowing former rebels too much of a role in the new governments of the South.
The Radical Republican plans for Reconstruction were more severe. And continual conflicts between the Congress and the president led to the impeachment trial of President Johnson in 1868.
When Ulysses S. Grant became president following the election of 1868, Reconstruction policies continued in the South. But it was often plagued by racial problems and the Grant administration often found itself trying to protect the civil rights of former slaves.
The
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to plague the area without flattening of the curve, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser was pleased to showcase the alternative care site to support the nation’s capital’s battle against the novel coronavirus at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Northwest, D.C.
“Patients who come here will be treated by MedStar nurses and doctors and staff, and the site, of course, is stocked with necessary medical equipment to treat and care for patients,” Bowser said.
Those residents who will be treated at the alternate care site will be considered “low acuity COVID patients,” according to the mayor.
“Patients who come here will be treated by MedStar nurses and doctors and staff, and the site, of course, is stocked with necessary medical equipment to treat and care for patients,” Bowser said confidently.
While the mayor is excited about the alternate site, some residents used social media to tell the city’s leader that the COVID care support location is an unnecessary use of resources.
The drastic decision by the new LSK council comes almost a year after the Committee on Senior Counsel chaired by Supreme Court judge Justice Mohamed Ibrahim completed the process of identifying the 24.
Besides Mr Kipkorir’s grievances over the nominations, the new LSK council chaired by Nelson Havi, in a letter to lawyers, said there had also been contention over the composition of the committee and the impartiality of its members in particular, the three judges who were members.
The judges in the committee were Justice Ibrahim, Justice Martha Koome, representing the Court of Appeal, and Justice Jacqueline Kamau, representing the High Court
“Concerns were and continue to be raised on the validity of the Advocates (Senior Counsel Conferment and Privileges) Rules, 2011.
Going forward, LSK now wants legal opinions to be sought from three advocates appointed by the council, two of who are Senior Counsel, on what changes should be made in the rules to guarantee fairness and integrity of the process.
In fact, The Advocates (Senior Counsel Conferment And Privileges) Rules, 2011 states that besides one using the designation of Senior Counsel or its abbreviation, SC, any other privileges have been left to LSK Council to determine.
Coup attempts in June 2003 and Aug. 2004 were thwarted. Tayas crackdown on Islamists and his support for Israel and the U.S. were believed to have sparked the attempts to overthrow him. In Aug. 2005, however, President Taya was deposed by military officers while out of the country. In June 2006, voters approved to limit the presidency to two five-year terms.
Mauritania started its march toward democracy in November 2006, when local and regional elections were held throughout the country. Presidential elections followed in March 2007. None of the 19 candidates won more than 50% of the vote in the first round, and the two top candidates, Sidi Ould Sheik Abdellahi, a former government minister, and Ahmed Ould Daddah, an opposition leader, faced off in the countrys first-ever second round of voting. Abdellahi prevailed in the runoff to become the countrys first democratically elected president.
In July 2008, the countrys top four military leaders deposed Prime Minister Boubacar and President Abdellahi in a bloodless coup. Some of the same military leaders were involved in the 2005 coup that brought Abdellahi to power. In recent months, the countrys legislature has criticized Abdellahis handling of rising food prices and accused the government of corruption.
In July 2009, a year after taking control of Mauritania in a military coup, Muhammad Ould Abdel Aziz won the presidential election, with 52% of the vote. He prevailed over parliament speaker Messaoud Ould Boulkheir, who garnered only 16%. The election was deemed fair by outside observers, including representatives from the African Union. The election helped to put the country back on a course toward democracy.
When President Abdel Aziz took office on August 5, 2009, Prime Minister Moulaye Ould Mohamed Laghdaf resigned. Laghdaf had been retained two months earlier to serve as prime minster as part of a deal with the opposition. Despite his resignation, Laghdaf was reappointed prime minister by President Abdel Aziz in mid-August 2009. On Feb. 2, 2014, Prime
On November 4, 2008, Illinois Senator Barack Obama defeated Arizona Senator John McCain in the 2008 presidential election. On the night of his historic victory, Senator Obama addressed an audience of 250,000 at Grant Park in Chicago. The text of his speech appears below.
Hello Chicago.
If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.
Its the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen, by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different, that their voices could be that difference.
Its the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled. Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states.
We are, and always will be, the United States of America.
Its the answer that led those whove been told for so long by so many to be cynical and fearful and doubtful about what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.
Its been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment change has come to America.
A little bit earlier this evening, I received an extraordinarily gracious call from Senator McCain.
Senator McCain fought long and hard in this campaign. And hes fought even longer and harder for the country that he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine. We are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader.
I congratulate him; I congratulate Governor Palin for all that theyve
Rarely has an event grown big enough that it has outgrown Walt Disney World.
But in its 14th year, the Allstate Tom Joyner Family Reunion has taken up practically the entire Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center, drawing tens of thousands to Kissimmee for what it calls a “party with a purpose.”
“In the black community, families get together and have family reunions every year,” said spokesman Jason Gregory. “What’s better than families getting together with other families, and mingling and having a good time, and talking about issues going on within the black community.”
