Entries from November 2005 ↓

A Philadelphia man who defended himself against an attempted gay bashing and then was subsequently charged with manslaughter when he killed one of his would-be attackers, has had charges against him dropped.

Municipal Judge Gerard Kosinski ordered the release of 21-year-old aspiring singer Lucas Dawson. Dawson told police that seven people began taunting him, chasing him down and beating him as he walked to catch a bus Oct. 29. He said he pulled out a small knife and waved it, but when Gerald Knight, 17, punched him, he stabbed him in the chest.

Knight died within the hour.

“He did the only thing he could do, the only thing in his power to stop the attack,” defense attorney Kevin T. Birley said.

Dawson called police after the attack and led them to the knife. Assistant District Attorney MK Feeney praised him for turning himself in to police, but said a jury should decide if his actions were self defense. She had not decided if she would appeal.

The day before the attack, Dawson had performed at an audition for the FOX television program “American Idol” his family said. He was eliminated after the third round.

Democratic and progressive candidates and causes received mixed results following Tuesday’s elections.

In elections of particular interest to the Black gay community, political newcomer Jass Stewart lost his race for Mayor of Brockton, Massachusetts to City Council President James Harrington by a 56 percent to 44 percent margin. Despite an endorsement by the local newspaper and a strong finish in a four candidate primary, Stewart failed in his bid to become that city’s first Black and first openly gay mayor.

Norfolk, Virginia voters also failed to elect Virginia Paige as that city’s Treasurer. In a four candidate race, Paige came in second with 31 percent of the vote. Paige was a Black, openly lesbian candidate, who had been the target of smear tactics by unknown opponents.

In Albany, New York, author and activist Barbara Smith easily won her race for City Council from the city’s 4th District, trouncing her opponent by 642 votes.

Voters in Maine defeated an effort to repeal the state’s new gay rights law Tuesday with supporters of the law declaring victory shortly after 11 p.m. when unofficial totals showed 55 percent rejecting the repeal and 45 percent in favor, with 86 percent of precincts reporting.

A different story down south however, as Texans voted overwhelmingly to bolster the state’s ban on same-sex marriage by writing it into the state constitution, rejecting concerns that the broadly worded amendment could go much further than intended.

The measure swept most of the state’s major urban counties, including Dallas and Tarrant. Overall, the amendment, Proposition 2 on the statewide ballot, prevailed by about a 3-to-1 ratio as voters decided nine amendments.

In a sharp repudiation of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Californians rejected all four of his ballot proposals Tuesday in an election that shattered his image as an agent of the popular will.

Voters turned down his plans to curb state spending, redraw California’s political map, restrain union politics and lengthen the time it takes teachers to get tenure. Voters also rejected four other statewide initiatives, including one requiring parental approval for a minor’s abortion.

Virginians elected Democrat Timothy M. Kaine yesterday as the state’s next governor, choosing him to continue the centrist legacy of popular Gov. Mark R. Warner (D) and rejecting the Republican candidate for the state’s top job a second time in four years.

With stunning ease, Democrat Jon Corzine was elected governor of New Jersey yesterday, defeating Republican Doug Forrester in a campaign that turned out to be the most expensive and negative the state has ever seen.

With more than 97 percent of voting districts reporting, Corzine had garnered more than 1.1 million votes, or 53 percent to Forrester’s 44 percent.

And New York City voters returned incumbent Republican Michael Bloomberg to the mayor’s office. The billionaire businessman defeated Democratic challenger and former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer by a 59 to 39 percent margin.

I work in nonprofit.

While many of us from way outside Brockton, Massachusetts have been following the mayoral race there with interest, candidate Jass Stewart picked up significant local support Sunday when the city’s daily newspaper, The Enterprise gave him their official endorsement.

Stewart, a political newcomer and local businessman who has lived in Brockton just six years, faces City Council President James Harrington. Despite his inexperience, the newspaper feels he articulates a more inspiring vision for this blue collar city of 95,000.

Even so, tomorrow’s election isn’t a shoe-in. Stewart earned 29 percent of the vote in a four person primary last September and has been working to solidify his base while expanding his support to include those who backed other candidates. If elected, he would be the first Black and first openly gay mayor, in a city where less than 18% of the population is Black.

The family of Muhammad Ali is refuting reports in the London Evening Standard and other papers that the 63-year-old former heavyweight champion has “just months to live.”

Ali, who suffers from Parkinson’s Disease, recently had surgery at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta to fuse two vertabrae in his neck that had been the source of chronic pain. This helped to fuel speculation, along with an article in the Los Angeles Times a week ago that quoted Ali’s daughter, Laila, as saying her father’s health was deteriorating.

The tabloid National Enquirer reported the rumor that the London paper picked up and which Ali’s wife Lonnie now calls “absurd and absolutely without foundation”.

That newspapers would take a little bit of information and distort it beyond reality should surprise no one. Not the first time, won’t be the last.

As a member of the generation that grew up watching Muhammad Ali in his prime, he transcended the sport of boxing, serving as a living symbol of the hopes and dreams of Black America during the turbulent 1960’s and ‘70’s. When he fought and won, especially against the “Great White Hope” du jour, we all won. When he spoke out against the Vietnam War and refused to serve (costing him three years of his career), he was speaking for all of us who felt that was an unjust and unnecessary war. So many heroes from the Civil Rights era are leaving us, so news that he will be with us at least a little while longer is reassuring.

Former National Hockey League coach and general manager Jacques Demers demonstrated courage of a different sort this past week when he revealed for the first time publicly that he is illiterate, and that at age 61, has hidden his inability to read and write his entire life.

Twice named NHL coach of the year, he led teams in Montreal, Quebec City, Detroit, St. Louis and Tampa Bay and was the last head coach of a Stanley Cup winning Canadiens team, in 1993. But the entire time, Demers lacked the ability to even fill out a lineup card and had to resort to elaborate schemes to hide the fact.

When it was time to write up the roster, he’d delegate the job to trainers. When he was sent to coach in the United States, he offered the excuse that he was French Canadian so his English wasn’t very good.

Then he returned home to coach in Quebec, and said he’d been in the United States so long that he’d gotten rusty with his French.

He would say he forgot his glasses. He was too busy. When he was hired by Tampa Bay as general manager, he got the assistant GMs to read the contracts.

“I don’t enjoy fooling people because I was only fooling myself,” he said. “And the only reason I did it was to protect myself and to survive.”

The product of a poor family in Montreal, Demers grew up with an abusive father who often physically beat his mother. He dropped out of school in the 8th grade and traces his problem to anxiety born of that upbringing. His willingness to speak openly about his situation is being praised by literacy groups in both Canada and the U.S. who say the coping skills he employed are typical of the lengths many illiterate adults use just to get by.

Finally, with the weather unseasonably mild Sunday, African runners continued to set the pace at the 2005 New York City Marathon. A Kenyan and a South African took first and second in the men’s race, while a Kenyan and an Ethiopian took second and third in the women’s.

Top Women 2005
1. Jelena Prokopcuka (LAT) 2:24:41
2. Susan Chepkemei (KEN) 2:24:55
3. Derartu Tulu (ETH) 2:25:21

Top Men 2005
1. Paul Tergat (KEN) 2:09:30
2. Hendrick Ramaala (RSA) 2:09:31
3. Meb Keflezighi (USA) 2:09:56