In this issue Chicago Teen Beaten to Death P.1 Inhumane Acts of A Father P.2

Nationalism Prevent Unity P.3 Chicago Teen Article Continued P.4

October 9 , 2009

Chicago Teen Beaten to Death

ISS UE

20

VOL. 2

On October 10, 1894 Macon

B. Allen, the first Black li-

censed to practice law in the

United States, died in Wash-

ington D.C.

On October 10, 1917 Thelo-

nius Monk, legendary jazz

pianist, was born in Rock Mt.,

NC. Monk, whose improvisa-

tion distinguished him from

other performers in his field,

composed many hits includ-

ing “Epistrophy” and “Round

Midnight”.

Check us out online at: www.thepopulacenow.com or follow us on Twitter.com

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By Patrick A. Sellers for The Populace Now

A proud partner of the Public Broadcasting Service

are being built for a reason

and that African Ameri-

cans make up the majority

of the prison population.

(Continued on pg. 4)

absolutely horrible to say

the least, these children

were totally out of control.

Our children seem to not

understand that prisons

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Nadashia Thomas stands holding a sign at a vigil held for

Derrion Albert on September 28, 2009

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On Septem-

ber 24, 2009

Derrion Al-

bert, a sopho-

more and an

honors stu-

dent at Chicago’s Christian

Fenger Academy High

School, was maliciously

beaten and killed by a

group of students while on

his way home from school.

Witnesses say that Albert

was a bystander and neu-

tral from all activities

when he was knocked un-

conscious. While trying to

regain consciousness; Al-

bert was struck in the

head by a board and then

attacked a second time by

a group of five students.

This entire situation is

The Populace Now Volume 2 Issue 19 Page 2

Inhumane Acts of A Father

taken from Forest City hospital to

Arkansas Children’s Hospital for

better care.

As of Sept

2009 one

year after

the incident

R e g i n a l d

Davis’ her-

ring has

twice been

p o s t po ne d

due to psych

evaluations

r e q u e s t e d

by his defense. In the mean time

we continue to wait for answers

that will help us understand how a

father could commit such a hei-

nous act on his own child or any

child for that matter. If there was

By Buffy Griffin for The Populace Now

On September 1st

2008 in Little Rock,

Arkansas an 8 day

old baby girl was

b o t h

beaten and raped

by her 18 year

old father Reginald

Davis. According to

various news re-

ports Davis was

visiting at the

home of his 15 year

old girlfriend and

daughter when the

unthinkable act occurred, all while

the 15 year old mom was in the

shower and the grandmother was

in another area of the home. The

infant was hurt so severely includ-

ing a cracked skull that she was

a history of mental illness or at

the least, reasons to believe he

had such issues, why would some-

one leave him alone with the

baby? Or could it be his attorneys

attempt to get him a lesser sen-

tence. If Reginald Davis is found

guilty he could face thousands of

dollars in fines and imprisonment

or sent to a state hospital.

A lot can be said about Reginald

Davis’ moral convictions or the

lack thereof, yet it never ceases to

amaze me how individuals will

come forward after the fact with

comments on a person’s question-

able behavior that did little or

nothing to help to remedy the

problem(s) before becoming a

nightmare of ongoing pain and

suffering.

Ronnie Bush

Third Ward Alderman

815-233-1027 (home)

815-238-8530 (cell)

rbush@cityoffreeport.org

— According to various news

reports Davis was visiting at

the home of his 15 year old

girlfriend and daughter when

the unthinkable act

occurred.—

We are Dedicated

We are Committed

We are Passionate

We are Sellers Media Group

Volume 2 Issue 19 The Populace Now Page 3

By Kamal Walker for The Populace Now

Nigerian, Haitian,

Cuban, Jamaican,

African American.

In the African

American commu-

nity, we can all

identify with a

country or culture. Nationalism

seems harmless and there is noth-

ing wrong with loving the country

that one is from. However, ex-

treme forms of nationalism lead to

racism and prejudice. More impor-

tantly, extreme nationalism pre-

vents unity.

The above mentioned groups all

share one thing in common- their

ancestors are from the continent

Africa. Whether you are from the

West Indies or you are an Ameri-

can with African parents, in this

country you are considered black.