The massive four-day event featured events ranging from ancestry seminars to a NASA robotics camp to comedy routines and sports clinics.
Guests could choose from gospel performances, spoken word and jazz, a “beats camp” and an Afrofunk dance fit class, all while making time for a tag relay, a comics course, a teen summit, and a whist tournament.
In addition, NBA great Dominique Wilkins, “Good Times” star Bern Nadette Stanis and gospel singer Kirk Franklin all made appearances, and the next generation was represented by the child stars of the ABC show “Black-ish”.
“(It’s) the magnitude of the event,” said Oscar Joyner, president of Reach Media and son of radio host Tom Joyner. “Think of the thousands of people coming to Orlando for this, and going home and spreading the message.”
On Sunday morning, the last day of the event, the main convention center ballroom was almost packed to capacity with hundreds of guests attending “The Gospel Explosion” show, featuring gospel singers Deitrick Haddon and Yolanda Adams.
The show also featured comedy, including Adams’ morning radio show co-host Marcus D. Wiley.
“I pray in my own voice,” Wiley said jokingly. “(People) who get up here and pray in another voice scare me.” He imitated the deep cadences of a preacher — “Our father, who art in heaven …” — and imagined God saying ” ‘Who is this?’ That’s why God’s not answering; he doesn’t know who’s praying.”
Dee Davis, who came all the way from Little Rock,
Confidence in the militarys leadership began to erode in the fall and hit a low in October 2011 in response to the militarys heavy-handed approach to a peaceful protest by Coptic Chrisians, who were demonstrating against religious intolerance and the burning of a church. About 25 Copts were killed and 300 injured in Cairo when security forces fired on the crowd with live ammunition and ran over protests. Days later, the military council said it would maintain control over the government after parliamentary elections and cede power only after a new constitution was adopted and presidential elections. This process was expected to extend into 2013. The moves sparked fear that the military, which still includes members of the Mubarak regime, was postponing the transition to civilian rule in an attempt to retain control and diminish the influence of the democracy movement.
In November, protesters—representing both Islamists and the liberal opposition—returned to Tahrir Square to demand the ruling military council step aside in favor of a civilian-led government. The opposition had little confidence the military would hand over power and suggested that it was actually stifling the revolutionary fervor. The demonstrations turned violent with police firing on crowds with tear gas and rubber bullets. On Nov. 21, as the protests grew in size and intensity and police were widely criticized for their crackdown, Prime Minister Essam Sharaf and his cabinet resigned. In an agreement reached with the Muslim Brotherhood, which had stepped back from the protest movement, the military council vowed to install a civilian prime minister and to accelerate the transition to a civilian government, with presidential elections being held by June 2012. Former prime minister Kamal al-Ganzouri was named to replace Sharaf, and in response to the demands of protesters, the military council transferred most powers of the president to him. The secular opposition condemned the Muslim Brotherhood for cooperating with the military, saying the
An Angolan soldier shot and killed a teenager during an operation to enforce face-mask wearing to prevent the spread of coronavirus, the government has said.
In a statement late on Friday, the ministry described the case as \"homicide\" and that it was investigating the incident.
On May 9, a 21-year-old man was \"accidentally\" shot when police clashed with a group of people caught flouting a curfew and a ban on social gatherings in Luanda's impoverished Huambo neighbourhood.
President Joao Lourenco declared a state of emergency in March, banning public gatherings and restricting movement to limit the spread of COVID-19.
Rights groups across the continent have denounced widespread incidents of violence by security officials enforcing anti-coronavirus restrictions.
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela , original name Nomzamo Winifred Madikizela, original Xhosa name Nkosikazi Nobandle Nomzamo Madikizela (born September 26, 1936, Bizana, Pondoland district, Transkei [now in Eastern Cape], South Africa), South African social worker and activist considered by many black South Africans to be the “Mother of the Nation.” She was the second wife of Nelson Mandela, from whom she separated in 1992 after her questionable behaviour and unrestrained militancy alienated fellow antiapartheid activists, including her husband.
The daughter of a history teacher, Nomzamo Winifred Madikizela moved to Johannesburg in 1953 to study pediatric social work. She met Mandela in 1956, became his devoted coworker, and married him in 1958. At the start of her husband’s long imprisonment (1962–90), Madikizela-Mandela was banned (severely restricted in travel, association, and speech) and for years underwent almost continual harassment by the South African government and its security forces; she spent 17 months in jail in 1969–70 and lived in internal exile from 1977 to 1985. During these years she did social and educational work and became a heroine of the antiapartheid movement. Her reputation was seriously marred in 1988–89, however, when she was linked with the beating and kidnapping of four black youths, one of whom was murdered by her chief bodyguard.
After Mandela was released from prison in 1990, Madikizela-Mandela initially shared in his political activities and trips abroad. In May 1991 she was sentenced to six years in prison upon her conviction for kidnapping, but the sentence was later reduced to a fine. She made a political comeback in 1993 with her election to the presidency of the African National Congress Women’s League, and in 1994 she was elected to Parliament and appointed deputy minister of arts, culture, science, and technology in South Africa’s first multiracial government, which was headed by her husband. Madikizela-Mandela continued to provoke controversy with her attacks on the
Didier Drogba , in full Didier Yves Drogba Tébily (born March 11, 1978, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire), Ivorian professional football (soccer) player who was Côte d’Ivoire’s all-time leader in goals scored in international matches and who was twice named the African Footballer of the Year (2006, 2009).
At age five Drogba was sent to France in the care of an uncle, a professional footballer. After three years he returned home, only to go back to France after three more years in Côte d’Ivoire. At age 15 Drogba became an apprentice with second-division Levallois, outside Paris, and then in 1997–98 he moved to Le Mans FC, where in his second season he signed as a professional.
In January 2002 Drogba joined top-division Guingamp, tallying 17 goals in 34 league games. This success prompted a 2003 trade to Olympique de Marseille, where he scored 19 goals in 35 domestic matches and an additional 11 goals in European play as the club reached the 2004 Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Cup final, where it lost 2–0 to Valencia of Spain.
Drogba moved to England’s Chelsea FC in 2004 in a trade from Marseille. Though Chelsea won its first Premier League championship in 50 years the following season, its new centre-forward was inconsistent. Drogba was quick, alert, and supremely confident in his own ability, though he showed a tendency to a quick temper in matches. Even in his second season, when Chelsea’s title was successfully defended, fan appreciation was still muted. Yet by the end of the 2006–07 season, when Chelsea failed in its attempt to take a third straight league championship, Drogba had won over most of the skeptical Chelsea fans by being the league’s top scorer (with 20 goals) and by finishing the season with an overall tally of 33 goals. In addition, he was the key player in Chelsea’s winning both the Football Association (FA) Cup and Carling Cup trophies that season, as he scored the club’s only goals in the finals of those two tournaments. Drogba helped lead Chelsea to the 2008 Champions League final,
The slave narratives of Frederick Douglass, the “I Have a Dream” speech of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the “Black Lives Matter” meme of today’s protesters all testify to the power of words in the struggle for social justice in America.
So it’s no surprise that many past winners of the annual Freedom Award of the National Civil Rights Museum have been gifted speakers, orators, politicians, writers and even vocal performers: Bishop Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama, Bono of U2 and so on.
But images — Emmett Till’s mangled face, Rosa Parks under arrest, Memphis sanitation workers wearing “I Am a Man” signs — have had just as much impact as words in inspiring human rights recognition. So it’s appropriate that this year’s group of Freedom Award recipients includes a woman known as an image-maker: Ava DuVernay, director of “Selma,” the 2014 civil rights drama that was a nominee for the Academy Award for Best Picture.
“The images that we consume really nourish what we think about each other and feed what we feel about each other,” said DuVernay, 42, who is making her first visit to Memphis for Thursday’s Freedom Awards ceremony at Downtown’s Cannon Center for the Performing Arts. “So much of what we think about each other comes through the images we see in the stories that we are told.”
DuVernay is one of three honorees for this year’s Freedom Awards. The others include Joan Trumpauer Mulholland, who as a student activist participated in Freedom Rides, lunch-counter sit-ins and other key 1960s events, and Ruby Bridges-Hall, whose lifetime of activism began in 1960, when she was the 6-year-old student who integrated the New Orleans public school system.
“This year we have an all-women slate of award-winners, and I really think they epitomize the roles that women have played in civil rights, up to and including today,” said Terri Lee Freeman, president of the National Civil Rights Museum.
Freeman said honoring DuVernay was particularly timely because 2015 marks the 50th anniversary of the famous voting rights marches
The Sharpeville Massacre, which occurred on March 21, 1960, in the township of Sharpeville, South Africa, was the incident that to that point resulted in the deaths of the largest number of South Africans in a protest against apartheid. It also came to symbolize that struggle.
Sharpeville, a black suburb outside of Vereeniging (about fifty miles south of Johannesburg), was through the 1950s a community untouched by anti-apartheid demonstrations that occurred in surrounding towns. By 1960, however, anti-apartheid activism reached the town. In March 1960, Robert Sobukwe, a leader in the anti-apartheid Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) organized the towns first anti-apartheid protest. In order to reduce the possibility of violence he wrote a letter to the Sharpeville police commissioner announcing the upcoming protest and emphasizing that its participants would be non-violent.
On March 21, an estimated 7,000 Africans gathered in front of the Sharpeville police station to protest against the restrictive pass laws. Nearly 300 police officers arrived to put an end to the peaceful protest. As they attempted to disperse the crowd, a police officer was knocked down and many in the crowd began to move forward to see what had happened. Police witnesses claimed that stones were thrown, and in a panicked and rash reaction, the officers opened fire into the crowd. Other witnesses claimed there was no order to open fire, and the police did not fire a warning shot above the crowd. As the thousands of Africans tried to flee the violent scene, police continued to shoot into the crowd. Sixty-nine Africans were killed and 186 were wounded with most shot in the back.
The Sharpeville Massacre awakened the international community to the horrors of apartheid. The massacre also sparked hundreds of mass protests by black South Africans, many of which were ruthlessly and violently crushed by the South African police and military. On March 30, the South African government declared a state of emergency which made any