However, when we speak of the

African American community, it is

quite common to exclude individu-

als that fit this description.

How can we solve problems in

our community if we choose to

ignore all of the individuals in-

volved? When BET has their

roundtable discussions and when

CNN has their Black in America

programs, why aren’t Jamaicans,

Haitians and Ghanaians on the

panel? Do they not live in these

communities that are plagued

with crime, gangs and violence?

Black people throughout this

country deal with similar issues

every single day. We need to unite

ourselves instead of isolating each

particular group based on national-

ity.

The dissection amongst black

groups is evident even in major uni-

versities across the nation. On a

single campus, you can find a Black

Students organization, an African

Student Organization, a Nigerian

Student Group and an Ethiopian

Student Group;

this division is

reflected in the

community at

large.

I am not sug-

gesting that peo-

ple abandon

their culture and

denounce ties to a particular coun-

try. Regardless of where you or your

family is from, if you live in the

USA and can trace your roots back

to Africa then you are black. It

pains me to listen to individuals

from Africa claim that they do not

share the experience of racism and

negative black stereotypes. No bet-

ter are the comments by African

Americans that Africans helped sell

them into slavery and that the cur-

rent Africans do not have ancestors

that had to deal with the affects of

slavery. There are even Jamaicans

and Haitians [and others of course]

that refuse to be considered African

American. How productive is that?

Occasionally, my wife [she is from

Senegal] and I have lengthy discus-

sions about the differences, similari-

ties, and struggles amongst different

black ethnic groups. At the end of

each conversation we usually end

with the same conclusion: we are all

black. Therefore, the only way for us

to be united as a people is to focus on

what we have in common [like Afri-

can roots, problems, and concerns

within the community], instead of

drawing attention

to those things

that separate us.

Black people are

not the only ones

with this di-

lemma. Irish, Pol-

ish Swedish and

French do not en-

joy being referred to as white; some

Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans and

Guatemalans do not like to be called

Hispanic; and Koreans, Chinese,

Japanese and Vietnamese hate to be

labeled as Asian. We all in some form

or fashion hold on to our nationality

because it is part of our culture: the

languages we speak, food we eat,

sports we play and even our beliefs.

Nevertheless, it only makes sense for

black people to tackle their problems

in a collective form. Several groups

working on a common solution is

more effective than an isolated ap-

proach. We must remember that in

the African American community,

unity equals power and division

means defeat. Let’s collaborate to

improve our communities.

Does Nationalism Prevent Unity

— I am not suggesting that

people abandon their culture

and denounce ties to a par-

ticular country.—

American Flag Nigerian Flag Haitian Flag Cuban Flag Jamaican Flag

Flags of Different Nations

By Patrick A. Sellers for The Populace Now

children; it could save their lives

in more ways than one.

(Continued from pg. 1)

If you really think about this situation

it is paralyzing, here we have a piece

of the future taken away. A young

man who was an honor student that

could have held the key to curing can-

cer or AIDS; he could have been a fu-

ture President of this country or of his

own company. No one knows what

this child could have contributed to

society and the most saddest part is ,

no one ever will.

This entire tragedy has left a gaping

wound in society, it will heal but the

s c a r s w i l l r e m a i n f o r e v e r .

Right now, a child is gone, a family is

devastated and a community is in

shambles, there is no silver lining to

this cloud, no magic words that can

make things better, but this is a

teachable moment for all. These are

the questions that we need to ask our-

selves.

1. What are we teaching our chil-

dren at home?

2. What have

our children

learned from

us?

3. Does our chil-

dren’s behavior

exemplify our

teachings?

4. Are we good

overseers of our

children?

After you have

asked yourself

these questions

and have an-

swered them truthfully, you should

begin talking to your children about

this incident. This discussion should

be open and honest about the choices

made in life.

Derrion Albert did not have a choice,

but the people who killed him did and

they made the wrong one and will be

punished accordingly. It is imperative

that we take the time to talk to our

Chicago Teen Beaten to Death

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Mourners embrace at the funeral of Derrion Albert on Octo-

ber 5, 2009. Services were held at Greater Mount Hebron

Baptist Church in Chicago, Illinois